Remember When
Quote: billryanI have only dressed for Halloween once in the last forty or so years, but enjoy people-watching on it.
When I lived in Queens, they had a different way of celebrating Halloween. Rather than going door to door, we had a parade where kids walked and bystanders handed them candy. There were a few bands and cultural groups that marched and it was a nice festive afternoon.
One year, I painted tiger stripes on my orange dog and it was a big hit when we joined the parade for a few blocks.
. As I was leaving,I was called over for a group photo with Mayor Rudie and a few other politicians. They really wanted my dog, I was just an extra.
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(Mmm, he may be wearing stripes himself soon enough}
Quote: rxwineQuote: billryanI have only dressed for Halloween once in the last forty or so years, but enjoy people-watching on it.
When I lived in Queens, they had a different way of celebrating Halloween. Rather than going door to door, we had a parade where kids walked and bystanders handed them candy. There were a few bands and cultural groups that marched and it was a nice festive afternoon.
One year, I painted tiger stripes on my orange dog and it was a big hit when we joined the parade for a few blocks.
. As I was leaving,I was called over for a group photo with Mayor Rudie and a few other politicians. They really wanted my dog, I was just an extra.
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(Mmm, he may be wearing stripes himself soon enough}
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This is why they don't allow political stuff here because I can't respond to that. If I do I'll get nailed for talking politics so knock it off.
Quote: EvenBob
This is why they don't allow political stuff here because I can't respond to that. If I do I'll get nailed for talking politics so KNOCK IT OFF..
news flash -
you don't have any authority here to tell anybody to "knock it off"
if the innocuous, humorous comment bothered you so much you can send a PM to a Mod
you have no say at all as to what a person may comment about
you just imagine you do or wish that you had such authority
.
Quote: lilredroosterQuote: EvenBob
This is why they don't allow political stuff here because I can't respond to that. If I do I'll get nailed for talking politics so KNOCK IT OFF..
news flash -
you don't have any authority here to tell anybody to "knock it off"
if the innocuous, humorous comment bothered you so much you can send a PM to a Mod
you have no say at all as to what a person may comment about
you just imagine you do or wish that you had such authority
.
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It was a political comment plain and simple.
Quote: EvenBob
It was a political comment plain and simple.
irrelevant
what's relevant is that you have no power or authority to tell people what not to post
you can pretend that you do - if that makes you feel good - but in reality you don't
.
Quote: lilredroosterQuote: EvenBob
It was a political comment plain and simple.
irrelevant
what's relevant is that you have no power or authority to tell people what not to post
you can pretend that you do - if that makes you feel good - but in reality you don't
.
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No politics means NO POLITICS. It does not mean "some politics depending on the target."
Quote: EvenBobQuote: rxwineQuote: billryanI have only dressed for Halloween once in the last forty or so years, but enjoy people-watching on it.
When I lived in Queens, they had a different way of celebrating Halloween. Rather than going door to door, we had a parade where kids walked and bystanders handed them candy. There were a few bands and cultural groups that marched and it was a nice festive afternoon.
One year, I painted tiger stripes on my orange dog and it was a big hit when we joined the parade for a few blocks.
. As I was leaving,I was called over for a group photo with Mayor Rudie and a few other politicians. They really wanted my dog, I was just an extra.
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(Mmm, he may be wearing stripes himself soon enough}
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This is why they don't allow political stuff here because I can't respond to that. If I do I'll get nailed for talking politics so knock it off.
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And yet you did respond.
Quote: EvenBobQuote: AZDuffmanRemember when Labor Day weekend was more of a "hard" end to the summer? Schools at most opened the week before and the pools and amusement parks closed up. You had the Labor Day telethon and NFL football started.
I have heard kids starting school this week. Amusement park by me stays open weekends until Halloween. NFL is a week later. Halloween decorations already up and probably a week until Spirit Halloween signs are up and stores open. People complain about Christmas season being pushed, it has nothing on Halloween now. (I never cared much for Halloween as a kid and now hate it as an adult if you cannot tell. Anyone with me there?)
Halloween sort of marks the end of "nice" fall and start of "bad" fall. But I digress.
When I moved to the southwest the lack of a change from summer to fall really messed with me. Any of you Vegas transplants ever feel that way?
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My daughter just started teaching school again last week, the middle of August. It's because they get so much time off now. Two or three weeks at Christmas, a long spring break and God only knows what other days they get off. We never ever went back to school before Labor Day. It was always the day after Labor Day that we went back. And yes when I lived in California I hated the lack of the change of seasons it makes living there very bland. Obviously the days were really short in the winter, and it was colder, but there was no drastic changes. There was no snow, but you're just as limited in what you can do in the winter as you are back East because the sun goes down so early. Because you're on the beginning of a time zone in December and January it's totally dark before 5:00 p.m.. If you have a day job you go to work in the dark and you come home in the dark. I've never missed California one day since I left and I have plans on never going back. It was going to hell 40 years ago and I left because of all the street people. Now they call them homeless I can't even imagine what it's like there now. I've seen the videos obviously but living there I can't imagine.
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I just do not get the attraction. I got panhandled something like 8-10 times in one day. Outside of the cities it had a "suburban hell" feel. Endless burbs split by jammed freeways. Short days with nice weather always felt weird to me. Did in Phoenix and did at a management conference in Cancun. I assume locals are used to it.
But Halloween, oh how I hate it. I never liked it but over the years it has grown to hating it. Various jobs I have had let people dress up I was always like "what is this, elementary school?" Most I have done for a party the last 15+ years is print out a SHIB logo and said I was a shiba inu token.
Quote: DRichI doubt that I have dressed up for Halloween since I was 10 years old. In college I lived in a big 4000 sqft house and my roomates loved having halloween parties. I enjoyed the excessive drinking and slutty girls, but didn't dress for it.
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When I was a kid 10 years old was the cutoff date, fifth grade. And people who were giving out candy knew by looking at you how old you were and if you look like you were six or seventh grade you didn't get anything. Today you got college kids trick or treating, been going out for years. Adults wearing costumes has never appealed to me, I also have not worn a costume since third or fourth grade. I don't think people should stop doing it but I just don't get it. When I had the bar in Santa Barbara there was a gay bar just down the street and we got a lot of overflow from them and every Halloween every single gay guy that I knew dressed up like a woman. No exceptions. That kind of thing I kind of understand because that's something that's in their head all year long. But your average everyday person wearing a costume I just don't get.
Quote: AZDuffmanQuote: lilredroosterQuote: EvenBob
It was a political comment plain and simple.
irrelevant
what's relevant is that you have no power or authority to tell people what not to post
you can pretend that you do - if that makes you feel good - but in reality you don't
.
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No politics means NO POLITICS. It does not mean "some politics depending on the target."
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Exactly. Could not agree more.
Quote: EvenBobQuote: DRichI doubt that I have dressed up for Halloween since I was 10 years old. In college I lived in a big 4000 sqft house and my roomates loved having halloween parties. I enjoyed the excessive drinking and slutty girls, but didn't dress for it.
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When I was a kid 10 years old was the cutoff date, fifth grade. And people who were giving out candy knew by looking at you how old you were and if you look like you were six or seventh grade you didn't get anything. Today you got college kids trick or treating, been going out for years. Adults wearing costumes has never appealed to me, I also have not worn a costume since third or fourth grade. I don't think people should stop doing it but I just don't get it. When I had the bar in Santa Barbara there was a gay bar just down the street and we got a lot of overflow from them and every Halloween every single gay guy that I knew dressed up like a woman. No exceptions. That kind of thing I kind of understand because that's something that's in their head all year long. But your average everyday person wearing a costume I just don't get.
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There was no cutoff by my day, I skipped IIRC 7th grade maybe went out in 8th. But for sure not in high school, though many kids in HS did. I would just shake my head.
Quote: mcallister3200Halloween is a holiday like Cap’n Crunch is a captain.
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LOL! Halloween is a holiday like Valentine's Day is a holiday or Mother's Day is a holiday. They are celebration days not holidays. Nobody gets paid for taking a day off from work, Banks and the Post Office are not shut down,
That would make it a holiday.
Quote: EvenBobQuote: mcallister3200Halloween is a holiday like Cap’n Crunch is a captain.
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LOL! Halloween is a holiday like Valentine's Day is a holiday or Mother's Day is a holiday. They are celebration days not holidays. Nobody gets paid for taking a day off from work, Banks and the Post Office are not shut down,
That would make it a holiday.
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Fast fun fact--one of the reasons election day in the USA is the first Tuesday after the First Monday in November is so as to never conflict with All Saints Day and The Eve of All the Saints a/k/a Halloween.
the Dollar Stores opened in 1986
I didn't have much $$$ at the time
I was amazed
for sure, low quality - but still - I got a couple of little tool kits for $1.00 - like 8 pieces in the kit - incredible
and frozen dinners for $1.00_________get outta here_________how can you beat that______?
for a while I loved it up - lots of fun browsing - until I decided they were too low quality and junky
.
Yeah, lots of crap available at the dollar stores, I remember buying a $1 hammer... the head snapped clean off the first time I hit a nail with it! Pre-pandemic, you could buy ribeye steaks for $1 apiece -- never tried those!Quote: lilredrooster.
the Dollar Stores opened in 1986
I didn't have much $$$ at the time
I was amazed
for sure, low quality - but still - I got a couple of little tool kits for $1.00 - like 8 pieces in the kit - incredible
and frozen dinners for $1.00_________get outta here_________how can you beat that______?
for a while I loved it up - lots of fun browsing - until I decided they were too low quality and junky
.
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There was some value to be found, too, but you had to look for it. The dollar store was always my first stop for Christmas wrapping paper & gift boxes.
Remember when the 99c stores came in and tried to undercut the dollar stores by a penny?
Even though Dollar General and Family Dollar have "dollar" in their names, they are not what I consider "Dollar Stores," like Dollar Tree is (although they did recently raise some of their prices to $1.25). DG & FD are more like mini Wal-marts, only Wal-martier, if that's possible.Quote: DRichI bought an item at Dollar General the other day. Talk about shock, it was $13.99.
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Quote: Joeman
Yeah, lots of crap available at the dollar stores, I remember buying a $1 hammer... the head snapped clean off the first time I hit a nail with it! Pre-pandemic, you could buy ribeye steaks for $1 apiece -- never tried those!
There was some value to be found, too, but you had to look for it. The dollar store was always my first stop for Christmas wrapping paper & gift boxes.
Remember when the 99c stores came in and tried to undercut the dollar stores by a penny?
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The ribeyes were... awful. Slightly thicker than a sheet of paper, falling apart, most of what was there was injected brine ("solution") with a bit of gristle and fat. You probably get a better deal getting a cheeseburger at McDonalds. They're almost passable with a fried egg, sandwiched between two slabs of fried toast. If you need a frame of reference that makes a Waffle House steak look like a treat, these may do.
The neighborhood gas station regularly offers a much higher quality frozen, solution injected, mechanically tenderized 5 ounce sirloin for about $1.34 each (sale price), which is a much better deal.
There is absolutely stuff I get at a dollar store. Scouring powder. Disposable pens that I expect will get lost (or stolen). Compact plastic cutting boards for my travel kitchen. Certain garbage bags.
With a bit of savvy (and the ability to overlook the young girl aesthetic), Five Below has some good deals, too.
Quote: EvenBobQuote: AZDuffmanQuote: lilredroosterQuote: EvenBob
It was a political comment plain and simple.
irrelevant
what's relevant is that you have no power or authority to tell people what not to post
you can pretend that you do - if that makes you feel good - but in reality you don't
.
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No politics means NO POLITICS. It does not mean "some politics depending on the target."
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Exactly. Could not agree more.
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No one cares.
Quote: EvenBobSome of the best things to buy at Dollar Tree. Extension cords, try to find an extension cord anywhere for $1.25, 3-in paint brushes which are great for projects you're going to be doing for a while then throw the brush away. In fact their whole tool section has a lot of Bargains for stuff that you're not going to use for very long like sandpaper. I got a new pair of toenail clippers for $1.25 and they're super sharp and will stay that way for quite a while and when they're not I'll just get another pair. Canned fish, like kippers. Minced garlic in a bottle. Their whole selection of spices is great.
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Spices and aluminum foil pans are the only things that I will regularly go to the dollar store for. Once there I still always spend close to $20.
Quote: EvenBobSome of the best things to buy at Dollar Tree. Extension cords, try to find an extension cord anywhere for $1.25, 3-in paint brushes which are great for projects you're going to be doing for a while then throw the brush away. In fact their whole tool section has a lot of Bargains for stuff that you're not going to use for very long like sandpaper. I got a new pair of toenail clippers for $1.25 and they're super sharp and will stay that way for quite a while and when they're not I'll just get another pair. Canned fish, like kippers. Minced garlic in a bottle. Their whole selection of spices is great.
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Cheap extension cords that aren't UL-approved are not a good buy, even if they are free. Unless you have some non-electrical uses for them.
They do have lots of bargains, and I often repurpose items. They sell a $1.25 clear case for holding rolls of thread that I use to display Hot Wheels size cars and 1/72 scale military models. Dedicated display cases cost ten times more. I stock up on jars of pickles, and dry pasta. Their frozen food is very cheap, but little of it is healthy. I'll grab a couple of Jamaican beef patties but otherwise, I try not to buy there. Plastic dishes, cups, kitchen supplies, aluminum and more.
Bisbee has a Family Dollar and a Dollar Discount right across from each other and now they are building a Dollar General. I don't understand why one company operates three brands and puts them in competition with each other.
Quote: TigerWuThere's a store in my area called Five Below which is the same gimmick as dollar stores but with five dollars instead. They have some decent stuff and they're not nearly as trashy.
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Five below is the next level, but they are headed towards $5-10 which is about what a 5/10 from 100 years ago would cost today with inflation. Dollar General was never a "dollar store" always a "general store." They are doing a good job, not trying to take WMT head-on but be a neighborhood general store for small trips.
In the late 80s there were .99 and .98 stores. Seems small, but that is 1-2% which on a 5-8% net margin is huge.
In college one summer I read about a chain called "All For a Dollar" that got pinched for selling stolen stuff.
Quote: billryan
Bisbee has a Family Dollar and a Dollar Discount right across from each other and now they are building a Dollar General. I don't understand why one company operates three brands and puts them in competition with each other.
I was not aware that Family Dollar and Dollar General were the same company. I am not familiar with Dollar Discount. I know Family Dollar was based out of the Charlotte area and I thought Dollar General was out of Kentucky. Maybe they were purchased by the same company.
Quote: DRichQuote: billryan
Bisbee has a Family Dollar and a Dollar Discount right across from each other and now they are building a Dollar General. I don't understand why one company operates three brands and puts them in competition with each other.
I was not aware that Family Dollar and Dollar General were the same company. I am not familiar with Dollar Discount. I know Family Dollar was based out of the Charlotte area and I thought Dollar General was out of Kentucky. Maybe they were purchased by the same company.
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Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree are all owned by the same corporation. They started as rivals but one was bought out by the other. It's one of the more interesting corporate histories if you enjoy reading that sort of thing. I thought they owned Dollar General, but they don't.
They are the only company I know that sets their wholesale prices at retail. My friend managed a store for a bit and showed me the thousands or dollars in wholesale orders they'd take in.
Quote: billryanQuote: DRichQuote: billryan
Bisbee has a Family Dollar and a Dollar Discount right across from each other and now they are building a Dollar General. I don't understand why one company operates three brands and puts them in competition with each other.
I was not aware that Family Dollar and Dollar General were the same company. I am not familiar with Dollar Discount. I know Family Dollar was based out of the Charlotte area and I thought Dollar General was out of Kentucky. Maybe they were purchased by the same company.
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Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree are all owned by the same corporation. They started as rivals but one was bought out by the other. It's one of the more interesting corporate histories if you enjoy reading that sort of thing. I thought they owned Dollar General, but they don't.
They are the only company I know that sets their wholesale prices at retail. My friend managed a store for a bit and showed me the thousands or dollars in wholesale orders they'd take in.
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The manager at the Dollar Tree I go to told me they never order anything. It all comes in on pallets from the central warehouse and they just put it on the shelves. They don't have the capability to order anything he told me. It's all done by computer, the computer knows what the store is short on from the sales and it ships more items accordingly. He has no control over any of it. Most store managers of these places are one step above blithering idiots anyway they don't usually last very long. Doesn't pay enough. I've never seen a store with a bigger turnover of employees than Dollar Tree, from the manager on down.
Quote: EvenBobQuote: billryanQuote: DRichQuote: billryan
Bisbee has a Family Dollar and a Dollar Discount right across from each other and now they are building a Dollar General. I don't understand why one company operates three brands and puts them in competition with each other.
I was not aware that Family Dollar and Dollar General were the same company. I am not familiar with Dollar Discount. I know Family Dollar was based out of the Charlotte area and I thought Dollar General was out of Kentucky. Maybe they were purchased by the same company.
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Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree are all owned by the same corporation. They started as rivals but one was bought out by the other. It's one of the more interesting corporate histories if you enjoy reading that sort of thing. I thought they owned Dollar General, but they don't.
They are the only company I know that sets their wholesale prices at retail. My friend managed a store for a bit and showed me the thousands or dollars in wholesale orders they'd take in.
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The manager at the Dollar Tree I go to told me they never order anything. It all comes in on pallets from the central warehouse and they just put it on the shelves. They don't have the capability to order anything he told me. It's all done by computer, the computer knows what the store is short on from the sales and it ships more items accordingly. He has no control over any of it. Most store managers of these places are one step above blithering idiots anyway they don't usually last very long. Doesn't pay enough. I've never seen a store with a bigger turnover of employees than Dollar Tree, from the manager on down.
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You order off the website and it is delivered in different colored plastic pallet skids to the closest store, but the workers still manage to put some on the shelves. The only thing the manager does is sign a receipt that you picked up.
Quote: billryanQuote: EvenBobQuote: billryanQuote: DRichQuote: billryan
Bisbee has a Family Dollar and a Dollar Discount right across from each other and now they are building a Dollar General. I don't understand why one company operates three brands and puts them in competition with each other.
I was not aware that Family Dollar and Dollar General were the same company. I am not familiar with Dollar Discount. I know Family Dollar was based out of the Charlotte area and I thought Dollar General was out of Kentucky. Maybe they were purchased by the same company.
link to original post
Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree are all owned by the same corporation. They started as rivals but one was bought out by the other. It's one of the more interesting corporate histories if you enjoy reading that sort of thing. I thought they owned Dollar General, but they don't.
They are the only company I know that sets their wholesale prices at retail. My friend managed a store for a bit and showed me the thousands or dollars in wholesale orders they'd take in.
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The manager at the Dollar Tree I go to told me they never order anything. It all comes in on pallets from the central warehouse and they just put it on the shelves. They don't have the capability to order anything he told me. It's all done by computer, the computer knows what the store is short on from the sales and it ships more items accordingly. He has no control over any of it. Most store managers of these places are one step above blithering idiots anyway they don't usually last very long. Doesn't pay enough. I've never seen a store with a bigger turnover of employees than Dollar Tree, from the manager on down.
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You order off the website and it is delivered in different colored plastic pallet skids to the closest store, but the workers still manage to put some on the shelves. The only thing the manager does is sign a receipt that you picked up.
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Can't count the number of times I've seen somebody get hired to stock shelves at Dollar Tree and eight weeks later they are the store manager because everybody else has quit. 6 weeks after that I won't recognize a person in the store it'll be all new people including the manager. The longest I've ever seen a manager last there is 3 months and that was years ago. I have a huge problem with people getting hired to work 5 days a week and they only show up 3 days so they're always short-handed. And they have three checkout Lanes but only one is ever open no matter how busy it gets there could be 12 people in line and they will not open another checkout line. One time somebody banged on the manager's door so loud he finally came out and opened another line.
(I miss the one in Gary at Grant & 35th. They seemingly always had my favorite apple juice in stock.)
OTOH I only worked there a matter of weeks, I did make multiple months, but at 20 hrs/week had to move along as soon as something that would be more viable became along.
Quote: DieterI have seen some long (2-3 year) employment tenures at Dollar Tree, but it does seem to be the exception, rather than the rule. Small town locations seem to have less turnover than the bigger cities.
(I miss the one in Gary at Grant & 35th. They seemingly always had my favorite apple juice in stock.)
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That is how it works with lots of small town places. When there is little else around the chain retail place is one of the better jobs. Since local cost of living is lower it can work out. You tend to get better service in those smaller towns as well. You can wonder if they are really the same company the service varies so much.
A person can use this system to make their bones and get a better management job somewhere else.
Marlon Brando was the greatest actor of all time imho
this scene from "On the Waterfront" is one of the greatest movie scenes of all time - again, just imo
The black-and-white film was inspired by "Crime on the Waterfront" by Malcolm Johnson, a series of articles published in November–December 1948 in the New York Sun which won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting,
"You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody. Instead of a bum. Which is what I am"
in the 2nd vid, unfortunately a little blurry - he beats the **** out of Lee J. Cobb playing crooked union boss Johnny Friendly until Friendly's buddys step in
.
.
Quote: lilredrooster.
Marlon Brando was the greatest actor of all time imho
I don't know that I have ever seen a Marlon Brando movie.
Quote: DRich
I don't know that I have ever seen a Marlon Brando movie.
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I've only seen a few later ones where he got all fat and stopped acting and just played the "fat Marlon Brando character" where he's almost a parody of himself.
Quote: TigerWuQuote: DRich
I don't know that I have ever seen a Marlon Brando movie.
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I've only seen a few later ones where he got all fat and stopped acting and just played the "fat Marlon Brando character" where he's almost a parody of himself.
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He was brilliant in The Freshman, playing the retired godfather with Matthew Broaderwick as his bodyman. It was as if he was spoofing the last thirty years of his career. I recently watched One Eyed Jacks, and he was pretty ordinary in it, unlike most of his movies where he dominates.
Quote: DRichQuote: lilredrooster.
Marlon Brando was the greatest actor of all time imho
I don't know that I have ever seen a Marlon Brando movie.
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None of the Godfather movies?
Not Apocalypse Now?
What about the Superman Movie with Christopher Reeve as Superman? Brando played Jor-el, Superman's dad on the planet Krypton.
The 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty?
Julius Caesar from 1953?
A weird decade for them as the 70s cars were slugs. My Hyundai Santa Fe Sport has more HP than the Bandit's Trans-Am. And Coors beer is awful. But the movies just had something about them. Ron Howard got his director start making one. Even if "Smokey and the Bandit II" was bad it still had one fun scene in the desert in Alabama.
What was it about them that we love them?
Quote: gordonm888
None of the Godfather movies?
Not Apocalypse Now?
What about the Superman Movie with Christopher Reeve as Superman? Brando played Jor-el, Superman's dad on the planet Krypton.
The 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty?
Julius Caesar from 1953?
I have seen the Godfather movies. I did not know he was in them.
Quote: DRichQuote: gordonm888
None of the Godfather movies?
Not Apocalypse Now?
What about the Superman Movie with Christopher Reeve as Superman? Brando played Jor-el, Superman's dad on the planet Krypton.
The 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty?
Julius Caesar from 1953?
I have seen the Godfather movies. I did not know he was in them.
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He is the Godfather in the first movie.
Quote: billryanMutiny on the Bounty and Guys and Dolls are my two favorite Brando movies. I think Apocalypse Now is a great movie, despite Brando
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Sayonara was good, it was made before Brando got totally full of himself. Tea House of the August Moon and Bedtime Story with David Niven we're allso very good. It was after he made Mutiny on the Bounty that he started becoming kind of a nut job.
Quote: unJon
He is the Godfather in the first movie.
Thank you, I did not know that.
Quote: DRichQuote: unJon
He is the Godfather in the first movie.
Thank you, I did not know that.
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He played The Godfather, he won the Academy Award. He had some Indian girl accept the award for him because by that time Brando was totally off his rocker
