Sullivan's Travels

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

Paul & Amy travel to 1941’s Preston Sturges Hollywood farce Sullivan’s Travels! They learn why the US government made Veronica Lake’s hairstyle illegal, praise the screenplay’s rapid-fire dialogue, and ask if this is actually Sturges’ best film or just his best known. Plus: More thoughts on the amazing career of Sidney Lumet.

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[sycasey 2.0 2301]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701191/

 

 

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

Just some random thoughts as I listened to this on my daily self isolation walk:

I was on the bubble, but listening to Paul & Amy, I voted no. Their discussion was too inside-Hollywood, and I think the film being there hurts it. I tend to a bias against movies about movies, but I think this film is a good example why. It's distances me from relating to the point, puts up a slight barrier there for me.

I think Paul & Amy said that you're instantly against Sullivan, but I didn't view it that way. I thought we were on his side throughout. Maybe I took it wrong. But this is one of the complicated aspects of the film that I really liked.

Also, I'm not clueless about old movies, but I'm certainly no deep expert. But all these other Sturges movies that Paul & Amy bring up... I've never heard of any of them. Are any of them really in the zeitgeist as Sullivan's Travels is? I don't see how you can replace this with another Sturges for the list, if he must be on there.

Are people really watching Coen Brothers movies and going "oh well it's fine"?

[JackLechner 14]

I like Sullivan's Travels -- but I love The Lady Eve and Hail the Conquering Hero.  I'd like to see one or both of them on the AFI list instead.

The other thing holding me back on Sullivan's Travels is a slight note of self-congratulatory smugness in the climax.  I don't think the film reads as a critique of Hollywood; instead, it's an affirmation that making crap that sells is a worthwhile use of everyone's time and talents, which is exactly what the people at the heart of the studio system (or the network system) want to hear.  What I miss is the complexity that Albert Brooks packed into the climax of the brilliant Lost in America -- where the happy ending is the hero returning to his soulless corporate existence, but with the grim knowledge that it really is soulless.  There's a middle ground between "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" and "Hey Hey in the Hayloft," and that middle ground is where Preston Sturges' own great films live.

[DannytheWall 196]

 

I didn't think Pluto was *that* funny. 

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

I watched this once for Amy's old podcast The Canon and found it very enjoyable. Then I watched it again last weekend in advance of this episode and found it even MORE watchable and enjoyable. Between that and Amy/Paul's descriptions of loving every return to this film, I'm taking that as a sign that this movie just keeps getting better upon rewatch, like many Coen Brothers movies do. So I vote yes.