SCFZ poll: Richard Lester

[flip]

Polling the films of director Richard Lester

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Lester films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline up to three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: oscarwerner, greennui, mesnalty, bure, ofrene, arkheia, brian d, rischka, twodeadmagpies, john ryan, karl, umbugbene, greg x, wba, st gloede, evelyn, thoxans, roscoe, mrcarmady, nrh

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

[flip]

Finders Keepers
Juggernaut
The Bed Sitting Room


seen seven, but one so long ago i barely remember it, really like my #1 but could easily replace the other two if i see something better by lester this week

[greennui]

A Hard Day’s Night

Seen 2.

[oscarwerner]

Seen 12.
1. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
2. The Knack... and How to Get It (1965)
3. Help! (1965)
4. Robin and Marian (1976)-My favorite movie about Robin Hood.
5. Juggernaut (1974)
I also liked his films about Musketeers.

[nrh]

the bed-sitting room
petulia
the three musketeers
robin and marian
it's trad, dad!

treating the first two musketeers films as a single thing, otherwise four musketeers would be on the list as well.

partially suggested this poll just out of curiosity for how lester is viewed these days. the beatles connection means that most people manage to see one or two of his films at least, but otherwise he seems to be rather out of fashion, high-profile admirers like soderbergh notwithstanding? i consider myself an admirer but don't even know much about some of the later films like cuba, the ritz, finders keepers...

[ofrene]

seen only Beatles movie and didn't like it ;(

[rischka]

three musketeers
four musketeers
a hard day's night

seen 7

[mesnalty]

Just 2:

1. A Hard Day's Night

[Lencho of the Apes]

out of curiosity
[/quote]

I have the impression Petulia used to be much higher-profile than it is now.

[...]

The Four Musketeers
It's Trad, Dad!
Juggernaut
The Ritz
Superman II

Yeah, Petulia was a fairly well noted movie for a while, but like The Knack and How to Get It, it sits a bit uneasily now, George C Scott and Julie Christie as a pair and Christie's "kooky" attitude don't read like they once did. That's kinda the case for Lester as a whole, talented enough, but of his era and the movies show it and since conventions have changed in how movies look, even Lester's talent starts to loose some luster for having been fully digested by movie makers.

[john ryan]

Seen 12

1. Petulia
2. A Hard Day's Night
3. The Bed Sitting Room

[nrh]

i definitely think a lot of knack doesn't quite work the way it was supposed to but petulia, if my memory still holds, is pretty layered in the way it treats the general world and the characters and i think giving those performers space to complicate the roles. i also don't think it helps lester's historical case that roeg often gets too much credit for petulia, though you could say roeg has fallen out of favor a little bit himself...

[...]

Petulia, from memory, is the movie with more depth in its handling of the world, while The Knack is more frivolous formal play that was part of a changing dynamic in how movies could tell their stories. The problem, such as it is, with Petulia, is that the depth of storytelling doesn't maintain its benefit entirely when the underlying concepts are felt archaic or problematic and while some of that is certainly true for The Knack as well, the lack of depth gives the formal elements more leeway I think. But it isn't really a one or the other thing as both films just feel less relevant today than they once did for the world having moved beyond them. There are still some older cinephiles who dote a bit on Lester, David Cairns, who has the Shadowplay blog and writes for Criterion and other venues, loves the guy, but Lester is a hard sell outside of historical importance and the vagaries of taste in humor for being so caught up in the desire to make movies more "modern", which is always relative and prone to aging itself.

[nrh]

rewatched petulia for first time in many years and i think it's kind of a masterpiece. but a very difficult, troubling film...

[MrCarmady]

Only seen A Hard Day's Night but I do love it, so will vote for it if that's allowed. Looks like there's a bunch of good ones to check out, will try to do so before next week.

[...]

rewatched petulia for first time in many years and i think it's kind of a masterpiece. but a very difficult, troubling film...

Fair enough, and a lot of critics from the era agree with you. I guess the question is in whether one sees Petulia as a fully realized character in her own right, or more just a proxy for comment on the generational and class consciousness divide and George C Scott's doctor character. I had a hard time with that, but to be fair I did see Petulia as part of watching a bunch of movies from the time where that theme kept coming up, younger woman who's part of the era of sexual liberation, meeting an older man who desires to be free but has hang ups holding him back, or some such. It was really a major deal in the late sixties early seventies, but then some of that was likely because of Petulia, which was one of the earlier ones to hit it big with that dynamic. It's all kind of fascinating, but also more than a little creepy, especially as the women kept getting younger and the stories more extravagant.

I forgotten Lester's It's Trad, Dad! which the poster on Letterboxd has as Ring-a-Ding Rhythm, so it now replaces The Knack and How to Get It for my early Lester choice. I never much cared for the Beatles personae/performances in Hard Day's Night and took The Knack instead, but It's Trad, Dad! works even better.

[Roscoe]

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
THE THREE MUSKETEERS
THE BED SITTING ROOM
THE FOUR MUSKETEERS

Hmmm. JUGGERNAUT? THE RITZ? I'll need to think a bit. No room for HOW I WON THE WAR, sorry. PETULIA might sneak on there. I found the KNACK unbearable. And THREE MUSKETEERS might flip to the top spot, a film I adore without reservation.

[sally]

three musketeers

can't stand any of the rest that i've seen. hated petulia (tho to be fair watched it the same time as losey's eva and can't really split the two since i hated that as well)

[flip]

treating the first two musketeers films as a single thing, otherwise four musketeers would be on the list as well.

i'll have to count those as two separate films when i tally the poll, so if you leave your ballot as is, four musketeers won't get any credit, just so you know

[---]

Only seen that something happened on the way to the forum flick. Which was crap

[flip]

no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, so i'll pick someone for our next poll, and we'll start from a clean slate

[wba]

01. Superman III (1983)
02. Superman II (1980)

Lester seen: 5

[flip]

about to post the results, i'll still accept new and edited ballots for a day or so (a few people seemed either to be contemplating reordering theirs or watching some lester and updating), but if you are changing your ballot, please make a new post, quoting your previous ballot, so i can see the old and new ballots side-by-side and work out how to adjust the tally. please don't edit your old ballot. thanks!

[flip]

lester's palme d'or winner (the knack...) finishes in a tie for 8th place -- at first glance, i thought that would be a rare thing in a poll of a director who had won the palme, for their palme-winner to finish so low. but then i looked over the 1950s winners, and orson welles' othello finished 7th in our welles poll, and louis malle's le monde du silence and william wyler's friendly persuasion didn't even make the top ten in those director polls. so i guess it's not unusual at all.


results

1. A Hard Day's Night (1964) -- 14 pts
2. The Three Musketeers (1973) -- 10 pts
3. The Bed Sitting Room (1969) -- 9 pts
4. The Four Musketeers (1974) -- 8 pts
5. Petulia (1968) -- 7 pts
6. Juggernaut (1974) -- 6 pts
7. It's Trad, Dad! (1962) -- 5 pts
8. Robin and Marian (1976) -- 4 pts
8. The Knack... And How to Get It (1965) -- 4 pts
10. Finders Keepers (1984) -- 3 pts
10. Help! (1965) -- 3 pts
12. The Ritz (1976) -- 2 pts
12. Superman II (1980) -- 2 pts
12. Superman III (1983) -- 2 pts

[Monsieur Arkadin]

I didn't have time to add to the 1 Lester I've seen and participate. But It's interesting to look through these results. Petulia is one of my favorite films, but it seems like Roeg film more than anything. I'd be curious how it measures up against the others.

[flip]

at letterbox

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-191/