Francis Ford Coppola

I've seen it and I'd say our thoughts are about the same. A bad movie overall but you kind of forgive it since you're basically just watching it to see the historical growth of the filmmaker and on that level it's interesting. I remember little about the film itself.

You're a Big Boy Now was essentially a much less polished, inferior in every way but still enjoyable version of The Graduate. It's very 60s, but I don't think that's a fault of the film but actually where it achieves a lot of its charm. The soundtrack is very good, the script has some genuine laugh out loud moments, and it's a pretty fun romp through 1960s Manhattan. It's at times nothing more than over-the-top whether it's the caricature characters or the ridiculous chase scene at the climax of the film, but the film had enough screwball antics to make it work, for the most part. Two things I was very impressed with from Coppola here. One: he was able to direct on location in Manhattan and doesn't retread the same exteriors over and over, and even filmed a significant portion around Times Square and Central Park. Impressive to be handling a big production, crew, and cast on location like this and get a multitude of angles while doing so. Impressive coverage for sure, especially for a 60s film. Two: some of the editing was really interesting. Sure, it's done in a 60s type of way, but it was solid nonetheless. One scene in particular at the dance club where the protagonist is watching a girl dance above him and it cuts between a negative image of her back to the whirring of the dance club and then back to her was neat. Critics try to find things from Dementia 13 that signaled Coppola's talent, but that's just bullshit. This movie actually does contain a surprising confidence from Coppola, despite the film itself being little more than a silly "teen" flick from the 60s. I give it a 7, more like a 6.5, but it gets by on breezy fun, impressive location shoots, and clever editing techniques.

I'm going to watch The Rain People next, which should be a vast improvement over his first two entries.

Finian's Rainbow is on Netflix so I'll watch it eventually (I really don't want to but fuck it), these other ones aren't and I had to watch through YouTube. 

So what would people say is the best Coppola film post-Apocalypse Now?  Is it Dracula?  It's so sad we never got another great film from the man.   

Yeah, Dracula is his post-70's masterpiece.

I watched The Rain People last week, and it was definitely not the "oh man, you can see The Godfather in this one!" movie I was hoping it to be. It centers on Natalie who has just abruptly left her husband and hits the road. Along the way she picks up a hitchhiker (James Caan) who was once a talented college football player, but after a serious head injury is a shell of himself. None of the characters are likeable, which I don't ever mind as long as they're interesting, which they also weren't. Natalie is pregnant but doesn't want to be with her husband. Not because he's a crummy guy, but because she's a crummy person that doesn't want to be a mother or wife or commit. All of that should set itself up for an interesting road trip, but not really. She's, frankly, just kind of a bitch the whole movie. Caan is very good in the role, and Robert Duvall pops up later to play an asshole cop who's still reeling from losing his wife in a fire.

Despite some shortcomings in the narrative, Coppola employs some really interesting cinematography and flashback sequences that were very effective. The ending is solid too, though it's certainly a contrived one. I liked it enough, and it's definitely a stronger film overall than anything Coppola had made up to that point. But it's not nearly the drama piece I thought it would be. I still haven't seen Finian's Rainbow yet, but I doubt that film would change my opinion that Coppola pre-Godfather wasn't very memorable. Sure, he was a young filmmaker with obvious talent and a unique eye, but his films are just so-so. So it's true, Coppola is a revolution in the '70s while the rest of his output is solid yet underwhelming considering the 4 giants he released in that decade.

I feel like there's a conversation that could be had about certain exceptions to that rule.

Ok Neverending what the hell did I just spend 2 1/2 hours watching?

I watched Coppola's true oddity in his resume of oddities last night: Finian's Rainbow. Musical are my least favorite genre by far, but I want to see all of Coppola's work and this was his first real venture in big studio filmmaking. I was expecting it to be about a little town in Ireland that gets swept up in some leprechaun business or some general story line, but this movie actually takes place in Kentucky in the 1960s. Okay. Finian, played by the legendary Fred Astaire, has come to the little town of Rainbow Valley to bury a pot of gold because the town is in close proximity to Fort Knox, which will... make... more... gold...? The man has a fucking pot of gold that he has three wishes for, but journeys from Ireland to Kentucky to do all of this. Anyways, the town is a collection of sharecroppers living in harmony but a mean old racist senator wants to take their land once he finds that there's gold in the ground. The senator is later wished black, and the actor bears some ridiculous black face for the rest of the movie. Yeah, this movie is a preposterous mess in nearly every way. The first half hour I was sort of enjoying it, as it focused on Finian and then introduced the leprechaun following him and everything. Then the movie proceeds to be about Finian's daughter and her lame romance with the leader of Rainbow Valley, who's trying to make menthols basically in another odd plot line. It all culminates in one of the stupidest climaxes you'll see, one that will be even more painful knowing you've clocked in close to the running time of The Godfather watching this crap.

The music was uninspiring aside from the main song, which I surprisingly enjoyed. Astaire is wasted but does get to dance around at times. Coppola's style is pretty hidden here, save for a really cool editing sequence in a train that was really unusual but awesome to see in a musical. I've now seen all of Coppola's 60s and 70s work, and despite what all these critics try to point to as "early indications of Coppola's greatness" in each of his films, including this one, surprisingly only You're a Big Boy Now showcases his talents. Even The Rain People was pretty blah overall. Anyways, I haven't seen Jack (yet), but is it really worse than this movie Neverending?

4/10

Yeah, this movie isn't really Coppola's fault at all. The script is abysmal. I'll allow myself to get swept up in the charms of a musical even though they're not my thing, but this was so devoid of fun and was packed with hamfisted messages about racism that were already dated when this came out in 1968. The music aside from the "look to the rainbow" piece were really bad, and man did I hate that fucking leprechaun in the movie. When the senator gets turned black and then ends up in a Gospel quartet I fucking lost it. "Now that I'm black, I see the error of my ways!" Ugh. Again, this isn't anything Coppola does wrong exactly. The script is completely preposterous in every way and the worst part is that this trainwreck isn't any fun.

Yeah, I started listening to it because I was shocked Coppola even mentioned the film let alone record commentary for it.  I watched it for like 5 minutes.  He had a fondness for the film and his opportunity to direct it, which I would too if Warner Bros. gave me a shot to jumpstart my career even if it was for a lame film like this, but once the movie started I'm like nope not suffering through this again.  Nothing Coppola can do about an awful script, nothing could save the film from it.

Call me when he has a reunion with the cast of Jack.

You could still get Bill Cosby...

Coppola released a new version of The Cotton Club. He cut 13 minutes but added 25 minutes.