REEL RETRO CINEMA | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Jul26

The Powerful, Clashing Visions of KUBRICK’s and KIRBY’s ‘2001’

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jul 26, 2024

The Powerful, Clashing Visions of KUBRICK’s and KIRBY’s ‘2001’

REEL RETRO CINEMA: A birthday tribute to Stanley Kubrick… — UPDATED 7/26/24: The late Stanley Kubrick was born 96 years ago. Perfect time to re-present this piece from Jack Kirby’s centennial celebration in 2017. Dig it. — Dan — Rob Kelly’s REEL RETRO CINEMA offers new looks at old flicks — and their comic-book adaptations. Here, he takes on 2001: A Space Odyssey as part of our 13 DAYS OF KIRBY 100 celebration of the King’s centennial. For other REEL RETRO CINEMA columns, click here. or the complete 13 DAYS OF KIRBY 100 Index of stories and features, including essays by the likes of Alex Ross, John Byrne, Marie Severin, Kelley Jones and many others, click here. By ROB KELLY In 1968, Stanley Kubrick decided to slow things down. As a new wave of directors and writers descended on Hollywood in the late 1960s, movies got faster and faster. Just a year earlier, Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde ushered in a new level of hyped-up screen violence, and the film became a massive, groundbreaking hit. But Stanley Kubrick was never one for rushing. It had been a full four years since his last film, Dr. Strangelove, and when he returned to movie theaters it was with a film of breathtaking visuals and challenging ideas. Loosely based on a short story of Arthur C. Clarke’s called The Sentinel, 2001: A Space Odyssey would open in our prehistoric past, focusing on a small tribe of hominids as they struggle to survive. Featuring no music and no dialogue, Kubrick was testing audiences’ patience and forcing them to accept the rhythms from the distant past he was trying to replicate. Eventually, however, something strange happens: A solid black monolith appears, which seems to guide the hominids into learning how to use bones as a weapon. One of them, in an orgiastic display of enlightenment, tosses a bone into the sky. We then make a flash cut to a space station orbiting Earth, a time jump of several hundred million years. In its slow, methodical way, 2001 reveals its story. Another monolith, similar to the one that appeared in our prehistoric past, has been discovered on the moon. When a team of astronauts investigates, it emits a powerful high-pitched signal. We then jump another 18 months ahead, and two astronauts, Drs. David Bowman (Keir...

Jul04

1776: The Kind of Movie — and Comic Book — CAPTAIN AMERICA Would Love

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jul 4, 2024

1776: The Kind of Movie — and Comic Book — CAPTAIN AMERICA Would Love

REEL RETRO CINEMA: New looks at old flicks — and their comic-book connections… — UPDATED 7/4/24: It’s the Fourth of July! Perfect time to reprint this column from July 2016! It’s a relevant reminder of the principles upon which our nation was founded. Stay safe, folks! — Dan — By ROB KELLY Just in time for the Fourth of July, it’s 1776, the 1972 film adaptation of the hit musical about the political struggle of the Continental Congress to declare independence! 1776 follows the travails of John Adams (William Daniels, better to known to geeks as the voice of KITT on Knight Rider), Benjamin Franklin (Howard Da Silva) and Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard, The White Shadow) as they squabble with the other leaders of the original 13 colonies as to whether to declare their independence from England, while Gen. George Washington is off fighting them on the battlefield. Their main opposition is Pennsylvania’s John Dickinson (Donald Madden), who still hopes to reconcile with England. Another major problem is the sin of slavery, which a number of the Founding Fathers refuse to give up, despite all the talk of men who deserve to be free. 1776 the musical was launched on Broadway in 1969. It seems ironic that such a patriotic, decidedly “square” story of Great Americans was launched at a time when the country seemed to be tearing itself apart—Nixon was president, assassinations were rampant, and we were mired in Vietnam. Maybe it was done as a reaction to all that bad news, and worked as an escape for a certain section of America, because it was a massive hit. Just a few years later it was turned into a film, the final one produced by legendary movie studio bigwig Jack L. Warner. Warner was an immigrant to the United States, and saw this film as a way of “paying back” all that the country had done for him. So, despite what was going on in the world, there is no snark or irony to be found in 1776; this is about as straightforward as you can get, the kind of musical Captain America would probably enjoy. In the world of 1776, John Adams is intensely disliked. He is so determined to push the issue of independence on his colleagues that people practically roll their eyes when he starts...

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