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Post by hurleybot on Mar 10, 2021 16:36:43 GMT -5
I'm making a Letterbox'd list of movies referenced in Hold Steady lyrics. Check it out.Letterbox'd is great for movie lovers and completists, if you're not familiar with it. List is short right now but I wanted to throw it out for collaboration. What are all of the movies Craig directly references? Top of my head I have: Opening Night Breaking Away Days of Heaven North Dallas Forty and Revenge of the Nerds Star Wars (tusken raiders) Drop Dead Fred Is there consensus on what movie they're watching in The Ambassador? Third act takes place in a wormhole, etc... There are so many actors and actresses, but often just referencing celebrity and not film, so that doesn't help my list. There are also a few mentions like Humbert Humbert and Gepetto which I'm considering as more literary than anything else. I'm looking simply for movie references. Thanks film fans!
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Post by orzelc on Mar 10, 2021 18:42:28 GMT -5
I suspect that the oeuvre of Rocco Sifretti is not so much on Letterbox'd....
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Post by skepticatfirst on Mar 10, 2021 20:34:58 GMT -5
I'm making a Letterbox'd list of movies referenced in Hold Steady lyrics. Check it out.Letterbox'd is great for movie lovers and completists, if you're not familiar with it. List is short right now but I wanted to throw it out for collaboration. What are all of the movies Craig directly references? Top of my head I have: Opening Night Breaking Away Days of Heaven North Dallas Forty and Revenge of the Nerds Star Wars (tusken raiders) Drop Dead Fred Great initiative. A couple more off the top of my head: 1) The Outsiders (1983): www.imdb.com/title/tt0086066/ Diane Lane kept me sane through the spring I was flirting with her films ... Shepard [ABlues] Shepard is the name of the gang leader character; Diane Lane played Cherry. 2) Taxi Driver (1976): www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak3ma7wtE_0&ab_channel=AcademyAwardClips then it all became like an action/adventure looking in the mirror, reaching for your holster [RfLB] Is there consensus on what movie they're watching in The Ambassador? Third act takes place in a wormhole, etc... I've wondered that for a long time! would love to know if it can be fit to a real movie.
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 11, 2021 10:41:55 GMT -5
I'm making a Letterbox'd list of movies referenced in Hold Steady lyrics. Check it out.Letterbox'd is great for movie lovers and completists, if you're not familiar with it. List is short right now but I wanted to throw it out for collaboration. What are all of the movies Craig directly references? Top of my head I have: Opening Night Breaking Away Days of Heaven North Dallas Forty and Revenge of the Nerds Star Wars (tusken raiders) Drop Dead Fred Great initiative. A couple more off the top of my head: 1) The Outsiders (1983): www.imdb.com/title/tt0086066/ Diane Lane kept me sane through the spring I was flirting with her films ... Shepard [ABlues] Shepard is the name of the gang leader character; Diane Lane played Cherry. 2) Taxi Driver (1976): www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak3ma7wtE_0&ab_channel=AcademyAwardClips then it all became like an action/adventure looking in the mirror, reaching for your holster [RfLB] Is there consensus on what movie they're watching in The Ambassador? Third act takes place in a wormhole, etc... I've wondered that for a long time! would love to know if it can be fit to a real movie. A while back I suggested Event Horizon?
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Post by skepticatfirst on Mar 11, 2021 11:26:37 GMT -5
A while back I suggested Event Horizon? Oh man, you did, I forgot about that (that was when you said about the "blockbuster summer," right?)! I never saw the movie, so I made a mental bookmark to go watch it, and then spaced it. Gotta go check that out.
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Post by thedreadedlaramie on Mar 11, 2021 13:13:53 GMT -5
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Post by skepticatfirst on Mar 11, 2021 14:57:20 GMT -5
Nice one. And that reminds me of Star 80 (1983): www.imdb.com/title/tt0086355/ Mariel Hemingway with perfect skin And some creep with a camera who says he's gonna make her a star [Star18]
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Post by tableinthecorner on Mar 11, 2021 15:35:54 GMT -5
A while back I suggested Event Horizon? Oh man, you did, I forgot about that (that was when you said about the "blockbuster summer," right?)! I never saw the movie, so I made a mental bookmark to go watch it, and then spaced it. Gotta go check that out. I'll preface this by saying that I don't think I've read nosferatu's blockbuster summer/ Event Horizon post and I haven't seen Event Horizon or the movie I'm about to suggest. I'm not exactly qualified to speak on all this but I'll throw it out there anyway. I did some quick digging around on movies with wormholes and stumbled upon Stargate. Here's a link to the Wiki Fandom I read about it. A few things jumped out to me: 1. It involves a wormhole 2. It came out in 1994, the year that the blockbuster summer takes place, according to Skeptic's Here Goes timeline 3. It involves a woman with an amulet that brings good luck 4. There is a ring with an inscription that was originally translated as "door to heaven" That sounds promising. Might have to do a Stargate/ Event Horizon double-feature this weekend. (Also props to anyone who can follow that whole Wiki summary. The plot seems ridiculously complicated — not sure how they fit that all in two hours, haha.)
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 11, 2021 15:38:27 GMT -5
A while back I suggested Event Horizon? Oh man, you did, I forgot about that (that was when you said about the "blockbuster summer," right?)! I never saw the movie, so I made a mental bookmark to go watch it, and then spaced it. Gotta go check that out. Yeah! I’ve not seen the film for years though. I know we all like these things so here’s another wildly metatextual one... Chariots of Fire (1981 - A blockbuster from the summer following the release of Rush’s “Moving Pictures”). Reason? The phrase “Chariot of Fire” comes from William Blake’s (see: CSTLN) poem “And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time” (better known as the hymn “Jerusalem”), whose theme is directly related to the Book of Revelation which concerns the Second Coming.
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 11, 2021 15:40:31 GMT -5
Oh man, you did, I forgot about that (that was when you said about the "blockbuster summer," right?)! I never saw the movie, so I made a mental bookmark to go watch it, and then spaced it. Gotta go check that out. I'll preface this by saying that I don't think I've read nosferatu's blockbuster summer/ Event Horizon post and I haven't seen Event Horizon or the movie I'm about to suggest. I'm not exactly qualified to speak on all this but I'll throw it out there anyway. I did some quick digging around on movies with wormholes and stumbled upon Stargate. Here's a link to the Wiki Fandom I read about it. A few things jumped out to me: 1. It involves a wormhole 2. It came out in 1994, the year that the blockbuster summer takes place, according to Skeptic's Here Goes timeline 3. It involves a woman with an amulet that brings good luck 4. There is a ring with an inscription that was originally translated as "door to heaven" That sounds promising. Might have to do a Stargate/ Event Horizon double-feature this weekend. (Also props to anyone who can follow that whole Wiki summary. The plot seems ridiculously complicated — not sure how they fit that all in two hours, haha.) Great catch! Yeah, the event horizon suggestion was literally just the first thing that came into my head when I first heard that song, that film would make more sense!
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Post by star18 on Mar 11, 2021 19:41:08 GMT -5
"Last Waltz" should get grandfathered in even without this ref, since it was the original inspiration for this entire gorgeous enterprise! Regarding the "Almost Everything" film, I thought that I remember reading a CF interview where he claimed that wasn't actually any specific movie, but I can't find that so it's entirely possible I made that up.
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Post by hurleybot on Mar 11, 2021 21:45:30 GMT -5
Awesome responses so far, thanks!
First, egg on my face for saying The Ambassador instead of Almost Everything in the original post. I do like the Event Horizon theory best, especially because I've always heard "the hero ascended to Heaven" as a sarcastic rather than literal description of what happens at the end, and he just means the hero died. Event Horizon would fit the criteria. Though I also like the idea of it being a made up movie, so I'll leave it off for now.
The Outsiders is a good call. I always think of Unfaithful during that line because he mentions Richard Gere too. But I do know Craig mentions the Outsiders in an interview and I think that's a better call.
Last Waltz is great, and Star 80 is a reference I never even knew! Thought he was just referencing Hemingway and celebrity culture.
Going to hold off on any Lifter Puller or Craig solo lyrics and maybe expand in the future.
Thanks to everyone replying. Anything else?
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Post by tableinthecorner on Mar 11, 2021 22:58:04 GMT -5
Regarding the "Almost Everything" film, I thought that I remember reading a CF interview where he claimed that wasn't actually any specific movie, but I can't find that so it's entirely possible I made that up. Yeah, you're totally right. Here's a quote I found: This is a link to the article that's in, which is fitting to this thread.The lyric is so generic, I see no reason not to trust Craig on this one. Damn, I was really getting excited about that Stargate stuff. Might give it a watch anyway to make sure we're not overlooking anything major.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Mar 12, 2021 1:11:33 GMT -5
Thanks to everyone replying. Anything else? I forgot about He had no shoes and no pants And they dressed him in a shirt with a collar and called him Porky Pig [HM] The collar isn't from the movie, and maybe that's a problem for the purposes of this list; but "porky pig" is at least indirectly a reference to Deliverance (1972) www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/(When Gideon is jumped into the Skins, he both gets his head shaved and gets gangraped; see theholdsteady.proboards.com/post/121021/thread .)
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Post by star18 on Mar 12, 2021 1:15:49 GMT -5
Nice find, good to know I'm not completely inventing things.
That said, I am on the record as taking Craig's interview explanations with a grain of salt, since (to my mind) he frequently tries to deflect a bit from the overall complexity of the whole thing.
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 13, 2021 16:24:21 GMT -5
“You can’t stay 17 forever”
Opening scene in American Graffiti... of course it’s set in Modesto isn’t it. Had to be.
Oh, and for good measure Mackenzie Phillips plays the 12 year old girl in John’s car!
All this from a spontaneous decision to watch it last night. When you start looking........
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Post by orzelc on Mar 14, 2021 6:20:23 GMT -5
On a very different note, you could probably throw in STOP MAKING SENSE thanks to the "Singing 'This Must Be the Place'" reference.
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Post by star18 on Mar 14, 2021 14:55:55 GMT -5
There is basically no situation that can't be improved by STOP MAKING SENSE.
I'm not even that big of a Talking Heads fan in general, and yet I'm pretty sure that's the greatest concert movie ever.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Mar 14, 2021 21:19:01 GMT -5
“You can’t stay 17 forever” Opening scene in American Graffiti... of course it’s set in Modesto isn’t it. Had to be. Oh, and for good measure Mackenzie Phillips plays the 12 year old girl in John’s car! All this from a spontaneous decision to watch it last night. When you start looking........ "17 forever" + "Modesto" + "Mackenzie Phillips" = sure as hell looks like jackpot to me. that's incredible. The Mackenzie Phillips connection in particular seems really solid: Then someone finally showed up with a shot at the coast. So she gets in the car and they go [Eureka] That's a great find.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Mar 15, 2021 2:28:00 GMT -5
I wish I knew anything about movies. I have watched about three or four the past ten years. But I love to follow the findings here.
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TKalltheTime
Sniffling Indie Kid
Blotto / Blacked Out / Cracked Out / Caved In
Posts: 194
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Post by TKalltheTime on Mar 16, 2021 0:11:56 GMT -5
I'm making a Letterbox'd list of movies referenced in Hold Steady lyrics. Check it out.Letterbox'd is great for movie lovers and completists, if you're not familiar with it. List is short right now but I wanted to throw it out for collaboration. What are all of the movies Craig directly references? Top of my head I have: Opening Night Breaking Away Days of Heaven North Dallas Forty and Revenge of the Nerds Star Wars (tusken raiders) Drop Dead Fred Is there consensus on what movie they're watching in The Ambassador? Third act takes place in a wormhole, etc... There are so many actors and actresses, but often just referencing celebrity and not film, so that doesn't help my list. There are also a few mentions like Humbert Humbert and Gepetto which I'm considering as more literary than anything else. I'm looking simply for movie references. Thanks film fans! “ Third act takes place in a wormhole” - 2001: a space odyssey
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Post by kayfaberaven on Mar 16, 2021 17:20:03 GMT -5
[/quote]“ Third act takes place in a wormhole” - 2001: a space odyssey [/quote]
But was 2001 loud, dumb and bloody? Or is Craig being ironic?
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TKalltheTime
Sniffling Indie Kid
Blotto / Blacked Out / Cracked Out / Caved In
Posts: 194
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Post by TKalltheTime on Mar 17, 2021 13:59:24 GMT -5
“ Third act takes place in a wormhole” - 2001: a space odyssey [/quote] But was 2001 loud, dumb and bloody? Or is Craig being ironic? [/quote] The movie is played or supposed to be played “loud”... I can see someone who isn’t able to analyze or process the film and thinking it was “dumb” and maybe they were the one ”bloody”... maybe too much margarita mix?
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Post by hurleybot on Mar 17, 2021 14:16:30 GMT -5
Adding American Graffiti as those seemingly unconnected lyrics definitely coalesce to a film reference for me. And American Graffiti is so spot-on thematically.
Deliverance feels like a stretch unless anyone else can add evidence. I read the Hostile, Mass lyric as simply a Looney Tunes reference (Space Jam? haha).
My heart wants to add Stop Making Sense but it's feeling like a song reference more than a film reference.
Don't think 2001 meets all criteria for the Almost Everything movie. Keeping it a mystery.
Turns out I'm a stickler for the integrity of my own silly project, who knew? I love these suggestions and additions though, the Hold Steady is so cinematic for me and this conversation feels right on.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Apr 1, 2021 10:33:57 GMT -5
Adding American Graffiti as those seemingly unconnected lyrics definitely coalesce to a film reference for me. And American Graffiti is so spot-on thematically. Deliverance feels like a stretch unless anyone else can add evidence. I read the Hostile, Mass lyric as simply a Looney Tunes reference (Space Jam? haha). My heart wants to add Stop Making Sense but it's feeling like a song reference more than a film reference. Don't think 2001 meets all criteria for the Almost Everything movie. Keeping it a mystery. Turns out I'm a stickler for the integrity of my own silly project, who knew? I love these suggestions and additions though, the Hold Steady is so cinematic for me and this conversation feels right on. Not a silly project at all, this is a great project. Totally endorse you being a stickler. Late thought, but I remembered yesterday about This chick, she looked just like Elizabeth Shue We got bruised [Swish] referring to the scene in the movie Leaving Las Vegas (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113627/) where the character played by Elizabeth Shue is raped and beaten, with visible bruising. (Unlike the reference to the Deliverance rape scene, which I admit you need an agreed-on reading of the THS story to argue for, I think this one will probably be felt to stand on its own.)
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