Against the Crowd Blogathon 2017
I mentioned a week or so ago that Dell on Movies and KG's Movie Rants are co-hosting the Against the Crowd blogathon. The point is to pick a movie that everybody loves but you hate, and one that everybody hates but you love. I've decided to put up an entry this year because it falls on a weekend where I need some potted posts to cover being away.
First up, the movie everybody else loves that I can't stand: Being There (1979). Peter Sellers plays Chauncey, a simpleton who works for a rich guy as a gardener, but the old guy dies, and stupidly never thought of taking care of Chauncey in his will. So poor Chauncey is thrown out of the only home he's ever known (where the hell did his salary go), only to be picked up by a wealthy political family. Chauncey learned a lot of vapid slogans from watching TV, and the politicians are captivated by this shit. It's all complete detached from reality, and incredibly aggravating. How could anybody believe Chauncey? I hated this so much I had extreme difficulty making it all the way through the movie.
Then there's the movie that has a low rating that I really liked: Night of the Lepus (1972). Of course, Night of the Lepus is more one of those movies that's "so bad it's good", except that it's not nearly that bad. Rabbits are a pest in the southwest, and the ranchers want something done about it in a way that won't ultimately poison their livestock. Scientists try some sort of hormone-based experiment, but the scientists' idiot daughter released one of the bunnies before it could be determined that the experiment would have been a failure. What happens is that that one bunny becomes supersized and passes this trait on to all the other rabbits, who turn on the humans. What makes the movie so bad is the footage whenever the rabbits go on a rampage. It's set against miniatures, incredibly slowed down, and set to an overpowering score. It's all so dumb that it winds up being hilariously funny.
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2 comments:
Haven't seen either one of these. I'm not even familiar with the title Being There. I've been planning to see Night of the Lepus for quite some time. It sounds like its right up my alley. Thanks for participating!!!
I wouldn't say I hate Being There, that would take too much effort for something that was so underwhelming. But I did think it was dull and can't understand all the praise it garnered. Look Peter Sellers stares into space, listen Peter Sellers repeats some slogan at just the right time, see a bunch of stuffed shirts marvel at his benign brilliance, watch me fall asleep.
Night of the Lepus is incredibly cheesy. Not that the idea couldn't happen with genetic engineering but the execution, the miniatures and slow motion you mentioned, is just so bargain basement and the opposite of scary. Poor Janet Leigh only a dozen years to travel from Psycho to this!
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