King Kubrick: Ranking Stanley's Best Films

Platoon and FMJ are both quoted a lot. Not so much Hamburger Hill.



There is the way it ought to be... And the way it is.

Snarf Zagyg said:

The MCU Film

11. Spartacus (1960). This is a hard film to rank. To use a modern analogy, it's kind of like when a notable indie director is given an MCU film or a franchise film- their individual style tends to be subsumed in the franchise. I would argue that this film, directed by Kubrick, starring Kirk Douglas, and written by Dalton Trumbo, is arguably the best of the '50s-'60s swords-and-sandals epics. But while it might be a great studio film, it's hard to argue that it is a great Kubrick film- and that is a notable distinction.

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What does MCU stand for here? The only MCU I know about is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that doesn't apply to either 1960 or Spartacus.

aco175 said:

Platoon and FMJ are both quoted a lot. Not so much Hamburger Hill.

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There is the way it ought to be... And the way it is.

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Hamburger Hill was a solid flick too!

aco175 said:

Platoon and FMJ are both quoted a lot. Not so much Hamburger Hill.

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There is the way it ought to be... And the way it is.

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Personally, I would say that the top three Vietnam War movies are (no particular order)-

Platoon, Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now.

Apocalypse Now is the best movie set in the Vietnam War.
Platoon is the best Vietnam War movie.
Deer Hunter is the best movie about the Vietnam War.

The three things are similar, but not the same.

If you watch the scene with Major Kong reading out the items in the escape kit, pay close attention and you'll notice that one of his lines is dubbed as the lips aren't synced. He was originally saying Dallas but it was changed after the Kennedy assassination.

Maxperson said:

What does MCU stand for here? The only MCU I know about is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that doesn't apply to either 1960 or Spartacus.

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He explained what he meant by it in the passage you quoted. Big budget studio spectacle films which were part of a larger set of related/similar movies over a couple of decades, and in which the auteurial style of an individual director might be reduced in impact/distinctiveness because they had to conform at least somewhat to the style of that group of films. In this sense the late 40s to early 60s "sword and sandal" epics like Samson and Delilah (1949), Quo Vadis (1951), The Robe (1953), Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), Spartacus (1960), and Cleopatra (1963) parallel the MCU. They just don't have as short and pithy a collective name.

For me A Clockwork Orange will always be my favourite SK movie, I was fortunate enough to work in one of the buildings that was used in the movie. It was pulled down a few years back so all I have are the few photos I took over the years.

Snarf Zagyg said:

Personally, I would say that the top three Vietnam War movies are (no particular order)-

Platoon, Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now.

Apocalypse Now is the best movie set in the Vietnam War.
Platoon is the best Vietnam War movie.
Deer Hunter is the best movie about the Vietnam War.

The three things are similar, but not the same.

Click to expand...

I would say the best Vietnam War movies are:

- “Full Metal Jacket”, if you want some feel for being a 19 year old going to a war.

- “Platoon”, if you want to see an older person’s literary retrospective take on the war.

- “Apocalypse Now”, if you want to update “The Heart of Darkness” (great book) for a late 20th century American audience.

- “84 Charlie MoPic”, if you want to name something obscure but actually pretty good, just to prove you did your homework.

- “The Green Berets”, if you want to a contemporary pro-war view.

- “The Quiet American”, if you want to learn about how we got into that mess. Or like Graham Greene the author and/or realistic spy stories - I do.

- “We Were Soldiers”, if you want to understand the perspective of a real officer in the first major helicopter battle. And his wife, who is a legitimate American hero, though they unrenamed a base after her recently.

- “Born on the 4th of July”, if you want a biopic of a soldier who became paralyzed and changed his mind about the war. Better than “The Deerhunter” on disillusionment, I think.

So many others, but stuff like “Go Tell the Spartans” and “BAT-21”, I thought of but didn’t make my cut.

Honorable mention, of course, for “Kong Skull Island” for its homage to “Apocalypse Now” and general Vietnam vibe.

Dupe, caused by bards.