The critics trashed 2001 but audiences adored it. It was the second highest-grossing movie of the year because it struck such a chord with pretty much everyone not paid to write about movies, essentially repeating what happened with Bonnie and Clyde the year before. Culture was changing rapidly and it took the critics several years to really catch up with the "New Hollywood" mindset and start to praise movies for experimenting the way 2001 did.
Yes I did see it with my family in Sept. of 1968 I was only 11 y.o. 2001: A Space Odyssey was shown in "Cinerama" theaters throughout the US which were these HUGE CURVED movie screen theaters which made the movie viewer feel like they were right in the movie action. The opening scene with the hominids discovering technology and the final 20 minutes of "Star Gate" Infinity and beyond had a huge impact on me at the time. I kept asking my father what it all meant. He had a hard time explaining it. After I read the novel in high school, I understood better ---- I think. Kubrick is a genius.
When I was a child and Flintstones watcher, I made sure my folks only got me a different kind of vitamin, because I was afraid eating one would force me to say "yabba dabba doo!" like the boy in the commercial. So it's probably a good idea I did not see this great movie until many years later on a VHS tape.
It's amazing how terrifying the still shots of Dave screaming were when I first saw this movie (and are still unsettling). Then his blinking eye in solarized color -- Dave trying to fathom what is unfolding before him. Kubrick was a genius in every aspect of this cinematic landmark. Update June 2024: seeing this sequence now brings back how Dave was shaking violently as he flew through space at super high velocity. Having that experience would have killed most of us, I think. Being an HSP, had I seen this in an IMAX as a kid I would have been traumatized.
Thank you for mentioning the still shots, a lot of people in the comments seem to have glazed over them. It makes the whole experience twice as uncomfortable, knowing that the character we're holding onto for dear life is losing his own grip. It's terrifying, and genious editing.
His eyes blinking with those colors in my opinion was the prelude to his recapitulation(rebirth) he was living his life within a moments time seeming ready to die, then being reborn into the indestructable starchild.
Samuel Black Um, why did you find it creepy? When I saw this the first time, it blew me away and left me speechless. I was even more shocked to learn that the movie was filmed in the very late 1960s. This truly is the grandfather of modern sci fi films.
Buddypal ~ I don't get your point. The original post said this scene seemed to be much longer in the actual movie. It was, as this scene continues. It has nothing to do with the monkeys at the beginning of the movie, it was about this particular sequence. This clip stops before the entire sequence ends.
+Edward Charles You really want your mind blown? The monolith has the proportions 1x4x9. All 3 were different sizes yet it was always in that ratio. Now get ready for this: that's the same ratio of a movie theater screen. A lot of fans suggest that its meant to mean that we are essentially watching the movie through the monolith itself.
+TheRecreator It also comes from the fact that this movie is sort of an Anti-Propaganda Propaganda movie. That comes into play with the Monolith as the Movie Screen level of the film. That's why there's monolith music over the black beginning, intermission, and after the credits, we're looking at the monolith filling the screen, about to present us with the movie. In an early draft of the script the monolith had images showing on it that would instruct the apes, but it was cut for being too blatant.
Miguel Pereira this was filmed in England except for the helicopter shots and a scene of a couple in a car that plays on a tv screen which was filmed in the outskirts of Detroit.
I saw this movie in a theater 56 years ago. It is still the best science fiction movie I've ever seen. Kubrick was a cinematic genius....remember, he did this with absolutely no CGI.
I don't know how you adore those shots but for me it's terrifying in two ways A. It just shows us how much Dave is going through this weird time gate B. Just the brief appearance of a disturbed/disturbing face appearing at random moments accompanied with ominous music is just straight up terrifying and creepy I'm sure some people can agree
I don't think any other movie since has captured the fear of realizing how small humanity is in the universe like this. Interstellar tried but 2001 still freaks me out!
@@plasticweapon the most logical explanation would definitely be fear and being absolutely terrified by what he is experiencing before being put in the French room by the aliens.
***** Unless you're joking, you're not a good listener. This scene represents all the studying done to space and how in the end we will still not understand some things. It's not the scene that's complex it's the idea they're teaching us.
bombergal1 Ahead of what time? Do you really think if it was released now it would receive a different reaction? It would probably be even more negative because of how fast paced everything has become. It wasn't ahead of its time, it just is another part of art innovation in history.
Only Kubrick is mad and brilliant enough to put a 10 minute psychedelic image footage on a film and still finding logic where there's only no sense. Only Kubrick.
@@crimsondynamo615 Allegedly, after the premiere, a man came up to Arthur C. Clarke and gave him an envelope of powder, saying "This'll give you a great trip" or something like that. Clarke flushed it down the toilet!
This whole sequence is transcendent. The first time I watched it, I felt something akin to an out-of-body experience. It's unlike anything I've ever felt before, but man was it mind-blowing!!
I was in a mystical state from beginning to end of this film. If you watch it correctly and surrender your whole mind and eyes to this film, you will have a spiritual orgasm.
eclipsesonic You'd think they took some keta when designing this part of the film, or some other dissociative psychedelic. If it's an allegory of anything, it's that. At least judging from my experiences with psilocybin and others' reports of ketamine.
***** I think I know what you mean... The nervous system acting as a filter by default, right? With psychedelics removing that filter. As much as I like the idea, especially from a disenchantment perspective, I don't believe it's true. But maybe that's the thing... we can never be sure about what's real and what's not, so we might as well believe in the things we like, that soothe us most. Create our own truth. If that's more satisfying to us, then it is truer for all intents and purposes. "Dissociative" merely means the mental experience gets disconnected from the physical. It doesn't hold a negative connotation by itself.
Yeah, CGI was'nt technically that good when it comes to movie making. Except Pixars and Dreamworks. Also, most of Speilberg's film from now was decent and has more CGI that maybe unique in different ways (e.g. Ready One Player where all of the references of movies and video games were fighting each other even Kubrick's films like The Shining). But sadly, we have many explosions and lack of greater tone and CGI must have took over Hollywood. Maybe because Hollywood does'nt allow practical effects to live on because it's not all about money but it's all about things that they say it's "dangerous" and "curse" like Wizard Of Oz, where behind-the-scenes looks tragic as well as Poltergeist. And now, practical effects is'nt safe for actors especially with dangerous materials. And this is how CGI was made... to keep the actors safe from harm. And no one got hurt during the behind-the-scene stories. But I agreed with both modern and practical technology. It was just sad that movies really sucked except most Pixar films nowadays. Pixars does'nt need practical effects to make good movies. This made the animated studio looks like a stop-motion studio other than a CGI that we know we in love.
I see you here in yet another outlandish video! And agreed, who knows what you're looking at, and what will become of you ultimately. What must be tearing through your conscious, assuming that were still intact...
@Bee Zo I think he was just moving so fast through everything he didn't really have any control over his facial expression. I mean it's a basic human being like you and I traveling at probably light-speed if not faster through the cosmos. He was aware of what he was seeing for sure, probably just moving too fast and in too much of shock to not look scared. His face was just stuck basically.
+gcHK47 Believe it or not, 2001 didn't do too well in the box office until all the young people found out about this sequence and started to buy tickets just to watch it whilst they were high.
I always get a strange feeling when this scene comes on. I have no words to describe it accurately. It's this strange goosebumps, endless dark corridor, echoing voices, cold feeling.
This scene is truly horrifying. Dave knows he is never going home, is going God knows where, to meet up with God knows what. I saw this movie in the theater when I was 8 years old, didn't creep me out then but it does now. Still hands down the BEST science fiction movie ever made.
I like this scene because it showed a greater realm. I feel like this astronaut saw the beginning and end of the universe, he saw the true nature of existence, and observed fractal beings observe him from what Stanley Kubrick tried to show us were perhaps four dimensional beings. He experienced perhaps the evolution of life on Earth, and how eye sight slowly transformed and evolved to pick up greater wavelengths until now.
"A greater realm." I like that, and everything else that you say. There seemed to be a tribute to life as well. Was that sperm shooting forward? Life itself, which cannot be defeated if given the most minute chance?
What I like with this sequence is that it's long, nightmarish, dissonant and incomprehensible, which is I think the point of the whole thing - Bowman is seeing the infinite, he's seeing true divine, something that he cannot comprehend, something that he should not be seeing... and that we shouldn't, either! Here the spectator and the protagonist view the action from the same perspective; the narrative point is brilliantly made.
this is my favourite scene in the movie. because its so powerful and for just imagery of the universe it gives u so many ideas. what i find most interesting is that dave is seeing the whole universe and all its complexities, most people would find that idea beautiful and most movies would think of that as a magical scene of wonder. this movie shows that idea to instead be horrifying. dave's terrified senseless at seeing the whole universe and maybe that's more realistic as human beings can only understand so much. i could be wrong but i think he's being captured by aliens here right? they use the monolith to transport him through a tunnel? this scene also feels like an analogy of what wild animals go through when taken out their environment and into a world filled with imagery and concepts they're incapable of understanding. must look something like this to them when they're taken into a building or through a city.
Personally, I've never felt comfortable when people keep trying to pull literal "aliens" into explanations of this movie. I know that Arthur C. Clarke's book(s) indulge in detailed technical explanations, right down to painfully geeky constructions like giving the apes cute spacey names like "Stargazer". But Kubrick saw something very different in this material -- something only a film can do. He saw the basic shape of a fever-dream that covers the lifespan of the entire Human race -- a piece of visual and musical poetry that needs no explanation, but goes straight to the back of any brain that lets it in. Kubrick showed no aliens in "2001", and didn't need to. The presence of a higher intelligence that haunts the film could just as easily be emanating from the deep mind of Man, or from the vast universe itself, as from any particular little green monsters. Frankly, my feeling of awe and wonder is eternally thankful that Kubrick made this decision, and left Clarke's rather conventional sci-fi fascinations far behind.
+Ian Shields we never see the aliens, though. Hell, they're barely even explained, there's 3/4ths of a page with a bare bones bare bones history, a name, a motive (the propagation and protection of intelligent life motivated by cosmic loneliness) and...that's about it. It doesn't matter if you're uncomfortable with it, something built the monolith and Bowman fell through a Stargate. Clark never made it cliché little green men, in fact he avoided it by making the aliens completely absent until 3001 jumped the shark. Personally, think the book (the original book with the monolith orbiting saturn, not the movie-redux version) is better than the film, but the film is still a masterpiece.
"Requiem, for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, 2 Mixed Choirs & Orchestra, " - Track: 03 from 2001: A Space Odyssey - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1996 CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered) Music by György Ligeti Performed by the Bavarian Radio Orchestra Conducted by Francis Travis
There was this little dollar theater in Kansas City, MO (gone now sadly) which on Mondays and Tuesdays would show older films on the big screen. Was fortunate enough to see this there and wow! If you've ever the chance to hunt down a theater like that, even if you have to drive hours away, it is worth the experience in every way possible.
+SlamifiedBuddafied I just saw this last week at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Phil playing the Strauss and Ligeti pieces live. It was utterly transcendental
+SlamifiedBuddafied I saw it once in a Theater, fittingly enough in 2001 during the films limited reissue. And wow... I can still remember how quiet, even awestruck, the Audience became when the Stargate-Scene started! :O
+WolfMonsieur i think the next best thing would be ridley Scott's new film The Martian I was an ass and got to lazy to even go and watch Interstellar which was a big mistake considering it's one of the best space films we have, and a big shame on my behalf. Alien Prometheus The martian Interstellar 2001: A space odyssey By far the best space films ever made you can include Star Trek too depending on who you ask
One of the best things about this sequence is that it doesn't matter if you "get it" or not. It's almost pure qualia. Sorta like a condensed version of Tarkovsky.
The creepiest is the music when they discover the rectangular object on the moon and this scene. Those are the only parts I believe were where kids from the 60s prolly got scared.
Yes, as others have said, it's 'Atmospheres' by György Ligeti, who never gave permission for it to be used, and indeed didn't know it had been used until after the movie came out. I'm not sure if he got anything from it.
What makes the whole thing horrifying is that he was left completely alone, as the only survivor of the spaceship, incredibly far away from any other human being, travelling towards a strange planet, where no man had ever been before, seeing things totally different from any previous experience.
I like this movie. It's unlike alot of other science fiction movies. It builds up an eerie, mysterious atmosphere out of almost nothing ( just the silence of space ). Many science fiction movies use spooky music to heighten the suspense of their scenes, but this movie uses the silence of space and the unnerving calmness of the characters ( especially in their dire circumstance ) to make us feel a little uneasy. I like how there are no aliens seen in the movie, although they technically are in the movies plot, they are unseen. That's a good thing, at least for me. I never personally was interested in the idea of aliens or the hope that we aren't alone in the universe. I like the use of classical music instead of an original score, it just seems to fit the movie. The characters also are my favorite characters in any science fiction movie. They don't have annoying panic attacks in dire situations and they don't show any fear. The HAL 9000 computer is a far better villain than any other in history and sets the rather eerie ( though soft ) tone through nothing more than a red light staring dead at the viewer. His voice is calm and monotonous in every line he speaks. It doesn't rise or fall, even when he turns against the crew, No he may not be the most memorable or engaging villain for many, but in my opinion he does more to make me feel uneasy than say, the Joker.
Heffman55 Tomlinson From what I understand, Kubrick used those classical pieces because he said satellites spinning in space reminded him of twirling dancers in a ballroom during a waltz.
I always cry when i see this scene, it is so unexplainable, the horrifying realisation that humanity is nothing compared to the universe, we are just dust, the realization that the aliens are in control of us. Humanity being created in the image of unknown creatures, hopelessness and fear.
The use of Ligeti's "Atmosphères" for this scene was utterly inspired. Perfect choice, especially when combined with that ominous low electronic drone.
I first saw 2001 when I was 4 years old. My parents said that I couldn't take my eyes off the screen and I never got bored by the slow pacing. I remember thinking the ending was both horrifying and visually stunning. It left me thinking about it for many, many, many years until I watched 2001 recently. This film has definitely changed my life and how I think about things.
I usually don't speak like this, as I like to be literal in my wording, but my God this was made in 1968? I legitimately believed for years that this was made In the 90's or even 80's, but 1968. One year before the moon landing, jeez.
this scene is so magical. this is the only thing that makes sense of the existential dread i think we all feel. our existence is so terrifying and we are so small. we are so unbelievably small and insignificant. we are here by microscopic chance, every single one of us. and we are doomed to realize our mortality. if there is a greater power out there they have chosen to leave us in the dark. we are so alone and confused and simple. sometimes i wish we never had to exist in this way. i just wish we had more answers.
9:22 yet through the seemingly arbitrary “cosmic horror” (the eye color changes) the higher intelligence brings Bowman back, psychologically shattered but as we see in the following scenes, the hero who has fully risen to meet the “Gods’” challenge.
I saw this just a couple of hours ago for the first time. Perhaps the most impressive moments in the film i have seen. Besides the other countless epic shots I absolutely loved this sequence...
Apparently, MGM was planning to pull this movie from theaters as it was not proving to be a financial success until several theater owners persuaded them to keep showing the film once they noticed there were an increasing number of young adults attending the film who were especially enthusiastic about watching this sequence under the influence of psychedelic drugs, and this is what helped the film to become a financial success.
I remember watching it in the theater, confused, scared, yet strangely hypnotic to the nature of the scene. It is just so damn brilliant. A scene that encapsulates cinema at its purest.
No one has even come close to making a movie as awesome as this . If this is all You seen...... by all means You need to watch the entire movie ..........
It’s just unbelievable. Kubrick, with this one sequence here, demonstrated his place as an important filmmaker/artist/human. We all remember our feelings watching Kubrick’s films for the first time. Man oh man, I’d love to experience that again.
4/15/1968, if i remember correctly. I remember when i first went to the garden theatre. When i saw the stills, and photos, i said nah! But my curiosity exceeded my. Momentary critique, i went to watch it- and through the decades watched it until i bought it. And when oppertunity arises, i will watch it again. Even today, i still find interesting things which i never saw before in it. And to put classical music in it to make up for the scenes in outer space because theres no sound in the airless vaccume of space- phenomenal.
As mindblowing as this must have been for audiences back in 1968, I think I may be even more mindblown now at the end of 2023 because I have no idea how they achieved this without CGI.
I just watched this movie for the first time and was absolutely amazed that it was made in the 60s; The effects and style in which it was shot are jarringly good. I mean this honestly looks sharper and less outdated than most movies from the 80s and early 90s.
