What’s the Big Deal? needs big deals
About four months ago, I started a new weekly column at Film.com called What’s the Big Deal?, in which we examine a movie widely considered to be “great” or a “classic” and lay out what, exactly, the big deal about it is. Here’s the introduction I gave at the time, which explains the column’s premise in greater detail.
Since I’m in the mood for suggestions (don’t forget to help out with Eric’s Bad Movies!) I’d like to get your ideas for future editions of WTBD. It might help to draw from personal experience: What’s a “classic” movie you’ve watched that made you think, “Eh, that was OK, but what’s the big deal?” It could even be a film you actively hated. The point is that it’s supposed to be great but its greatness is not self-evident, at least not to you.
I think certain titles are bound to show up a lot. “2001: A Space Odyssey” — a movie that everyone either loves or doesn’t get at all — was built for this. “Citizen Kane” often gets the top spot on “best movies ever made” lists, leading many first-time viewers to check it out and come away wondering what they were supposed to have seen in it that they didn’t. Those are the kinds of movies I’m looking for.
There’s going to be a lot of subjectivity, of course. When I first introduced the column, someone suggested “Casablanca,” and I thought, “What’s the big deal about ‘Casablanca’?? It’s romantic and funny and entertaining! How could anyone watch it and not see that??” But then a friend of mine told me he finds “Citizen Kane” just as self-evidently fantastic, and that’s a movie that I think needs some explainin’.
That’s why I need your suggestions. There might be some, like “Casablanca,” that wouldn’t have occurred to me to include, but that it turns out a lot of people have trouble with.
Post your suggestions in the comments, or send me an e-mail or a tweet. At this point, you might need to specify whether you’re talking about Eric’s Bad Movies or What’s the Big Deal? (I doubt any movie would be suitable for both. EBM is films that are generally regarded as terrible, while WTBD? is movies generally regarded as great. In both cases, whether I personally like the movie is irrelevant.)
Here’s what I’ve covered so far:
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
City Lights (1931)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Dracula (1931)
Easy Rider (1969)
8 1/2 (1963)
Jules and Jim (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Nashville (1975)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Rashomon (1950)
The Searchers (1956)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Touch of Evil (1958)
March 4th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
It Happened One Night could use some context. Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay? Really?
March 4th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
“From Here to Eternity” is still considered one of the great movies, but it lost a lot of its appeal with time. I still kind of liked this, but I wouldn’t put it on any favorites lists.
Similarly “All About Eve” is another film considered to be an all-time classic, but I watched it twice and never really liked it.
Now for one that I actually love but most people don’t seem to. You could review “Last Year at Marienbad,” which is considered one of the great masterpieces of cinema in some circles, but most people don’t get it. Well obviously because it’s supposed to be a dream…
March 4th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
“Citizen Kane” would have been my first pick–I loved it, but audiences of today might need to have it explained to them. Why not “The Wizard of Oz”, which was groundbreaking as hell for its time? Or one of my all-time favorites, “The Godfather”?
March 4th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Apocalypse Now
Chinatown
Pulp Fiction
Psycho
March 4th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Around the World In Eighty Days (1956)
White Christmas (1954)
Pride and Prejudice (1995)
March 4th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
You already mentioned it… although I’ve never seen Citizen Kane, I’ve always wondered What’s The Big Deal (TM) and if I should.
March 4th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Sunset Boulevard
The Bridge on the River Kwai
March 4th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
First of all, I love this series! I haven’t seen most of them and this gives me either a desire to see it, or an, eh, I could miss that one.
My vote is for Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Others I might throw in the hat (haven’t seen any of them, but they seem like a Big Deal)
The Outsiders (1983)
The Big Chill (1983)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
I have seen this one, but I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal:
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
I mean, who ARE those guys?
March 4th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Oh, dude… There is NO way you need to explain why THE SEARCHERS and TOUCH OF EVIL are fricken masterpieces. They’re nearly perfect films.
March 4th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
This is starting to read like a list of my favorite movies…
That said, I don’t get the big fuss over Sunset Boulevard. A fine movie, but largely considered one of the fifty best movies of all time.
Duck Soup, too – I get why it was a big deal for its time, but it just doesn’t hold up for me.
Oh, and I second Rebel Without a Cause – formally, it’s a masterpiece, but there are almost as many plot holes and one-dimensional characters as Avatar (speaking of which…)
Michael – Last Year at Marienbad isn’t supposed to be a dream. It’s not supposed to be literal on any level; even saying “it’s a dream” gives more explanation to it than it calls for (don’t mean to make that sound negative; it’s one of my favorite movies).
And Eric…watch Citizen Kane again. It deserves a second chance. Really, it deserves as many chances as it takes for you to see the light
March 4th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
I know it’s quite recent, and loved by many many people, hell, it’s #1 on IMDB. Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite films, and don’t believe you have ever written anything about it.
March 4th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Cool Hand Luke
March 4th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Harvey. It’s a Wonderful Life. Anything Hitchcock.
March 4th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
I think just because a film is enjoyed by lots of people doesn’t make its big-deal-ness self-evident. There’s a lot of historical stuff that lay viewers don’t know nowadays. Casablanca was practically propaganda to send America into WWII, iirc.
Anyway, some ideas: This is Spinal Tap, The Godfather, Pulp Fiction
As for The Searchers – I never understood what was so great about it, even after studying it in college.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
I’ve been hearing about how great Blade Runner is for as long as I can remember (just read the netflix reviews!), and I finally got around to watching it two nights ago. All I can say is, “What’s the Big Deal?” I also just watched Brazil for the first time, and with that one I can see what the big deal is. It’s brilliant. However, after watching Blade Runner, I feel like I totally wasted two hours of my life. It was slow, mostly pointless, the plot was barely there, the music alternated between grating and dull. The actors all did a good job in their roles, but I with so little character development, I found myself not caring about any of them at all. Seriously, what is up with that movie?
March 4th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Doctor Zhivago…it’s long. It’s boring. And the title character is kinda a douche. What, sir, is the big deal?
2001. Seriously. I had to read the book to figure out what I just watched.
MASH I know, I know, it’s an Altman picture so I shouldn’t go in expecting a plot or comedy
I second the motion for Rebel without a Cause. Just kind of a meh movie.
Same goes for Sullivan’s Travels.
I’d like to hear more about The Graduate. I don’t get what the big deal there is.
The same goes for The Deer Hunter.
I’d also like to know what the big deal is with Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It’s a racist movie about two prostitutes…and people like it because…?
Just about any comedy with Katharine Hepburn, Adam’s Rib and Bringing up Baby in particular. Is it just me or do you want to step into the screen and slap her and tell her to act like a normal person for one minute.
I am shocked about people’s votes for Sunset Boulevard, All about Eve, Casablanca, and It Happened One Night.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
“Seconds” (1966) w/Rock Hudson. Oscar nomination, Golden Palm nomination.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Also “Marathon Man,” the subject of many arguments between me and a friend of mine. (I’m for, friend is against.)
@Ralph, just had to say that I love “Bringing Up Baby” so much that I want to take it out behind the middle school bleachers and get it pregnant.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Some great but arguably hard to understand movies:
Birth of a Nation
Metropolis
The Passion of Joan of Arc
A Clockwork Orange
Dr. Strangelove
Woman in the Dunes
In the Heat of the Night
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Barton Fink
Das Boot
Play Time
Bad Lieutenant
Taxi Driver (I don’t think you’ve done anything by Scorsese yet, have you?)
Something by Hitchcock, maybe Rear Window or North by Northwest?
March 5th, 2010 at 12:01 am
2001 was my very first thought.
Cool Hand Luke
Lawrence of Arabia
Them!
Blade Runner
The Birds
On the Waterfront
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
March 5th, 2010 at 12:20 am
I’d suggest Midnight Cowboy. It’s kinda-sorta pivotal (the only X-rated movie to win the Best Picture Oscar) and I think it’s great, but I can kind of see it not playing well to a modern audience. If anything, it’s concrete evidence that Jon Voight wasn’t always a sad, pathetic joke.
(And Ralph, I totally agree with you about Bringing Up Baby. Why that movie didn’t end with Katherine Hepburn’s character being brutally murdered I’ll never know.)
March 5th, 2010 at 1:17 am
I guess it’s too easy to figure out what the big deal with Ben-Hur is, but it set a record for Oscar wins 50 years ago that still hasn’t been topped.
Dr. Strangelove has grown on me since I saw it, but I still think it’s worth examining. Ones I still haven’t figured out satisfactorily, but have theories about, are Saturday Night Fever and The Lion in Winter. And the appeal for Blade Runner remains inexplicable to me; instead of asking what the big deal was, I could only wonder what the whole point of the movie was.
March 5th, 2010 at 6:50 am
12 Angry Men
March 5th, 2010 at 6:53 am
Grease . . . . Please, please do Grease.
I will never understand that movie.
March 5th, 2010 at 7:44 am
Spartacus- Seriously, I hate that movie. Why would anyone like it?
March 5th, 2010 at 9:58 am
I know you did Rashomon already, but I also don’t get Seven Samurai. I’ve never been able to make it through the movie.
It’s probably too easy to see the Big Deal for Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but it might be a worthy subject.
March 5th, 2010 at 10:00 am
I said this when your column first came out, and I still feel it needs explaining to me: Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Its considered one of his best movies but I really really can’t stand it even though I like many of his other movies (Rear Window, Pyscho, Birds, Sabotage, Man Who Knew Too Much [both versions] Shadow of a Doubt, Saboteur, North by Northwest). So I would really appreciate that one getting explained to me.
Some others include:
Dr. Strangelove
Maltese Falcon
Lawrence of Arabia
Ben Hur
Bad Seed
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (56 or 73)
I understand Casablanca, but I still think you should do it.
I second Blade Runner as well.
I don’t know if these are classics worthy of the “big deal”, but Napoleon Dynamite and Raising Arizona are two movies that people say are great but I understand about as well as curling.
Thanks for you time Eric.
March 5th, 2010 at 10:01 am
I had a bunch of ideas, but they are almost all covered above.
I have had family (about one generation older) talk about what a great film American Graffiti was. But I never did get it. It was fun to see Harrison Ford drive his car and Opie being a silly teenager, but it didn’t seem as big of a deal as I was told.
March 5th, 2010 at 10:13 am
@Another Eric — I agree with “Saturday Night Fever.” I still don’t understand why it’s a classic.
March 5th, 2010 at 10:28 am
I second the following:
Cool Hand Luke
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
The Big Chill
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Spartacus
Lawrence of Arabia
Ben-Hur
The Graduate
A Streetcar Named Desire
Except for the last two, these are all movies I’ve seen but in watching them I was thinking, “What’s the big deal?” (Even before your column!)
Also, I know the story behind Birth of A Nation–I would highly recommend that one for your column. It was the first movie screened in the White House (under Woodrow Wilson). And it’s point was to extol the virtues of the KKK!
March 5th, 2010 at 10:32 am
I’ve never seen it, but horror fans are always talking about Freaks (1932). I’d like to have Uncle Eric explain it to me before I watch it. Also The Ice Storm or anything by Ang Lee.
March 5th, 2010 at 11:57 am
Metropolis – the 1930s German one
March 5th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Oops – Metropolis cam out in late 20s, not the 30s.
March 5th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Caddyshack – Considered the funniest movie of all time by some people. I saw 20 minutes of it the other day for the first time. Not funny. Not even a little bit. What did I miss? Why after 30 years is it still quoted?
Treasure of the Sierra Madre – I second this movie. It had me riveted the whole time, yet I don’t know why. It actually seemed a pretty boring movie.
March 5th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Duck Soup, dir. Leo McCarey (1933)
Brazil, dir. Terry Gilliam (1985)
Shakespeare in Love, dir. John Madden (1998)
A Man for All Seasons, dir. Fred Zinneman (1966)
Au Revoir, Les Enfants, dir. Louis Malle (1987)
Seven Samurai, dir. Akira Kurosawa (1954)
Z, dir. Constantin Costa-Gavras (1969)
Sid and Nancy, dir. Alex Cox (1986)
Chinatown, dir. Roman Polanski (1974)
Stardust Memories, dir. Woody Allen (1980)
Matewan, dir. John Sayles (1987)
Wings of Desire, dir. Wim Wenders (1987)
Broadway Danny Rose, dir. Woody Allen (1984)
Queen Margot, dir. Patrice Chéreau (1994)
Un Chien Andalou, dir. Luis Buñuel (1929)
March 5th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
I should also add anything by Woody Allen. I don’t get him.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
So – I confess I didn’t check everyone’s answers to see if mine were covered, but I was horribly disappointed after watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Sixteen Candles, Streetcar Named Desire, and pretty much any James Dean film ever.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Annie Hall
March 5th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
r.d. watkins: Just watch Freaks. It needs no explanation. Also, the DVD copy I have of it comes with a special feature about the actors who were in the film. It’s actually longer than the film, and very interesting.
Billy Bob: Caddyshack is one of those movies that doesn’t really make you laugh out loud, but is really funny to talk about later and quote endlessly.
How about some of Mel Brooks’ comedies, like The Producers or Blazing Saddles.
Can’t believe no one’s mentioned Napoleon Dynamite.
(For the record: My reactions to the movies I’ve suggested were not “what’s the big deal,” but I think a lot of people would react that way to them.)
March 5th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Ditto to:
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Bridge on the River Kwai
All About Eve
I’m curious as to what you’d say about Citizen Kane (which I’ve seen) and American Graffiti (which I’ve not seen).
March 5th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Since it’s Oscar time, how about a movie that won more Oscars than anything that had come before (until the very next year when Ben Hur won even MORE) — AND won in EVERY category for which it was nominated — NONE of which was for any of the acting categories. I am speaking, of course, about that heart-warming romp about training a young girl to be a hooker — “Gigi”. And containing that really creepy song “Thank Heaven for Little Girls,” sung by an old geezer who used to sing for the Nazis only a bit more than a decade before.
What a strange film! What were they thinking?
Along the same lines, I have always wondered why Hollywood tried to even film ANYTHING by Tennessee Williams during the 1950s (same era as Gigi) when they basically couldn’t really explain what was going on in the plot. “Suddenly Last Summer” is rendered incomprehensible because so much of the original play had to be removed from the script. (Interestingly, although officially still “unrated” here in the USA, it has a 15 Certificate from the British Board of Film Classification — the BBFC.)
March 5th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
i’ve already emailed you about The Wild Bunch, but since I wrote a paper on it, I kinda know what the Big Deal is already. Would still love to hear your thoughts.
Maybe some Von Trier stuff? I’ve watched both Dancer In The Dark and Antichrist, both just made me annoyed, and made me wonder why Lars Von Trier seems to hate me so much.
March 5th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Thanks for the suggestions! This really is eye-opening for me. As I suspected, I’m seeing titles frequently mentioned that might not have occurred to me otherwise.
The several people who have mentioned “Rebel Without a Cause” are in luck, as that’s what I had scheduled for next week anyway! Serendipity!
For comedies like “Caddyshack,” “Raising Arizona,” and “Napoleon Dynamite,” I think the only Big Deal is that people find them funny. There really isn’t more to it than that. A What’s the Big Deal? column about one of those films would just be me explaining the style of comedy and why the humor works, which isn’t really what the column is meant for. (Although I am interested in dissecting comedy and analyzing its mechanical parts. So maybe I’ll do that another time.) (Also, “Caddyshack” doesn’t make me laugh, either, but the other two mentioned do.)
March 5th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
I read that “Last Year at Marienbad” was either based on a dream or purposefully had elements in it that seemed like a dream, so that analysis didn’t originate with me. (I’m afraid I’m not sophisticated enough to analyze movies like that!) Although watching it, that’s what it seemed like to me. Characters weaving in and out of different scenes… some characters seem to have ambiguous significance… It reminded me of watching “Eraserhead” except not nearly as traumatizing. (“Eraserhead” might be another good suggestion for this column!)
March 5th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
There is only one movie I’ve seen more than 10 times: The Three Amigos. I recommend it to everyone. It really doesn’t need context, just needs to be watched four or five times.
March 5th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
I agree with Apocalypse Now. I thought it was just long winded. Also, Twelve Angry Men and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
March 5th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
I’d like to add my vote for Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I think a lot of people think they’ll like it because of the song, and then they see it and then they remember that even the song just says people, “*kind of* like it.”
March 5th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
A few people have already mentioned them, but I’d like to see a Marx Brothers film covered as well.
March 6th, 2010 at 9:58 am
The Great Escape, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (it didn’t SEEM that funny, or fun, either), Yellow Submarine, The Thomas Crown Affair (Steve McQueen version), The Dirty Dozen, High Noon, Akira, Anatomy of a Murder, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
March 6th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
I also second “Pulp Fiction”–I didn’t hate it or anything, but I didn’t see what was so groundbreaking or innovative about it, aside from the out-of-sequence story. And every time I’ve tried to ask someone what, in fact, the big deal is, that person inevitably loved the movie, so much so that they can’t express themselves verbally when talking about it, so I get something like “Pulp Fiction? Seriously, Pulp Fiction? Due, seriously…seriously, I mean, Tarantino is just…it was just…it’s Tarantino, dude! Seriously! Pulp Fiction! I mean…dude!”
March 7th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Mystic river. That Tom Cruise movie I think it’s called magnolia or something tlike that. Also Psycho.
March 7th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Dirty Harry and all of the The Godfather films
March 7th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
I have seen Bullitt with Steve McQueen and I think it would be a good candidate for WTBD. I also think Pulp Fiction, Deer Hunter and Blade Runner would be work well. I look forward to Rebel without Cause this week as I have always wondered what the big deal was with that film. Finally, Eric, I know you have stated that Umbrellas of Cheromburg is one of your favorite films. I tried watching it the other day and had a real struggle getting to the end. I would love to see a column explaining your high regard for it as well as many other critics.
March 8th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
I second “Wings of Desire.” I also Second “Annie Hall.” Specifically, I want to know why in the hell it beat “Star Wars” for best picture.
And what is the big freakin’ deal with Gone With The Wind? That movie stinks.
And to Ang: Seven Samurai was awesome! Action, drama, memorable characters, raw emotion – what more could you want? Not to mention that it has inspired several other films (beginning with “The Magnificent Seven,” which was a remake, and up to and including “A Bug’s Life”).
March 8th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
A couple that I’d like to see on the list:
Vertigo
The Natural
March 8th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Field of dreams
March 8th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Looks like I’m late to the party. What a great idea, though! (I have many classic films on DVD, some of which I purchased simply because they were “a big deal.” But sometimes, I’m left scratching my head as to why.)
Here are some additional titles to consider (and some are repeats from others who have already posted):
The 400 Blows (Traffaut)
Charade (Donen)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer)
The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese)
That Obscure Object of Desire (Bunuel)
Solaris (Tarkovsky), NOT Soderbergh’s remake
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Gilliam)
My Life as a Dog (Hallstrom)
sex, lies, and videotape (Soderbergh)
The Rules of the Game (Renoir)
Tunes of Glory (Neame)
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick)
Metropolis (Lang)
Videodrome (Cronenberg)
Fanny and Alexander (Bergman)
Short Cuts (Altman)
An Angel at My Table (Campion)
Bad Timing (Roeg)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (Roeg)
The Last Emperor (Bertolucci)
The Ice Storm (Lee)
Henry V (Olivier), perhaps in a comparison to Branaugh’s adaptation?
Anything from John Cassavetes. I don’t “get” his style.
And, finally, though I am too young to remember Hitchcock movies when they originally came out, I have since become a fan. Except for “Vertigo.” As others have stated/posted already, I have a hard time seeing just what is so important about “Vertigo.”
I can easily see Hitchcock’s skill and craft in “Rear Window,” “Psycho,” “Shadow of a Doubt,” “Spellbound,” “Rebecca,” “The 39 Steps,” et al, but I just don’t get “Vertigo.”
March 9th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
The Accidental Tourist
I couldn’t stop hearing about that movie when I was a kid. My parents took me and I wanted to chew my arm off to escape. SOOOO BORING!! I’m pretty sure this thing won awards.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Full Metal Jacket
March 10th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
How about Star Wars? IT is a religion these days, but how many people realize that the reason it still looks so good is that it redefined modern SFX?
March 10th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
“Sunset Boulevard” is a good one; maybe “All Quiet on the Western Front” (from the 30s). And a personal favorite with some of the actors from “Sunset” – “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.”
March 10th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Chris F.–
Metropolis? Really? That one’s obviously a big deal . . .
March 10th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
However, What about “M” — the other iconic masterwork by Lang?
March 12th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Gone With the Wind. Yes, people saw it. Lots of people. But, lot’s of people also thought that smell-o-rama was cool.
Also, Sound of Music. But, that may be because of my wife. She loves it enough that I may be artificially inflating its place in the film pantheon.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Not sure if you’re even still checking this thread, but I didn’t see Shane on here yet. I don’t know if it’s considered a big deal in the sense of “something everyone has to watch in film school just like everyone has to read Hemingway in high school English,” but people refer to it often enough for me to wonder why. I even remember Gary Larson spoofing it in The Far Side.