Review The Wicker Man (1973)

Carol

Member: Rank 5
Yo! My very new Omega-chum - I'm on this site for half an hour and you already had a Wicker Man thread waiting for me? Quality! Extra Brownie points my dear! In a world where loose-thinking maniacal politicians are declaiming that the current shortage of Iceberg lettuce in Britain does not constitute a "crisis", I'm thinking of the next post-Cage/ post-Brexit sequel already. (Wasn't the shabbiness of tinned fruit on the pub menu the first clue to pending dodginess already?) Bring me a new Urban Wicker Man with a green salad-fail in his streetwise burger, and let havoc commence - possibly mainland Aberdeenshire rather than the Islands... possibly nearer the time of the pending State Visit... I'm thinking - "The Orange Man".
Too soon?
Too -how to say this - topical?
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Yes, no doubt The Orange Man would shout and scream that it was all fake, "You're all fakes!" as the flames licked nearer.

Am glad you like the Wicker Thread.

I will have to watch the Nicholas Cage version again.

He's a vampire you know, apparently!

Am not sure I am convinced though! :emoji_flushed:
 
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Carol

Member: Rank 5
Yes, no doubt The Orange Man would shout and scream that it was all fake, "You're all fakes!" as the flames licked nearer.

Am glad you like the Wicker Thread.

I will have to watch the Nicholas Cage version again.

He's a vampire you know, apparently!


Am not sure I am convinced though! :emoji_flushed:

I thought I would add a cover version of Willow's Song for a change. :emoji_joy_cat:

Full disclosure: never fully braced myself for Mr Cage's remake at all - I gather that bees are somewhat maligned but wasn't at a;t aware of vampire content- you interest me strangely on that point - seriously, how |DO you rate the remake?
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
I think it was a misfire. It is baffling to know what the thinking was behind it. They took all of the songs out too. Relocated it. Just madness.

However, having said that, it has achieved a kind of cult status as an unintentionally hilarious film; with lines like "STEP AWAY FROM THE BIKE!" and so forth.

In fact someone here turned it into a comedy trailer.


So it may have it's day yet.

Did you know about the authentic sequel, made in 2011, to the original film called THE WICKER TREE? Written by Robin Hardy the director of the first.

Trailer here....


Sadly this film is not highly regarded either. I watched it once, but did not think much to it. The low budget certainly showed I thought.
 

Carol

Member: Rank 5
Thanks, interesting ideas. I know our college library has the remake so I might finally take the plunge. I'd heard of the sequel (thanks for that at least IMDb) but haven't managed to track it down yet. Maybe when I'm organised enough I'll start thread of films/ TV shows that really DIDN'T work Americanised - and vice versa of course... but then I just this week finally saw the very first episode of Elementary and am still boggling: great idea, great actors - what happened?
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Funnily enough, when I heard about the concept of ELEMENTARY, I was prepared to hate it, and I had never rated Johnny Lee Miller as an actor, but once I started watching it, I thought he was really good in it and I think his interpretation of Holmes was nicely different. The show fell into the formulaic feel of many American shows though i.m.o. The chemistry with Watson is good though, I feel.

Yes, when you are ready, do start a thread. You won't look back! :emoji_nerd:
 

Carol

Member: Rank 5
Yes - woe is me, I'll just have to watch quite a few more episodes before I can decide if it's formulaic - for now I'll just ponder why the stuff Holmes, S. is floundering in America in the first place / why Watson is a struck-off surgeon rather than s a viable GP and who the hell is Holmes senior anyway to be shunting his drug-addled son 4,000 miles away from the good offices of the NHS? Although the Manhatten version of the Baker Street Irregulars will be worth the wait, I'm sure...
 

Carol

Member: Rank 5
So true - but I will never ever tire of what excitable and clever people do with Shakespeare either.... including Dr Who, Elton John and Joss Whedon...
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Yes, that always seemed a little far fetched to me. I gather that Howie was really supposed to be a much younger man, but he was, of course, excellent in the role.
 

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
Yes, that always seemed a little far fetched to me. I gather that Howie was really supposed to be a much younger man, but he was, of course, excellent in the role.
Perhaps Patrick Mower might have been a better choice, for a younger, more innocent LEO?

But could you accept him as a virgin?
 

Carol

Member: Rank 5
Never doubted it for a minute - he's the product (victim) of a very hard line moralistic take on Scottish Presbyterianism. Remote community of puritanical busybodies - no sense at all that he wanted anything different than to wait for sex after marriage... of course if he'd come from the very different hedonistic village in Local Hero, the Summerislanders would have been a bit thwarted, and we'd have had a much shorter film to watch
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
I always wondered, was Willow trying to save him that night that she was tempting him?

And if he had weakened, them who could they have sacrificed in his place?
 

Carol

Member: Rank 5
Not at all sure about Willow, but if they really had run out of handy virgins, the traditional sacrifice would have to be their king or nearest equivalent- somehow don't see that working well once they'd figured that out...
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
I could see Christopher Lee nicking Edward Woodward's plane and scooting off the island in that event. Lol.
 
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Carol

Member: Rank 5
Good thinking - swiftest conversion on record from paganism to born-again atheist - in mid air. I want a Mel Brooks remake now, please.
 
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