Idler flicks

In a Brainiac post this past weekend, I suggested that we distinguish between slacker movies (in which, usually, the protagonist winds up gainfully employed by the end) and idler movies (which may explore, but do not resolve the not always unhappy tension between work and leisure). We can all think of slacker movies, but what are the great idler movies?

I asked readers to send me suggestions, and you did.

Film critic and scholar Chris F., who sometimes writes for the Ideas section, nominated Aki Kaurismaki's "La vie de Boheme," Terence Fisher's "Night of the Big Heat" (an alien invasion movie that takes place on a small island off the coast of England whose residents don't seem to work), and Nicholas Ray's western "Johnny Guitar." About the latter, Chris writes:

It's never very clear what the Dancing Kid and his gang (Bart, Corey, and Turkey) are doing in their isolated hilltop cabin.... At one point the Dancing Kid asks Johnny Guitar to work for him as a musician. Johnny asks, "Just what is your business?", and the Dancing Kid snaps, "Don't worry, I'll find one, just play that guitar for me."

I'll get to some of the other nominations later. Keep sending them to me!

MORE IDLENESS: Media Diet: Tom Hodgkinson (I interviewed Idler editor Tom Hodgkinson for Utne Reader, 11/1/95) | The Death of a Situationist (I wrote about Guy Debord for Utne Reader, July/August 95) | The Sweetest Hangover (I wrote about hangovers for The Idler in 1996-ish) | Idler Stationery (I wrote a column on idler etiquette for The Idler; these three items on specialized stationery appeared in 1996) | Ludditepalooza (Utne Reader, July/August 96) | Hermenaut of the Month: Oscar Wilde (I wrote about Wilde for Hermenaut in 1997) | Idle Idol: Henry Miller (I wrote about Miller for The Idler in 1997) | Whatever Works, Sucks (I reviewed Meredith Bagby's "Rational Exuberance: The Influence of Generation X on the New Economy" for Hermenaut in 1998) | Hermenaut of the Month: Baudelaire (I wrote about Baudelaire for Hermenaut in 1998) | Lin Yutang (I wrote about Lin Yutang's idler philosophy for Feed in June 1999) | Meet the Hermenauts (Scot McLemee calls Hermenaut the "slacker Salmagundi" in Lingua Franca, July/August 99) | The Idler's Glossary (a preliminary version of the one published in October 2008; this version appeared in The Idler in 1999) | Against Time Clocks (I was a regular contributor to Feed.com; this item appeared in December 1999) | Payload (I reviewed Bruce Tulgan's "Managing Generation X" (Hermenaut.com, 3/28/01) | Our Hives, Ourselves (I wrote about the metaphorization of bee colonies for The Boston Globe, 6/19/05) | Back to Utopia (Boston Globe, 11/20/05) | The Slacktivism of Richard Linklater (Slate, 6/27/07) | Slacker Comedy (Brainiac, 2/21/07) | Slacker vs. Idler (Brainiac, 2/24/07) | Idler Flicks 1 (Brainiac, 2/28/07) | Idler Flicks 2 (Brainiac, 3/1/07) | Idler Lit (Brainiac, 3/2/07) | Salon's Ask the Pilot calls me a slacker Svengali (Salon, 9/28/07) | The Original Generation X: Slackers vs. Idlers (Brainiac, 1/10/08) | Generation PC: Idlers vs. Slackers (Brainiac, 1/22/08) | Drink for Idlers (Brainiac, 6/5/08)