drdos43

So far, I have seen more than five stage productions of "the Fantasticks" including one at the Sullivan Street Playhouse back in 1962; and I am going to see another one at the Snapple Theater Center (Jerry Orbach Theater) in New York. Yes, folks, as of this date "The Fantasticks" is still playing. There was a short interim when the Sullivan Street Playhouse was torn down to make way for a high rise in 2002.

Most of the reviews of the movie are indicative of two views. If one hasn't seen "The Fantasticks" on stage or heard the original score in its entirety, the movie "ain't" that bad. However, after more than 50 years running, and after thousands of international and summer stock productions, the play has had a lot of critically biased audience when they view the film. It might have been better if the makers of the movie had just filmed a stage production. The results might have been the least expensive and longest running film ever produced.

It is difficult to critique 2001 in less than 2001 pages, e.g., read the over long comments on this site…and any one of them just scratches the surface. 2001 is more than a movie.

I have just viewed 2001 for the umpteenth time…and it just gets better and better. Those, who have deemed it to be the best science fiction movie ever, are probably correct. To describe it in one word, "STUNNING."…it is a work of everlasting art. 2001 has been called the number one movie that "shooked the world," and it still has tremendous impact for a production made over 35 years ago…ask NASA. Our space program has been developed using this movie as a model.

However, it is not for everyone. It is not for those who like "shoot'em ups, and it is not for those who have no patience, no open mind, and no intelligence save that of a stone. Like me, many of IMDb' commentators have rated 2001 as a 10; but I'll bet none of them, including me, can concisely tell you why. The experience of viewing this film can be compared to one's seeing Leonardo's "Mona Lisa" and trying to explain why the painting is so revered.

I did not have the time to read all the other commentators, but it is well-known that the main villainous character in the film is the computer, HAL…and if you go up one letter in our alphabet for each of the letters in HAL… H is I, A is B, and L is M….you get IBM (International Business Machines), which, in 1968, was the Microsoft of today.

The characters in "The Producers" are all over-acted, taking to the extreme what you see on a wacky afternoon soap opera or sit com. Take this (if you can) and add a plot that is preposterous (but convincing), offered to you on a silver platter by some of the best comedic personalities on the planet and what do you get? You get a classic comedy that invokes laughter from even the most stoic and sardonic. Not all the jokes work, but there is humor for everyone, humor that sometimes makes you question your sanity for laughing at it.

(e.g. No words can describe the reaction of the audience and the expression on their faces after having been subjected to the first act of "Springtime for Hitler")

There is no subject, not even evil, that can escape satire....and Mel Brooks does a great job at attacking our sensibilities.

This movie has its minor flaws, but it is near the top of the best ten comedies ever produced.