“On p. 16 of the last FILM CULTURE, Patrick Bauchau says ‘1962 marks the lowest ebb in U.S. cinema’ and on p. 25 Peter Bogdanovich says ‘Hatari is among the best pictures of 1962.’ Dubious distinction, what? Bogdanovich also says ‘Anyone who does not see the beauty and brilliance of this picture (Hatari) is either a fool or a snob, and both are really the same.’ Put my name, like Abou Ben Adam’s, Peter, on your list, and leave plenty of space underneath for others. I’ll regard it as an honor roll when all the names are in.”
—Herman G. Weinberg, “Coffee, Brandy, and Cigars,” Film Culture, Autumn 1962 (Reprinted in Saint Cinema: Writings on FIlm, 1929–1970)
“Anyone who puts down Hot Tub Time Machine as…whatever, unfunny or not funny enough or insubstantial or that it’s only for 35-and-overs is at least somewhat clueless. Or dead inside.”
—Jeffrey Wells, “Hot Tub Kills,” Hollywood Elsewhere, March 16, 2010
Glenn, god bless you. But why get worked up again and again about this Jeffrey Wells? His opinion, or personal tastes, are beneath combat and address. There’s too much for us all to do in a day than get worried about the flaunting of opinions that’s allowed by the Great Matrix.
You and I (and Herman G. Weinberg, and Peter Bogdanovich) are all on the same page on HATARI! — it’s the most effortless-seeming, most complex film in the Hawks oeuvre. A masterpiece among masterpieces — or, as Tarantino would put it, and very astutely, one which resides among the great “hang-out films.” Next to RIO BRAVO. I don’t believe in genre, but if I did that’s one taxonomy I could really get behind.
ck.
“Ah, it’s good to be writing about FILM again…”
‑Glenn Kenny, less than two hours before posting more bickering that has nothing to do with film.
Ichabod, Ichabod, the glory is departed…
Hey, it was WAY more than two hours!…
Weinberg would have been a terrific blogger.
First thing to send back in the hot-tub time machine: the echt-’80s, ick-’80s “The Bounty Hunter”
Was Herman Weinberg always cranky? Unforgettable for me is his column in “Take One” in 1975 where he dismissed “Shampoo”, “Nashville” and “Day of the Locusts” as having “no class”. At least Weinberg inspired the name for my blog. Jeffrey Wells has yet to inspire me, period.
Craig,
“Hatari” is complex? Before or after the “Baby Elephant Walk”?
“I don’t believe in genre…”
Isn’t this like saying, ‘I don’t believe in zebras’?
Also, I’ve heard that Hot Tub Time Machine is actually surprisingly well-made, for what it’s worth.
Mike D,
Both before, after, and during, jerk.
@ Peter: I think Weinberg certainly got more cranky with age, as happens. I’m sure he always had it in him, though.But when writing about movies he loved, he could be positively transportive. And he had a very wide-ranging sensibility—adored “Hallelujah The Hills” for instance.