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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 7, 2017 23:00:49 GMT
Environmental concerns, battles over heritage and or natural values, entrepreneurs with grand plans, are there any Classic Films with these themes ? Thanks to folk singer Joni Mitchell, the thread title was taken from her 1970 environmental themed song Big Yellow Taxi
Two that come to mind...
The Skin Game (1931) Alfred Hitchcock
The setting in a small country English village in Lancashire, where an aristocratic landowner Hillcrest sells part of his estate to an antagonistic self-made rich man, Mr. Hornblower.
Hornblower plans to evict the long-time tenant farmers even though they both had agreed at sale, this would not happen. He has further grand plans to change the local environment with industrial real estate speculation, to start an industrial boom in the quiet rural town. The ancestral cottages and the tranquil green rolling hills will be bulldozed giving rise to a panorama of factories & smokestack chimneys. The Hillcrists are understandably alarmed at the prospect of such developments....
It's true that The Skin Game is not one of Hitchcock's best remembered or technically superior movies, in fact it is one of his least typical,. he even said " there isn't much to be said about it." but I think it is an underrated film, notable as one of very few where Hitchcock ventures into serious social commentary, and there are some great performances.
Äppelkriget , The Apple War (1971). This hilarious film from Sweden tells an all too familiar tale.
A rich German businessman comes to the peaceful rural setting of Österlen in the south of Sweden with grand plans to build Deutschneyland, a gigantic amusement park for German tourists. The opening scene sees him and his associates envisaging the destruction of the beautifully green and natural environment with images of their extensive development plans for parking lots air strips and the conversion of historical sites..
The local council and members of parliament are swayed & are in favour of the idea, jobs and growth, its a predictable response from them. However not everybody is in favour and with the help of a little magic, scheming begins against the inappropriate development plan...
A personal experience much like the Swedish film, We formed a local group and took on major development plans to transform our quiet natural seaside hamlet, The outcome, after a long drawn out bitter and divisive battle... a major win for us in Environment Court against the Local Council, National Park declared over most of the subject site, and the developers grand plans torn up...
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Post by OldAussie on Jun 7, 2017 23:10:31 GMT
Local Hero - too new to be a classic? A gem never-the-less.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 7, 2017 23:46:33 GMT
Local Hero - too new to be a classic? A gem never-the-less. Thanks OldAussie ... looks like a great film, a great recommendation, perfect example, got a copy in my basket
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 8, 2017 0:41:34 GMT
Two very good Australian films ... The Killing Of Angel Street (1981) Based on the real life mysterious disappearance of Juanita Nielsen six years earlier. Jessica returns from overseas to find her retired professor father in a bitter public fight to save the historic Sydney waterfront houses on Angel Street. After her father's mysterious death, she joins forces with local residents and a union leader against corrupt forces.
Heatwave (1982) stars Judy Davis, a story about a planned urban redevelopment in Sydney the mid 70's designed by a ruthless immigrant developer with rich and powerful corporate backing. The scheme becomes the centre of violent controversy as tenants and squatters in the historic terrace houses, refuse to move... hard to find now, out of print on DVD.
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Post by OldAussie on Jun 8, 2017 0:45:48 GMT
The Killing Of Angel Street and Heatwave - Thanks!!! I was struggling to recall the titles, but I remembered seeing the films back in the day.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jun 8, 2017 0:49:47 GMT
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 8, 2017 3:11:05 GMT
Thanks Bat Outtaheck ... Chinatown is an excellent and interesting film example. At the heart of the neo-noir mystery, is the environmental flow, the water diversion scheme of The Owens River a true life saga that played out early in the 20th century and became known as the California Water Wars. Chinatown portrays the manipulation of a critical municipal resource the Owens River water, by a group of shadowy oligarchs, and their subjugation of environment and public good for selfish and private greed. So long since I have seen The Fountainhead I think it is more focused on modern design, cannot remember if that involved ripping down and developing over historically significant architecture?
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jun 8, 2017 3:20:32 GMT
So long since I have seen The Fountainhead I think it is more focused on modern design, cannot remember if that involved ripping down and developing over historically significant architecture?manfromplanetx2 imdb summaries Individualistic and idealistic architect Howard Roark is expelled from college because his designs fail to fit with existing architectural thinking. He seems unemployable but finally lands a job with like-minded Henry Cameron, however within a few years Cameron drinks himself to death, warning Roark that the same fate awaits unless he compromises his ideals. Roark is determined to retain his artistic integrity at all costs. An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.
I was thinking more of the Grand Plans aspect. Probably not what you are looking for. I read the book and liked it much better than the film. Also a Long time ago.
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Post by london777 on Jun 8, 2017 3:49:58 GMT
Sunshine State (2002). Not one of John Sayles best. A developer wants to destroy a Florida coastal community. In the end it gets saved (for the time being) by an all too convenient stroke of luck rather than by the efforts of the campaigners.
I thought the whole place looked a dump and should have been steamrollered flat.
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Post by london777 on Jun 8, 2017 3:58:09 GMT
The Pelican Brief (1993) Alan J Pakula. Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington uncover a government conspiracy. If I remember correctly, the fact that the motivation was the illegal appropriation of protected land for industrial development does not come to light until near the end of the movie.
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Post by london777 on Jun 8, 2017 4:03:10 GMT
Wild River (1960) Elia Kazan A small community is displaced because of rising water levels caused by the Tennessee Valley Authority project in the 1930s.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jun 8, 2017 4:09:37 GMT
Powwow Highway (1986)
"Depicts the struggles of reservation-dwelling Native Americans in the North Central United States. The main character is an introspective and lovable person in a process of seeking pride and identity through traditional and mystical means of gathering power. His high school friend, who is a Vietnam War Veteran, is exerting power as a highly principled social activist, using a modern rational materialist adversarial model of progress battling a suspicious land-grab" .
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Post by poelzig on Jun 8, 2017 4:15:46 GMT
Prophecy 1979
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jun 8, 2017 7:33:22 GMT
The episode "Main Street U.S.A." (telecast: 23 January 1967) of "The Lucy Show" comes to mind. Developers wanting to tear down a beautiful main street to make way for "modern" soulless development. Probably the closest Lucille Ball ever got to dealing with a political issue....
I forget the name of the film, but there's a public domain 1940s film about a man trying to save a Confederate-era building (either town hall or courthouse, I forget which) from being torn down.
EDIT: the above film is Colonel Effingham's Raid (it took about 10 minutes of searching to find the name). Not sure how eligible it is for this thread, been years since I saw it....
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Post by vegalyra on Jun 8, 2017 16:34:34 GMT
Here is one of the earlier animal preservation type films I've seen:
The Roots of Heaven (1958)
Trevor Howard attempts to save elephants in French Equatorial Africa from over hunting and extinction. Errol Flynn (in one of his last appearances) is an ex-military man and alcoholic who accompanies him.
Fun fact is almost the whole crew got sick from malaria and other tropical diseases and dealt with 100+ temperatures during the day.
It's a great movie though.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jun 8, 2017 17:25:16 GMT
As two of my most revered and revisited films, the inclusions of both Chinatown and Wild River, each of which I consider to be among the finest their respective decades offer, prompts comparisons of the two, and the ways in which common dramatic catalysts - water, its control and distribution through massive, publicly-funded projects and the displacement of those such efforts bring about - result in entirely different films despite numerous similarities.
While each takes what could be called a fatalistic viewpoint, examining themes of inevitability and futility, Chinatown does so as an exploration of corruption (personal as well as civic and fiscal) in which displacement occurs as a result of land swindles for financial gain, and wraps its tale in a mantle of human tragedy. Wild River makes its examination at an equally human and intimate level, but from a philosophical point of view: neutral in its portrayal of the necessity of acting in the interest of "the greater good," it acknowledges the personal costs to those who, sometimes unwillingly, make sacrifices for the sake of that interest.
It's no doubt coincidental that both take place in 1937, but they share stylistic similarities: elegant cinematography in color and 'scope, extensively employed on location with impeccable period duplication. Each follows its graphically simple title sequence (underscored by mournful trumpet solos) with grainy B&W imagery: Wild River with newsreel footage of flooding that devastated Depression-era communities and families; Chinatown with sordid photographs of marital infidelity captured by the camera of its protagonist.
The first pragmatically depicts the purpose behind TVA administrator Chuck Glover's task: convincing the lone holdout to vacate her land before the rising waters behind a newly-completed dam flood it, and we can sympathize with his predicament. "That's the American way of life. Rugged individualism is our heritage. We applaud that spirit, we admire it, we believe in it," he tells an assistant, before adding, "But we've got to get her the hell out of there." He becomes immediately sympathetic as well for appearing so out of his depth, yet so confident. "I thought they'd send an older man," the assistant says. "Getting the old lady off Garth island is difficult. You're the third one they've sent to try." Chuck sets out to resolve the impasse while best satisfying the interests of all parties.
The second establishes the seamy world through which private investigator Jake Gittes moves: one of duplicity, betrayal and clandestine dealings, from which he insulates himself with the trappings of success; high-style offices, staff of operatives and fashionable, well-tailored suits. He wins us over from the start with these and his snappy yet businesslike manner and repartee, and when he discovers he's been made a fall guy for purposes completely unclear to him, we're on his side as he employs the tools of his trade to find out why, not only as a matter of instinct but of professional pride. "Whoever set your husband up, set me up," he tells the wife of the man he was duped into tailing. "L.A. is a small town. People talk. I don't want to become a local joke." But it's Jake's own self-confidence that will be his undoing as he finds himself up against forces more powerful than he'd imagined, and by failing to heed the hard lessons of his own past: "I tried to keep someone from being hurt, and ended up making sure that she was."
Each protagonist follows the dictates of what he interprets as duty, with his mission becoming complicated by romantic involvement with the beautiful, widowed offspring of the authoritative family figure at the center of their tasks. Both encounter physical brutality meant to intimidate them, in spite of which both persevere, but toward divergent outcomes.
Both are candid statements about the way things work in the real world and conclude on the aforementioned notes of inevitability and futility of the kind represented by the well-known phrase, "You can't fight city hall. Chinatown does so with a pervasive and cynical sense of the failure of good intentions and triumph of corruption. Wild River's gentler and more humanistic take is one of optimism, tinged with melancholy and regret over what's lost in the larger cause of progress. While both involve degrees of tragedy, one depicts it as an outgrowth of imperfect efforts to mitigate it in the face of unresolvable conflicts, and the other as a result of the very attempts made to prevent it.
Not intending to subvert the thread topic, it always seems to me the solicitation of titles sharing a common theme provides opportunities to look at any of them in greater depth, and to explore the ways in which they employ that theme.
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Post by teleadm on Jun 8, 2017 19:20:46 GMT
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte 1964? well the house where Bette Davis lives stands in the way for development (think it was a freeway). It's also the reason she invites Olivia de Havilland, and all sorts of skeletons keeps coming out of the closets.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 2005, maybe not a classic movie, but based on a classic book. The Earth get's demolished because it stands in the way for a new super spaceway for other planets. As all politicians always say, the plans has been displayed at same far away place (in this case another planet), so everyone has had a fair chance to protest.
The Emerald Forest 1985, dam building and tearing down rain forests in Brazil.
*batteries not included 1987, small house stands in the way for a new modern appartment complex.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jun 8, 2017 19:37:48 GMT
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte 1964? well the house where Bette Davis lives stands in the way for development (think it was a freeway). It's also the reason she invites Olivia de Havilland, and all sorts of skeletons keeps coming out of the closets. Oh, I like that. Good outside-the-box thinking: it's not the sort of film that would automatically occur when considering the topic, but it applies. Although not involving water, like Wild River, it concerns a lone holdout against development, up against an irrevocable deadline and regarded by authorities as an old lady who may fall anywhere on a scale between eccentric and crazy. And like Chinatown, the premise exposes greed, corruption and dark family secrets. Great choice.
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Post by teleadm on Jun 8, 2017 19:52:44 GMT
The Titfield Thunderbolt 1953 Townspeople tries to save their railway, against governemntal decisions that the railway shall be replaced by bus lines.
The city where I live and many other cities in Sweden, those who are elected decided over our heads that electric streetcars belonged to the past, and was to be replaced by busses, telling us that it will save millions because petrol is cheap. All electric streetcars where gone by 1972 and replaced by busses. In 1973 came the first oil crises and nothing became cheap at all and busses polluted the air (a fact that took all those politicians by surprice).
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jun 8, 2017 19:55:57 GMT
Medicine Man (1982) [ i]An eccentric scientist working for a large drug company is working on a research project in the Amazon jungle. He sends for a research assistant and a gas chromatograph because he's close to a cure for cancer. When the assistant turns out to be a "mere woman," he rejects her help. Meanwhile the bulldozers get closer to the area in which they are conducting research, and they eventually learn to work together, and begin falling in love. [/I It's actually better that that summary would lead one to believe.
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