Where to begin with Rick and Morty? Its quality? Its mass appeal? Szechuan sauce? Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's pop culture darling is so popular that it's got folks like yours truly starting Facebook groups just to discuss it with friends and like-minded fans. I actually can't believe we haven't written about it for FSF yet.
This week's scene - the last in this year's Escape-athon series - is the start of the "Keep Summer Safe" bit from Season 2's "The Ricks Must Be Crazy". It starts innocently enough. Rick, Morty, and Summer are in an alternate universe to catch a Ball Fondlers movie and eat some of the multiverse's best ice cream. Their ship is dead however, and it's definitely not the quantum carburetor.
This scene almost plays like a Rick and Morty greatest hits album. Alternate realities. Rick insulting Morty. Burping. The setup for an insane, sci-fi adventure. And that setup definitely pays off - "The Ricks Must Be Crazy" is one of the show's best episodes. But what this scene really sets up is the amazing B plot. Rick doesn't want to leave Summer unattended (due to the giant, telepathic spiders of course), so he instructs the ship to "Keep Summer safe." It goes to some insane lengths to do so.
Some of the smaller details of this scene really shine. The mention of "11 9/11s". The fact that flashlights are taped to the ship in lieu of headlights. "That was my daughter's pediatrician!"
This bit is truly the tip of the iceberg, as the ship's actions to keep Summer "safe" progressively lead to worse scenarios. It gets real dark. Summer becomes a party to murder and mayhem in the name of safety and she probably would have been better off with the spiders.
What's your favorite scene from Rick and Morty?
Would the best ice cream in the multiverse make up for giant, telepathic spiders?
Our FSF this week - which kicks off Escape-athon 2018 - comes from Nick from French Toast Sunday!
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I’m a big Godzilla fan. I had a VHS boxset back in the '90s and early '00s with all the classics. As a child, I watched Godzilla battle it out with Rodan and Mothra (before they became allies) and his greatest foes King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla. Hell, I even have a soft spot for when he battled Biollante, who was essentially a giant plant. Godzilla still kicked its ass up and down Osaka, but I digress. I was beyond excited for 2014’s Godzilla as it was a return to form for the franchise. A slow build where we catch glimpses of the monster, a meandering plot that really doesn’t matter, and a culmination of a massive fight. Sign. Me. Up. Every. Time.
Gareth Edwards' take on Godzilla took me back to my childhood with one single scene. As the military attempts to simultaneously remove a warhead and bomb the MUTO's nest, Godzilla appears on the streets of San Francisco ready for battle. He approaches and delivers his signature roar and just starts throwing his weight around. The King of the Monsters just manhandles the MUTO for several city blocks, taking it to task. This puny creature is no match, but it’s really never that easy. WHAM! A second MUTO appears, catching Godzilla off guard. The two MUTOs begin ganging up on him and it looks like it’s game over for our antihero. Another curveball! The MUTOs' nest explodes, diverting their attention to the now burning eggs of what could have been their young.
Suddenly, the greatest thing happens. I had waited for this moment (for all my life) since the film was announced and nearly jumped out of my seat in excitement. As the MUTO inspects its nest, we get the slightest grumble and a pool of blue light. We see the light increase and form a spiky trail. It’s climbing up the back of Godzilla, winding up, whirring up, grinding up. At its apex, Godzilla draws his breath and unleashes his atomic breath. A blast of blue nuclear energy burns the MUTO, weakening it, and leaving it defenseless for Godzilla’s final blows. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get the win just yet, but he just might. SPOILERS, Godzilla unleashes the atomic breath again in the film and I was filled with just as much joy if not more. But that’s another favorite scene for another Friday.
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What's your favorite scene from 2014's Godzilla?
Are you excited for Godzilla to take on King Kong in 2020's appropriately named Godzilla vs. Kong?
Drag Me To Hell holds a special place in my heart. I'm a pretty big fan of director Sam Raimi's body of work, including The Evil Dead and Spider-Man franchises, along with random stuff like Darkman. So Drag Me To Hell was a treat for me. I even remember seeing this and Up the same night. The film - which followed our heroine Christine (Alison Lohman) as she tried to fight off a gypsy curse - had solid scares and atmosphere and Raimi of course nailed it.
The scene below - which is literally the end of the film, so, spoilers - finds Christine having supposedly dealt with the gypsy curse that's plagued her throughout the film. She reunites with her boyfriend Clay (Justin Long) and it's here we see the bond between these two characters really shine through. Christine admits to Clay that her troubles throughout the film were maybe a little bit her fault, but Clay tells Christine that she's a good person. I should note here that I don't care much for Alison Lohman in this role. I think Christine maybe needed to be a little meaner to make what inevitably happens to her make sense. Justin Long, however, is fantastic as Clay. Long has a charm and an earnestness and genuineness. I had an idea for a sequel starring his character - Save Me From Hell. Pretty self explanatory: Clay figures out what happened to Christine and somehow goes down to hell to save her. Admit it - it would be pretty amazing to see Raimi's depiction of hell.
Anyway, with the fake happy ending over, Clay pulls out the cursed button (Christine was supposed to return it to the gypsy's grave to avoid hell but she accidentally left her with Clay's coin instead) and Christine, shocked, falls on the tracks. Not only is a train speeding towards her, but a hole appears under her and demons reach out, pulling her down to hell ("Holy shit, it's actually happening!" everyone watching the movie for the first time thought) as her body begins to decay and burn. Clay tries to save Christine, selflessly reaching down for her, but the train rolls over her. Justin Long completely nails the reaction of a man who just had to watch the love of his life get pulled down to hell. Tears streaming down his face, he glances one last time at what's got to be the most ominous button of all time. One can only hope he started planning his rescue mission right then and there.
Happy October! A recent rewatch of 28 Days Later confirms it's still a great film. It holds up. Even the sequel (28 Weeks Later) is pretty great. The cast of that one in particular is kind of a who's who of folks that made it big (Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, Idris Elba). Anyway, Days came out around that zombie resurgence a few years ago, along with Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead. In fact, now that I look, it appears that Days kicked this craze off, or at least lead the pack in the '00s (maybe Resident Evil helped?).
There's still talk of another film that would make the series a trilogy. And why not? Zombies are still popular, based off The Walking Dead alone.
Our scene this week might be the film's scariest. Our group of heroes (played by Brendan Gleeson, Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, and Megan Burns) must drive through a tunnel on their way to a supposed safe zone they've heard about in messages over the radio. After driving up and over a blockage in the tunnel they of course get a flat tire. While stopping to change it, a mysterious sound gives way to a flood of rats which are, you guessed it, fleeing from the infected.
I love the immediate dreadful atmosphere and tension after they stop to fix the car, along with the mysterious sound and then the awful image of rats crawling all over Hannah (Burns). But the best part is the nail-biting tension of the group changing the tire while zombies bear down on them. Car repair has never been so terrifying.
What's your favorite scene from 28 Days Later?
Would you like to see a third "28" film? What would the plot be?
Our final Oscars appreciation FSF is by none other than Nick Rehak from French Toast Sunday!
When people think of A Clockwork Orange, they tend to think of a woman being brutally raped by a gang of bizarrely dressed men while the leader sings "Singin’ in the Rain" and kicks the woman’s husband, who’s being held down and forced to watch, repeatedly in the stomach. I’m not talking about that scene… today. Instead I’m discussing something that happens earlier in the film. In today's Favorite Scene, a woman is nearly brutally raped by a gang of possible neo Nazis and is somehow rescued (I use that word lightly) by a gang of bizarrely dressed men. But when you really sit down and watch the scene, it becomes apparent that it doesn’t belong in the film. Yes the juxtaposition of classical music over moments of violence are there, the hedonistic and sometimes animalistic tendencies of man are there, but this moment is unlike any other that happen in the film.
The moment begins after a quick introduction of Alex and his three droogs, that is, Pete, Georgie, and Dim. We cut to a classic style painting still life of roses in an assumed marble vase. We hear screams over the french horns, oboe and violins of Rossini’s "The Thieving Magpie". The camera pans down and we find we are in an old derelict theater, even though Alex refers to it as a casino. A gang of men, dressed in World War Two garb, is clawing at a woman, ripping her clothes off in hopes of bedding her. Ugh that sounds gross. Doesn’t that sound gross? Bedding. Yuck. Anyway, they pull this woman over to a pile of old disgusting looking mattresses when out of the darkness steps Alex and his droogs. Distracted, the gang pays no attention to the woman and she makes her escape. Alex then tosses some very light, almost elementary school level insults. Very tame in comparison to the rest of the Oscar nominated X-rated film.
But here’s where it gets interesting. For most of the film, anytime Alex is on screen, he is in control. When the film begins, it’s on his face and as the camera pulls back, it looks like he lifts a glass of moloko drencrom to us, toasting us as guests of honor as he guides us through this hellacious dystopian future. But in this moment, as Alex hurls insults at Billy Boy, we don’t see Alex. We see Billy. The camera is holding on Billy and comes across looking like a moving portrait. Billy doesn’t blink or flinch. Steadily chewing gum, for nearly ten seconds, then lifting his switchblade to show Alex he’s ready for a bit of the old ultraviolence. Why does this happen? In any other film, the camera would be on Alex and it would cut between members of the gang as they snicker in agreement or grimace in denial. Is it to strike fear? If we look at Billy’s attire, he’s wearing a Nazi Officer’s cap along with an Iron Cross medal. Clearly he’s the bad guy. In strolls Alex in all white, a metaphorical savior, even though he’s just as bad as Billy, if not worse. Is this an overall metaphor for society? That every country has a violent history of raping and taking, it’s just the name they claim it in is different. It’s a lot to read into in just ten seconds, but it’s the only time in the film this happens.
In the rest of the film (SPOILERS) we see Alex go from criminal to reformed man to a broken man on the verge of returning to his primal nature. But every time he’s on the screen, he controls the scene. Your attention is on him. Yeah, I get it, he’s the main character, it’s his story, but if he has such disdain for Billy Boy, why hold on him for so long? Why not further degrade the guy and show everyone else but him? These questions are abruptly forgotten as we spill into violence. But it’s not the ultraviolence this film is known for. Instead we get something that looks and feels like a standard bar fight in a western. Somebody spills something on someone or steps on a toe and suddenly bodies are flying through tables and windows, and chairs are being broken off left and right. The EXACT same thing happens here. It’s almost a Looney Tunes level of violence that gets further downplayed by the juxtaposition of "The Thieving Magpie". A man literally dropkicks another through a table.
But as soon as it begins, it’s over as Alex takes control of the narrative. He whistles to his droogs like a trainer to his dogs. We see now they’re not Alex’s friends or companions; just his droogs. Just people he has around to do his viddy well bidding. The best line though comes from Alex as he challenges Billy, “come and get on in the yarbles! If ya got any yarbles.” It’s wonderful and I wish it was cool to use that slang. It’s a shame the film didn’t take home the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1972. I believe the film is absolutely more deserving than The French Connection. Thing is, people see this film as nothing but shock violence with a boring second half. This film is so much more than that. It’s a satiric meditation on human nature and the inherent violence we grow up with. It takes a fun house mirror and points it at society, showing us where our priorities lay, rather than where they should. Now there’s something you can wrap your rassoodocks around for a few hours.
Note - this week's scene contains graphic nudity and violence. NSFW.
What's your favorite scene from A Clockwork Orange?
More February, more Oscars appreciation! Jacob from Panned Review takes a look at a nominee for this year's Best Picture Oscar - Moonlight.
“I ain’t no boy,” Chiron says at the police station, as he ices his bruised face, which has just been smashed by Kevin, a guy whom Chiron thought was his closest friend. Chiron’s physical pain is nothing compared to the feeling of betrayal, and this is a particularly cruel treachery. But betrayal seems to be the only consistent factor in Chiron’s relationships. Chiron feels betrayed by his drug-addicted mother, by Juan, a kindly, gentle father figure who happens to be a drug dealer, and now by Kevin: they kissed on the beach once, and the kiss went further, a moment of intense passion, an unexpected urge between them, one bound to generate confused feelings, guilt, and shame, in a world that is militantly homophobic. Betrayal has tainted every relationship in Chiron’s life (with the exception of Teresa, Juan’s wife, played by the fabulous Janelle Monáe, whom readers may recognize as one of the three stars of Hidden Figures), rendering them as ineffectual as saltwater to a parched mouth.
Moonlight was, for me, the most moving film I saw last year. Although I loved La La Land, which has become trendy to hate on, Moonlight deserves to win the Best Picture Oscar (I’m not sure it has a chance, especially against a popular favorite that’s an adorable, Hollywood-obsessed confection.) Where La La Land feels clever and charming and happily content with its own nostalgic view of a particularly sun-dappled world, Moonlight feels deeply urgent and lyrical and honest about a world where the sun doesn’t bring warmth so much as blood-boiling heat.
In its story of a young black boy becoming a man, Moonlight casts three different actors to play Chiron, in three different stages of his life: as a young boy, called “Little” (Alex Hibbert), as a teenager struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, the only time when he’s referred to by his given name (and played by Ashton Sanders), and as a grown man, now called “Black” (played by Trevante Rhodes). Somehow, these three actors have created a seamless vision of Chiron, guided by the knowing instincts of writer-director Barry Jenkins.
The scene I want to bring into focus involves Kevin’s betrayal of Chiron. It’s really the only scene in which Chiron acts out because of his anger. Being both black and gay is a particularly difficult battle to fight for Chiron, who’s already endured enough torment when a high school bully pits Kevin against him, urging Kevin to “knock his faggot-ass down.” These are boys playing at manhood, questioning their own vulnerabilities, their own insecurities, which they see as signs that they are not men. Insecurities like these must be purged, by violence. And so, out of fear and hatred of himself, Kevin strikes Chiron, in a modern-day Judas kiss.
Chiron’s anger wells up inside him. He’s used to keeping quiet, he’s learned the value of not stirring things up. But while keeping control of his anger worked for him as a child, it is no longer enough, or he is no longer able to control it. But it’s not Kevin who receives Chiron’s fury, but the instigating bully. Is Chiron sparing Kevin? Cutting him some slack? Or maybe, does Chiron realize that Kevin has in a sense already punished himself in the act of betrayal? Regardless, when Chiron returns to school, he coolly walks into a classroom and smashes a chair over the head of the boy that goaded Kevin into hitting him. In that moment, the consequences of attacking the unsuspecting punk matter little; the feeling of vindication acts like a mantra that cannot be ignored; there’s something intoxicating about this revenge, both for Chiron and the viewer.
Moonlight is an intoxicating film, after all. And this scene encapsulates the complexities at work here. Moonlight explores the world from a very particular angle, and in so doing, offers us something very true: We cannot expect to survive in our own heads forever. Sooner or later, we crave human connection. Chiron, having bottled up so much, walks around with very thick armor (as I’ve already mentioned, he has good reason to be so guarded). Yet the feelings and the thoughts and the workings of his mind are palpable, as powerful as thunderclouds. There’s a tempest inside him, but there is also tenderness and love and compassion, too.
Moonlight is a gracious movie, one that deeply feels for its protagonist without offering him up as some object of pity. Instead, the film offers Chiron a moment of grace: In the third act, when “Black” appears, just as quiet and guarded as ever, but now physically tougher, harder, more in control, Kevin re-enters his life; the bad blood between them has dissipated, and what’s left is a lingering memory of that night on the beach. Moonlight wonders what might have been, had Chiron’s life been less fraught with hopelessness; but it also finds hope anyway; it isn’t too late for him to carve out some kind of happiness, some kind of life for himself.
What's your favorite scene from Moonlight?
Who do you think will take home the Best Actor prize at this year's ceremony?
To me, the ultimate escape is space. Some say it’s the final frontier and you’d be hard pressed to disagree with them. Yes, there are thousands of miles of ocean we haven’t explored (I’m clearly guessing), but that’s still here on this planet. When you ascend from the depths of the ocean, you’re still on Earth. Traveling to unexplored worlds and galaxies, and seeing things up close and personal that we’ve only seen in pictures, is truly the stuff of dreams. Could it be a reality one day? Sure, but not in my lifetime and probably not in my grandchildren’s great-grandchildren’s lifetime. So until then, we have Star Wars. It all might have happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but it’s been the fuel of my daydreams and zoned out fantasies ever since I was a boy.
Growing up I wanted to be a cowboy, pirate, and oddly enough a biker. There was a phase that I went through where I collected Harley Davidson models and went to biker conventions. Tue story. But when I saw Star Wars, my aspirations changed. I could be a cowboy or pirate (or biker) IN SPACE. Flying my ship from galaxy to galaxy with my blaster by my side shooting bad guys. Discovering new worlds filled with indescribable creatures alongside my faithful droid companion. It’s the best. But as I grew older, I realized very quickly that would never happen. But I could still believe in it and sometimes be a part of it through Star Wars. Today’s favorite scene comes from the first Star Wars film, A New Hope. It’s longer than my previously discussed scenes and for once doesn’t have any gruesome violence. I mean, yeah, there’s space violence, but you see explosions, not bodies. It’s also from the special editions… what are you gonna do?
The rebels have finally caught their breath and are getting ready to assault the planet destroying space station known as the Death Star. They’ve sent out Red Squadron and Gold Squadrom to attack, exploiting a design flaw in the system. All they have to do is run down the trench, and fire their proton torpedos. You all know the scene. The ship's guns are blasting the rebels from the sky. When they can’t, TIE Fighters are sent out to get the job done. Even Lord Vader himself gets in the action. And just when you think Luke is out for the count, in comes Han to save him, and by proxy, the galaxy. Good triumphs over evil.
What I hadn’t noticed before is the lack of score. In my mind, for the entirety of this scene we hear John William’s iconic score ebb and flow as we build tension. But that’s not the case. We hear it sparsely as it is mainly used to introduce characters and add suspense to the climactic shot; literally and figuratively. I like that because it gives the feeling that we're there. We’re in the cockpit with Red Squadron even though the X-Wing isn’t a two human passenger vehicle. We’re back at the rebel base alongside Princess Leia as we listen in on the action and watch as the Death Star inches closer. We’re on the bridge as Grand Moff Tarkin pompously watches on. We’re in the moment, going through a sarlacc pit of emotions. I don’t know if that metaphor works but it’s Star Wars based.
It’s a classic moment in cinema history filled with suspense, excitement, thrills, chills, etc. It’s been parodied and lampooned time and time again, but as I rewatched the scene in preparation for this post, it reminded me of a few things. It reminded me that no matter how bad things seem, there are always groups of good people out there putting in the work to make the universe a better place for others. It reminded me that, even when you least expect it, friends will always have your back. That you can rely on them in times of great need and that they’ll often surprise you. It reminded me that the Y-Bombers weren’t utilized in the later films as much as they should have been and the A-Wings got no love at all. What’s up with that? But most importantly, it reminded me that the force is strong and that I should trust myself more. Believe in yourself, believe in your friends, and you too can save the galaxy.
Next up in our Escape-athon 2017 celebration: an FSF from guest writer Jacob Lusk from Panned Review!
It seems fitting today to invoke a post-apocalyptic movie, albeit one of the most non-threatening post-apocalyptic movies ever made. Night of the Comet (1984) is a sci-fi-comedy about two teenage sisters from the Valley, Reggie (Catherine Mary Stewart) and Samantha (Kelli Maroney), who appear to be the sole survivors after a comet strikes Earth right around Christmas. Since the film takes place in Los Angeles, Night of the Comet captures the already other-worldly feeling of spending your holiday season in a warm climate, where the Christmas carols and decorations feel completely incongruous (a feeling I’m accustomed to as a native Floridian). In one scene, Reggie is riding a motorcycle through downtown L.A. the morning after the comet, still unaware of the fatal change that has taken place; she stops at a red light, next to a Mercedes, inside which the radio croons “Jingle Bells”, only with no driver in the car to listen to it.
This complicated comet only pushes life further into the extreme. While there are a few survivors who, like Reggie and Sam, seem totally fine (including Hector, a handsome, resourceful guy—played by Robert Beltran—who happens into their lives unexpectedly), almost everyone else has been reduced to an orange dust. (Think Trump, if he were a Kool-Aid mix.) Others, meanwhile, have been turned into “freaked-out zombies,” slowly dissolving into the Trump dust, but in the meantime, doing the usual work of zombies. There’s also a cadre of malicious scientists (headed by Geoffrey Lewis and Mary Woronov) trying to find a serum that will cure people who’ve been “partially exposed.” Essentially, everything you could possibly want from a movie of this kind.
So while Night of the Comet isn’t much more than a cherry-picked mélange of every memorable sci-fi and horror film of the 1950s and '60s, it does offer its share of delightful surprises, namely the fact that much of the movie revolves around these two girls, Reggie and Sam. It’s rare that a horror/sci-fi picture cares about two women hanging out, but the genre in the '80s was surprisingly open to such possibilities, given that so many films from that period revolved around teenagers just hanging out. The difference is that, unlike movies such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High and even Valley Girl, which feels like Comet’s spiritual cinema-sister, Night of the Comet hinges on the bond between Reggie and Sam, and their ability to survive in this Twilight Zone-esque new reality, rather than on a budding romance. (Although there is a budding romance, and it’s somehow both hipply modern, in that Hector is Hispanic and Reggie is white, and also strangely conventional, because they wind up turning into a banal married couple, adopting two surviving kids into the bargain.)
The scene I’ll briefly describe involves a shootout between the girls and a handful of angry zombie stock-boys at a downtown shopping mall. (These zombies, unlike those in the George Romero world, talk and move like regular people; they function more like homicidal maniacs with sunken eyes and pale skin.) Reggie and Sam have broken into a department store, trying on bad '80s outfit after bad '80s outfit, while a knockoff version of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” plays from a nearby boombox. But the stock-boys are pissed that Reggie and Sam would dare steal merch from their store, even in a world with “nobody, I mean no-body!” (to quote Reggie) to enforce the old rules. (These stock-boys have taken on a sense of capitalistic ownership that feels completely apropos, both then and now.)
Earlier, we see Reggie and Sam familiarizing themselves with machine guns they’ve somehow managed to get hold of (their dad was in the Marines and taught them how to shoot). So this gunfight is between equals, and Reggie proves smart and fearless, while Samantha is cheeky and impulsive: the right combination for any duo. Reggie dodges sprays of bullets and fires back with the confidence of a double agent (dressed in a snazzy black leather dress). And while the scene is exciting and tense, it also seems to be perpetually sloughing off the reality of its world, lost in a teenage haze of deluded euphoria.
The director, Thom Eberhardt, never takes the apocalypse too seriously. And why should he? Post-apocalyptic movies are usually so dismal, another reason I find the fluffy, playful tone of Night of the Comet totally endearing. This movie fills me with a warm, glowy nostalgia, and if I survive the end of the world, I’d like to join up with these two plucky, smart women. (Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney, if you are reading this, I’m totally down for some “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” karaoke.)
*Editor's note: As the above video states, that's the entire movie. We've got it set to start at the beginning of the scene and it ends around 1:01:14. Feel free to keep watching, however! :)
Our final Halloween horror themed FSF this season was written by Jacob Lusk of pannedreview.com! Follow him on Twitter at @PannedReview!
Like its predecessor, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) is an acquired taste. This movie is bonkers, but that’s kind of the point: nobody goes to see a film called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre expecting a nice, quiet, tasteful experience. And even though Part 2 falls apart in the second act—where we suffer along with heroine Caroline Williams at the hands of Leatherface and his brothers—the movie boasts several genuinely scary and effective scenes. People, myself included, have for too long maligned this movie as inferior. I’m hoping they’ll give TCM 2 a second look.
One of the best scenes of the movie is when we meet Chop Top, the brother who was off fighting in Vietnam during the events of the first movie. He replaces “The Hitchhiker,” the screwy wiry guy picked up by the ill-fated hippies in Part 1. William Moseley’s performance as Chop Top is other-worldly. (Moseley was cast because the director, Tobe Hooper, had been impressed by him in a short film titled “The Texas Chainsaw Manicure,” in which he imitated the Hitchhiker.) Chop Top is a sight to behold with his pale grey skin, his purple-tinted sunglasses, a Sonny Bono wig, and those red-brownish, blood-stained teeth, the teeth of a real psycho. He acts like a transplanted hippie, or more like a sociopath who’s studied hippies in order to imitate them: “Music is my life,” he coos to the terrified DJ “Stretch” (Williams), as if to impress her; while Chop Top prattles on about Iron Butterfly and other musical interests, he’s constantly scratching the metal plate in his head with the end of a coat hanger, which he heats with a handy Zippo lighter: the charge gets him off, apparently. Then, when Stretch tells him to get the hell out of the radio station (because, who wouldn’t be scared by this weirdo), he spells the exit sign out loud, like a 35-year-old child on Sesame Street: “E-X-I-T. Exit!” This is the result of sending a developmentally arrested man off to war, although he probably didn’t stand a chance even without Vietnam, what with that family of his.
Chop Top is an unforgettable horror movie creation, and a prototype for Michael Keaton’s performance in Beetlejuice. But while Beetlejuice is delightfully anarchic, Chop Top is genuinely terrifying. He’s an all-American product: a damaged male, drafted into Vietnam like every other lower-class kid of his generation, and then returned to a society in which, as a white man, he has total dominion, even if the world he controls is small and invisible to everyone else. It’s this idea of the extreme edges of a free society, where people can get away with plenty if they’re invisible enough, that I find so fascinating about these movies.
Although Chop Top’s appearance is the highlight of this scene, it’s also punctuated by a terrific scare. Leatherface appears, unexpectedly, chainsaw-ready, from a dark room; the conversation has been so dragged out between Stretch and Chop Top, and we’re so fundamentally creeped out by him, that we forget there’s another maniac, and this one has a buzz saw in his hands. Stretch is then chased through the radio station, and eventually trapped by Leatherface.
The setting also deserves mentioning: this scene unfolds in a small radio station in the Dallas-Forth Worth area. When it opens, we hear a song called “Mind Warp,” by the Lords of the New Church, as the DJ Stretch investigates a strange noise (that old ruse).
“Mind Warp” has an ominous sound to it: the background vocals are a sort of droning , cultish chant, and there’s a low-key, humming, electric riff that keeps repeating, filling us with dread as Stretch turns corners and opens doors, behind any one of which could be her doom.
Caroline Williams, it should be noted, makes a terrific scream queen in this movie, and this is the first scene in which she gets to show us what she’s made of as a horror movie heroine. Williams screams like a pro, but more importantly, she’s fierce and incredibly game throughout the movie, as she’s chased by Leatherface and tied to a chair and forced to wear another character’s face as a mask and all kinds of other atrocities that are de rigueur in a Texas Chainsaw film: it’s not every actor who can endure one of them.
Here we are, kicking off our month of October horror scenes once more. But if you'll permit me, I'd like to make it even more epic by finally starting "Favorite Trailer Friday", in which we share one of our favorite previews, something I've been meaning to do for a while. The trailer in question is the very, very graphic, very NSFW Red Band trailer for 2013's Evil Dead.
I love how this starts out. It's so memorable and one of the reasons I saved it for this feature. That first creepy image of the cabin along with the rain sets the perfect tone, and it's a bit of a different format, being more of a scene than a trailer at the beginning. And Jane Levy's performance as Mia is perfectly creepy and standout. Her plea to her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) to get her away from the cabin is chilling.
The trailer then becomes a pretty standard, well, trailer, with creepy shots of the film set to an explanation from Mia that she thinks an evil force from the woods has followed the siblings and their friends back to the cabin. The trailer proceeds to get extremely bloody and intense (this is a Red Band trailer after all), so anyone squeamish should turn away now. Lastly, the iconic image of Deadite Mia poking her head out from the basement has gotta be my favorite part of the trailer. The "We're Gonna Get You" rhyme is apparently nowhere to be found in the theatrical cut.
What's your favorite part of this trailer?
What are some of your other favorite horror trailers?
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is generally considered to be the best Star Trek movie. And not just of the original crew films. The Next Generation, the reboots, fan films...whatever, it's the greatest. A Trek convention a few years ago even voted it the best. It's got heart, action, and adventure - it's just really good. But at the core of what makes this film so great is the friendship between William Shatner's James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy's Spock.
Whether Khan is your favorite Trek film or not, I'd be surprised if this week's scene isn't one of your favorites. After fighting against Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew for the entire film, the titular Khan (Ricardo Montalban, reprising his role from the original series) is defeated, but he's seemingly taking his adversaries out with him. The Enterprise is dead in the water, and the Genesis device - technology with the capability of terraforming planets - is set to go off and destroy anything in the vicinity. Spock, however, has fixed the warp core so that the Enterprise can escape the formation of the Genesis planet in the nick of time. But the radiation from the process has doomed him.
For me, the reasons why this scene is one of the greats are almost uncountable. Shatner's frantic “Spock!” once he's able to talk to his friend is heartbreaking. And I hope it's not too weird that I love how Spock fixes his jacket before he turns around to face Kirk. You've gotta keep your uniform looking good around your superior officer, right?
This scene reminds me of how quotable Spock is. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” and “I have been and always shall be your friend,” are iconic lines. And of course, "Live long and prosper." Can we also appreciate that Shatner really acts in this scene? He gets a lot of guff for the "Shatner-esque" way that he talks, but I think he’s great here. The subtle shift in his expression when he notices Spock's face is perfect. The "No," he utters when Spock collapses against the glass is spoken by someone who just watched his best friend die. And Kirk collapses as well, against the other side of the glass, staring off in shock. Frankly, Shatner's "the most human" line (the way his voice breaks on "human" always gets me) during the funeral is really the highlight of this entire scene. It showcases Shatner's acting, reminds us of Spock's humanity - even though he was half Vulcan - and reinforces Kirk and Spock's iconic friendship.
What's your favorite scene from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan?
Most people look at the original Trek movies as being a 50/50 shot with the even numbered movies known as the best ones, and often the peak comes early with Wrath of Khan. But I’ve always been just a bit more of a fan of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. I think it mixes some of the best mystery plots with a bit of action mixed in with the right amount of comedy (more than Wrath of Khan but less than Voyage Home) and ends with the best send off for the original crew possible. We also get a great villain who spouts Shakespeare in Klingon and our first look at a Bird of Prey that can fire while cloaked.
The scene that really helps nail the tone of this film is the one after Kirk and McCoy have been put on a mockery of a trial – with Worf’s ancestor as their lawyer no less – and they're sentenced to prison on an ice planet. They escape with the help of a shape-shifting alien known to them as Martia, and played in her most common form by supermodel Iman. We get to see some of the best qualities of Kirk: his intelligence when he realizes what she’s actually trying to accomplish, his fighting skills even in his old age where he gets to fight himself, and a bit of self deprecating meta humor. It’s such a great line when he says “I can’t believe I kissed you,” and the reply is “Must have been your lifelong ambition,” which I’m sure is a knock against his real life ego. Not only that, but the scene ends with a twist on the cliché where the villain is just about to reveal their plans because “you’re going to die anyway” but they get teleported away just before they actually get the information. It’s brilliant and I love it!
What's your favorite scene from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country?
Star Trek turned 50 yesterday, and to honor the franchise we're highlighting some of its best scenes all month long! Our first scene is by none other than CT from Nerd Lunch! They have a ton of Trek content over at Nerd Lunch, so if you get through with today's FSF and you need more Enterprise goodness, you'll know where to head...
A few years ago, I used to visit a message board with some regularity. A challenge was posed: List your top ten moments in Star Trek (rather than episodes or movies as a whole, just moments). I started a blog post for Nerd Lunch and it's sat in my drafts section for years.
Robert asked me to do a Favorite Scene Friday in honor of Star Trek and with 50 years of history, I was having trouble zeroing in on just one favorite scene. So I thought I'd blow the dust off this old post that was intended for Nerd Lunch and list out my top ten moments (essentially top ten scenes) from all of Star Trek. These are listed chronologically rather than in order of preference. I've provided clips when I can.
1. In "Space Seed" when Khan calls Kirk out at dinner. "You let your second in command attack while you sit and watch for weakness." Unfortunately I couldn't find that clip, but here's one that's pretty awesome of Khan waking up.
2. In "City on the Edge of Forever" when Kirk has to make the choice to keep McCoy from saving Edith Keeler, it was a powerful scene and well played by all involved.
3. I could probably pick ten moments from Star Trek II alone, but I'll go with the sequence where the Enterprise escapes from the Mutara Nebula. I love that Khan dies believing he took Kirk and crew with him, the tension from everyone, and the defiant refusal to give up from Kirk.
4. The destruction of the Enterprise in Star Trek III. With the loss of Spock in the background and David Marcus having just been killed, the emotions leading up to the destruction of the Enterprise led to a mighty powerful scene.
5. In Star Trek IV when Spock announces "Gracie is pregnant," and then Gillian Taylor slammed on the brakes. I can't explain why, but I laugh every time I watch that scene.
6. The end of Next Generation's "Best of Both Worlds: Part 1" when Riker gives the order to fire on the Borg ship that had Picard aboard. It was the beginning of a long summer hiatus wait for a then 12-year-old boy. I still love the score to that episode, too.
7. In Next Generation's "Relics" when Scotty walks onto the holodek running the original bridge program, I was floored when I saw that. And I was even more impressed to read the back story about that since that scene almost didn't happen. I couldn't find a decent clip of the scene, but here's a bonus feature video showing a little behind-the-scenes of it.
8. Similarly, Deep Space Nine's "Trials and Tribble-ations" held many awesome moments, but seeing the classic Enterprise on screen again was truly magical.
9. In Deep Space Nine's "By Inferno's Light" after the Jem'Hadar and Worf have been fighting for an extended period of time, Worf gets up after a nasty beating then the Jem'Hadar says, "I yield. I cannot defeat this Klingon. All I can do is kill him. And that no longer holds my interest." (No clip on YouTube readily available.)
10. The ending of Deep Space Nine's "In the Pale Moonlight." Throughout the episode, Sisko has laid out in a personal log entry one of the most difficult decisions he's had to make. And something about that very last line where he deletes the log entry just resonates perfectly with me. This is Star Trek's greatest single episode ever in my opinion as it perfectly illustrates the moral dilemmas that make Trek so thought-provoking.
This concludes our month of fight themed FSFs! Thanks for tuning in!
This probably goes without saying, but beware spoilers for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
You can't really discuss fight scenes these days without including something from a superhero flick. This week, I'd like to (naturally) talk about one of my favorites - the brawl between Captain America and The Winter Soldier in the second installment in the saga of Steve Rogers.
The action starts with the fallout from a chase scene where The Winter Soldier (TWS) got the drop on our heroes, ultimately launching Cap (Chris Evans) off the freeway and into a city bus. When we first see TWS he's on the hunt for Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), who, along with Cap and Sam "The Falcon" Wilson (Anthony Mackie), is really screwing with his plans (well, not his plans, but we'll get to that later).
TWS easily tosses Black Widow after falling for her phone decoy trick and subsequent attack, but she's able to escape after shorting out his arm. It isn't long before he catches up again, however, but just when you think Black Widow's a goner, Cap shows up. And then it's on.
Some highlights:
The Winter Soldier punching Cap’s shield is surely one of the cooler moments from the entire franchise.
One thing I noticed is that, every gun that TWS uses in his fight with Cap was seen prominently earlier in the scene. In other words, they're not just window dressing, he actually uses all of his weapons.
The knife portion of the fight really takes the whole thing up a notch. It's hard not to flinch as that thing's flying around.
That goddamn Bucky reveal.
That's right, The Winter Soldier is actually Cap's childhood friend and war buddy Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who's been turned into a pawn for the bad guys. I remember when I saw this in the theater a few people in my group were shocked. It's something I knew already and kind of took for granted, but their reactions made it even better. It still gives me goosebumps. The whole Bucky/Winter Soldier thing is, if done true to the comics, setting up Bucky's time as an alternate Captain America. That's why he prominently holds the shield at one point. Alas, TWS doesn't really know his true identity ("Who the hell is Bucky?") having been brainwashed into a killing machine. Suffice to say, Cap's so shocked that his friend is The Winter Soldier, he has to get saved not once, but twice, first by The Falcon and then by Black Widow. Cap gets easily distracted when it comes to Bucky, as we saw earlier this summer in this film's follow up, Civil War.
What's your favorite scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier?
What's your favorite fight scene in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film?
This week's FSF - the latest in our series on fight scenes - is by Jess from French Toast Sunday! Check out her other posts here.
There's so many typical directions to take the theme of fight scene. There's plenty of action movie fight scenes that I could praise effusively, but when I saw the prompt for this and started considering some options I was surprised that this scene came to mind so quickly. I truly adore Bridget Jones's Diary and think it's one of the best romantic comedies ever. I know that title may not hold a lot of weight with many, but it's a genre that has some gems. Bridget Jones is certainly one of them.
It's got a likeable but imperfect lead, and not in the way most rom com heroines are where she just trips a lot. Bridget has some big flaws and is quite crass, but she's hilarious and relatable. The story follows her romantic misadventures, pining after her rakish boss Daniel Cleaver while the constant presence of the less charismatic Mark Darcy lingers in her periphery. After Daniel predictably reveals his ugly side and hurts Bridget, she and Mark finally click and make a connection that proves they may actually be compatible. It might not be the most unique territory for this sort of movie, but it works really well with Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth bringing a lot to the table.
After all of Bridget's misadventures, she finally seems like she might be heading towards happiness.That's until the tension between her two love interests comes to a boil when they both end up at her house at the same time. Throughout the movie you find out they've had their own unfriendly history over another woman (because of course), and it's finally come to a head.
There's just something extremely satisfying about watching two proper Englishman fist fight in the street. I'm not talking a post-football tumble between tough men who'll probably stab each other with a broken beer bottle if my stereotypes are correct, but two men in suits who have no business raising fists. They have no idea what they're doing when they're not throwing sucker punches. Grant and Firth display funny physical comedy and because it's a rom com a crowd gathers and "It's Raining Men" is the soundtrack. The fight is interrupted by a restaurant singing "Happy Birthday". It's so damn silly, but I'm such a sucker for the whole scene.
What's your favorite scene from Bridget Jones's Diary?
Today's FSF, the latest in our series of fight scenes, is by FSF newcomer Tony Cogan from Coogs Reviews! You can follow Tony on Twitter at @tonycoogs.
When I decided to do a piece for Favourite Scene Friday, I knew that I wanted to do a fight scene, mainly one that focused on hand to hand combat, but originally I had a hard time choosing one. Should I go with the fight between Rama, Andi and Mad Dog from The Raid, the fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris from Return of the Dragon or go a different track and into one of the boxing matches from the Rocky series or Raging Bull. In the end though, there was only really one fight scene that I could choose, one that I feel is the greatest hand to hand fight scene committed to film, that being the fight between Jackie Chan and Benny "The Jet" Urquidez in Wheels on Meals.
Now for full disclosure, I haven't actually seen Wheels on Meals. I first found out about this fight scene when I was watching videos about fight scenes done by Jackie Chan in general and this one always stood out for me from the brief clips I saw in the original video. So I eventually watched the full fight and I was so impressed by what I saw. The main thing that has always impressed me about this fight is the speed that Chan and Urquidez fight at, mixed in with the choreography of the fight. So many moments in the fight look like they were planned down to the millisecond to ensure that each punch and kick had full weight behind it, particularly the moment when Urquidez kicks and at that split second Chan kicks as well, his kick connecting with Urquidez. Of course the highlight in terms of the speed of the fighters is when Urquidez delivers a kick so swift that the wind generated by it blows out a set of candles. There is no trick photography here, Urquidez is just that good with his kicks.
As I said before, the choreography and speed give real weight to the punches and kicks, enhanced by the use of slow motion. Every hit that Chan and Urquidez get on each other looks intensely painful and this helps make the part when Chan gains the upper hand, especially after getting owned by Urquidez early on, all the more impactful. When the synthesisers and electric guitars kick in in the second half of this scene, it lets you know that the fight is going to shift Chan's way. The way he taunts Urquidez, baiting him so that he can gain the upper hand, is a brilliant piece of martial arts choreography.
This is just an expertly executed fight scene, the speed and strength at which Chan and Urquidez fight is mind boggling to see, the choreography is outstanding, and there's a part of me that loves the cheesy honour that ends the fight with Chan pulling Urquidez in after he's knocked out of a window. That's the kind of cheese that I like seeing in fight scenes and it's what helped make this probably my favourite hand to hand fight scene.
All month long we'll be looking at fight scenes for FSF! So tune in every Friday for some brawling.
I wouldn't be the first to point out that Mad Max: Fury Road is just one big chase scene. There's nothing wrong with that - who doesn't love a little road rage? But amidst all that vehicular carnage, there's one badass fight scene that doesn't take place on a speeding tanker truck.
Max Rockatansky (the titular "Mad" one, played by Tom Hardy), a perpetual survivor in post apocalyptic Australia, has been captured by the forces of the tyrannical Immortan Joe. Max gets caught up in a mission to retrieve Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and Immortan Joe's young "wives". After surviving a massive sandstorm, Max is trying to escape and comes across Furiosa and the girls. To make things extra complicated for Max, he's chained to the unconscious Nux (Nicholas Hoult), one of Immortan Joe's "warboys". Nux had been using Max as a "blood bag" and hood ornament before the sandstorm hit. Just before today's scene begins, Max orders one of the wives to cut him free.
First and foremost, one of the best parts about this scene is how ferocious it is. Furiosa jumps Max unexpectedly and then it’s on. Shortly into the fight, Max briefly gets the upper hand and you can see his rage.
This scene could just be Furiosa and Max fighting, and it would be great. But with Nux and the wives involved, it's truly fun, with the former mostly getting dragged around and the latter ganging up on Max. Everyone is great in this scene, but Charlize Theron really committed to it - Furiosa swings that wrench like a beast. And little details here are great too. Max's hallucination. The choreography. The entire bit with the handgun - from Furiosa cracking it out of its hiding place to the ringing in Max's ears when she fires it right next to his head - is thrilling. It all leads up to the most badass moment in the scene: Max, with Nux's help, shooting the warning shots off around Furiosa's head. The victory is short lived, however. We don't see it here, but Joe's forces, glimpsed in the beginning of the scene, are back with a vengeance. This throwdown was but a brief break in the feature length chase scene.
Our month of Jurassic Park appreciation comes to a close today. Surely one of the greatest themes of the series is tampering with nature. So much like Hammond and his park scientists we have spliced together my FSF with Jay's. It's like the old saying goes: God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs. Man creates Favorite Scene Friday. Oh, the humanity!
Beware minor spoilers for Jurassic World!
RZ: A lot of scenes in Jurassic Park were awesome simply because of the awe factor or they were just interesting. As we pointed out earlier in the month, the movie could feature scenes with no dinos at all and it was still awesome. Exposition is the name of the game here. The Mr. DNA scene doesn't really have any dinos but it's one of the best scenes in the movie. What do you think, Jay?
JC: This is one of my favourite scenes because it's perhaps one of the greatest methods of exposition delivery in all of cinema. All too often plot explanations are given through stilted, forced dialogue between two people who both already know everything that is going on, and is purely for the audience's sake, but here it makes perfect sense. The main question on everyone's mind - both watching the film and the characters in it - is how are dinosaurs being made considering they're very definitely extinct, so of course there would be some kind of video explanation. And of course it will be simple enough and told through the kinds of easily understood cartoons you'd see in education videos at school, because children will be there trying to understand it! Every detail of the video is perfect, from the crude, simplistic animation to the manic anthropomorphised Mr. DNA, as how will kids possibly pay attention without a DNA strand with eyes jumping around and flying all over the place?
RZ: Was John Hammond supposed to be here for this thing every time? Or was this maybe supposed to be for friends, family and investors? Maybe they'd get another actor to do the regular tours?
JC: This is something that actually bothers me about this scene, as it's clearly set up for John Hammond to be there for every screening. If it's only going to be shown once a day then fine, I imagine that's conceivable, with maybe a backup video with Dr. Henry Wu there instead just in case Hammond is ill or otherwise engaged, but if it's going to be shown multiple times a day, or even continuously, then it's just implausible. And the Hammond on stage has so little interaction with the video - all he does is say maybe three lines from his script, then pretends to take a sample of blood from on-screen Hammond - that it seems ridiculous to even have someone interacting with the video in the first place. It'd make much more sense for the on-screen Hammond to do the entire introduction himself, pricking his own blood and going from there. Using a live person for thirty seconds outside of the video is just gimmicky.
RZ: The voice of Mr. DNA - Greg Burson - is great. I'm not familiar with any of his other work despite the fact that he's in a movie called Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland that I used to watch all the time. What did you think of Mr. DNA's cameo in Jurassic World? I was personally wanting more, I think it actually would have been great to have the John Hammond video playing on the exact same ride somehow.
JC: Whilst I was happy to see Mr. DNA cameoing in Jurassic World (even if his original voice by Greg Burson had been replaced by Jurassic World's director's, Colin Trevorrow) I didn't mind his limited screen time. It makes sense within the context of the film that there isn't a mandatory behind-the-scenes ride to go on now, seeing as people have become bored of the attractions, I can't imagine many would care how they came to exist, but those who do can see it on the relatively small mini-attractions in the museum area. I wouldn't have minded more of Mr. DNA, but I think they used just the right amount. Why do you think Mr. DNA has become such an iconic character?
RZ: I think maybe it's because he's just such a weird goofy bit of whimsy in a movie that's otherwise scary and/or serious. It was also just a great bit of world building that Spielberg and co. put into the film, so much so that I was hoping it would make a follow up appearance in Jurassic World.
JC: The only other scene in the original film that has aged worse than this is the hacking scene, which has its own set of flaws and problems, and there's no big surprise that we aren't covering it this month. It's a problem that occurs whenever technology is shown on film, it immediately becomes dated as soon as something more advanced comes along, and nothing looks more dated than virtual reality gloves, especially when those virtual reality gloves are being used to manipulate vitual reality DNA strands. Nonsense. The actual ride portion has aged well, although nowadays there'd probably be individual harnesses descending from above to restrain people into their seats, but then you wouldn't have the surprise that it's a ride, and the magic would be lost. And Mr. DNA would be CGI-motion-captured by Andy Serkis.
RZ: It is a bit of a novelty to see hand drawn animation in this day and age. And of course, the way they talk about supercomputers and virtual reality is chuckle worthy. The VR specifically reminds me of the goofy ass virtual reality scenes in Disclosure. Also, double breasted suit, what???
JC: I love how even though he's being shown the wonders of how dinosaurs are being created in the modern day, Ian Malcolm still takes a moment to check out Ellie whilst she marvels at the discovery of cloning. She seems mesmerised and fascinated with the whole process, whilst there's a sense of realisation behind Alan's eyes that he may no longer be necessary to the world. In the brief shot of Malcolm, he seems to already be forming his arguments for the lunch scene against the whole ordeal, and when we see Gennaro, well he may as well just have dollar signs covering his whole bemused face.
RZ: Everyone genuinely seems to love this video, yes, even the blood sucking Gennaro. But I totally agree, you just know he's gotta have dollar signs on the brain still. Regarding the main three heroes, I love that they're almost instantly talking about "massive sequence gaps". I also particularly love the shot of Grant as the camera zooms in on him and under the restraint bar.
Today's Favorite Scene Friday - the last in our series looking at character introductions - is by Daniel Lackey from The Nightmare Gallery!
I love a good caper movie; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, with its larger-than-life characters, memorable dialog, and comedy-of-errors plot, is one of my favorites. It's filled with great moments, but my favorite is the film's very first scene, which introduces us to the main characters of Eddy (Nick Moran) and Bacon (Jason Statham).
When we meet the duo, Bacon has set up a table hawking stolen jewelry, delivering a sales pitch of near-poetic eloquence. At least four or five of my favorite lines in the film are taken from his speech, such as "Hand-made in Italy, hand-stolen in Stepney. It's as long as my arm; I wish it was as long as something else." Meanwhile, Eddy stands in the crowd, a plant to lure the rubes in for the kill.
The scene closes with a classic foot-chase scene set to Ocean Colour Scene's "Hundred Mile High City" and some appropriately rough-sounding narration from Alan Ford. It's the perfect set up to introduce these characters and the film as a whole.
What's your favorite scene from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels?
Our month of character intro themed favorite scenes continues! Will from Exploding Helicopter did the honors this week.
Sweet Smell of Success (1957) is one of the darkest films ever committed to celluloid.
Set amidst the apparent glamour of the entertainment industry, it depicts a corrupt parallel world. One where illicit favours are the only recognised form of currency. And the rotten black heart at the centre of it all is Burt Lancaster’s J.J. Hunsecker.
Lancaster plays a newspaper columnist and broadcaster with the power to make or break careers. A megalomaniac control freak, Lancaster is blackmailing press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) to break-up his sister’s relationship with a young jazz musician. Until the romance is ended, Curtis is unable to earn a living as his clients won’t receive any media coverage.
We learn these details in a series of scenes that open the film. Having established Hunsecker’s malign power we’re finally introduced to the man himself.
The scene begins with a quick demonstration of Lancaster’s authority. After Curtis approaches, Lancaster commands a bouncer to remove the uninvited guest from the nightclub. Acceding from his demand, Curtis is ultimately allowed to sit down, but he’s tucked behind Lancaster’s elbow like an attentive flunkey rather than equal. It’s clear who the man in charge is.
This command is emphasised by director Alexander Mackendrick’s camerawork. Throughout the film he photographs Lancaster from low angles making him dominate the frame in a way that mirrors his dominance of the characters around him. Traces of that can be seen here. Lancaster is subtly foregrounded in several shots making him appear more important than those around him.
This is reinforced in small details that again occur through the film. In this scene Hunsecker holds what appears to be an impractically small pencil. This appears to be an active choice on the part of the filmmakers, as later we see Lancaster dining in a restaurant with absurdly small cutlery. It all seems designed to suggest that Hunsecker is bigger than everything and everyone around him.
Lancaster’s ruthless modus operandi is wickedly delineated as he dismissively deals with a brutally brief phonecall from a comedian. When he recounts a joke that Hunsecker has already printed in his column he is, in Sidney’s words, “condemned to death”.
The perceived insult is compounded when the promoter Manny Davis makes the mistake of laughing as the punchline is repeated. Lancaster’s cold steely glare betrays his cold anger, and he maliciously starts to expose Davis’ scheme for promoting the ingénue he’s touting.
The senator makes a doomed attempt to change the topic. But this simply allows Lancaster to turn his fire on Curtis, carving up his character like a stiletto wielding assassin.
This excoriating tirade, delivered by Lancaster in his trademark clipped honey-smooth voice, ends with Lancaster’s literal and figurative challenge, “Match me Sidney.”
Aware he’s engaged in a battle he can’t win, Curtis makes a tactical retreat. But not before he’s helped establish Lancaster as a demagogue who expects no-one to challenge the rule of his domain.
What's your favorite scene from Sweet Smell of Success?
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