Category Archives: Scenes I Love

A Scene That I Love: Elvis Presley In Jailhouse Rock

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Elvis Presley would have been 89 years old today.

Elvis always said that one of his biggest regrets was that he never had full control over his film career.  While he had dreams of being taken seriously as an actor and admired James Dean and Marlon Brando, his management continually forced him into silly movies that only required him to sing a few songs.

Elvis’s early films, which were made before his military service and which allowed him to act as well as sing, were his best.  Today’s scene comes from one of those films, 1957’s Jailhouse Rock.

Scene That I Love: Tom and Tessio in The Godfather

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As we continue to observe Robert Duvall’s birthday, today’s scene that I love comes from my favorite movie, 1972’s The Godfather.

In this scene, Tom Hagen lets Tessio know that Michael knows that Tessio is the one who betrayed him.  It’s a short scene but one that is wonderfully acted by both Abe Vigoda and Robert Duvall.

Mario Puzo’s novel goes into a bit more detail about what is going through Tom’s mind while he watches Tessio being taken away.  Tessio was one of the last of the old breed of pre-prohibition era mobsters and he was someone who played a key role in Vito Corleone’s rise to power.  Tessio’s execution was not just revenge for betraying the family but also the end of an era, something that Tom full realized even if Michael didn’t.  When Tom tells Tessio that he can’t get him “off the hook for old time’s sake,” it’s a statement that those old times are gone forever.

Scenes That I Love: Rambo Returns from George P. Cosmatos’s Rambo: First Blood Part II

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On this date, in 1941, future director George Pan Cosmatos was born in Italy.  Cosmatos would go on to direct some of the most financially successfully (if critically lambasted) films of the 80s.  He’s also credited as being the director on Tombstone, though it’s generally agreed that Cosmatos largely deferred to Kurt Russell on that film.  (Cosmatos was a last minute replacement for the film’s original director.)

Other than Tombstone, Cosmatos is best-known for the films that he did with Sylvester Stallone.  And today’s scene that I love comes from the 1985 film, Rambo: First Blood Part II.  In this scene, Rambo — having survived being abandoned yet again in Vietnam — let’s the CIA knew exactly what he thinks about their operation.  Whatever else you may say about the film (and I certainly prefer the first First Blood to any of the more simplistic sequels that followed), this scene is pure 80s action.

If you ever meet James Cameron, remind him that he wrote the script for this film and see how he reacts.

Here’s a scene that I love:

Scenes That I Love: Bugsy Attacks in Once Upon A Time In America

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In honor of Sergio Leone’s birthday, today’s scene that I love comes from his final film, 1984’s Once Upon A Time In America. 

In this scene, which takes place in 1918 in New York City, a group of young street kids who fancy themselves sophisticated criminals are ambushed by their rival, Bugsy.  With the combination of Ennio Morricone’s score and Leone’s haunting vision of New York City at the start of the 20th Century, this scene captures the loss of innocence that will eventually lead to all of the characters becoming ruthless (albeit successful) gangsters in their adult years.

Scenes That I Love: Burt Reynolds Meets Burt Reynolds in The Last Movie Star

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the national speed limit is 50 years old.

Boooo!

Yes, it was 50 years ago today that President Richard Nixon signed the law that set the national speed limit as being 55 miles per hour.  Perhaps this was Nixon’s final revenge on a nation that was making a huge deal out of Watergate.  Who knows?

In honor of the occasion, today’s 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.

Scenes That I Love: Prohibition’s Funeral From Once Upon A Time In America

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Once Upon A Time In America (1984, dir by Sergio Leone, DP: Tonino Delli Colli)

Change comes with a new year.  That’s just an inevitable fact of life.  Sometimes, it’s good chance and sometimes, it’s bad change and sometimes, it’s change that is both good and bad.  That’s certainly the case with today’s scene that I love.

In Serigo Leone’s 1984 masterpiece, Once Upon A Time In America, 1933 brings with it the end of prohibition.  While the nation celebrates the right to once again legally drink, gangsters like the ones played by James Woods and Robert De Niro mourn the loss of their business and try to figure out a new way to pay their bills.

In this scene, Prohibition — that law that was hated by so many — is given a send-off by the people that it made very rich.

Happy New Year

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Happy New Year!

In Happy New Year, Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown started the year by falling asleep while trying to read War and Peace and missing out on talking to the little red-haired girl.  He probably caught pneumonia by falling asleep outside while it was snowing.  Poor Charlie Brown!  His friends should be ashamed of themselves for leaving him out there!

The important thing is that no matter how many times these things happen to him, Charlie Brown never gives up faith.  He’s going to keep trying to talk to the little red-haired girl.  He’s going to keep reading War and Peace.  He’s going to to keep trying to kick that football.  He’s going to try to get a strike with every pitch.  Even if the first day of 2024 isn’t your best, there are 365 more to go!

Happy 2024!

Through The Shattered Lens Wishes A Happy Birthday To Steven Spielberg

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today the Shattered Lens is happy to wish the great Steven Spielberg a happy birthday!

It’s perhaps impossible to pick just one scene or just four shots to represent the career and the talent of Steven Spielberg.  So, in honor of his birthday, I am going to share the moments when Steven Spielberg won his first two competitive Oscars, for directing and producing 1993’s Schindler’s List.  His words are even more important today.