Photo Credit http://www.filmreference.com

Arthur C. Clarke was announced as dead today.

I am not going to claim that I am a huge fan of (nor very familiar with) his body of work, but I do consider 2001: A Space Odyssey to be one of my favorite films ever, along with Rocky Horror Picture Show, Elephant Man, and Dr. Strangelove.

I didn’t even make it all the way at first. Seeing Clockwork Orange in my freshman year inspired me to watch every Kubrick movies as soon as I could. 2001 was the only one I initially thought was unwatchable (although I still don’t think that Full Metal Jacket is on the same level as his other films). Having seen only Dr. Strangelove, Clockwork, and probably The Shining at the time, I did not expect to see such an unconventional method of storytelling that’s employed in 2001 and Barry Lyndon.

I imagine the first viewing was what listening to Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music or seeing The Star Wars Holiday Special for the first time would have felt like had I not known what to expect. I made it about 15 minutes in and turned it off.

Photo Credit http://amazon.com

I guess I was just impatient. The long start of the film took me by surprise and had I seen it in a theater, I probably would have stayed just to be stingy, but in the many viewings that have followed since then, I have come to appreciate 2001 as one of the most imaginative and captivating films I have ever seen.