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From: rrizzo@bbncca.ARPA (Ron Rizzo)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Dune - spoiler
Message-ID: <1233@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 28-Dec-84 13:04:22 EST
Article-I.D.: bbncca.1233
Posted: Fri Dec 28 13:04:22 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 29-Dec-84 03:12:35 EST
References: <176@gcc-opus.ARPA>
Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 31

Well said, Alien!

I could never manage to read beyond page 63 of DUNE; it was just too
episodic, unlike Tolkien's RINGS books.

But I was aware that the book was more complex and sophisticated than
the film.

Herbert's cloning of a primitive "arabist" version of Islam was reduced
to ludicrous neo-Nazi terms in the film (which reminded me of 30s films
Leni Riefenstahl made for Hitler, except those were much better made than
Lynch's turgid paean to fascism).  I particularly loathed the vicious
homophobia added to the portrayal of Baron Harkonnen, or Feyd-Rautha, for
that matter:  while Herbert himself is homophobic in DUNE (I tore up my
copy of it into tiny pieces Wednesday night after seeing the film and
threw it into the trash), the movie amplifies it to a screech with liberal
doses of gore, putrefaction, & sadism.  

Why did big name actors lend themselves to the debacle?  It's ironic to
see Linda Hunt or Juergen Prochnow (who's starred in various films by
Wolgang "Das Boot" Petersen, including a gay film in which Prochnow
portrays a "pederast", ie, he's attracted to teenage boys) abetting
such an effort.

The sets were literally awesome, but the screenplay and dialogue would've
flunked even the afternoon soaps.

May Herbert & Lynch choke on their melange!

					Remember Ozymandias,
					Ron Rizzo