Comments on: Alternate Film Canon: Los Angeles

By: Gavin

Gavin — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 22:36:13 +0000

I must add “Free Enterprise” which is a nice little romantic comedy a bit like “Swingers” meets… my sad, Trekkie middle school years.

Also, “Grand Canyon” as the “Fail Safe” to LA Story’s Dr. Strangelove. (See all four films and report back on what that means).

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 14:27:24 +0000

Oh, I forgot. Mulholland Drive would be “David Lynch’s kaleidascopic” take on LA, and a damned piece of art if there was one.

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 14:26:29 +0000

I second Rebel, Pulp, Stand and Deliver, and Swingers.

If you want a book, I recommend Somtow's 'Tagging the Moon,' which might make a great set of movie vignets, since they're all set in this town.

By: clynne

clynne — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 23:07:36 +0000

Boys in the Hood Chinatown Stand and Deliver Friday Repo Man

Those are, I think, the most LA movies I think of.

By: SLS

SLS — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 15:14:34 +0000

The Big Sleep – Noir LA Rebel Without a Cause – Hepcat ’50s LA Pulp Fiction – Ultraviolent Non-Chronological LA Beverly Hills Cop – ’80s Early-Cocaine LA Barfly – Scuzzy Bukowski LA Stand and Deliver – Inspirational East LA Clueless – Mall culture LA

By: cp

cp — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 06:34:23 +0000

Falling Down, definitely. It mixed social commentary and an unconventional tour of Los Angeles very well.

Couldn't Volcano have been set in any city without any change to the script? It was set in Los Angeles out of convenience rather than by design.

By: heidi

heidi — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 22:52:12 +0000

How about Falling Down? Or Volcano? There’s something so fulfilling about seeing LA explode in firey death… :)

By: nlo

nlo — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 20:01:41 +0000

Swingers, for a little slice of ’90s L.a. Although the part about taking 5 different cars to get to the same place is always true.

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 10:18:46 +0000

LA Story. It’s kind of a sucky love story with this weird street sign that talks, but the scene where Steve Martin is driving, shooting at a road rager, and talking on his cell phone simultaneously is priceless. Mulholland Drive has a nice LA atmosphere to it. Of course, there is no competition for The Big Lebow. The worst LA movie ever made is Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.