BirdandRobot wrote:I say this because I can't think of one American/Hollywood feature made in the past twenty years that is "great" (and yes that includes LOTR, Forrest Gump, Titanic, Sixth Sense, Shawshank Redemption and every Spielberg movie made).
I pretty much agree with this. There have been American movies that were great, but not Great American Movies. At least none that I can think of.
This is one attraction where "outdated" is good, given that it's supposed to be a largely historical look at classic cinema. Personally, I think
Alien should make the cut, based on the film's quality and influence, but that did seem to be an overture to modernity at the time of the ride's creation, so if they replaced it with something more classic, I'd be OK with it. They could do the original
Day the Earth Stood Still. Or
2001 or even
Blade Runner if they wanted to be more modern. Relatively speaking.
On second thought, some of the films already in the ride now aren't necessarily great either (notably Tarzan, the Ape Man).
True, but I think it's less about the quality of individual films and more about their influence on cinema and pop culture.
...The Roaring Twenties instead of The Public Enemy...
I dunno,
Public Enemy was historic for being shocking. And it's also really entertaining. Another suggestion would be the original
Scarface.
I think the gangster genre needs to be represented since it, along with the Western, are the purest American genres.
I'd also like to see more film noir. Any excuse to add
The Maltese Falcon, really.
...Unforgiven instead the current Eastwood segment...
Hmm. One could certainly make the argument that
Unforgiven is a Great American Film.
Personally, I would ditch the tour guides. They're cool in some instances, but the bogus cowboy/gangster bits were embarassingly bad, and usually played with all the enthusiasm of a Land boat guide with a hangover.
That would give them the opportunity to add some zing on top of the existing effects. A new soundtrack, maybe get some film historians to write the script about the influence of certain films and then sugar coat it with a 3D film host or something. I wouldn't want anything modern-looking, but using modern tech to blend in with the classic styles could be cool.
You could then reformat the Western and gangster sections...I'd love to see Clint's spaghetti Westerns represented, although I suppose those aren't actually American movies...so, um, never mind.
Anyway, the point is, the attraction should show the public more than the movies they already know. If the ride gets one more person to watch
Casablanca or become curious as to how we got here from there, it would be a success.
Everything doesn't have to be a tie-in to an existing property you already know everything about. There's room for a little painless education here and there.