Even though it scores a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes by now, it still is not getting the reputation it deserves. EVERYTHING here is as unique as it gets. EVERYTHING here is as masterful as possible. NEVER EVER, before and after, has a movie been this perfectly paced, this tense, leaving its viewers this breathless. A movie one just cannot get tired of watching. This is way up there with the very, VERY best movies ever made, and definetely Kubrick's finest. And there are MANY of his in the competition.
@@JimmySteller I thought the Maltese Falcon was somewhat boring and a big old anti climax for a noir tbh, nowhere close to The Big Sleep in terms of a noir involving Bogart. Would say Laura, The Big Heat, Notorious, Out of the Past, Sunset Blvd, Sweet Smell of Success, The Night of the Hunter, Double Indemnity and a few others are up there as the gold standard (along with The Killing), all have everything you want from a noir plus genuine excitement and tension, just never felt that at all with Maltese Falcon, maybe just me.
Ok, Kubrick changed along the way but so did Hitchcock. I love the early and later work of both. Artist aren't always one trick ponys. Kubrick lead the way into a very new world. He made a masterful noir thriller, time to move on. Altman was very uneven, but when it all came together it was original and unique. They enriched our lives.
Kubrick's film also featured talented noir veterans as Elisha Cook, Jr. and Marie Windsor. Windsor was superb as the ill fated mob witness in The Narrow Margin. Cook elevated the quality of many films but will likely be remembered as the nervous Wilbur in The Maltese Falcoln.
A million words have been written about Kubrick and his body of work speaks for itself, but if he had made only one film I would hope that it was "Barry Lyndon". Kubrick had several films that were in semi-production or still in his head....I wonder where he was going next.
Thanks for posting that. I've mentioned a bit about him under "More Info"; I heard about his tragic, senseless end. He was wonderful in the few short scenes in THE KILLING he's in. He's unforgettable.
WOOOW!!!! Now I see why everyone talks about Kubrick, this movie had me anxious during the entire robbery scene LIKE IF I WAS A PART OF IT, and the "volta" at the end, jaw hits the floor. *crowd stands in ovation*
"Individuality is the monster.." Man, I love this scene--if you're different, people are gonna want to squash you. Explains a lot why Kubrick went to England and stayed there; nobody from Hollywood could fuck up his films if he was thousands of miles away.
I find them to be great in their own rights. Kubrick does it better overall, but Tarantino has more entertaining characters and hilarious dialogue in RD.
It must not be forotten just how good a player Kubrick was: he used to hustle chess at Washington Square, and his moves bristle with that kind of energy: for me he was not as good as his rep, but the early Kubrick was no slouch: the first of Lolita, DR S, and pieces of this and much of Paths of Glory, they zing right along, then he got flaccid, almost incomprehensible and boring, but what the hell, we still have the early Kubrick which is more than most of the stuff we have today.
This is one of those rare stand out ahead of its day films. In the sense at least, where the N word is used. Back in the days when racism was rife. Ironic, isn't it? The Defiant Ones also.
