Comments on: 5 Mind-Numbingly Long Movies

By: David G.

David G. — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:03:00 +0000

“Riget” (in US, released as “The Kingdom”) Lars Von Trier, 1994.

another almost but not quite in this esteemed company.
Probably the only film this long you might actually sit through. Quite a good movie.
I seem to remember it being shown with no intermission, or a very brief one, in West Newton Cinema, or maybe the Brattle in Cambridge.
It had shown on Danish TV as 4 hour-long TV episodes.
There may even have been 8 episodes, but some film buff or imdb is a better source than I am.

By: Barry Stevens

Barry Stevens — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:48:35 +0000

I have to tell you, Bondarchuk’s War And Peace does not deserve to be mocked. It is fine. I saw it at a small rep cinema in Toronto in the late 70s. They served borscht during the intermission at the 4 hour break. the film is extraordinary. One of the greatest epics made.

By: universityboy

universityboy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:43:53 +0000

wow. to the above comment about college students only partying:
we usually have little to no instances when both time and money present themselves and allow us to party. we drink a fair bit, but a beer after class does not bury one’s head in the sand. actually, college students are possibly some of the most informed people you will meet for several reasons. first, we have a lot of time on the bus to read the newspapers. second, there are an unbelievable number of fringe groups who shove the problems of the world in our faces as if we can solve them. so we get exposed to all of the issues in the world daily, and we are conscious of them constantly. now true, that is not to say that we care, because often i see posters for ending wars and such things and i merely laugh at the pointlessness of their efforts to save the world by telling some broke college students about poverty. anyways, some friends and i are going to watch the cure for insomnia this summer. will be good, i think.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:50:45 +0000

Crazy, I go to Eastern as well.
Not too often do you see another EIUer in cyberspace.

By: Dave Greiman

Dave Greiman — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:50:43 +0000

I’m going to watch the short version of War and Peace.

By: fz

fz — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:03:22 +0000

Hi Andy!

I love this site and your article amazes me to see that there are still intelligent lives on earth that actually sit and watch movies-opposed to what I thought the college generation “usually” did which is party most of the time and never see what is going on around them…I stand corrected and impressed…Keep it going…FZ

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:59:40 +0000

1. The Cure for Insomnia
5220 min (87 hours)
United States, 1987

LOL – that’s the funniest concept I’ve ever heard of.

By: EllisGL

EllisGL — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:49:27 +0000

What none of Ken Burn’s stuff is in here?!? Or JFK…

By: Mike Cosgrave

Mike Cosgrave — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:04:51 +0000

What about Abel Gance’ classic Napoleon which IMDB various gives as between 222 mins and 330 minutes long, but I once heard there was a 27 hour long version. Since it dates from 1927, it is much older than many of these latecomers. (No, I wasn’t at the premiere, I’m not that old!)

By: Izzy

Izzy — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:45:12 +0000

As a child of ten (or eleven, my memory is not *that* good), I saw War and Peace at the Uptown Theatre in Silver Spring, MD.

The Uptown had a wide set of three screens (I also saw 2001: A Space Odyssey there), and we saw the movie in two parts. One half one week and the other half the next.