----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I got a number of responses, both on the net and to me directly that I really appreciated. I'll reply to Neil Pollock's list: Once were warriors Heavenly Creatures Shallow Grave Muriel's Wedding Pulp Fiction Quiz Show Eat Drink Man Woman Red The Browning Version and his question, "but how many of these are from Hollywood?" by saying only 2!! And you have films from around the world on this list. And I'll also say that both _Quiz Show_ and _Pulp Fiction_ were Fall releases (in the US); it has been months since something really terrific has shown up, no? As for Matt McAllister's post, not only do I not mind his spinning off a related issue, but I think the issue raised is a good one, and is directly connected. I will say the following things, very quickly as I get ready to leave town for a few days: How many GREAT dialogue comedies were made by the same person or persons? In other words, TV shows (like all scripts in movies today) are not written but rewritten, with individual writers submitting scripts to a series' story editor; thus, over the course of a long TV run there may be literally dozens of different writers involved. Too, I would say that comedy movies are notoriously difficult to sustain over the course of 100 minutes. Go back and look at the Marx Bros. masterpieces and we'll see they are a bit shorter than that. Woody Allen's earlier, funnier films, too, came in at 80-90 minutes. Only Blake Edwards in recent years has made long comedies (120+ minutes) and his carrer has been notoriously uneven. I think, too, the idea that current American cinema is action driven does allow TV to find a space not simply for dialogue but for character. I suppose people do "judge" a show by the cost. At $6.25 we want more for our money than the (seemingly free or less expensive) commerical or cable TV show. But since most people watch movies on home video they are paying $3 a shot, not $6 and more than one person, typically, is watching. In other words, have people's expectations of feature films been lowered due to the lower cost at which most people will view them? Do we hold out great hopes for THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, a spaghetti Western from a horror director starring a sex siren? I do! DD _____________________________________ David Desser,UIUC Cinema Studies 2109 FLB/707 S. Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801 217/244-2705