Brian's >mind gangsters< movie on Youtube in entirety

[rn57]

Yes, talkin' 'bout Seconds, at the link below...for the time being anyway.  It was mentioned in one of the L&M threads.  If you want to know Brian's state of mind during Smile...or, very possibly, during the second Landy period.... it's probably required viewing. Whether or not Bill Pohlad intended it, the use of two actors to play Brian in L&M does suggest a parallel to this movie.

 But I should add you probably should have someone with you to watch Seconds, whether or not they'd forgive you afterwards.  That final sound effect is still more chilling, nearly a half century later, than a lot of those showy gore visuals in recent movies.  

Like L&M, it has its comic moments before the grim stuff comes back in. Especially when a certain much-loved TV villain shows up to offer a little career counseling.

And also....way, way down in the mix during Brian's aural hallucinations in L&M, I could just about swear I heard a line or two from this movie. Though I don't remember Seconds showing up in the end credits. And I could be mistaken since it's been years since I watched this.

PS. Periodic commercial interruptions but then again, that just might be what you'd need for a half-minute here and there.
PPS. When I punched this up, the ad lead-in was a trailer for.....L&M!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU28jXfTJzc

[sea of tunes]

That's hilarious about the lead-in trailer.  I think there's an algorithm though that checks your viewing preferences so it was partially pre-determined.   

Didn't Brian once mention having seen it around that time (1966/67)?

"Come in, Mr. Wilson"

[rn57]

That's hilarious about the lead-in trailer.  I think there's an algorithm though that checks your viewing preferences so it was partially pre-determined.  

Didn't Brian once mention having seen it around that time (1966/67)?

"Come in, Mr. Wilson"

Well....since this is YT you can move that little round thing to the right and find the exact point Brian came in.  Not that I think his peace of mind would have been much improved if he'd seen it from the start, but this is one movie that's really going to confuse and upset a viewer who walks part way in. And when I saw it on AMC way back when, I remember thinking: "At least I'm not seeing it on the big screen and I'm seeing it from the beginning. I feel for Brian."

The Wikipedia entry for the film says Brian never went into a movie theater from the time he saw Seconds in late '66 until he saw ET in '82, and that's sort of understandable.

PS - the standard reference for the film's impact on Brian is the late Jules Siegel's article "Goodbye Surfing Hello God" which reproduces a conversation Brian had with Siegel right after he saw it....this is pretty easy to find online.

[sea of tunes]

That's hilarious about the lead-in trailer.  I think there's an algorithm though that checks your viewing preferences so it was partially pre-determined.  

Didn't Brian once mention having seen it around that time (1966/67)?

"Come in, Mr. Wilson"

Well....since this is YT you can move that little round thing to the right and find the exact point Brian came in.  Not that I think his peace of mind would have been much improved if he'd seen it from the start, but this is one movie that's really going to confuse and upset a viewer who walks part way in. And when I saw it on AMC way back when, I remember thinking: "At least I'm not seeing it on the big screen and I'm seeing it from the beginning. I feel for Brian."

The Wikipedia entry for the film says Brian never went into a movie theater from the time he saw Seconds in late '66 until he saw ET in '82, and that's sort of understandable.

PS - the standard reference for the film's impact on Brian is the late Jules Siegel's article "Goodbye Surfing Hello God" which reproduces a conversation Brian had with Siegel right after he saw it....this is pretty easy to find online.

That's where I've read it, "Goodbye Surfing Hello God".  Thanks for the reminder.  After seeing, in a more dramatic way, where Brian's mind really was during that period I can only imagine that this would have essentially freaked him out.

[guitarfool2002]

The Wikipedia entry for the film says Brian never went into a movie theater from the time he saw Seconds in late '66 until he saw ET in '82, and that's sort of understandable.

Someone needs to correct Wikipedia, then, because I can point them to a series of photos that were taken at the KHJ premiere party for the film Yellow Submarine in 1968, showing Brian (carrying a tape recorder) at the movie theater alongside Marilyn, Al and his wife, and various KHJ personalities like Real Don Steele. You can search the board archives and find all of the information right here.


EDIT: No need to search, click on this link: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,10870.msg204278.html#msg204278

[Autotune]

Interestingly, the relevance of "Seconds" in Brian's life came to be replaced by "Norbit".

[rasmus skotte]

Check out the following links too:

http://www.tinhouse.com/mag/back_issues/archive/issues/issue_10/feature.html

http://www.earcandymag.com/daftbeachmovie.htm

http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/s/seconds-script-transcript-rock-hudson.html

[rn57]

Check out the following links too:

http://www.tinhouse.com/mag/back_issues/archive/issues/issue_10/feature.html

http://www.earcandymag.com/daftbeachmovie.htm

http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/s/seconds-script-transcript-rock-hudson.html

There's a lot of useful stuff online written about Seconds; some of it went up when Criterion did a DVD/Blu-Ray release in 2013.  That was the time when interest in the film really started to pick up - I think mainly because the Mad Men series created a context in which the themes of Seconds, especially its examination of the clash between '50s gray flannel suit/corporate culture and '60s counterculture, could be better understood.

And as mentioned above, the way Seconds uses two actors to play the same role is relevant to L&M. Originally, director John Frankenheimer wanted to use one actor to play a man who assumed a new name and identity after plastic surgery, ie an actor who could plausibly work with heavy makeup for part of the film. He thought only two people could do this - Laurence Olivier and Marlon Brando. Olivier was ready for the challenge, but the studio handling the film thought he wasn't bankable enough.  Brando read the script but at the time he was looking more for comedy roles and passed.  Then Rock Hudson got the script  somehow, went to Frankenheimer, told him he wanted to do the movie. At the time he was one of the top four or five male stars so the studio agreed.

And it was Hudson's idea to use another actor for the role of the main character, Arthur Hamilton, before plastic surgery. Frankenheimer selected John Randolph. After that, Hudson and Frankenheimer spent weeks together before shooting, carefully synchronizing their physical and vocal mannerisms so that they could plausibly play one man whose face had changed.  Pohlad, as he's said, took sort of the opposite approach in L&M - Cusack and Dano didn't see each other to compare notes.  But since they were both playing Brian they spent time with him to independently study his vocal and physical appearance. 

[onkster]

I think the bit Brian saw upon entering the theatre was "Ah, Mr. Wilson!", not 'hello' or 'come in'.

At least that's what I mixed into my personal mix of "H&V", elsewhere on this board...

[RangeRoverA1]

I saw this film after viewing this topic: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,11741.0.html

There are 4 such threads. I did think it was creepy, the intro is great with that music kind of enclosing you  & the face divided into nose, eyes etc. My other favorite scene is where some girl in a room with the elder guy hallucinating & the room is "floating", like they set the "wave" shaders. It's weird, nobody has villain look but I noticed they all squinted. You got the feeling there are spies everywhere, watch out. The ocean scene, new house - it's all beautiful, but you have to be so gullible & desperate to believe you get it for free. No 'givers'. Well, I didn't find the final scene to be that frightening, but I felt sympathy for main hero.
Saying so, my favorite actor was actually his friend, renewed. I saw him in another movie ["Jaws"?]. Nice character work.

[joehink]

"Ah, there you are Mr. Wilson" is at 20:38 in the video. You can start there for Brian's experience.