Hal Ashby

Woebot

Well-known member
Kind of not exactly forgotten auteur of the 70s Hollywood crew - but certainly not as celebrated as Altman/Kubrick.

The Last Detail with Jack Nicholson - just awesome - like the best theatre but could never be a play.
Being There with Peter Sellers - a very special movie - got that hippie forcefield vibe running very strongly.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Always meant to check him out, never have. Someone was talking just the other day about how Harold and Maude is their favourtie film.

He had a really sad later life, from what I remember from Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.
 
He had a really sad later life

This from Wikipedia
"Ashby grew up in a Mormon household and had a tumultuous childhood as part of a dysfunctional family which included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide and his dropping out of high school. Ashby was married and divorced by the time he was seventeen"
Doesn't sound like the early years were a barrel of laughs either
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"Kind of not exactly forgotten auteur of the 70s Hollywood crew - but certainly not as celebrated as Altman/Kubrick.
I think that's because he wasn't as good. I haven't seen many of his but I remember checking out Shampoo with high hopes and thinking that it really hadn't stood the test of time.
 

Woebot

Well-known member
I think that's because he wasn't as good. I haven't seen many of his but I remember checking out Shampoo with high hopes and thinking that it really hadn't stood the test of time.

you're spot on there rich - shampoo is not good. beatty really grates. but do check out those two i mentioned - they're amazing.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Yeah, The Last Detail has been on my list for a while - everyone I know who has seen it rates it highly.
If I remember correctly (and I'm thinking of the right person) Ashby was famous for his editing, he would lock himself away with the prints for ages and then emerge with a much better film than people who had been on set would have believed possible.
Beatty does grate - quite often I think but it's undeniable that he had a huge influence in getting some interesting stuff happening in Hollywood.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I think that bits in Shampoo such as when she says at the dinner party "I want to suck his dick" were pretty edgy at the time but don't really have much capacity to shock these days and you're not left with a lot else.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
To be fair, it is Julie Christie saying that, which ups the satisfaction factor by about 1000.

But yeah, pretty dreadful film.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I dunno if I'd go that far but I certainly don't see what all the fuss is about. It's a strange film sure but is it good?
 

Woebot

Well-known member
I dunno if I'd go that far but I certainly don't see what all the fuss is about. It's a strange film sure but is it good?

Rich. Perhaps I am reacting to the hype? But it did strike me as very over-rated. Certainly not good.

:confused:
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
good call, thought Being There was magnificent. Sellers plays the role perfectly, so cool and demure.
that last scene summed it up so perfectly.
enjoyed the Last Detail, although Randy Quaid's performance lost a bit of momentum for me imo.
 

version

Well-known member
Yeah, The Last Detail has been on my list for a while - everyone I know who has seen it rates it highly.

Watched it recently, around the same time I watched Blue Collar and Husbands, and yeah, it's great. The three made a solid triple bill of three-blokes-hanging-about-in-the-70s films.

If I remember correctly (and I'm thinking of the right person) Ashby was famous for his editing, he would lock himself away with the prints for ages and then emerge with a much better film than people who had been on set would have believed possible.

He was Norman Jewison's editor before he started directing his own stuff. I remember seeing one of their letters somewhere online and they had a very close relationship.
 
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