Overview
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Release Date:
21 February 1972 (Sweden)
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Tagline:
When they reach out for each other... they touch every heart... with warmth, charm and laughter!
Plot:
They Might be Giants chronicles the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in modern-day New York City...
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Awards:
Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.
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Additional Details
Runtime:
98 min
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)
Fun Stuff
Goofs:
Continuity: When Scott and Woodward are riding in a taxi, from his angle the cab is stopped; from her angle the cab is moving.
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Quotes:
Dr. Mildred Watson:
You're just like Don Quixote. You think that everything is always something else.
Justin Playfair:
Well, he had a point. 'Course he carried it a bit too far. He thought that every windmill was a giant. That's insane. But, thinking that they might be, well... All the best minds used to think the world was flat. But what if it isn't? It might be round. And bread mold might be medicine. If we never looked at things and thought of what might be, why we'd all still be out there in the tall grass with the apes.
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Being American and inadvertently an avid viewer (consumer) of cinema of all genres and qualities, I have to say that this is one of my all-time, forgotten favorites.
Not being a film student or critic, I fall into that overlooked and easily dismissed category called "the audience" which is humorously described as having no knowledge of art, but knowing with certainty what one likes. As such, I can say, unequivocally, that I like this film.
Most important to me as a viewer, above all other aspects of a film, is the story that is being told. If the story is winning, endearing and meaningful, then all else can be forgiven, production quality, even poor acting. Sans the poor acting, "They Might Be Giants" is just such a film.
I won't bore you with the wealth of meaning and depth of insight that I have gleaned from this wonderful story. Suffice it to say that despite what some have chosen to call its' "saccharine" quality (and what I call its' endearing quality), this story has the metaphysical import that elevates it to the level of a modern-day fable for the Western World.
Because I am unstudied and basically an "illiterate" in terms of Western Literature, the references to Don Quiote were completely invisible to me until now. For this enlightenment, I give thanks to the other reviewers. This comparison rings true throughout the story, and has enriched its' overall meaning for me. However, because I was initially unaware of this now obvious reference, for me the "They" in the title of "They Might Be Giants" referred to the very characters, themselves, all of whom are socially flawed, socially marginalized individuals, all of whom are void of "desirability".
As such, these characters, very aptly portrayed by the cast, although quirky, stand-alone individuals respectively, collectively come to represent the "everyman". The impersonal facelessness and the spirit-killing angst of personal worthlessness in midst of the post-industrial age of "modernity" are the windmills at which our Don Quiote, Justin Playfair, tilts. More importantly, we come to understand that this mask of facelessness may well be hiding individuals of truly gigantic spiritual dimensions and human worth. Our fellow human beings, who we pass, nameless, in the streets, "They Might Be Giants"!