Best movie of the '60's, possibly of all-time

Rating: 10/10 (18 April 2007)

I make the claim above knowing that there are indeed other films with better acting, bigger box-office numbers, more awards and greater love by audiences and acclaim by critics alike in both the original print versions and celluloid forms. Movies like CASABLANCA, TITANIC, BEN-HUR and GONE WITH THE WIND fit the bill with having those other attributes. But no other film I can imagine has had the impact on the way movies were made after it was released and no other major motion picture has combined rich classical music themes with such stunning visual images in such a way that it captivated audiences and budding young filmmakers alike to expect more in what was shown on the screen. Later films like STAR WARS, SUPERMAN, SPIDERMAN, and THE MATRIX built on Kubrick's vision and added to it. The makers of all these special-effects driven films that came after this owe Kubrick a great debt. He set the bar pretty high for both moviegoers' and movie makers' expectations, and that drives the film industry even today. Back to this film now, there are four observations I made in seeing this film again recently which I hadn't noticed previously. (1)I recently experienced the loss of a loved one who came to an end while battling the late stages of Alzheimers. Seeing the unplugging of HAL by Bowman and the way that HAL loses its faculties bit by bit until one of its last memories is recalling a song from its early stages of programming, caused me to think how much our human brain functions like HAL (or vice versa.) My late sister underwent some of the same processes as HAL as she delighted in telling me anecdotes from her past, which she remembered better than the contents of her morning breakfast. (2)I think SPARTACUS and 2001 are much alike in Kubrick's view of how man can triumph over adversity, whether it's put there by man or machine, and then rise to a level never imagined. In both cases, we can become slaves to man or machines, but Kubrick shows that we can overcome the odds. (3)Another vision of Kubrick not foreseen in 1968 is that the super sophisticated aliens in this film utilize these giant cellphone-like structures for space flight and other uses. We shouldn't be surprised that these ubiquitous devices fly, since today they do so many things. I think it would be neat to own a cellphone with a ring tone emulating the humming sound featured by the monoliths in this film. (4)I find it curious that in the first 18 minutes of the film the screenwriters seem to suggest that the aliens by use of their monolith influenced our ape-like ancestors to become violent, as if that advances their evolutionary development. As much as this and the Cain vs. Abel Biblical story point out that man's inhumanity to man goes back a long ways, I can't see how the aliens believe that introducing this trait into man's development could be a positive step for mankind. However, one positive step I can recommend for mankind is to see this picture on a big screen. It's not enough to own this film for your personal collection, it must be experienced on a big screen in a movie house or something similar like a screening on a library wall, where the downtown Spokane Public Library presented it. Film reviewer Roger Ebert says that seeing movies this way is best in a theater setting surrounded by an audience that delivers its reaction to it.I further believe that like mixing Scotch with water, it's a bit sacrilegious to combine 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY with your home boob tube screen. At your next opportunity, make that odyssey yourself to see it the way that all great motion pictures should be seen. Dale Roloff