102 years ago today, Lee Marvin was born in New York City. One of the great screen tough guys, Lee Marvin played stoic and determined men who you didn’t want to upset.
That was certainly true of his role as Walker in 1967’s Point Blank. A thief who was double crossed by his partner and the organization to which his partner was in debt, Walker is determined to get back the money that he stole from someone else. Relentlessly, Walker moves from one mob boss to another and repeatedly, those bosses make the mistake of thinking that they can double cross him again.
Point Blank (1967, directed by John Boorman)
In this scene, which was reportedly considered to be shockingly violent by 1967 standards, Carter (Lloyd Bochner) attempts to fool Walker, just to discover that Walker is smarter and far more ruthless than anyone realizes.
In honor of this day, here’s a scene that I love, the opening credits of Saturday Night Fever. Watch as John Travolta, playing the role of Tony Manero, walks down the streets of Brooklyn, not letting the fact that he’s carrying two cans of paint do anything to lessen his strut. Watch as Tony puts a down payment on a pair of shoes! Thrill as Tony buys two slices of pizza! Cringe as Tony bothers a woman who wants absolutely nothing to do with him!
This is one of the greatest introductions in film history. Not only does it set Tony up as an exemplar of cool but it also subverts our expectations by revealing just how little being an exemplar of cool really means. I always relate to the woman who gets annoyed with Tony and tells him to go away. I know exactly how she feels, as does any woman who has ever been stopped in the middle of the street by some guy who thinks she has an obligation to talk him. It doesn’t matter how handsome he is or how much time he obviously spent working on his hair. He’s still just some guy carrying two buckets of paint and acting like she should be flattered that he spent half a minute staring at her ass before chasing after her. For all of his carefully constructed attitude, Tony comes across as being a rather ludicrous figure in this introduction. He carries those cans of paint like he’s going to war and you secretly get the feeling that he knows how silly he looks carrying them but he’s not going to allow anything to get in the way of his strut. And yet, as ridiculous as Tony sometimes seems and as bad as behavior does get, you can’t help but want the best for him. That’s the power of Travolta’s performance. He shows us who Tony could be if he only had the courage.
Happy birthday to John Travolta! And here is today’s scene that I love:
Here is the Mardi Gras sequence from 1969’s Easy Rider. Featuring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Karen Black, and Toni Basil walking through the streets of New Orleans, this scene was actually filmed during Mardi Gras. Those are real Mardi Gras floats and real Mardi Gras participants staring at the camera. That’s an actual citizen of New Orleans with whom Dennis Hopper appears to have nearly gotten into a fight. Personally, I relate to Toni Basil in this scene. She is having a good time no matter what!
I just love how Toni Basil can’t help but dance, no matter what.
Since today is Presidents Day, my scene that I love features one of my favorite fictional presidents! In this scene from 1964’s Dr. Strangelove, President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) attempts to explain why something funny might happen with the bomb to his Russian counterpart.
Sellers reportedly based President Muffley on Adlai Stevenson, the self-styled “rational intellectual” who twice ran for President against Dwight Eisenhower.
Ah, Eisenhower. There’s a President that I wish I could have voted for.
Today is Susan B. Anthony Day and today’s scene that I love is one that she would have appreciated. In this scene from 1994’s Little Women (the best film version of Little Women in my personal opinion), Jo (Winona Ryder) argues for the right of women to vote.
I’ve seen Charlie Brown suffer through a lot of holidays but I’ve always felt especially bad for him when it comes to Valentine’s Day. In this scene from Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, he’s waiting at the mailbox for a Valentine from a “little red-headed girl.” He’s never even talked to her. He doesn’t know her name and she probably doesn’t know his. She certainly doesn’t know his address. How is she going to send him a Valentine? Lucy could have been nicer in the way she put it but she’s right. He’ll need a lot of luck.
Luckily, his loyal dog is there to shoot cupid’s arrows at him.
In 1980, when director Sean S. Cunningham offered Ari Lehman a role in his new movie, he asked only one question. “Can you swim?”
At the age of 14, Ari appeared in Friday the 13th. He didn’t get much screen time but his performance and appearance as the young Jason Voorhees created a moment of fright that lives on today.
Today would have been the 90th birthday of Joe Don Baker!
Our scene that I love features Joe Don as Sherriff Buford Pusser. Some local crooks thought that they could keep the sheriff out of their bar. In this scene from 1973’s Walking Tall, he proves them all wrong.
Today would have been the birthday of Burt Reynolds.
Our scene that I love is from 2018’s overlooked The Last Movie Star. In this scene, an elderly Burt Reynolds finds himself transported back to the days of Smokey and the Bandit, where he meets his younger self and takes a ride in a famous black sportscar. It turns out that the two Burts do not agree when it comes to observing the posted speed limit.
Through the Shattered Lens 