Vertigo

1958 - Alfred Hitchcock. Ranked as one of the greatest films ever made. Everyone seems to have watched this film, except me -- or so I thought. The tower scene with the church bell and the ten flights of stairs I had definitely seen before. Every oldschool Hollywood cliché that you can think of is probably found in this film. That's what makes it a classic, I suppose. And that's why I don't like "classics."

The acting in this film is completely annoying. Even Marvel comics written from the 50s and 60s share the same mentality. I'm surprised every housewife and every kid reading those comics who had to endure this wasn't insane. This acting can't be blamed on the time either, more of a warped social/cultural issue. The acting from films made in other countries don't seem to act as loud and as irritating as these old Hollywood classics do. That's where the American stereotype comes from. Does loud and obnoxious acting instantly make a film a classic? Yes, if it's American. Oldschool American Hollywood acting is unbearable, even more so than today. Every line has to be bellowed, actions and mannerisms have to make the audience want to hit you (pointing at things with your stick, learning on the wall with it), and you've got to wear a hat, and you should swing it around when not wearing it. I saw a live play of Death of a Salesman and the acting in that was intolerable -- finger shaking everywhere, shouting every line, even when the character depressed.

This is my theory for what came next: the 60s. Everyone suffered so badly with headaches due to people in society and the media shouting everything, that they needed as escape; they needed hard drugs like heroin and cocaine, they needed to chill and relax -- these were methods to battle the headaches from the last decade.

I felt compelled to watch a 'classic'. It's considered a psychological thriller. I don't think a film like this is enjoyable today. I don't see why we should feel compelled to watch them either. Bogart wasn't this irritating.