Is Citizen Kane worth watching?

It's the most overrated movie ever.

Rosebud is a sled

Yes, Watch it.

It is, if only to see the scene with this pic of Kane clapping.

Last Edited by Mr.Shillington on 02/03/2014 07:22 PM

Yes, it is a good movie!

orson wells best film. good stuff.

If you just like movies a lot you will enjoy it since it is a good movie. if youre watching it because you expect to be blown away i would watch something else.

Spoiler alert.... It's the sled! If you didn't know that already you should crawl out from under that rock.

##this## horrible and totally boring. I did the same thing as you. I figured if it was listed as the best of all time that it was worth watching. Boy was I wrong.

what an ass...

I've always fallen asleep trying to watch it. Same though with another famed "classic" -Casablanca.
Any thing to do with Orson Welles seems pretty hokey to me. Fell asleep during Kafka's The Trial that Welles directed, but did wake up and 'announce' the meaning of certain plot points to the ppl watching with me, to their and my own amazement, since I hadn't completely understood from reading the book.

Last Edited by chauchat on 02/05/2014 07:35 AM

It was breakthrough for its time, mostly in the camera angles and cinematography.

A lot of it is still in the traditional 40's style which is, of course, dated. It's not like he could go wild for 2 1/2 hours. He had to make a lot of it stick to the expected format to sell the film.

The Simpsons pull a ton of gags from the film.
"That's your voice? And I built you an opera house?"

If you looking for action, forget about it.

It has interesting characters and some witty lines here and there, and it's one of the most brilliantly shot films of the era.

It's his sled...there I just saved you two long boring hours.

I am a film buff - 1930's to present - and have worked in film, trained under a couple of well-known directors, written screenplays for TV and movies - admittedly 20 years ago.

I have never been able to sit through "Citizen Kane" either, and God knows I have tried.

The characters are all distasteful. The flashback is ridiculous.

Actually, it's 'high camp' - but not gay.

I think it is one of the most self-indulgent films ever made.

Actually, "Citizen Kane" was a dismal critical and commercial failure when it was produced. Welles couldn't get a picture to direct afterwards for years.

But he had a great persona, and he told everyone he was a genius, and some people believed him.

In his personal life, he was a pig.

So, for that matter was Hitchcock. The secret to his professional success was that his wife went over the scripts and the shots before he went to the set. She wasn't treated well for her trouble.

My conclusion: More really good talent has been thrown away by Hollywood than we will ever know. I have read terrific scripts by others, which were never produced, and never will be.

Last Edited by Purgatory on 02/03/2014 08:35 PM

It's boring , even unbelievably so.

watch Plan 9 from outer space. It's about a hundred times better.

OP, based on the variety of comments here, I would suggest you see it for yourself. If you can't devote the time to a movie without knowing if you will like it before you watch it, it's probably not for you.

I think it is wonderful. I see something new in it every time I watch it, although a lot of the innovations Wells used in in it, such as the box-within-box-within box narration and its elusive truth, the camera angles, the lighting, etc., have been imitated so many times that it may seem old hat unless you know that Wells did them first.

Sure, as a poster above said Wells could be a despicable egotist, but that's part of the point. The whole story is about egotism, self destruction, and the craving of the populace to see into the lives of the wealthy and powerful.

By the way, I've always found it ironic that so many people here use the clapping gif from the film, apparently to signal their agreement with another poster. In the context of the film, Cane is clapping his own self delusion and looks like a fool.

SPOILER!

I don't know who said it was the best movie of all time.
Orson Welles' mother?

It's an average movie from that era. Nothing more.

I think rosebud was a real life reference to Marion Davies' coochie...

[link to www.tcm.com]

Ed Wood thought he was a genius too, like Orson Welles did.
One was a knucklehead and one was a scumbag.

NOTHING good comes out of Hollywood.

The key to understanding Citizen Kane is to realize that the director tells the story through multiple narrators, with each story being slightly different. Look for the clues in direction that set the tone, and look for the different ways that multiple people tell the same story.

You can't watch this movie and expect everything to just be handed to you on a silver plate like today's movies. You actually have to exercise some intelligence to really appreciate the movie.

you forgot the boob less part

Watch it.

Sorry, no CGI effects or Megan Fox bending over.

Yep.

:whatN:


YOU RUINED IT!!!!!

It's an allegory of the rise and fall of the morally proud and philosophically strong United Sates.

Vision, hard work, industry all lead to nothing, emptiness and corruption.

The transformation USA from a backwater 1800's wilderness to the engine of the 20th century.

Historical in the sense of cinema, yes it is a very good movie. That being said, alot of the shots performed in the film and the way that the story was being told was completely different then what hollywood was normally putting out at that time. The film was directed by Orson Welles who directed and narrated War Of The Worlds on live radio, AN adaption of war of the worlds by HG Wells. Interesting fact was this was Orson's first and last film, Not by his choice by the way, hollywood and directing on camera was way a different world than what he had been used to with radio and because of this outsiders view and and eccentric mind he was able to come in and reinvent the art of film making with revolutionary ideas that you will see in many of the scenes that the film will show. Please take in mind, that the film to you, being of current standards and exposure of recent cinema, may not find that the way this film was made to be interesting or remarkable but for that time, it stunned audiences.

To clarify, Citizen Kane is based off news paper magnate William Randolph Hearst. The film has an underlying lesson like most films, but the movie is actually about a man and what being like him will leave you without. It has nothing to do with American industry, or film, or military. It's just about him and how a man like that will likely lead his life and what he is missing out on morally.