From: INVALID_SEE_SIG@example.com.invalid   
      
   In the previous article, Big Mongo   wrote:   
   > His next film as a director, “The Milagro Beanfield War” (1988), a   
   > comedic drama about a New Mexican farmer denied water rights by   
   > uncaring developers, was a flop. But Mr. Redford stubbornly refused   
   > to pursue less esoteric material.   
      
   "Esoteric"? Huh? That picture was a dull, moralizing, unfunny slog   
   with the most ham-handed "good-hearted peasant is oppressed by   
   heartless rich men" cliches I can remember ever seeing on a big   
   screen. Its cast was carefully selected to avoid anyone with any   
   charisma or comedic talent, excepting Christopher Walken, whose role I   
   honestly couldn't have described to you four hours after seeing it.   
      
   Redford was a giant and a very good director, but the idea that its   
   "esoteric" nature had anything to do with why that picture flopped is   
   ... bizarre.   
      
   > Perhaps Mr. Redford’s greatest cultural impact was as a   
   > make-it-up-as-he- went independent film impresario. In 1981, he   
   > founded the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to cultivating   
   > fresh cinematic voices. He took over a struggling film festival in   
   > Utah in 1984 and renamed it after the institute a few years later.   
   > (He had been a local since 1961, having spent some of his early   
   > earnings as an actor on two acres of land in Provo Canyon. He often   
   > said he liked Utah because it gave him a sense of peace and was the   
   > antithesis of Hollywood superficiality.)   
      
   If he thought Utah was "the antithesis of Hollywood superficiality," I   
   guess he never went to Moab.   
      
   Again, I'm crapping on something I love:  I have spent many happy   
   hours in and around Moab, Utah. If I were single, I would retire   
   there. But it's a massive tourist destination and is infested with   
   Californians and Eurotrash.   
   --   
   jd   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)