Today I finished my 26th tax season as a certified public accountant who specializes in tax preparation services. For the last 3 months, my life has been all taxes, all the time. That ends today and now my love of my family and movies can once again take center stage! Tonight I’m watching YOJIMBO simply because seeing Toshiro Mifune makes me feel good. Happy Tax Day my friends!
I love Audrey Hepburn, especially in this wonderful film from director Stanley Donen! The dance starts 3:07 into the video.
Today would have been the birthday of actor Tom Noonan. Today’s scene that I love is a short scene featuring Noonan from 1995’s Heat. Noonan doesn’t have a lot of screentime but his character is key to the plot. In this scene, Noonan shows how much a great character actor can do, even with limited screentime.
Today, the Shattered Lens celebrates the 82nd birthday of the iconic screenwriter and director, John Milius!
While director Francis Ford Coppola definitely put his own stamp on 1979’s Apocalypse Now, the film started life as a script written by John Milius and the film itself is full of dialogue that could only have been written by Milius. The most famous example is Robert Duvall’s monologue about the smell of napalm in the morning. Actually, the entire helicopter attack feels like pure Milius. Reportedly, Duvall’s character was originally named Colonel Kharnage but, by the time the movie was made, his name had become Kilgore. It’s still not exactly a subtle name but it’s not quite as obvious as Kharnage.
(When James Caan read the script, he loved the role so much that he was offended to not be offered it and, as a result, he turned down offers to play not only Willard but also Kurtz.)
Happy birthday, John Milius!
“Someday, this war is going to end.”
Today would have been Max von Sydow’s 97th birthday. In today’s scene that I love, von Sydow plays a disarmingly polite assassin.
From 1975’s Three Days of the Condor:
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to Dennis Quaid!
This scene that I love comes from 1983’s The Right Stuff and features Quaid as astronaut Gordon Cooper. In this scene, the famous grin is flashed when Cooper is asked to name the best pilot that he ever saw. However, Cooper surprises everyone by turning thoughtful.
Today would have been the 84th birthday of special effects maestro, Douglas Trumbull.
Today’s scene that I love come from 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The famous stargate sequence was designed by Trumbull and it remains one of the most influential science fiction moments of all time. In one of their greatest oversights, the Academy neglected to include Trumbull when they nominated the film for its special effects. As a result, the Oscar only went to Stanley Kubrick. Trumbull was not happy about that and, sadly, Kubrick and Trumbull did not speak to each other for years afterwards.
Despite not being included in the nomination, Douglas Trumbull’s work has stood the test of time.
In honor of Francis Ford Coppola’s birthday, today’s scene that I love comes from The Godfather.
In this scene, a self-pitying Johnny Fontane (Al Martino) discusses his career problems with Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone. Johnny is losing his voice. Johnny is up for a role in a big movie but he worries that the producer will never allow him to appear in the film. Johnny says he doesn’t know what to do and he sheds a tear….
….and that’s not a smart thing to do when you’re talking to Don Corleone.
This scene contains some of the best moments of The Godfather. Al Martino was a professional singer with little acting experience. (While Johnny Fontane was a major character in Mario Puzo’s book, he only appeared in two scenes in the film version. Coppola later said that he thought the Johnny Fontane chapters were so poorly written that he would have turned down the film if he had to include too much of the character.) In order to get an effective performance out of Martino, Brando did not warn him that he would actually be slapping him. During one take, Brando got so aggressive that he knocked off Martino’s toupee and caused Robert Duvall to start laughing. It was all worth it, though. Martino was thoroughly convincing as Johnny Fontane and Marlon Brando won (but did not accept) his second Oscar for Best Actor. Coppola did not win Best Director for The Godfather (1972 was a competitive year) but he made up for it 1974 when he was honored for The Godfather Part II.
Happy birthday to the one and only, Billy Dee Williams!
I remember the first time I watched The Empire Strikes Back, I was shocked when Lando betrayed his friend Han Solo. Luckily, Lando was able to later redeem himself but the Cloud City betrayal scene remains one of the best moments in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Through the Shattered Lens 