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18. Sleeper (1973)
By IFC
on 06/25/2009
Woody Allen goes the unreliable narrator route in his trailer for "Sleeper." Showing off the control he had over his work at this early point in his career, he crafts an ironic short film where he lies his head off about what he's ostensibly promoting. Starting by parodying the "director at work" shot, he hunches over a flatbed as an off-screen narrator asks if he's working on his latest film. Allen deadpans, "No", and the dissembling takes off from there. He goes on to describe the film's cerebral, didactic nature as his bumbling pratfalls whiz by on-screen. There hasn't been such a disjunct in voice-over and image since Buñuel's "Land Without Bread."
Riffing with evident glee, Allen describes Diane Keaton's grace as she Tarzan swings into a tree. Sound and image join briefly when he mentions her "animal intelligence," but it's short lived. He winds up with an apt non sequitur: incoherent people will be let in to the movie for half-price. In the face of such anarchy, the fake narrator vainly tries to pack in the plot description in the last five seconds. Few are allowed such playfulness in today's marketing dictatorship, so enjoy it. --R. Emmet Sweeney
I guess you guys haven't seen the trailer for The Hughes Bros.'s Dead Presidents, huh? What about Forest Gump? I think those are the 2 greatest of all time. Gump is better than the movie. And Dead Prez is the best ever.
Oh... what about the SW Ep 1 teaser? Maybe you should call this the best film trailers on YouTube! LOL. Dead Prez is probably too hard for you to locate.
I think The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and 300 should be included!
Clerks? No love for the Clerks trailer? Sigh.
Honorable mention for the Grindhouse fake trailers? "Don't" was brilliant.
Great list, by the way. Thanks for including 'Man Who Wasn't There'
Seriously? We have to click 50 times just to get the damn list? No thanks.
Like clicking 50 times is soooo hard, right? But you guys forgot about There Will Be Blood!!
50 PAGES?!!! Get back to work researching how to post an article. No Digg for you.
50 PAGES?!!! Get back to work researching how to post an article. No Digg for you.
GREAT article and flawless pick for #1. I actually did a lil piece on that trailer at our own movie blog, so I'm elated to see as your top pick. Yay trailers!