I got to attend the big NYC premiere (I'm remembering an end-of-year 1969 release, probably to make it eligible for Oscars, but I could be a year off) because my father had been active in a group of US academic people who were instrumental in getting Mikis Theodorakis (who scored the movie and was one of the two or three major Greek song…
I got to attend the big NYC premiere (I'm remembering an end-of-year 1969 release, probably to make it eligible for Oscars, but I could be a year off) because my father had been active in a group of US academic people who were instrumental in getting Mikis Theodorakis (who scored the movie and was one of the two or three major Greek songwriters) released from house arrest to take a teaching job in America. I was also very close friends with several of them (stories too long to tell here) because they'd been my teachers. so, for some reason, I managed to get an invitation. it was very cool being this hippie-looking twenty-year old in a cool black velvet suit among a very starry group. I remember seeing Burt Lancaster there and I'd been a lunatic fan since the first time I saw "His Majesty O'Keefe" on TV when I was about ten.
"Z" already felt like an instant classic and it made Costa-Gavras into an important international director. Trintignant was one of the greatest actors of his time, and he was on a roll during this period, because he played this super-prosecutor within a year or so of also giving his famously amazing performance in Bertolucci's famously amazing--and equally career consolidating--"The Conformist" (which is also about as intense and sickening a study of fascism as I know, "1900" notwithstanding).
I don't have the Criterion Edition of "Z," but their edition of "The Conformist" has LOADS of great extra material.
I'm glad you made this recommendation...for a long time, this movie was hard to find on most streaming platforms. it's beautifully made and very exciting and takes some real delight in showing that the villains were every bit as stupid as they were evil.
much more fun talking about movies than... need I continue?
I got to attend the big NYC premiere (I'm remembering an end-of-year 1969 release, probably to make it eligible for Oscars, but I could be a year off) because my father had been active in a group of US academic people who were instrumental in getting Mikis Theodorakis (who scored the movie and was one of the two or three major Greek songwriters) released from house arrest to take a teaching job in America. I was also very close friends with several of them (stories too long to tell here) because they'd been my teachers. so, for some reason, I managed to get an invitation. it was very cool being this hippie-looking twenty-year old in a cool black velvet suit among a very starry group. I remember seeing Burt Lancaster there and I'd been a lunatic fan since the first time I saw "His Majesty O'Keefe" on TV when I was about ten.
"Z" already felt like an instant classic and it made Costa-Gavras into an important international director. Trintignant was one of the greatest actors of his time, and he was on a roll during this period, because he played this super-prosecutor within a year or so of also giving his famously amazing performance in Bertolucci's famously amazing--and equally career consolidating--"The Conformist" (which is also about as intense and sickening a study of fascism as I know, "1900" notwithstanding).
I don't have the Criterion Edition of "Z," but their edition of "The Conformist" has LOADS of great extra material.
I'm glad you made this recommendation...for a long time, this movie was hard to find on most streaming platforms. it's beautifully made and very exciting and takes some real delight in showing that the villains were every bit as stupid as they were evil.
much more fun talking about movies than... need I continue?
Agree totally about The Conformist. What a take on selling one's soul.
That premiere sounds totally cool.
it certainly was.