If there is one thing you can say about Kubrick's films is that it always creeps up on you and gets into your skin. If you hated it the first time, go back and watch it again and again. It will suprise you how much one of his films will grow on you. I remember watching an interview with Woody Allen talking about "2001" and how much he detsted it, thought it was awful and one of the worst films out there. Sure enough, he couldn't help but go back and watch it again and again. He opinion changed each time and considers "2001" one of the best he has ever seen.

On a side note … I remember shortly after "Eyes Wide Shut" came out hearing about how everyone was in a uproar over the editing. Supposedly tons of footage that Stanley wanted was cut and the sexual scenes were heavily edited (you can easily see some of the characters are superimposed to cover up the naughty stuff) against his wishes. Any truth behind that? I know he was always at odds with the studios in the past when it came to editing …

@The Retina's Eye: yes, there is truth to the editing. I mentioned it in my 2007 piece and the latest Blu-ray release is the unrated version.

…chuckle… That is what I get for not reading all of your articles. Shame on me! Well, I can wait a little longer … I don't have a Blue-ray player just yet, but I will have to check that out. Thank you for the Happy Anniversary piece. Kubrick is my favorite director/artist.

@The Retina's Eye: Well, I believe it is also on the newest 2-Disc DVD. Not positive and Amazon doesn't have confirmation so you may want to look in stores.

Stanley Kubrick is the measure we should all aspire to.

Anyone who thinks that this movie "isn't that good" is color-blind. I think the color use was the best I've ever seen (symbolically, not artistically). But then again, I'm a bit biased: I spent quite a bit of time with Mr. Kubrick this past year, writing a research paper on his color use for one of my professors.

Thank you so much, Brad!! I think I love you now.

"Eyes Wide Shut" is my all-time favorite. Yes, #1 of all time, that's right. Unlike most of the EWS-haters, I didn't watch it in theaters. In fact, I think it was the hype and the misguided expectations that caused almost all of the criticism for this film. Most people I know who love it were too young to watch it in theaters, while most people I know who hated it (only a few, thankfully; it seems that time is aging this film like fine wine) were those who saw it in theaters. Anyway, I watched it for the first time in April 2007, and I loved it. No, it was not yet my favorite film of all time ("A Clockwork Orange" had that position, and it took me a long time to finally be honest with myself and bump it down to second place so that EWS could take the crown). But I bought it on DVD and watched it, and it quickly rose on my list of favorite films. When the Unrated cut came out, I bought that and gave my older sister my old copy (she also loves the film, so much so that she's shown it to other people as well). And since then it has slowly become my favorite film ever.

One complaint that many people made was that EWS was too slow and too boring. Those people must be absolutely stupid. I have shown this film to nearly a dozen people so far, and not one of them found it boring. Even my parents, who decided they were offended by its graphic sexual content (especially my dad), were completely glued to the screen. And my older sister and three of my friends (two separate viewings) were talking the whole time, trying to guess what was happening, but always failing to unravel the mystery before the film did, no matter how hard they tried. It's been so amazing watching all their reactions.

And may I point out that imdb is exemplifying EWS's belated rise to glory. When I first watched the film it was at a 7.0. Now it's at a 7.2. And I've started awareness on the imdb boards with S.H.R.E.W.S. (Society for the Honor Required of Eyes Wide Shut).

Keep on spreading the good news, guys! Thanks for this piece, Brad; with your position on ropeofsilicon, you have a lot more influence on moviegoers than the rest of us. :D

Thank you for remembering this film. It is one of my favourites. I have seen it many times.

Ever since I saw this movie in the theaters, I fell in love with. It simply… seduced me. I don't have a theory on why. I just think it's a brilliant examination on jealousy, sexual obsession, sexual fantasies… Well, sex. As someone said above, the use of color is amazing – I vividly recall a scene with an OD'd hooker, in the beginning of the movie, and how it mesmerized me, the colors, the position of the camera, everything.
And there's no need to say anything about the lights in Tom's and Nicole's apartment.
And there's also the music… the creepy music.

As for the edited orgy sequence, I'm lucky to live in Brazil, cause here there was no censor at all.

(I never forgot the first line of a review from a local newspaper… "It starts with Nicole Kidman's ass and ends with a 'Fuck'". I love it)

I saw the film in a theater and I loved the way it captured the underbelly of the city late at night. Fasinating film that Im a big fan of.

chuck

Let's not forget Todd Field (the piano player). Before this movie, I don't see anything special on his IMD page and ended up directing and writing the screenplay for "In the Bedroom" and "Little Children".