This next one is probably my favorite movie that I forget about all the time. I can easily say that I have never seen anything like it (even its sequel) and it will never be remade or duplicated because it was so unique and perfect. It should always get a mention in my “top ten” when people ask me, but I ALWAYS forget about it. I need to buy it and watch it once a month.
It wouldn’t get old for me, I love it so much.
There were times when I would come home from soccer and we’d have some movies that were ready to be viewed. We knew what we were getting when dad rented them–car bombs, gun fights, car bombs, fist fights, car bombs, and death…except for the lead action star.
…
Just double-checking the car bomb references. Yep, got ’em.
When mom rented them it was hit and miss. She wasn’t afraid to give any movie a try (unless she knew it had nudity, prior–then it was notta). As an eight-year-old boy, it annoyed me when mom rented the movies because I was like my dad…action, action, and more action (I was 8, I don’t know what my dad’s excuse was). We were not always guaranteed an action movie when mom was the one renting the movies and there were some movies that I watched with them that I did not have an appreciation for until later when I matured.
So, as you can imagine, when I came home from soccer and saw the title of a movie that i did not recognize, and found out that mom was the one that picked it out, I felt defeated (I think we lost our game that day–might have played into the emotions I was feeling).
I almost pouted in my room rather than give this movie a shot…
I am so glad I decided to watch “The Gods Must be Crazy.”
This is another movie in which I wished I could’ve been there when they tried to pitch the story:
“Okay, we’re going to take a tribe of “bushmen” and drop a glass coca cola bottle (they all used to be glass back in the 70s and 80s) in their midst. We will watch this amazing “tool” destroy their tribe from the inside out until they decide that they need to throw it off the end of the earth. While this is happening deep in the Kalahari, there will be a rebel force on the run from the government, terrorizing the countryside in their wake, as we also meet a cute teacher and scientist slowly bumble into love over the course of the movie.”
*crickets*
That paragraph is the “gist” of the movie…IT IS SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT PITIFUL DESCRIPTION I JUST GAVE.
The “screwball” humor is on par with Hawks’ “Bringing up Baby.” I have never seen “time lapse” used so well and consistently to tell a story on film. To bring all three story lines together and complete its telling the way Jamie Uys was able to do with a masterful use of character development and storytelling was similar to what I imagine Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz were doing behind closed doors when they started writing “Citizen Kane.” I also had the joy of learning about different cultures along the way.
I learned a very valuable life lesson too…where would any of us be if we didn’t start to trust that our mothers actually know what they are doing?
Answer:
Not as well off.
——
Clintington on Film 
Lovely anecdote behind the movie.
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True, right?
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That was an interesting movie. Now I need to see it again! thanks.
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My pleasure. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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OMG I love that movie! For me it was late one night & the movie came on TV. I was trying to settle down to eventually go to sleep. Confusion settled over me as it started out like a documentary & I even rechecked to see if I was on PBS (I do watch a lot of documentaries). Naturally I became totally engrossed in it & couldn’t turn it off for sleep until it ended. It’s so one of my all time faves 😀
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It’s so creative and captivating. From the opening shot until the final drop into the clouds from the mountains.
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I’ve never seen this movie but I’m definitely interested in seeing it now. 🙂
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Thank you! Such kind words. I hope you enjoy it. I did, as a child watching it with my whole family. Comedies are great. I love hearing my loved ones laughing in joy together.
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I’m always open to recommendations! 🙂
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This one won’t disappoint. There is no other movie like it in the world….except its sequel. 😉
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Glad to hear it! TGMBC is one of my T10 also!
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Loved, loved, loved, this movie! It was so unique and mind blowing, regardless what era it is viewed, this film will always be unique unto itself! Like you, I would loved to have been a fly on the wall when this baby was pitched! Great film great write up Thanx again Clint! Pssst. Even momma’s can hit it outta the park ev once in a while 😉
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For the record, my mother got way better at picking movies as my tastes changed… #Maturity 😉
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It’s funny how men and women view movies in such different perspectives for their children. Me and my husband would often disagree about what the girls could watch. When they were 10 an 12, I let them watch ‘Ghost” with Moore and Swayze. Their father lost his shit! ‘Are you kidding me! that’s way to old for them, what were you thinking!?’
One Sunday, Couple weeks later, I came home from work, and there the three of them are watching, Rambo!!
My argument was ripe, as I filibustered him- all to shit! 😉 I said ‘Are you kidding me! You are okay with your daughters watching war, killing, and hatred, amongst mankind! But you have a problem with them watching a man and woman show warmth,love, loss, and how to continue when life gets tough!’ Needless to say that was one I won 😉 for he had no argument, and the girls were ecstatic, as the following weekend they rented Ghost yet again!
There have been many movies not rated for their age I would let them watch when younger only because i felt the movie could teach them something better than I could, mind you-, I was also present for those movies, so I could point out, the good, the bad, and the ugly. 😉
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It’s crazy, but recent research has shown that parents don’t have as much influence on children as they’d think. Kids are getting smarter with the information they have at their fingertips and can generally make decisions and form opinions much sooner. Try as we might to withhold and sway; they have their mind set and we can only keep them from things for so long. I know it seems scary, but we have to start trusting them a little earlier…which freaks me out as I have a 4 year old…
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Oh, I am nuts about this film. Yes, it was perfect. Hilarious and off-beat, the way a screwball comedy should be. Also I have dragged friends into classic film fests to see Kathreen Hepburn and Cary Grant in “Bringing up Baby.”
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I love Bringing Up Baby. Have you read my piece on Grant?
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No, I have not. Would love to, please send me the link & will read it.
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You got it. I’ll send it through Twitter…
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https://clintington.com/2015/09/02/cg/
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Decided to send it to you here. Easier. 😂
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Fine. I like WordPress way better than Twitter.
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