In the comments on This Weekend at the Movies today, Smurfs! writes:
I first got interested in seeing Milk when I saw the great trailer on-line.
I, like many people, did not who Milk was, and sadly when I tried to find out about the film, there were so many spoilers in the information that I am kind of resentful now.
Ugh.
I mean, I try to avoid spoilers, but one web site or newspaper basically told me what role Brolin plays.
Um, history is not a spoiler. It’s HISTORY. It happened! IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. I’m pretty sure that when people go to see a movie about the assassination of Harvey Milk, they’re not going to be too shocked when Harvey Milk gets assassinated. There would be no movie about Milk if what happened to Milk had not happened. Was your mind blown when bombs fell on Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor? Spoiler alert! North wins Civil War. Spoiler alert! JFK does not complete first term. Spoiler alert! Humans walk upright and use tools.
Sorry. I don’t mean to be such a dick. But let me reassure you, Smurfs!, the reason to see Milk is not for some kind of Shyamalanianian twist. Knowing the end of a story doesn’t always make the story a waste of time.
If Gus van Sant really wanted me to see his film, he would have made Harvey Milk omniscient and given him a prehensile penis that he’d use to escape from all manner of comic situations. If I wanted to know about his real life, I could’ve, like, wikipedia’d it.
Actually overheard at “Titantic”:
“Why does the story have to end so sad?”
“You know, it’s based on a true story!”
…as if I wasn’t dumber for seeing the movie in the first place.
Thank you for posting this Lindy. You win Slog today!
Please don’t compare historical events like World War II, Pearl Harbor, the JFK assassination to Harvey Milk’s life.
Please. Give me a break.
Those are historical events known worldwide. Milk’s life story? Not so much.
I knew he is killed at the end. I didn’t like it when I found out Brolin’s character kills him.
Has anybody who reads/is read by/has ever heard of Slog seen “The Times of Harvey Milk”? I netflixed it only a couple years ago. It’s not like it’s been buried in obscurity, people.
I also never said it was a waste of time. My comments were basically a complaint on the liberty some critics take on divulging plot details of a movie.
I must disagree–Milk’s life was already an interesting story before he was killed. The man was a hero already, the assassination just made him a martyr.
I always love it when Sloggers give their more thoughtless commenters a spanking.
I’m surprised Smurfs (or whatever) even bothered responding. Embaaaaaarassing.
Spoiler alert! Obama nukes Teheran on his first day in office.
Smurfs is obviously still shamelessly admitting that she did not know that Milk was assassinated… My bets are on that she’s either 13 or has spent most of her adult life under a rock, or in Wenatchee…
Holy Fuck, you people! I was purposely avoiding all reviews of this movie so I WOULDN’T FIND OUT THE ENDING, and you all RUINED it for me. God *damn* it all to hell!!!!!!
This discussion reminds me of when I saw “Marie Antionette”, and how disappointed I was when they DIDN’T cut her head off.
Wait, what? They cut off Marie Antoinette’s HEAD?? OMFG!!
What a maroon.
Kristin Sheppard shot J.R.!
It just goes to show what a tragedy it is that so many people don’t know a thing about Harvey Milk. To many of us, the fact that Dan White murdered Milk and the mayor (and was only convicted of manslaughter because he ate too much junk food) is just as well known as the attack on Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination. Just because someone’s gay doesn’t make their life story less “historical.”
JFK was a man who fucked women. World War II was a straight war fought by straight people against all-consuming (possibly gay) evil. Everybody learns about this important shit in school. A gay guy getting assassinated might make a cool movie, but it’s not history. Hence the possible awesome surprise, like the Crying Game, you know?
I hope I’m making sense.
I don’t know… I sort of get the point about not wanting to know which person in the movie killed Milk. I mean, to bitch about the fact that you found out he was killed would be ridiculous, but my recollection of who killed him was basically “another city politician in San Fran”. So, I guess to have it spoiled exactly who kills him could be annoying.
Then again, how much does knowing really take away from the experience of the movie? My guess is virtually nothing. The makers of the movie are going to proceed with the notion that you know exactly what happened, so I doubt it would be presented as some kind of plot twist when Dan White kills him…
I remember going to see a movie over and over when I was in college. I knew exactly what was going to happen. I loved being able to get in touch with how the movie made me feel. To me, that IS, the movie experience.
Even if you didn’t know that Dan White killed Harvey Milk (and maybe I live in a bubble, but I thought Dan White’s trial and the whole “twinkie defense” was famous) the preview for the movie pretty much gives it away.
Shyamalanianiana-rama-lama-dingdong. Gosh, that’s great.
I think the point is that the film “Milk” most likely would not exist if Harvey had not died. The notion of a cinematic exploration begins with the assassination, and works back from there.
Please.
Josh Brolin has had a mustache in his last 4 movies — guns don’t kill people: PEOPLE WITH MUSTACHES KILL PEOPLE!
My best friend from college edited a story once on how professional wrestling in New York State was rigged (this was before big time pro wrestling). The commissioner who had been indicted said, “So what? I know how Hamlet’s gonna end, but that don’t make it any less entertaining!”
SPOILER: The first scene of the film reveals that Milk gets assassinated.
@ 4, please. There’s no popularity threshold for what constitutes history. It happened. Sorry if you didn’t know beforehand, but don’t try to brush it off.
Just so you know, the “Twinkie defense” is not what lead to White being only convicted of manslaughter-the jury deliberated for two weeks with several holdouts until they discussed White’s mental capacity. The whole junk-food connection was one comment by one witness who spent the entire day testifying about bio-psychology.
On the other hand-this is a true-story flick. Knowing who the killer is doesn’t count as a spoiler.
Seems Van Sant and the studio assumed a certain sophistication and collective awareness of history in their edit of the trailer for MILK. What a terrible mistake to make.
To paraphrase George Santayana’s comment: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’
‘Those who know nothing about the past [and are proud of it] are condemned to post ignorant slogs about historical facts trashing their movie enjoyment.’
Good post Lindy. I have to admit that I’m one of those people who whenever I watch a great production of Romeo and Juliet am convinced that THIS TIME it will end with a happy ending.
#17 You aren’t making sense, especially your assessment of World War II. Your comment spits on the millions of people who died to prevent a murderous dictator from taking over the world.
Milk is the tin foil Christians wear to keep gaydar out of their brains.
Lindy=hilarious.
blue goat, nothing seems to indicate that Smurfs! is female, so why are you assuming Smurfs! is? (I know you may know this person irl and thus know for sure, but if you don’t, your assumption isn’t cool. That’s my point.)
Harvey Milk went down on the Titanic? o.0
/snort
Um, just for the record. Josh Brolin’s character didn’t kill Milk. Dan White did.
Smurfs! and everyone else need to analyze their emotions a little closer. The problem is not being spoiled, but idiotic movie trailers that go on for too fucking long. The point of a trailer is to make the film tantalizing enough to want to see it, not to show the whole damn thing. So quit whining about spoilers and start whining about poor editing. Thanks!
Andy N: dead on!
Historical awareness about Milk is subjective. I never heard of the guy, and yet I’m as PFLAG as any other capitol hill denizen. But I read about him on wiki before seeing the movie, so White’s role wasn’t a shock.
Suz,
Agreed: R&J should make it; “Why can’t those kids ever get together?!?!”
Thanks for the smashing idea: I’m going to start a Shakespeare company now called ‘Surprise Shakespeare’ where the endings are all altered. Seattle Shakes/Book It meets after-Fringe-Festival-drunken-hilarity.
“good night sweet prince, and let angels sing thee…er… holy shit, Hammy? you’re still alive..?? “
How bout this: Romeo elopes with Jules to Mantua where they kill a certain druggist Tony-Soprano-style and take over his business. Tybalt tracks them there, only to get a dose of something dreamy & potent (love-in-idleness?) and falls in love with a visiting and pining Mercutio. They move in upstairs, and NBC picks up the sitcom “R&J&2More” for a 4 year contract. Spin offs include ‘The Montagues Move to London’ and ‘Tybalt plus 3’