Forgotten Film Friday: Incident at Loch Ness

A retrospective by Brooks Rich

So this is going to be a little different coverage for a film as I don't want to give away anything about this film. This is one of the most forgotten films I've ever covered. No one seems to know this thing even exists. The joy of this film is going into it completely cold. Discover it as it unfolds. The basic idea is filmmaker Werner Herzog puts together an expedition to go finally prove the existence of the Loch Ness monster. Of course things go wrong and instead of making a documentary about the monster and the science behind it, Herzog's film turns into a documentary about a failed expedition to find the monster and how fast people turn on each other. It also explores Herzog's reputation as a filmmaker, especially the legends surrounding the making for Fitzcarraldo, such as that he apparently forced actor Klaus Kinski to continue doing the shoot at gunpoint.

Herzog is a fascinating figure in the world of cinema and this film gives an interesting look into his life away from the camera. Early on we see a strange offbeat side of Hollywood, one that exists away from the usual glamor and excess. Herzog seems to operate in a more working class and blue collar Hollywood. I think this is a film everyone should watch at least once. It seemed to come and go without making any sort of impact. That's a shame because this film is fascinating. Track it down for one of the most unusual experiences in film.

Comments

Forgotten Film Friday: Absolute Power

Clint Eastwood stars as Luther Whitney, a jewel thief who works in the Washington DC area. One night while he is stealing from a mansion he is forced to hide in a secret compartment with a two way mirror. From there he observes a sexual rezendevous with the wife of a powerful man and the President of the United States Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman) Suddenly the president gets aggressive and while defending herself the woman is shot to death by two Secret Service agents. Luther manages to get away with a letter opener the woman stabbed the president with. At first Luther plans to flee the country. But when he is disgusted by a statement the president makes, Luther decides to expose the crime. I miss these kind of films. The nineties was a great time for thrillers exactly like this. They are not the flashiest films but they are also not obsessed with big action scenes. It's all plot and character with them. Sure this plot might be a little out there but Eastwood makes it work. He's...

John Candy month

What can you say about John Candy? He was a comic genius who was taken from us too soon. There were a lot of comedic heavyweights of the eighties and nineties but Candy stood above most of them. If there is a Mount Rushmore of comedy I imagine John Candy would be on it. For the month of July we are honoring this comic genius.

Oscar bait month

The Academy Awards. That time of the year when everyone debates what movies are truly the best and there is never a consensus and no one is ever happy. A movie can be incredibly popular and then it wins a bunch of Oscars and suddenly it's overrated and not very good or downright bad. It happens every year. But for the month of April let's take a look at those films that had Oscars on their mind and instead fell flat on their faces. Now Oscar Bait is a term that can also be applied to winners or films that did score a bunch of nominations. For example Bradley Cooper's film Maestro is very much an Oscar Bait movie even though it had a decent awards season. I want to talk about the films that did nothing. That were early contenders then either faded away eventually or just plain crashed and burned. Oscar Bait's biggest failures. What wrong here with these? Was the movie poor? Did something else just have a dominant run? Or were politics involved? Maybe all of the above. S...

Cinema Basement

Search This Blog