Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
Stephen Dawson ·
November 22, 2012 at 1:24am
In honour of the most recent Acculturated Podcast I ask: what movies haven't, but ought to have been, made.
Criteria: something with a big Hollywood budget that has a decent shot at being commercially successful, yet would also offer a message which would provide conservatives with some satisfaction.
My nominations: Robert A Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Ira Levin's This Perfect Day.
I'm assuming, of course, that neither Paul Verhoeven nor Edward Neumeier is allowed to have anything to do with them.
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Comments:
Nov '12
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. Apparently Kubrick looked at it but made 2001 instead.
May '10
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
Can we get one decent movie set during the American Revolution (perhaps one where the English officers aren't all replaced by cartoon characters)? Heck, maybe if this Lincoln movie is successful, we could get a decent Washington movie.
Edited on November 22, 2012 at 1:39amJun '10
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
Marilynne Robinson's Gilead.
I second Dietlbomb's plea for a good Revolutionary War movie. A good one could be based on David Hackett Fischer's Washington's Crossing (crossing the Delaware, the two battles of Trenton, and the battle of Princeton).
Edited on November 22, 2012 at 1:51amSep '12
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
"Confederacy of Dunces". Tied up at the moment, but I will explain in depth why in a later post.
Feb '11
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
Two seriously thought-provoking books that could make great movies:
--A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter Miller)
--That Hideous Strength (C S Lewis)
Jun '10
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
The Benghazi Scandal
The Fast & Furious Scandal
The Pigford Scandal
The Sestak Scandal
The Solyndra Scandal
The Communist - The Life of Frank Marshall Davis
Barack Obama Goes To College
Apr '11
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
I love...absolutely love Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and I would be thrilled if it were made into a movie. However, in order for it to work, we'd have to go back to the 1970's, early 1980's style of sci-fi movie in order to get the right look and feel.
May '10
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
Kage Baker's Corporation novels
The Guns of the South
Jan '11
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that, while I like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress a lot (I just reread it this year) what most conservatives remember from it is TANSTAAFL. While that sentiment is approved of in conservative circles, the story itself is more libertarian (as are a lot of Heinlein's stories) than conservative in nature. Don't forget that it is the story of an essentially seditious underground staging a successful revolution. A lot of the roots of the lunar society were outgrowths of russian collectivism, De la Pas (the guiding light behind the revolution) was an unrepentant anarchist, and Manny was a happy member of a polygamous extended family. The story as written appeals more to libertarians than conservatives and we may not be very happy to see what Hollywood would do with it :-).
Apr '11
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
There was some talk about HBO following the John Adams series with an adaptation of David McCullough's 1776, which followed Washington's army (it even has an IMDB page). Sadly, it's been 6 years, so I doubt it'll happen. I would have loved to see a Jefferson biopic with the actor who played TJ in Adams.
A Band of Brothers set during the Revolution would be great.
Jan '11
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
As far as movies - apparently they are making Ender's Game. Has The Forever War been done in any decent format yet?
Apr '11
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
tabula rasa: Marilynne Robinson'sGilead.
I second Dietlbomb's plea for a good Revolutionary War movie. A good one could be based on David Hackett Fischer'sWashington's Crossing(crossing the Delaware, the two battles of Trenton, and the battle of Princeton).
There actually was a TV movie of this years ago starring Jeff Daniels are Washington. I haven't seen it, though.
Nov '11
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
Totally agree on this one. John Belushi was slated to play Ignatius, so the project was scrapped. I'd love to see it revived...
May '11
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
Cutlass
tabula rasa: Marilynne Robinson'sGilead.
I second Dietlbomb's plea for a good Revolutionary War movie. A good one could be based on David Hackett Fischer'sWashington's Crossing(crossing the Delaware, the two battles of Trenton, and the battle of Princeton).
There actually was a TV movie of this years ago starring Jeff Daniels are Washington. I haven't seen it, though. · 1 minute ago
I have and it is excellent.
Apr '11
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
There are so any great films to be made about our history.
For the Revolutionary War how about one on the Fort Ticonderoga raid?
A big screen biography of Fredrick Douglas.
Can you imagine Hollywood showing a gun-totting Harriet Tubman?
A big budget War of 1812 action film.
A sober character study of John Brown would be fascinating.
The William Tecumseh Sherman Story starring Brian Cranston.
And, my dream film, which will never be made: A Cohen Brothers comedy about the 1840 presidential campaign.
Aug '12
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
I gotta argue against "That Hideous Strength". While there are many themes and symbols in that book that I keep coming back to, from a storytelling perspective it was just awful.
I'm going to go with the joke for a pick of my own. "You know what was a good movie? The Matrix. Too bad they never made a sequel."
Mar '12
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
I think I heard somewhere that someone is doing Witness. You have spying, a famous trial, Nixon, homosexuality, sex, plus a relatively powerless guy vs. the establishment of the period.
The trouble: all the lines of the story cut the wrong way for Hollywood: the spy turns against the Left. He rejectes Communism, and turns to Catholicism. He exposes a major playor in post-New Deal Washington as a communist spy. And, perhaps wost of all for Hollywood, he moves from homosexuality to heterosexuality.
Aug '10
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
Just keep Hollywood away from Heinlein. There is no way to get his stories in decent movie form.
You can easily imagine what hyper-liberal Hollywood would do to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The libertarian frontier colony would be turned into a libertine colony, and the revolution would be cast into the usual "worker's glorious revolution" mold. And the point of TANSTAAFL would be utterly missed by an elite class who frequently votes for free lunches.
My nomination for the movie that needed to be made, and maybe can still be made: The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester. It's the kind of blood-soaked revenge tale that certain directors still understand, and the science wouldn't be too hard to explain in shorthand movie form. The necessary shots, scenery, and makeup are now possible with special effects and CGI.
Mar '12
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
I was going to mention Asimov's Foundation series, but I see it is scheduled to be made in the near future.
Jun '10
Re: Movies that haven't been made, but ought to be
I don't know about films with themes that satisfy conservatives but two stories I think would be fascinating to watch if made in sort of Merchant Ivory fashion would be:
1. After Many A Summer Dies The Swan - novel by Aldous Huxley...as witty and satirical as anything by Evelyn Waugh.
2. The theft of the Mona Lisa - Not many people know that the most famous painting in the world was once stolen - that fakes were commissioned and sold as the original by the mastermind of the scheme, a South American art dealer; that the theft caused an upheaval in the French government; that Pablo Picasso was called in for questioning because he had "borrowed" some artifacts from the Louvre; that the Italian carpenter who was hired to carry out the theft was eventually caught after he attempted to sell the painting to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence to repatriate it, not realizing that Leonardo gave it to the King of France as a gift. A rich, rich true story with a cast of wonderful characters and locations that stretch from Paris to Egypt to London to Florence to Morroco. That's a film I'd love to see.