I saw a bit of The Osterman Weekend on TV the other day. It got me thinking–Are there other movies that are really quite bad as conventional movies but that are nevertheless great. The Osterman Weekend, taken as a conventional thriller is really ridiculous–it makes next to no sense and it includes an extended slow motion sequence involving crossbows. However, as a document of decline , corruption and paranoia it’s unbelievably right on. everyone in the movie seems to be a victim of coke addiction and gin sweats. I feel edgy and upset watching it. John Hurt and Dennis Hopper in particular look like they might die onscreen. If I were to teach a course on movies of the 1970s I would use this film to catch its “mood” rather than something “well-made” but hardly as compelling like “All the President’s Men.” Something about Peckinpah that allows him to take a piece of Robert Ludlum nonsense, hardly direct it at all and yet still make a very personal movie?
i feel exactly the same way about “jingle all the way”. on its own it is a crappy movie–it even has a slow motion sequence of arnold schwarzenegger groping a tickle-me elmo doll. but as a document of mid-90s paranoia and consumerism it is right on the money (as it were). plus everyone in that film looks like they’ve eaten a lot of ham. and sinbad somehow managed to take a piece of christmas cynicism and fashion a deeply personal performance in it.