Harry Carey and Elmer Booth, The Musketeers of Pig Alley, directed by D.W. Griffith, shot by G.W. “Billy” Bitzer, 1912
The above image never ceases to startle me. I mean, just look at it. And of course it also works like mad in its context, the thrilling D.W. Griffith Biograph short that’s often cited as the very first gangster picture.
But this shot. WIth its sliced-off face. The negative space. The attitude. It could have come out of Breathless. Which, of course, is entirely the point. Of Breathless. And a whole lot of other things. In a sense, that is. And to think this picture is almost 100 years old. Of course, Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain is almost 100 years old as well, and it’s still, um, pissing people off.
About the light posting: Been rather busy. Tending to the exigencies of making a living—said living, as many of you might have inferred by now, not being made in film criticism—and such. Some writing projects, too: an essay on White Light/White Heat for a forthcoming coffee-table book on The Velvet Underground—yes, yes, I too, chuckle at the irony…although it’s an irony that dissipates upon close examination—and a remembrance of David Foster Wallace for The Sonora Review. Also compiling and weighing choices for the inevitable best-of-year surveys I may be contributing to. And also, I’ve been picking a fight with Scott Foundas. Okay, actually, I’m probably gonna not pursue that last thing too much because, you know, what’s the point, and also because My Lovely Wife doesn’t much cotton to my picking fights (although she didn’t mind my swipe at a certain strain of derrierism last week).
More stuff soon, promise.
yea… fights ain’t worth shit in digital type, son.
but images like this one – wait, are there more? – are worth a whole helluva lot. they remind me of who i am when i’m stuck in a room i hate doing monkey’s work. so, you know, thanks! real top form. cheers! oh, crap, it’s only 915 here on the gold coast. gotta wait just a lil longer, sumpin like 8 hrs, before i can really raise a glass.
in times like this, at least we can turn to R Kelly: it’s the freakin weekend baby, bout to have me some fun…
And now I have a new desktop background for my work computer. Neat!
Isn’t Scott Foundas the guy who spent 8 pages telling us that we should care about Brett Ratner?
Isn’t Scott Foundas the guy who once spent 8 pages trying to convince everybody that Brett Ratner was worth thinking about?
Indeed. Both!
2 for 2! I’m on fire!
“Derrierism” is a term that needs to enter the language, now. With proper credit to M. Swift, bien sur.
That image is incredible. Mark me as one who was opposed to changing the DGA award name.
Thanks for the still. Think I’ll try to make a user icon out of it. Will it look as good at 100 X 100 pixels?
It should, Randy.
Hold on. Maybe I’m just being thick, or I don’t have the proper context, but I can’t tell if Mr. Jon Swift’s post is sarcastic or not. Is he endorsing “derrierism” or satirically bemoaning it? Maybe it’s only my political bias that leads me to assume the former…
B.W., I’ve followed the estimable Mr. Swift’s work for many years, and it’s always been hilarious, but it’s true that as of late he’s honed his dryness to the point that it does become difficult to distinguish his lampoons from The Real Thing. The key is always to remember where he got his name from—that is, the guy who once proposed eating babies as a solution to an Irish famine.
D’oh. It’s all so clear now. But it looks like the bit about Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh et al being asked to write film reviews for a conservative website was true, yes? Ugh.
Yes, the still looks pretty danged good even at 100 X 100 pixels. It has the right simplicity and structure, I guess.