Rich's three favorite scenes
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Posted: Friday, October 8, 2010 3:23 pm
|
Updated: 7:04 pm, Fri Oct 8, 2010.
Rich's three favorite scenes
Posted on
October 8, 2010
OK, a worthy challenge. Jason offered up some interesting
choices, a bit on the blood-spattered side, perhaps, but an
ambitious list nonetheless.
Afraid I don't have Jason's powers of cinematic recall. So here
are three of my top scenes:
Call it, from No Country for Old Men. Javier Bardem is
such a deliciously wicked jackal, toying with the life of an
everyman. When he tosses a quarter and tells the store clerk to
"call it," there is no doubt Bardem is ready to whip out his
compressed-air killing machine if the call is wrong. This rivets
because of Bardem's brilliant depiction of psycho-assassin Anton
Chigurh, calmly munching cashews as he plays out his deadly game,
and the terse writing of the Coen Brothers. Watch it, and feel your
gut tighten into a very hard little knot.
A brief and final encounter, from The Way We Were.
Former lovers Barbra Streisand, the commie, and Robert Redford, the
capitalist, meet again through happenstance. The embers of all that
went before are stirred for a few last, aching moments. As you
watch these two icons, you can't help but wonder: What might have
been? Streisand and Redford create more chemistry than a Chevron
research lab. The scene is heart-rending without being
schmaltzy.
The last gunfight, from Shane. Alan Ladd's finest role.
He's the tight-lipped gunslinger who rides into the valley to
protect the homesteaders from the ranchers and their sociopathic
enforcer, played by Jack Palance. The final shoot-out may be
predictable, but that doesn't make it any less satisying. Stand up,
applaud, and throw some popcorn. Classic finale to a classic
Western.
There are others that come to mind as honorable
mention: Horse's head, from The Godfather,
You Talkin' to Me? from Taxi Driver, and
the opening monologue from Patton, among them.
Posted in
Battle royale
on
Friday, October 8, 2010 3:23 pm.
Updated: 7:04 pm.
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Jason Wallis posted at 8:57 pm on Sun, Oct 10, 2010.
So you decry cinematic violence, but heap praises upon "No Country for Old Men"? Is the idea that somehow the serious nature of the film makes it more "okay" to include gratuitous bloodshed? Explain yourself, sir.
That said, "You talkin' to me?" and the horse head scene are both killer. I remember first seeing the "Godfather" scene on Christmas Eve when I was 10 years old, and being quite upset. "Mr. Corleone prefers to receive bad news as soon as possible." Indeed.
Elizabeth Wallis posted at 8:59 pm on Fri, Oct 8, 2010.
"Call It" was great. Very intense.
.
Horse head was so creepy. That is one of those scenes that is stronger after the initial viewing for me, I now know what is making that strange sound and what Jack Woltz is feeling long before he turns on the light.
Jason Wallis posted at 6:40 pm on Fri, Oct 8, 2010.
"What time do you close?"
"We're closing now."
"'Now' is not a time. What time do you close?"
So creepy.
Can't say I've seen "The Way We Were," but as far as Redford scenes go, I'll throw in my vote for the closing sequence of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Guns a-blazin', baby.