[quote=“StanrickKubley”]
But Hitch has become too much of an institution.[/quote]
I understand where you’re coming from. I’m not suggesting that you’re thinking this but I do find it understandable that people get sick of hearing over and over again about certain artists/artworks and how good they are (William Shakespeare, Bob Dylan, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Kurosawa Akira, Captain Beefheart’s ‘Trout Mask Replica’, Charles Dickens, ‘The Godfather’ movies, Ridley Scott to name but a few). It is more enjoyable to discover the merits of a great artist yourself rather than just have a safety in numbers opinion about said artist or even art-work. However I like to get (I don’t always) beyond the “I’m sick of hearing about great X is” knee-jerk reaction. Sometimes I have to say to myself “Ah, yes. It/He/She is great.” One example was listening to Bob Dylan in the back of a car many moons ago. After dismissing him as some kind of tuneless whiner who sings through his nose I realised he was great and I was a mongoloid. J’accusing* only works if you can explain why you’re j’accusing.
I grew up in the eighties too. First band I ever heard were Madness but I still think The Beatles are better. First solo artist I ever heard was Toyah Wilcox but I’d still root for Frank Zappa. Chronological order of when you first experience things does not affect me in any, way, shape or form. Otherwise I’d be saying that Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker, Terry Gilliam and Mel Brooks are better (in my book) than Robert Bresson, Carl Dreyer, F.W. Murnau and Humphrey Jennings. When I have the time I like to give myself inappropriate movie double bills. ‘Gertrud’ followed by ‘The Mutations’ for example or vice-versa. Imagine if your local cinema was showing ‘The Blood Splattered Bride’ but first you had to watch ‘Chariots of Fire’ and even if you were a ‘Chariots’ fan you could not leave the cinema until you sat through ‘Bride’.
I wouldn’t say that Hitchcock was a founding father of film since a lot did come before him such as Sergei Eisenstien and D.W. Griffith. That said a lot of the early innovations in cinema (associative montage for example) are British** (check out the documentary ‘Silent Britain’).
As for Quentin versus Hitchcock for me Jules and Vincent in ‘Pulp Fiction’ are just as enjoyable as Caldicott and Charters in ‘The Lady Vanishes’ but those are the creations of screenwriters Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder.
*Explanation. There used to be an arts strand on Britain’s Channel 4 called ‘Without Walls’ featuring an armadillo in the title sequence. One of the most frequent programmes on that strand was a series called ‘J’accuse’. Artists or works of art that were considered great were giving a severe knocking by those who thought otherwise. The most famous being Robert McKee on ‘Citizen Kane’ and somebody or other on ‘Coronation Street’. There was a follow up series entitled ‘J’adore’ which did the opposite. I remember Rudyard Kipling being defended as well as the character Alf Garnett.
** ‘Grandma’s Reading Glass’ made in 1900 by George Albert Smith