The M-Net Movies Bucket List pop-up channel
(109) is well under way as the channel counts down 100 popular and iconic
Hollywood movies to see before you die. Along with the M-Net Movies Bucket List
countdown are an added extra treat. The M-Net Movies Bucket List Bonus Features
comprise additional classics which can’t be ignored but which will appeal to
niche audiences. Among these titles are vintage silver screen darlings that
were ground-breaking at their time.
This Coen Brothers-directed cult classic
stars Jeff Bridges as an ordinary “dude” drawn into a web of deceit after a
case of mistaken identity. It’s dark humour at its best.
November
9, 2017
#68
Ghostbusters at 18h00. Bill Murray leads an all-star cast in this classic 80s
blockbuster. Three parapsychology professors decide to create a ghost removal
service to fight the city’s supernatural threat. Almost none of the scenes were
filmed as scripted and, in fact, almost all of the scenes had at least one or
two ad-libs. Most of Bill Murray's lines are ad-libs. On the set, Dan Aykroyd
referred to the "Slimer" ghost as the ghost of John Belushi.
Had Eddie Murphy accepted the role of
Winston, the character was actually meant to appear in more of the film. He was
to have joined the team much earlier, and it would have been he who was slimed
at the hotel. When Murphy declined the role, the script was re-written to have
Winston appear about half-way through the film.
#67
Groundhog
Day at 20h00
Bill Murray is brilliant in this fantasy
romcom. A freak snowstorm traps a weather man in a town. When he awakes he
discovers that he is forced to relive the same day repeatedly. Bill Murray was
bitten by the groundhog twice during shooting. Murray had to have anti rabies
injections, because the bites were so severe.
Harold Ramis directed the kids in the
snowball fights to hit Bill Murray as hard as they could. Murray responded by
throwing snowballs back as hard as he could. Harold Ramis originally wanted Tom
Hanks for the lead role, but decided against it, saying that Hanks was
"too nice".
#66
A
Nightmare On Elm Street at 21h40
Wes Craven’s classic horror introduced the
world one of films' most enduring villains, Fred Krueger. Several people try to
survive a clawed killer tormenting their dreams.
The little girl skipping rope was the
daughter of the couple whose home was used as Tina's house.
Over five hundred gallons of fake blood
were used during filming.
Film debut of Johnny Depp.
According to Wes Craven, Robert Englund was
not the first choice for the role of Fred Krueger. Craven had initially wanted
a stuntman to play the part, but upon testing several stuntmen, he realized he
needed an actor.
November
10, 2017
Sense
And Sensibility at 16h04
Emma Thompson leads a star cast in this
stylish Oscar-winning Jane Austen adaptation. Elinor Dashwood, her mother and
sisters are left penniless when the family patriarch dies.
Emma Thompson was asked to write the
screenplay by producer Lindsay Doran when she discovered their shared love of
Jane Austen when working together on Dead
Again (1991).
During filming, the Jane Austen Society
telephoned co-producer James Schamus to complain about the casting of Hugh
Grant claiming that he was too good-looking to play Edward Ferrars.
Ang Lee originally was considering Kate
Winslet only for the smaller part of Lucy Steele even though she really wanted
to play Marianne. When Winslet arrived at her audition she pretended that her
agent had sent her to read for Marianne, and her reading won her the role.
#65
Back
To The Future at 18h20
This sci-fi epic catapulted Michael J. Fox
into stardom. A teenager accidentally travels back in time, there he must save
his parents relationship or he will cease to exist.
The script was rejected 40 times before it
was finally green-lit.
Eric_Stoltz was originally cast as Marty
McFly for Back to the Future in late
1984, he was replaced after about a month of filming when Michael J Fox (the
director's first choice for the role) agreed to divide time between the movie
and his television sitcom Family Ties.
Writers Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis
actually received a fan letter from John DeLorean after the film's release, thanking
them for immortalizing his car.
According to Bob Gale, Johnny Depp
auditioned for the role of Marty McFly: "I looked through the notes, and I
said, 'Geez, I don't even remember that we read Johnny Depp!' So whatever he
did, it wasn't all that memorable, I guess!"
#64
Dirty
Harry at 20h16
‘Do I Feel Lucky? Well, do you, punk?’.
Clint Eastwood becomes the hard as nails cop Harry Callahan. Armed with his 44
Magnum, he tracks down a crazed psychopath terrorising the city.
In 1972, a copycat crime took place in the
state of Victoria in Australia, in which two men kidnapped a teacher and six
pupils at gunpoint and demanded a 1 million dollar ransom. The state government
agreed to pay, but the children managed to escape and the kidnappers were subsequently
jailed. One of them was called Eastwood.
After the film was released, actor Andrew
Robinson received several death threats, and had to get an unlisted phone
number.
The movie's line "You've got to ask
yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" was voted as
the #51 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
Clint Eastwood performed all his own
stunts, including the stunt where he jumps onto the roof of the hijacked school
bus from a bridge. His face is clearly visible throughout the shot.
#63
Heaven’s
Gate at 22h00
Acting giants Kris Kristofferson and
Christopher Walken immerse you in this Western epic about the conflict between
immigrant workers and the rich cattle barons.
Martin Scorsese has said that the film has
many overlooked virtues.
Wondering why they were paying so much
money to rent the land, on which they were filming, United Artists went to
check the local tax records to find out who the owner was. It turned out that
it was Writer and Director Michael Cimino.
Jeff Bridges salvaged the log cabin from
the set of this movie, and now uses it as a family getaway in Montana.
Willem Dafoe, in his feature film debut,
appears briefly as a cockfighter. According to Dafoe, his role was supposed to
be much larger, but during a long lighting set-up, Dafoe laughed out loud at a
joke that an extra told him. Michael Cimino was so annoyed, that he fired
Dafoe, and he is uncredited in the final film. He would later narrate the
documentary of the making of this film, Final
Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate (2004).
Bringing
Up Baby at 00h31
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant have
amazing chemistry in this romcom classic. A bumbling palaeontologist looking
for funding is pursued by an eccentric heiress and her pet leopard.
Katharine Hepburn had one very close call
with the leopard. She was wearing a skirt that was lined with little metal
pieces to make the skirt swing prettily. When Hepburn turned around abruptly,
the leopard made a lunge for her back. Only the intervention of the trainer's
whip saved Hepburn. The leopard was not allowed to roam around freely after
that, and Hepburn was more careful around it from then on.
This movie fared so badly at the box office
that Howard Hawks was fired from his next production at RKO, and Katharine
Hepburn bought out her contract to avoid being cast in the film Mother Carey's Chickens (1938).
Coincidentally, Hepburn was labelled "box office poison" on the same
day that her contract was dissolved.
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