Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site bbncca.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!bbncca!rrizzo 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