"and featuring Jessica Alba as Tarina the Jungle Girl!"

Jeremy: Thanks for the review-- it's a film I hadn't thought of in awhile. I'm glad I saw it one the big screen. I saw The New World at about the same time and I found Apocalypto a vital, vulgar counterpoint to Malick's perfect aestheticism.

I love reading about Aztec and Maya and Inca culture. It was good fun to see Gibson's well-appointed take on the noble savage, and I give him props for not using English and not prettying up the actors-- "and featuring Jessica Alba as Tarina the Jungle Girl!"

[Rambling post]

I think Apocamelypto borrowed a fair amount from Cornel Wilde's The Naked Prey, which in turn was based upon the true story of a trapper, John Colter, who survived being set free and hunted down by a band of Blackfoot Indians.

Wilde had trouble getting backing and shifted production to South Africa where things were cheaper and he was given assistance. So it was changed from a true story about Native Americans hunting down a white guy to African natives doing the same to a safari guide.
The man (listed in the credits as The Man and played by Cornel Wilde) who gets to run for his life is the lucky one. The other more offensive white men have some pretty grisly torture inflict on them, the kind of scenes which Mel probably enjoyed.

...

How did directors and actors adapt to the changed cultural landscape of the mid-60's and 70's?

The Assassination of Jesse James... is a lovely-to-look-at numbing-to-sit-through Western with pretentions which reminds me why I never liked McCabe and Mrs. Miller.

The photography is stunning and the performances are fine, but everyone looks alike, like one long daguerrotype. Affleck is interesting but I liked him better in Gone Baby Gone. He had the starring role and Pitt's Jesse was the supporting part, making Affleck's supporting nomination a joke.

...

That might make for an interesting forum:
How did directors and actors adapt to the changed cultural landscape of the mid-60's and 70's?
I might be exaggerating, but it seems to be a tectonic shift akin to the advent of talkies, or imposition of The Code, or rock music & the Beatles upending the music industry.

this could be just as easily dealt with in a successive series of fora broken out by decade...

Hmm, I was looking forward to seeing that film. I loved 1980's The Long Riders - any similarities in style, pace?

[Rambling post]

I think Apocamelypto borrowed a fair amount from Cornel Wilde's The Naked Prey, which in turn was based upon the true story of a trapper, John Colter, who survived being set free and hunted down by a band of Blackfoot Indians.

Wilde had trouble getting backing and shifted production to South Africa where things were cheaper and he was given assistance. So it was changed from a true story about Native Americans hunting down a white guy to African natives doing the same to a safari guide.
The man (listed in the credits as The Man and played by Cornel Wilde) who gets to run for his life is the lucky one. The other more offensive white men have some pretty grisly torture inflict on them, the kind of scenes which Mel probably enjoyed.

For whatever reason I've seen a few older Cornel Wilde films recently. Leave Her to Heaven (1945) a fairly contrived melodrama.
And The Big Combo (1955), a silly but fun noir.
I find it interesting how some folks transformed themselves and their careers in the 60's when the cultural shift occurred. One of my favorites is the singer Eugene McDaniels who went from the gentle pop of A Hundred Pounds Of Clay in the early 60's to Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse in the early 70's.
Whoa, back full circle to Apocalypse.
How did that happen?

That might make for an interesting forum:
How did directors and actors adapt to the changed cultural landscape of the mid-60's and 70's?
Some like Cornel Wilde did some interesting stuff, others tried to be hip and failed miserably. Some resisted and remained square. I might be exaggerating, but it seems to be a tectonic shift akin to the advent of talkies, or imposition of The Code, or rock music & the Beatles upending the music industry.
[/Rambling post]