The Wicker Man (sh gudfilmz thred)

[Sturgeon]

We have a terrible movies thread, so let's have a gudfilmz thread.

My first nominee is The Wicker Man. No, not the bees; the 1973 version with Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, and a temptingly sensuous Britt Ekland.

This movie has everything the unspeakably bad remake does not. Same premise, same plot, same twist, but with a level of coherence and detail that is extremely pleasing. It features a wonderfully subtle performance by Christopher Lee (paradoxically, one that virtually parodies his later roles) and enough satisfyingly turned tropes to make you giggle with delight.

What genre is it? Ostensibly horror; really it's a thoroughly entertaining mystery that could alternately bring out the mad guffawing apostate or the thrilled, engrossed Christian man in the viewer. 

To me, it's a study in the hubris and obsession of the main character, with a background plot of a small-time patriarch with shoes too big to fill, sweating it out against his own constituents. 

My biggest criticism of the film is actually a scene that was originally cut. The scene is a fine one, I think, but poorly edited and it looks bad. It doesn't detract much from the movie, but it's really obvious why they cut it.

The movie was pretty influential; obviously the abominable remake is one, but an EP released by the Portland post-metal band Agalloch also takes the 1973 movie as its subject; and even uses sound clips from it.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes Christopher Lee, culture clash, intrigue, Christian criticism, Pagan criticism, outrageous men's magazines, the '70s, and titties.

This movie is absolutely mandatory viewing for collimatrix. Preferably while slowly drinking absinthe.

 

You lose no points for posting movies that are well-known to the good in this thread, but you gain no points either. Obscure-but-good-films make ideal suggestions.

[Walter_Sobchak]

Not sure if it really counts as a good film, but I have always enjoyed some Zardoz.  Hell, this scene alone is more entertaining than most entire movies these days.