Category Archives: Scenes I Love

Scenes That I Love: Rick Dalton Sets Susan Atkins On Fire In Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

With today being Quentin Tarantino’s birthday, I almost feel like I have no choice but to pick this scene from the explosive finale of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood as my scene that I love for the day.

When this film, there was a lot of controversy by Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) using a flame thrower to set a hippie on fire in his swimming pool.  Never mind that the hippie in question (played by future Oscar-winner Mikey Madison) was specifically in Rick’s bungalow to try to kill him.  On twitter, there were cries about how this scene proved that Tarantino misogynist.  On TV Tropes, someone actually wrote, “You have to feel a little sorry for the hippie at the end….”

No, actually, you don’t have to feel sorry for her in the least.  In this scene, Madison is playing Susan Atkins, a.k.a. Sadie Mae Glutz.  In real life, Susan Atkins was the most enthusiastic of Charles Manson’s band of hippie killers.  She was the one who personally stabbed Sharon Tate to death while Sharon, 8 and a half months pregnant at the time, begged for the life of her baby.  I won’t quote what Atkins said to Sharon while killing her but you can find it in any of the books written about the case.  How do we know what Atkins said?  Because she bragged about it in prison.  She didn’t show a shred of remorse until after she realized she was going to spend the rest of her life in prison, which is when she suddenly decided she was born again and started claiming she was brainwashed.  In real life, Sharon Tate, only 26 years old, died in 1969.  Susan Atkins lived to be 61, saved just because the Supreme Court temporarily suspended the death penalty in the 70s.

So, as far as I’m concerned, turn those flames up, Rick.  In Tarantino’s world, Sharon lived and had her baby.  If the choice is between Tarantino’s alternate reality or the world in which Atkins spent 40 years having her food and housing paid for by the same California taxpayers that she wanted to kill, I know which one I’m going with.

Strother Martin – One of the great character actors of all time! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

The unique character actor, Strother Martin, is established as one of the most quoted people to ever grace the silver screen. His line from COOL HAND LUKE (1967), “What we’ve got here is… failure to communicate” ranks as number 11 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time! He’s an incredibly talented man, and every time I see him pop up on an old TV show or movie, I smile. 

My personal favorite film of all time is HARD TIMES (1975) starring Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Jill Ireland, and yes, Strother Martin. He is so good as Poe, Charles Bronson’s cut man, who also happens to be a recovering drug addict. HARD TIMES is Walter Hill’s debut film, and Hill couldn’t have picked a better cast to introduce himself to the world. It’s my opinion that Martin’s unique talents are a perfect compliment to Bronson’s strong, silent persona, and James Coburn’s motormouth, business man. I think it’s one of his best performances. 

My favorite scene with Bronson and Strother Martin in HARD TIMES is the scene where they first meet. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it on YouTube so I’m sharing this scene where Bronson collects their earnings from a guy who cheated them earlier in the day. Martin’s character isn’t featured in this scene, but he’s always right there with Bronson as a loyal friend. On what would have been Martin’s 106th birthday, I just wanted to take a moment to remember and appreciate him for his great work.

Scenes That I Love: James Caan In The Godfather

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today would have been James Caan’s 85 birthday so today’s scene that I love comes from one of Caan’s best-known films, The Godfather.

This scene features Caan’s Sonny Corleone in all of his glory, congratulating Michael on his broken jaw and getting on Tom Hagen’s nerves.  Robert Duvall and James Caan were close friends in real life and that friendship definitely comes through in their performances as Tom and Sonny.

 

Scenes That I Love: David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The great British director David Lean was born 117 years ago today.

In honor of his films and his legacy, here is a scene that I love from Lawrence of Arabia.  In this scene, Peter O’Toole blowing out a flame transports us straight to a sunrise in the desert.  Though Lean started out his career directing small-scale but emotionally rich films like Brief Encounter and Great Expectations, he ultimately became best-known for directing historical epics and cinematic spectacles.  This scene shows us why.  Even to this day, it seems as if any epic film is destined to be compared to the work of David Lean.

Scenes That I Love: Steve McQueen in Bullitt

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In honor of the birthday of actor Steve McQueen, the true epitome of all things cool, here is the famous and trend-setting chase scene from 168’s Bullitt, featuring McQueen behind the wheel and doing his own stunts on the streets of San Francisco.

 

Today is the great Akira Kurosawa’s Birthday! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Movie star Toshiro Mifune and director Akira Kuroswa on the set of Seven Samurai.

I love director Akira Kurosawa. He’s one of the all time greats. His movies RASHOMON (1951), IKIRU (1952), SEVEN SAMURAI (1954), THRONE OF BLOOD (1957), THE BAD SLEEP WELL (1960), and YOJIMBO (1961) are some of the greatest movies ever made. His work has inspired so many great filmmakers, and so many great movies, including THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960), A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964), and STAR WARS (1977) just to name a few. 

On Kurosawa’s 115th Birthday, I share one of my favorite scenes, from one of my favorite movies (SANJURO), featuring two of my favorite actors (Toshiro Mifune & Tatsuya Nakadai). Enjoy my friends, and rest in peace, Mr. Kurosawa! 

Happy Birthday in Heaven to the great M. Emmet Walsh! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

One of the great character actors of all time, M. Emmet Walsh, would have been 90 years old today. Walsh lived a good long life, passing away on March 19th, 2024, three days short of what would have been his 89th birthday. The great movie critic Roger Ebert created his own movie rule that featured Walsh. He called it the “Stanton-Walsh” rule, which also honored the great Harry Dean Stanton. The rule went something like “no movie featuring Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad.” High praise indeed. 

When I think of Walsh, I picture his characters in movies like FAST-WALKING (1981), BLADE RUNNER (1982), MISSING IN ACTION (1984), and RAISING ARIZONA (1987). I’ve tried to forget one of his scenes in FAST-WALKING, but I’m afraid it’s a hopeless cause! His characters always stand out. The movie I first saw him in was the Coen Brothers’ BLOOD SIMPLE (1984). Fox 16 out of Little Rock played this often in the 80’s. The advertisements heavily featured Walsh’s amazingly sleazy private detective character, with his cowboy hat and his slimy grin. It’s a truly amazing performance.

On his birthday, I share one of his great scenes from BLOOD SIMPLE. Rest in peace, Mr. Walsh! And enjoy, my friends. 

Scenes That I Love: William Shatner Interprets Rocket Man

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we wish a happy 95th birthday to the one and only William Shatner!

In this scene that I love, William Shatner performs Rocket Man at the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards (better known as the Saturn Awards).

Remembering Wings Hauser… a personal reflection. 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

As a teenager of the late 80’s who was absolutely obsessed with movies, I spent a lot of time in the local videos store in and around Conway, Arkansas. I would meticulously go through their entire inventory. Nobody wanted to go with me to the video store because they knew they were going to be there for awhile. That’s where I first became obsessed with Charles Bronson, and he’s been my obsession to this day, over 20 years after his death. 

The video store was a place where I also discovered a lot of other amazing actors. It would always go something like this; I would see a person’s name on a movie that looked good. I would watch the movie and enjoy it. I would go back to the store and notice that person was in a lot more movies. I would then try to watch them all. This pattern started with Bronson, and then moved on to actors like Clint Eastwood, Roy Scheider, Burt Reynolds, Rutger Hauer, and yes, Wings Hauser. On a side note, I always thought it was pretty cool that two of my favorite actors had practically the same name, Hauer and Hauser. The video stores were full of movies starring Hauser that I thought looked good. My preferred box art would generally feature Hauser holding a gun (see picture at the top), and usually with generic sounding titles like DEADLY FORCE (1983), HOSTAGE (1986), NO SAFE HAVEN (1987), DEAD MAN WALKING (1988), and MARKED FOR MURDER (1990). When I rented a movie “starring Wings Hauser” in the 80’s through the early 90’s, I had a pretty good idea what I’d be getting. It would usually be a low budget movie, with some solid action and some sexy ladies, all anchored by a likable and charismatic performance from Wings Hauser. Those are the types of low budget, action movies that I really loved and Hauser did a bunch of him. I know they aren’t great movies, certainly not of the same quality of Hauser’s own best work in movies like VICE SQUAD (1982) and THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA (1988), but I enjoyed them so much growing up. 

While my favorite Wings Hauser movies featured him as a cop, we watched him in so many different types of roles. I remember our family renting TOUGH GUYS DON’T DANCE (1987). None of us knew what the hell was going on in that movie. Hauser would co-star in movies like BEDROOM EYES II (1989), OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND (1990), and BEASTMASTER 2: THROUGH THE PORTAL OF TIME (1991). I’d watch them all. Hell, he even directed a graphic slasher flick called THE ART OF DYING (1991). That movie is nuts! No matter the quality of the movie, I always enjoyed seeing Hauser on screen. 

When YELLOWSTONE hit it big on TV a few years back, my wife Sierra loved the character Rip Wheeler. Since Rip is played by Cole Hauser, I took that as an opportunity to introduce her to his dad Wings Hauser. I never watch an episode of YELLOWSTONE that I don’t think of Wings Hauser and those old times at the video store. The first Wings Hauser movie I introduced my wife to was VICE SQUAD, but we watched quite a few of his movies over the last couple of years. It has been fun revisiting the films and sharing them with her. 

Wings Hauser will always have a special place in my heart, because I spent a lot of time with him. Today, as a tribute to him, I share my story and a scene from DEADLY FORCE. It’s just a fun car chase scene featuring Wings in one of his low budget action movies. This is the Hauser I loved the most. Rest in peace, sir! 

Scenes That I Love: Gary Oldman in Oppenheimer

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to actor Gary Oldman!

My scene that I love features Gary Oldman as Harry S Truman in Oppenheimer.  Oldman doesn’t get a lot of screentime in Oppenheimer but he shows what a brilliant actor can do with a small role.  His casual dismissal of Oppenheimer’s guilt is one of the strongest moments in the film.  (And, for those of us who found Oppenheimer, as a character, to be a bit self-asborbed, it’s a cathartic moment, as well.)