One big strike against The Thing was that it came out just about the exact time that ET was ruling the box office. Talk about running smack up against the zeitgeist in a big way. It was the Anti-ET in just about every conceivable way.
I should clarify that I meant this was a big reason the movie got piled on by critics and ignored at the box office. I love The Thing and own it. I probably like Kurt Russell's misnathropy here even more than in Escape from New York. Plus, once you've seen this you will never look at Wilford Brimley the same.
Before I forget, I bookmarked this article for you, Corwood.
Transcendental Style in the Cinema of John Ford. Comments are well worth reading also. (For a change.)
Thanks! I read that the other day, actually. Kenny gets on my nerves often (this one, in particular, was freakin' awful, nothing but self-satisfied japery masquerading as criticism), but it's always good to read someone taking Metcalf down.
ET was also the reason Blade Runner tanked at the box office. They opened on the same weekend.
But that's 'Ffista movie discussion no. 23, right?
I saw a double-feature in a theatre of The Thing and Alien when I was ... 9? 10? Around then. Talk about not sleeping for days afterward.
Heh, and now we hit Buffista conversation #62.5 - what was your most traumatizing formative movie-going experience.
It was kind of awesome, if extremely scary. My mom's best friend had a huge crush on Kurt Russel, and my best friend and I were precocious horror/SF geeks. It
seemed
like a good idea.
Let's see... when I was about four or five, I saw some version of
A Christmas Carol
- the scene where Scrooge went to hell kinda' traumatized me.
I wasn't allowed to see R movies when I was a kid, so no traumas there....
Saturday morning creature feature-
THEM.
Oh wait, movie-going? I guess
Taps.
I don't mind tanks when they're stationary, like the ones at military museums you can climb on are
awesome.
But when they're moving or the cannon pivots I get totally skeeved.
