Warren Miller is a moneygrubbing asshole

[DINMS]

More entertaining them those damn jibber movies.

[SSSdave]

What Grrrr said. I wouldn't make much of a fun loving old guy without any ill meaning not paying attention occasionally.

He'll soon be getting my $11 or whatever. Besides as usual there are some free goods at the show which offsets that modest cost. One each free midweek Heavenly lift ticket. Since I'm not working this season, will use some bluebird midweek day just after a nice storm to ski long unmolested tree runs on the northeast border of the Nevada side.
-dave

[watersnowdirt]

I'm with grrrr. Warren Miller flicks have always served to get me beyond excited for the season, and they've rallied people who are not snow fiends to get out and try it. He's just a formula, he stuck with it, and it seems like because there are new "formulas" out there that people like better, he gets criticized. I love the TGR and MSP flicks - they get my adrenaline going much more than Miller's films, but they are simply a different product that is difficult to compare. They're apples and oranges, in my opinion.

Sorry that some people have had bad experiences with him, but frankly, who wouldn't be cranky now and then if you're 78 and travelling and talking nonstop. It happens to the best of us.

So....anyone in the Bay Area going to the show next week? I"ll be there, if for no other reason than to have a good excuse to sit and think about snow for two hours.

[grrrr]

The more I think about this, the more I have to ask, who is the asshole here?

Gee I met a famous guy, I had to pay for something he was selling instead of getting it for free. And on top of that, he didn't act like I was god's gift to the world of skiing.

I think we can tell.

[powpowpowderwheels]

Originally posted by grrrr

Gee I met a famous guy, I had to pay for something he was selling instead of getting it for free. And on top of that, he didn't act like I was god's gift to the world of skiing.

hey now. I was just starting to agree with you.

I don't think i was out of line, but i can understand that people have bad nights.

Was I the asshole? All i did was expect some politesse from someone whom i respected. As far as i'm concerned he was depressed from being in chicago when there was snow in utah, and that's why he came off as a jerk.

From what has been said here, i will assume it was an off-night and that he really is the funloving old man in the movies.

I'm also kind of offended.



(we'll see what sssdave says after the show)

[two_planks]

I agree with Grrr too. MSP and TGR have some good shit going on (all though I wasn't all that impressed with Focused, year after of jib, huck, jib, huck, jib is getting a little old. We need more movies like Immersion) but WM was the guy who got me seriously stoked year after year when I was a kid and I have to say that the guy will always have my respect for that.

[iceman]

Originally posted by powpowpowderwheels
politesse

Ten billion words have been written in these forums, but that's the first time "politesse" has come up.

Just an observation.

[Arty50]

Originally posted by altachic
i grew up watching wm and grew to love skiing from all of his movies.....BUT, i'm not a big fan anymore, after seeing this years, which was a total waste of money. i'm disappointed.

This was me five years or so ago. I grew up in Pasadena and my sister would drag my brother and I to the yearly Warren Miller showing. He was at that show every year, and it always got me jonesed to go skiing.

Then Kurt took over. The movies just weren't the same. He was trying to be all hip and you could tell. It was like the cheesy movie cliche where a parent is trying to talk to their kid using words like cool and awesome. The whole thing was forced. Worst of all, Kurt decided to start narrating. Luckily they got enough feedback to end that really quick, but even when Warren came back he was still narrating or a boring film.

I really can't fault Warren. He gave his son a shot at running the business. And for the grandson of a Croatian immigrant who started a construction company and passed it on to his kids, that means something to me. But sadly Kurt doesn't share his father's talents, and as a result the company and it's product just aren't the same. And so you get what we have now: a company that still bears the name of it's visionary founder, but lacks the soul that he gave it for so many years. The very soul that made us come back year after year.

At first I was inclined to believe that I was just romanticizing my past experience, but then I spoke with others who shared my same observations. The new regime just can't bring the stoke. The man may still be alive, but the films that have worn his name for the last few years are dead. But hey, that's just my 2 cents.

[release]

My wife and I saw "50" in Portland back whenever it came out. I was in town on business and did not even know it was showing. We heard about it and bought tickets. We had to sit on about the 5th balcony of that great historic theatre in downtown Portland. The stoke was great and the whole audience seemed to enjoy the movie. After the movie we bought two of his books and stood in line to have him autograph them. He was very cordial and talked to us for a minute - he made plenty of eye contact.

[joshbu]

Originally posted by Plakespear
I disagree- Go to Europe, and see if anyone has heard of Warren Miller. Meanwhile Stein is a national treasure in Norway, and well known throughout the continent.

I saw Journey- but didn't pay- I just walked right into the viewing area. The movie did suck for the most part, but the Craig Kelly tribute segment was sweet. And the comp magazine was very nice.

Oh Plueeze. WM isn't charging $8 for autographs in Oslo. The fact still stands: Warren Miller is a much bigger celebrity with his viewing audience than Stien Erikson or Kent Krietler.

[joshbu]

OK. So here's my review (since the board is all about spewing your 2c anyways...) I have a little different take on the movie...

I always get about 10-15 minutes of that warm fuzzy stoke feeling from Warren's (or Kurt's) latest stuff. In this one, Kreiter playing fast and loose with his sluff played pretty good. I was really blown away by how fluid snowboarding has become with regards to backcountry features. (The annual Burton team segment.) The boarders aren't doing big mountains any more and I think they've even given up on parks and rails for the most part to go play on benches and fins and outcroppings. So smooth. I wonder if we'll ever see a skier doing the same things. I wonder if it's even possible.

The wacko frenchman was sick in a Jackass sort of way.

I liked the narrative structure on a few segments. WM seems to be the only guy doing any narrative at all, so I have to support that. For example, even though the segment with Chris Anthony, Spencer Wheatly and Wendy Fisher showed some medicore skiing (which I don't get: I've skiied with Wheatly before and he's can just kill it. Maybe they were exhausted, or bad snow?) it still had a funny narrative that framed up the trip. That's what I like to see.

lows: Too much Glen Plake. Way too much commercial product and resort placement.

But, on the flip side, the 2 for 1 at Whistler pays for the ticket and then some, so the price was very, very right...

[gincognito]

Chalk me up as one having respect and admiration for what Miller has done. Comparing his (his sons, the company's, whatever) flicks to MSP or TGR or Stump (back in the day) is kinda silly as someone above stated. Different budgets, different angles, different crowds.

Having said that, the product placement does get lame (that Rossi boot and the Nature Valley bar made me groan in a non-pleasant way) and the prize giveaways at the Montreal showing were weak. In fact, the whole vibe felt weak. Kind of a herd-them-in, show-the-flick, herd-them-out situation.

Stoke factor: low to average.

Sick and ashamed and happy (and did get a kick out of the self-deprecating intro: "Want your ski? Go get it...Wait, didn't we use that last year?"),
d.

[mildbill.]

Originally posted by altachic
i grew up watching wm and grew to love skiing from all of his movies.....BUT, i'm not a big fan anymore, after seeing this years, which was a total waste of money. i'm disappointed.

god dammit i must have been really fucked up. saw it on saturday night. and yeah, i was really fucked up, but the cham segment was pretty sweet. it was fun to see all the usual midi stuff from a different angle. don't really remember much of the rest of it, so maybe it did suck?

[grrrr]

My apologies powpow. I'll agree that my reaction was a bit too strong. I have a lot of admiration for the man and I get tired of the Warren Miller bashing that goes on sometimes.

[powpowpowderwheels]

I was questioning his personality more than i was bashing on the movies he makes. Not really bashing on that.

[AntiSoCalSkier]

Someone should get Mr Miller on here. You can name pretty much any ski industry icon, and someone here at least knows hoe to get in touch with them, yet for some reason no one seems to know Warren Miller. Maybe this would be a good project? (Although we'd probably have better luck getting him to show up on Powder instead of TGR).

[grrrr]

His phone number is unlisted, but I could give you directions to get to his house. He's probably still on the road, though.

[Dingleberry]

I am curious about the business model for TGR, et al. I am sure the get a nice chunk from the name sponsors, but do individuals who organize shows "rent" the movie from the ski film companies for a set fee? Is everything above that $ amount pocketed by the organizer?

[altagirl]

Originally posted by The AD
Thanks. I thought it was pretty good myself

One thing that is pretty cool about Warren: he still claims to ski 100 day per year. We'll see how many of us can say that in 50 years or whatever!

Speaking of that - I rode the lifts at Brighton on Friday with two guys who were both in the 75-80 range. One said he and another friend get 160 days a year in. Hell, I think 100 is a good season... Meeting people like that is always inspiring.


Anyway - Yes I think overall WM has done a lot for promoting skiing and such. And yeah, people have off-nights. But if you're in a bad mood and can't be friendly or talk about anything other than money, it would have been a better decision to stay home/call in sick/whatever. People would think better of him for cancelling an appearance than meeting him under PowPow's circumstances. Every athlete I've had sign a poster has been friendly and chatted with me about skiing - as far as I'm concerned, that's the point...

And sorry, but selling promotional posters is stupid. WM movies are already more expensive than any of the other, better movies out there. If it's for charity you've got to make sure people know it - or better yet - ask for donations.

[Ubersheist]

Originally posted by DINMS
More entertaining them those damn jibber movies.

So true... can't watch those for more then 15 minutes before I get totally bored. They could really use a lesson from old Warren.

[Ubersheist]

Originally posted by Plakespear
Yeah, show them a WM film and they'll be bored senseless in five

I've shown some non skiers There's Something About McConkey. Most of them though it rocked- even the slowboarders were impressed.

I have shown Something About McConkey and Immersion to non-skiers and they thought it was pretty cool. I gotta admit that Gaffney does have something about his films that separate them out from the rest. Even though Mr. Gaffney is my far and away favorite film maker, he still targets his films only to passionate skiers, not to the weekend warriors or non skiers.

Even with all the commercials, product placement galore, cheesiness and bland skiing in the recent Warren Miller film, I still prefered it much more then just about any recent film that's come out of Hollywood. I paid $30 for two WM tickets and didn't feel ripped off, as I did, for example after viewing and paying $8 for that "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" peice of dog feces of a movie.

[TomK]

Originally posted by crylonewolf
P.S. All the new ski movies this season and not a one paid tribute to Craig Kelly.....I'm a skier, but no one could waste 10 seconds of film on an icon????????????????

Cry,
The WM flick has a tribute to Mr Kelly as it's closing segment.
Way more than just a few seconds.

[crylonewolf]

ooooppppps! Journey hasn't played Chicago yet

[Dexter Rutecki]

Originally posted by joshbu
Oh Plueeze. WM isn't charging $8 for autographs in Oslo. The fact still stands: Warren Miller is a much bigger celebrity with his viewing audience than Stien Erikson or Kent Krietler.

And Stein is a much bigger celebrity with his clientele, and Kreitler is a much bigger celebrity with the TGR crowd. Now you've qualified what you said to make it meaningless.

[Alkasquawlik]

Originally posted by Dingleberry
I am curious about the business model for TGR, et al. I am sure the get a nice chunk from the name sponsors, but do individuals who organize shows "rent" the movie from the ski film companies for a set fee? Is everything above that $ amount pocketed by the organizer?

Yes and No. Most of the time, actually probably 90% of the time, the production company rents the playhouse out for a set fee. I know that the Olympic Valley Inn wants $1000 a night. So MSP comes in pays a grand and collects the rest from ticket sales. But your theory does happen as well. Lets say an individual wants to show a WM in thier hometime. First they have to rent the playhouse and then pay a fee to WM for the display rights (and that's if WM even lets their movie be displayed). Sponsor money tends to come at the beginning of the year, for budgets and what not. That's what I believe to be correct. But then again, I do have an IQ equal to a jar of mayonnaise.