![]() Along the way they encounter bigoted police, a “free love” commune, and an alcoholic lawyer (Jack Nicholson). ![]() Horror aficionados stumbled upon it in run-down theaters on New York’s Forty-Second Street or in drive-ins in the sticks, and soon spread the word that they had ‘discovered a masterpiece of the genre’.” In Medium Cool: The Movies of the 1960s, Ethan Mordden echoed Peary: “It was, in fact, seen only sporadically at first, not truly enjoyed till its cult status began to gather in the early 1970s, when it became one of the first titles to popularize the ‘midnight screening’.” Easy Rider (1969)ĭealing cocaine to fund a cross-country road trip from California to New Orleans, two bikers (Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper) aim not only to participate in Mardi Gras but to discover the authentic America. Variety was aghast: “Casts serious aspersions on the integrity and social responsibility of its Pittsburgh-based makers, distrib Walter Reade, the film industry as a whole and exhibs who book the pic.” ( Variety, October 16, 1968) The literate horror film-specific fanzine Castle of Frankenstein (July 1970) looked askance: “Putrid, with indistinct, bad acting and needlessly gruesome bloodletting.” In Cult Movies, Danny Peary wrote, “If ever a picture became a hit because of favorable word-of-mouth, this is it. It was a watershed moment for cinematic zombies, an instant cult film for aficionados of the undead. Made on the proverbial shoestring budget, it eventually grossed $30 million. Night of the Living Dead (1968)Ī farmhouse provides temporary safety for a disparate group of humans beset by shambling, pasty-faced and flesh-devouring “things.” Drive-ins were showing this three years after its premiere. ![]() No cost $1.1 million and made $59.5 million. Bond smirks as he returns deadly fire with his Walther. The Daily Express said it “was fun all the way,…” while the Vatican called it “a dangerous mixture of violence, vulgarity, sadism and sex.” Bond definitely has a hard edge here, depicted most overtly as he feigns indifference when Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) pulls out his Smith & Wesson and fires six shots. No, critical reaction was all over the map. Technological gimmicks that came to define the ongoing cycle were held to a minimum in this and the sequel From Russia With Love, both of which relied on fisticuffs, knives and pistols rather than futuristic cars, rocket jet-packs and lethal bowler hats. This first feature-length film based on the exploits of Ian Fleming’s MI6 British Agent 007, aka James Bond (Sean Connery), heralded the cinema’s longest-running movie series. ![]() This month we at the Chester County Library Multimedia Department are giving you a list that proves that sometimes second truly is the best. All these films can be found in the collection of our Chester County Library Catalogue. While the sophomore slump has been well documented in the film industry, there are plenty of examples of GREAT follow-up films some of which have become remembered as the high mark in a director’s career. This has become known among film and music circles as the dreaded “sophomore slump”. It could be the added pressure of audience expectations or working with an expanded budget either way, the second time around proves to be one that rattles many film makers and results in movies that are more or less considered to be an underwhelming follow up. Off of just one great movie, we begin crafting our own narratives, asking questions like “Could they be the next Speilberg? The new Hitchcock?” Unfortunately for most directors, the second movie is often the one that faces the most scrutiny. Audiences who loved a director’s first film are now excited by the prospect of a whole career of great films. Suddenly, there is the burden of expectation. “I can’t wait to see what they do next….” For many movie lovers, it immediately elicits the following statement: An impressive debut can, and often does, generate a lot of interest from studios and audiences alike. It’s exciting when a new filmmaker manages to make a big splash with their first film. A sophomore slump refers to an instance in which a second, or sophomore, effort fails to live up to the relatively high standards of the first effort.
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