1968 — A Guessing Game (Updated)
Unfortunately, Jean-Luc Godard’s Week End is a mere runner-up and will not be among the films discussed starting Monday and on through the next ten days at the Britannica Blog by writer Raymond Benson, who’ll be taking us through his ten favorite films from the epic year. Benson is best known as a successful writer of thrillers, including being the author of a passel of officially sanctioned post-Fleming James Bond novels, and the person who guesses his #1 film from 1968 gets a free signed copy of his appropriately titled rock and roll thriller, A Hard Day’s Death. [Update: As Brian Doan reminded me in comments just now, Mr. Benson is even better known as the author of the hightly acclaimed reference, The James Bond Bedside Companion. Oops.]
Anyhow, your esteemed proprietor has been asked to participate by way of comments on a daily basis as Mr. Benson reveals his choices. I’ll be just part of a whole gang of, no doubt, painstakingly selected folk, including two friends of this here blog: David Hudson of the completely essential and utterly invaluble Greencine blog (syndicated over on the right of your screen), and the ever-amusing wordsmith, Alan Lopuszynski of Burbanked, one of the first movies bloggers to comment here and link to me. Also on board is sixties/seventies-specialist Kimberly Lindbergs of the rightfully acclaimed Cinebeats blog (which I really need to start reading a lot more often and probably should add to the blog roll if I haven’t already), Ray “Flickhead” Young, autodidact Steven Carlson and many other fine folk — including one guy actually associated with a print venue who has perhaps even met Jonathan Rosenbaum. (Other film bloggers are also invited to jump in.)
So, head over to Raymond Benson’s first post right now and take a look at his runners-up list, and start the speculation. Then return with me next week and see what we think.
Until then, use your time wisely. Prepare.
Cool! Benson is awesome. His JAMES BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION is definitive– the single best look at the books, the films, and the culture around them. I had the good fortune of meeting him at an Ian Fleming conference a few years ago, and he’s a very nice man who patiently listened while I gushed about the book. I think I might have accidentally embarassed him, but he was a gentleman about it– not unlike James Bond, actually.
By Brian on 09.19.08 11:12 am
Thanks for mentioning that, Brian. I should have. I should also read the darn thing….
By bob on 09.19.08 11:19 am
Thanks for the mention! I’ve added your bog to my links so I can keep up with your posts as well.
I love Week End as well (it’’s one of my favorite Gidard films), but I’m confused about its 1967 release date. I didn’t think it would count or be in the running but it was mentioned as being out. Maybe I should ask Raymond about that?
By Kimberly on 09.20.08 10:29 am
Thanks Ms. L.!
“Week End” is probably by far my favorite Godard film, with “Contempt” and “Alphaville” somewhere behind. I actually really run hot and cold on him, though. I’ve lost patience with even some of his more well regarded films like “Band of Outsiders” — though even his most impossible films (that I’ve seen so far) have some brilliant moments, like the one above from the largely kind of tedious “La Chinoise.” (Even the unwatchable ones are gorgeous to, er, watch.)
And, look, Kimberly, you’re now on my blogroll too!
By bob on 09.20.08 11:49 am
Good grief! Could my previous post have any more typos? What in the world does “bog” and “Gidard” mean? Ha!
I still need to see La Chinoise so I don’t have an opinion on it yet (a copy is currently sitting on top of my DVD player so I hope to see it soon) but I can understand what you’re saying. I think many of Godard’s films are a required taste. My own favorites at the moment are Contempt, Pierrot le fou and Week End.
By Kimberly on 09.20.08 11:49 pm
“I think many of Godard’s films are a required taste” — and in some circles, or they really are!
The funny part about all this is that I didn’t even notice the typos on the first post. But seriously, Kimberly, I have left some posts on other people’s sites that make almost no sense at all. You and I need to start a movement for some kind of universal comment edit feature.
By bob on 09.21.08 1:38 am