I know Bakshi's version has A LOT of issues, but I grew up watching it again and again and I have very fond memories of it. I'm aware I am in the minority.
One of the scenes I love is Boromir's death (video link)... if you can ignore the "not-enough-budget" Uruk-hai. I like the roughness and lack of music once Boromir's is hit with the first arrow.
I've never seen this before. It felt like I was watching a Joel Haver cartoon without the surreal comedy. I'll have to watch this thing in its entirety.
If you're going to watch the whole movie, here it is some advice:
Don't expect the full story. I'm not sure what the plans were, but they run out of money in the middle of the Battle of Helm's Deep. Most people find this a good thing.
Wow that death scene hit hard with Aragorn looking helplessly at Legolas and Gimli. Both companions drop their weapons at the sight of Boromir simply too far gone to save.
It's actually way more emotional than the scene in Fellowship.
IMHO the old one is much more faithful to the "spirit of the book", but I'm highly biased. And I totally understand that all the problems with Bankshi's version are enough to ruin the film for a lot of people, specially if you watch it for the first time 45 years later.
Well it's just a surprise. I'm sooooo used the Jackson version. Love it to death. But it generated a lot of fantasy tropes that Hollywood is finding difficulty to depart from.
For example Legolas in this (while butt-fucking ugly) shows concern and genuine shock whereas elves in the Jackson films are generally stoic. Like "that's disappointing, one less sword to swing st our side. Well tallyho chaps we have work to do."
I just find the dichotomy interesting, I do revere Jackson's work as masterpieces of cinema.
I completely agree with you on the spirit of the book thing. I watched it when it first came out and I was blown away by it. I didn’t care about the inaccuracies because the studio did such a good job of capturing the magic of the story.
Oddly enough, the Jackson version had just enough changes in order to make it cinematic that I didn’t really like it the first time through. I’ve come around on that one and can now enjoy it, but for a while it was like the uncanny valley they talk about in robotics.
It has been ages since I watched that. I don't think I appreciated it as much when I was younger since I was more familiar with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Rankin Bass cartoons. But, this just looks so unique and interesting that I should really re-watch it as an adult to see what it's like. The great thing about Tolkien's work is the wide variety of artistic interpretations. I love them all.