Thursday, October 22, 2015

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:


Italo: A normal man? For me, a normal man is one 
who turns his head to see a beautiful woman's bottom. 
The point is not just to turn your head.
There are five or six reasons.
And he is glad to find people who are like him, his equals. 
That's why he likes crowded beaches,
football, the bar downtown.
Marcello: At Piazza Venice. 
Italo: He likes people similar to himself and does not trust 
those who are different. That's why a normal man is 
a true brother, a true citizen, a true patriot... 
Marcello: A true fascist. 

Thanks to here for alerting me to the fact that Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist, one of the greatest and most influential films ever made (and a personal favorite) was released on this day 45 years ago. If you've never gotten the chance to see this astonishingly beautiful film on a big screen do whatever it takes, up to and including genocide (that would be ironic!), to make that happen. It will blow your eyeballs out of the back of your head and also manage to be totally worth having eyeballs in the back of your head after that. It's that good! 


2 comments:

sissyinhwd said...

I was the head of the repertory dept. at Paramount in the '90's and handled the restoration of THE CONFORMIST. There was a missing sequence in the US release referred to as "the dance of the blind." This is the sequence from which you have quoted. Paramount's DVD and the recent BluRay from Raro Video now all include the restoration. I worked directly with Vittorio Storaro at Cinecitta who insisted all prints be made under his guidance at Technicolor Rome. All of the new prints were GORGEOUS. I met Bertolucci at the Director's Guild LA when they premiered the restoration. He thanked me for restoring his work and equated it with a painter who's work is restored years later. I was flattered and confirmed this was one of the best things I'd ever been involved in Motion Picture Distribution. I have the poster over my bed along with several 8x10's from the film including "the dance of the blind." I made lots of money on the restoration and my bosses were surprised as none of them knew anything about THE CONFORMIST. The film was picked-up in what was called the Marianna Deal along with BARBARELLA, DANGER:DIABOLIL and 1900. Despite the ton of work it took to do I still think of THE CONFORMIST as probably one of my Top 20 favorite films of all time. It is truly a masterpiece and I was honored to work to restore it.

Jason Adams said...

WOW what an amazing story and what an amazing job! GOOD STUFF! You gone done the lord's work :)