Long, Strong, and Down to Get the Classics On: The Insanely Long Movie Checklist

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Despite the fact that Sir Mix-A-Lot’s knighthood is clearly invalid, I’ve still opted to quote him because his long/strong/down to get the friction on line from the timeless “Baby Got Back” perfectly pertains to several fantastic bits of cinema. These are films that show up on “Greatest” lists all the time. They’re influential, and some of the best movies ever made. They’re also, unfortunately, endurance tests that require 4 hours or more of viewing. In at least a few cases, it’s best to think of them as a mini-series, viewed an hour or two at a time. Here’s my checklist of insanely long movies that I have seen or that I intend to see.

Iron Director: Truffaut v. Fassbinder

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When you’re a hardcore film nerd, you spend too much of your time trying to spackle in the cracks in your film knowledge. My friend Marty, for instance, is currently obsessively trying to knock out the entire Criterion Collection. It’s a noble goal- Criterion makes some amazing movies. But we’re talking about some 550 or 600 movies that they’ve released. To date, he’s somewhere in the 400’s. My recent obsession has been the films of two art house titans- Francois Truffaut and Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Synaptic Soup: Slaying Berlin Alexanderplatz

Criterion released Berlin Alexanderplatz about a year ago or so. When I saw the Netflix description, my eyes popped out of my head. “Here”, I thought, “is something that’s right up my alley”. Here’s the description:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder directed this 16-hour film that follows Franz Biberkopf (Gunter Lamprecht) after his release from prison in 1920s Germany. Although Biberkopf wants to remain straight, the poor economy ultimately drives him back to a life of petty crime and violence. Based on Alfred Doblin’s acclaimed novel, this movie documents a man’s descent into depravity and insanity, and sets the stage for the emergence of the Nazi party.