Empire of the Sun DVD

They show Clockwork O quite often here in the US. I watched it once & couldn’t see what all the fuss was about, attempted to watch it a second time, got bored to death about 30 minutes into it & haven’t bothered since ..

Is this a new DVD then, too lazy to check with Amazon.
Haven’t seen it for a while but has always been one of my fav films, it has some tasty little scenes, I always thought it was Hoof Proudfoot flying the ‘Cadillac of the Skies’.
Perhaps Speilberg would be a good candidate for the much debated remake of Dambusters, he could fly over in the Canadian Lancaster.

No this is a repackaged version of the region 1 flipper but on 2 disc’s, i have had this on region 1 for ages but it is such a great film.

The dambusters would never be remade by speilbeard as george lucas loves the film and would probably never talk to him again (no indy 4 then!).

curlyboy

Yes, I believe they did! CIA or FBI anyway – can’t confirm just yet though. Kubrick and Adam were bricking it by all accounts.

Cracking story too.

Interesting aside to this, there you are at a fancy dress party looking like Alex and feeling pretty cool and all the girls took the p###, I was quite surprised, however there was one, should I say, mature woman, who based herself outside the toilet and insisted on helping all the males with help to relieve themselves.
I used the garden.

With regard to Strangelove.
I gather that Slim Pickens was convinced by Kubrick that it was a serious film and consequently developed a ‘Gung Ho’ attitude to it, which caused a lot of hillarity on set, I also remember that Sellers was earmarked for other parts but couldn’t manage the US southern accent without them all collapsing with hysteria.

Glad its out at last!!!! Been waiting ages – there is one shot with our bird in it in the making of documentary – enjoyed seeing Ray in P-51 cockpit working the bomb release units…

TT

According to the IMDB entry:

The U.S. Air Force would not allow Stanley Kubrick or his designers to see the interior of a B-52 for security reasons, so they were forced to look at a photograph of a plane and extrapolate its interior based on that. Their surmises were so accurate that after the film’s release, the Air Force was certain that they’d stolen classified information.

Yes, I believe they did! CIA or FBI anyway – can’t confirm just yet though. Kubrick and Adam were bricking it by all accounts.

Cracking story too.

Thanks for that Daz, excellent.

Pete – my wife refused to watch it. Then came and sat down after half an hour and stayed watching it. It is maybe disturbing for it’s time and previous cinematic outpourings, but in all honesty it pales next to anything with Arnie or Willis in for mindless violence. It’s nowhere near as shocking, violence-wise, as Private Ryan. Much of the fighting is choreographed in a way reminiscent of tai-chi. It IS beautifully filmed.

haven’t read Ballards book – did have it but no idea what happened to it.

Strangelove is great. And Production Designer was ex-609 Tiffy pilot. he designed the famous war room.

This will make you smile, at the time Clockwork Orange came out and was then withdrawn by Kubrick, we were invited to a fancy dress party.
Yes, you’ve guessed it we dressed up as Alex and the Droogs.
Having a slight resemblance to Malcolm McDowell, I wore the bowler hat and eyelash, we really looked the part and went on a ‘Surprise visit’ around Nottingham in a Vauxhall Viva, including a visit to a pub, shudder.
How we got away with it, I don’t know.
Eventually we arrived at the party and I had someone primed to take out the music and put on the soundtrack to the film.
We kicked the door in and caused mayhem, eventually, during a mock battle with a bunch of Vikings outside, the police arrived and we were in big trouble, that film caused a lot of angst at the time.

Didn’t the B-52 scenes in Strangelove cause the production staff to be interviewed by the CIA because of their realism, which was completely made up.

Thanks for that Daz, excellent.

Pete – my wife refused to watch it. Then came and sat down after half an hour and stayed watching it. It is maybe disturbing for it’s time and previous cinematic outpourings, but in all honesty it pales next to anything with Arnie or Willis in for mindless violence. It’s nowhere near as shocking, violence-wise, as Private Ryan. Much of the fighting is choreographed in a way reminiscent of tai-chi. It IS beautifully filmed.

haven’t read Ballards book – did have it but no idea what happened to it.

Strangelove is great. And Production Designer was ex-609 Tiffy pilot. he designed the famous war room.

Hmm, I was also under the impression it was Hoof.

Apart from the fatal over-acting of that snotty little ******* Bale, Malkovich grating and the ridiculously weird store of furniture in the desert it is fantastic. I bought and watched it again last year after Steve died – remembering him scream ‘P51 Cadillac of the Skies!’ on the tank bank – and cried. I always found that bit emotional, but even more so now. Perhaps it was knowing that the pilot who waves is actually no longer with us. VERY powerful bit of cinema.

JG Ballard did Crash as well – and didn’t the Daily Mail go ape**** over that! And the Govt wanted it banned etc. I’d seen it a few months before in France and instead of finding it shocking I found it incredibly dull. I should watch it again now to see if I can understand it any better! (Clockwork Orange didn’t disturb me either – main reaction being how incredibly beautiful the lighting and filming was! Perhaps i’m psychotic?). Ballard also rejected an MBE or OBE or something too. Pretentious twatt.

Have you read the book, it’s bloody good, I think it’s unfortunate that Speilberg chose to omit the sinking of the gunboat in the attack on Shanghai, it formed a good founding to the story. Also, the furniture in the stadium was supposed to have have been the stuff looted by the Japanese from the western enclave, how much of this is J G Ballards memories or imagination, we will probably never know.

Interestingly enough, last night, I had a discussion with my film buff, 12 year old, going on 21, stepson, about important films he hadn’t seen, I put Dr Strangelove at the top of the list, followed by Rainman, ok it’s got Tom Cruise in it, Clockwork Orange was mentioned, but madam won’t allow that film in the house, however, George and I exchanged glances, we will see, I also have the book, should I start with that.

Just seen Dasd’s post, wow, definately Ray, what a cinematic scene chaps, I can taste the cordite in my mouth.

Ray in “Empire”

I knew I’d seen this pic somewhere, and I thought I had posted it up, but it was another with both Bale and the Mustang in shot.

Originally posted by LaurentB in the Ray Hanna thread in December:

Hmm, I was also under the impression it was Hoof.

This was covered before – definitely Ray.

“Empire” thread

I posted a picture of the flyby a while ago, but I’m damned if I can find it!!

Hmm, I was also under the impression it was Hoof.

Apart from the fatal over-acting of that snotty little ******* Bale, Malkovich grating and the ridiculously weird store of furniture in the desert it is fantastic. I bought and watched it again last year after Steve died – remembering him scream ‘P51 Cadillac of the Skies!’ on the tank bank – and cried. I always found that bit emotional, but even more so now. Perhaps it was knowing that the pilot who waves is actually no longer with us. VERY powerful bit of cinema.

JG Ballard did Crash as well – and didn’t the Daily Mail go ape**** over that! And the Govt wanted it banned etc. I’d seen it a few months before in France and instead of finding it shocking I found it incredibly dull. I should watch it again now to see if I can understand it any better! (Clockwork Orange didn’t disturb me either – main reaction being how incredibly beautiful the lighting and filming was! Perhaps i’m psychotic?). Ballard also rejected an MBE or OBE or something too. Pretentious twatt.

The Region 2 DVD came out in March.

I think Hoof was involved in the filming, but simply as one of the other Mustang pilots – it was Ray who did the gorgeous flyby past Christian Bale.

Is this a new DVD then, too lazy to check with Amazon.
Haven’t seen it for a while but has always been one of my fav films, it has some tasty little scenes, I always thought it was Hoof Proudfoot flying the ‘Cadillac of the Skies’.
Perhaps Speilberg would be a good candidate for the much debated remake of Dambusters, he could fly over in the Canadian Lancaster.

Great film, and the late great Ray Hanna makes it onto the big screen as well.

curlyboy