Hollywood Going Downhill!

I read or heard the other day that some movie makers are concerned about a decline in audiences at American movie theaters--and they wonder why?
My view: most of the movies being produced today are for morons, and I hope that is a very small audience in the U.S.
Morons, you say? Yes, I say morons because there are so many great stories that could be told, but the movies don't tell them. They rely on terrible language to shock audiences, terrible people to shock them more--and then the movies they make do not tell a good story. A good story does not have to be "good," by the way. It just has to be a story worth telling.
I think here in the US too many movie makers try to identify a formula that will draw audiences--and valid or not--then they make movies to that formula with the expectation they will draw the people.
I am not one of the people they draw--and, by the way, I like movies. I will not, however, pay money to have my intelligence insulted (and I don't consider my intelligence way up there) by foolish junk! More than once I have gotten up and left in the middle of a movie that I rank in the "insult to my intelligence" category. I will do it again, though I so seldom go to movies anymore that.
What is a good movie?
It is a movie that has a great story to tell. It can be a great comedy as well as drama, fantasy as well as fact. But, it must be good.
Examples of good movies that I have seen and always enjoy:
--The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart. Good for the script, the characters, good and bad, even though sometimes the script itself seems to miss something. Still, always fun to watch.
--The African Queen, also with Bogart. Great story, interesting characters!
--Harvey with James Stewart, a whimsical, funny movie with depth and meaning to it. I remember the Catholic church putting the movie on a "don't go to list" when I was growing up. I'm glad I gone since.
--Casa Blanca, also with Bogart. Everytime I hear those people sing the French national anthym to drown out the Germans, I stand and join in singing the French song with them!
--Stage Coach, Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,
They Were Expendable and the Searchers, all featuring John Wayne, an American actor who became an institution in the US. In each case, the movie is about an interesting challenging character, John Wayne, tied to a good story with other good characters besides or in addition to John Wayne.
--Shane, another western featuring Alan Ladd, Van Hefflin and Jean Arthur. What a great story, great photography, interesting characters in a wonderous setting--the Grand Tetons (mountains) of Wyoming!
--High Noon, with Gary Cooper, a long dead movie star. The movie is in black and white, but the colors fit the theme and give it a tone that color would not.
--Von Ryan's Express with Frank Sinatra, another movie I want to see anytime it comes on. Sinatra, a great singer, is as good an actor in this movie.
--Paint Your Wagon with Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. The music is wonderous and the story universal: man (and woman) searching for the meaning of life in a Gold Rush. Great story and music!
--Empire of the Sun, great because I think it represents a sort of forgiveness to the Japanese for their part in World War II--when a young British boy is shown saluting two Japanese pilots. The first time I saw that scene it caused me to sit straight up in my seat and feel amazement! Wow! At last, maybe the war is finally behind us.
--The Grapes of Wrath, which for once is almost as good as the book. No, I take that back. It is as good as the book, which is one of the great pieces of American fiction.
Movies that I think missed the mark: "Saving Private Ryan" because while the special effects were good, a story based on a more believable event at Normandy would have made far better movie. There are so many good stories from that event! I can't think of the name of it, but the movie from Disney about the Alamo a few years ago missed the mark. Whoever wrote the script did not understand the time or the people who were in the Alamo. You can read some of my ideas on that in an earlier entry. But, the Disney version was not even mildly interesting to someone who has long had an interest in that story. It did not tell me anything I did not know, and what it did tell me was not told in an interesting fashion. John Wayne's version of the same story in a movie also missed the mark. Too bad.
A few years ago (actually many years ago) when the movie "Platoon" was released, it was billed as THE movie about the American military in Vietnam! I was in Vietnam. I saw the American military in Vietnam. "Platoon?" The only thing good to come out of that for me was the theme music, "Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber. I'd never heard it before. The rest of the movie? What a waste when there were so many good stories to tell about Americans in the Vietnam War. The stories I saw were not pro or anti war, they were just great stories about average GIs doing incredible things. Check some of the web sites about the Vietnam War, you will find some.
No movie has been made about the Vietnam War yet that is truly a great movie. One based on the book, "Chickenhawk" would be a good movie, but, alas, I think the window for that has passed.
The war in Iraq will some day produce great novels or movies or series of movies and books because of how it and the war in Afghanistan (sp) will change the atmosphere in the Middle East. And, this will not happen because of American involvement exclusively. I think the changes probably would have come anyway, only they would have taken longer--because I think the general unhappiness represented by all the suicide bombers and the huge emphasis on destroying Israel will one day pass. It has, too, and it must be replaced by the desire of people to get along with each other, to talk things over rather than fight and kill over things and to have good lives. You don't do that with sucide bombers and people killing each other or relgious zealouts preaching hate!
Oh, yes, other American movies that get top billing from me include "MASH," "Jeremiah Johnson," "The Sting," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," and "Cool Hand Luke."
Others are welcome to add movies they've liked or not liked.
Smile!