Since this weekend is going to see both the release of The Many Saints of Newark and the start of our annual October Horrorthon, I thought that this would be an appropriate time to share a creepy scene that I love from The Sopranos.
The Sopranos was well-known for its dream sequences. For me, this dream from the season 4’s Calling All Cars is one of the best of the series. It’s full of menace and ominous atmosphere, from the minute we see Tony being led to the house by the deceased Ralphie. And then, when that mysterious shadow appears on the staircase — AGCK!
I’ve read online speculation that the woman in the shadows was meant to represent Tony’s mother, who will be played by Vera Farmiga in The Many Saints of Newark. Young Tony Soprano, meanwhile, will be played by Michael Gandolfini, the son of the late (and missed) James Gandolfini.
I look forward to watching (and, hopefully, reviewing) The Many Saints of Newark on October 1st!
I was saddened to learn of the death of French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo earlier today. He was 88 years old and still an international icon of movie star charisma at the time of his death.
Belmondo spent the majority of his career in France, where he was one of the early faces of the New Wave and also a prominent action star, famed for doing his own very dangerous stunts. In America, he was best-known for his starring turn in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. In Breathless, Belmondo was the perfect existential outlaw, living life day-by-day and obviously doomed but still so incredibly magnetic and stylish.
In tribute to Belmondo, here is a scene that I love, the final moments of Breathless.
“Nightwing”- The final boss battle. Titans v Deathstroke! Fight!
The episode opens with a Cadmus infomercial. They have mind mushed Conner and now he is a mindless obedient super-soldier. Cadmus will begin phase II of their evil plan at a county fair. They’re food prices are already evil. Gar goes from eating a sno-cone at the fair to a hungry Tiger.
Dramatization:
LIKE THIS BUT WITH MORE EATING PEOPLE AND HE’S GREEN
Dawn, Raven, Wondergirl, and Starfire respond, but during their commute- Deathstroke -badasses and attacks. Just as he’s about to kill everyone-
Nightwing enters!
Nightwing!!!!
Nightwing Vs Deathstroke! Fight!
So sad, Rose joined up with the Titans. Kids today. Rose goes all Patricide and my favorite Villain goes down. Esai Morales is truly a national treasure. Such an amazing performance. You couldn’t help but see his POV. He was moral within his form of Bushido. His son was lied to and manipulated by the Titans. Deathstroke’s humor and snark was just great!
I wish that this final boss battle had gone on longer and maybe even had him escape. It’s so hard to see this character gone.
We return to the county fair. Gar is apparently never full. I always get tired after Fair Food. Conner easily dispatches to pesky kitty.
Now, it’s Conner V Titans! FIGHT!
Cadmus is doing an auction for the rights to own Conner. It’s identical how Sotheby’s runs. Bruce intercedes and cancels the bidding and blocking communication.
To defeat Conner, the Titans must work together. Rachel gets Dick inside Conner’s mind and chats/redecorates to save him. Not just for the return of Conner’s mental health, but it really opened up the room.
They end up at a virtual Kansas and Conner’s all normal again. Everything is all better, except for the powerlines……
Poor Wondergirl stops the power tower from falling on everyone and….she dies. UGHHH! Really?! She’s my favorite. Raven thinks she can bring her back to life. PLEASE DO!!!
The ending scene between Bruce and Dick put their past to rest. I liked it.
Hank and Dawn’s last scene; you can see the strength in Dawn and weakness in Hank. He wants to get back together and she shoots him down and that’s probably for the best, BUT she’s open to fighting as Hawk and Dove.
The episode ends with an awkward dinner and the beginning of a new mission – a crime has begun. The Titans are back.
The episode ends with Blackfire taking over a mom. Bummer. Those poor kids are all alone?!
Question: Dick and Conner are wanted fugitives. Dick’s in his hometown at his last known residence. Did the F.B.I. and US Marshals get really lazy. I’d find him in 15 minutes.
Monday would have been the 90th birthday of Tom Laughlin, the actor who revolutionized independent American cinema through his Billy Jack films.
In four films, Laughlin played Billy Jack, an American Navajo, a former Green Beret, a veteran of the Vietnam War, a hapkido master, and a man who just protects children and other living things. When he first appeared in 1967’s TheBornLosers, he was protecting a woman from bikers. In 1971’s BillyJack, he was protecting the Freedom School from ignorant townspeople. In 1974’s TheTrialofBillyJack, he was …. well, in that film, Billy Jack did a little bit of everything but the National Guard still ended up destroying the Freedom School. Finally, in 1977’s BillyJackGoesToWashington, Billy was appointed to the United Stated Senate because what else are you going to do with someone who has killed a tremendous amount of people over the course of three films?
(Of course, in Senator Jack’s defense, they were all bad people.)
Laughlin not only starred as Billy Jack but he also directed all four of the films and, starting with BillyJack, he also handled the distribution of them. A huge box office hit, BillyJack is considered to be a seminal counter culture film. The other three films are a bit less acclaimed and TrialofBillyJack is often cited as one of the most pretentious and self-indulgent films ever made. But, regardless of their individual artistic merits, all of the Billy Jack films share an appealing mix of sincerity and silliness. Laughlin was a good actor and, visually, he was a stronger director than he was often given credit for. Some of the shots in the original Billy Jack are breath-taking. At a time when even self-styled progressive films still portrayed women in the most condescending and demeaning way possible (check out GettingStraight or R.P.M., if you dare), the BillyJack films were as much about Jean (played by Delores Taylor, Laughlin’s wife and creative partner), the founder of the Freedom School, and her beliefs, as they were about Billy Jack and his struggles to accept pacifism. If nothing else, the Billy Jack films featured actual conversations and debates about actual ideologies and philosophies, as opposed to the usual shallow Hollywood politics. Unfortunately, Laughlin was also a heavy-handed storyteller and a terrible editor. TheTrialofBillyJack goes on for three hours.
And yet, of all the BillyJack films, TheTrialofBillyJack is my favorite. It’s just so weird that it’s hard not to like it. It’s a film that doesn’t really work but, at the same time, you can’t help but appreciate all the effort that was put into it. Whatever else you might be able to say about him and his films, it’s obvious that Tom Laughlin truly did think that the movies could make a difference. There’s an aching sincerity to Laughlin’s work that pretty much cannot be found in the majority of today’s films.
In honor of Laughlin’s birthday and his legacy, here’s a scene that I love from TheTrialofBillyJack. In this scene, Billy goes on a vision quest and experiences the Three Levels. I would be lying if I said I really followed much of the logic in the scene but at least we get to see Billy hit a hippie professor. Billy also smacks Jesus, which isn’t cool but Jesus shows exactly how to handle that type of belligerence and hopefully, he provides a lesson for us all.
Learn about the Three Levels, with Billy Jack. And be sure to spare a thought for the hard work of Tom Laughlin.
Not all scene that we love come from the movies. Some of them come from real life!
Behold, from a Cubs/Pirates game, the worst play in the history of baseball!
It’s the top of the third. There’s a runner on second base. There are already two outs. All the Pirates have to do is get one more out and the inning ends. So, what happens? When Javy Baez gets a hit, the shortstop scoops up the ball and throws it to first baseman Will Craig. Instead of simply going back a few steps and stepping on first, Craig runs after Baez, trying to tag him with the ball. This gives the baserunner time to run from second base all the way to home., which he crosses safely because Craig is so busy chases Baez that he doesn’t throw the ball to the catcher in time. The catcher then makes a bad throw of his own that gives Baez time to then make it to the first base and then all the way around to second. (At first, it looked like he might even have been able make it to third.) That’s a run and a double on what should have been an easy out! At the end of the clip, you can see that not even Baez can believe that he’s actually safe on second.
It’s all so amazing that it is easy to overlook that Will Craig is not the only person who made a mistake. If second baseman Adam Frazier had gone over to cover first while Craig inexplicable took off after Baez, he would have been in a position to make the play when the catch threw the ball back to first.
It’s wild moments like this that make me love baseball!
Today is the 124 anniversary of the birth of Frank Capra and, in honor of this day, here’s a scene from one of my favorite films of all time, 1946’s It’s A Wonderful Life. In this wonderfully acted and directed scene, George Bailey tells off Mr. Potter, for the first but certainly not the last time:
The great Orson Welles was born 106 years ago today, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Orson Welles was one of the greatest directors of all time, a showman and an artist who changed the way that people watched and thought about films. He was the visionary who helped to usher in the era of modern filmmaking and who proved that movies could be art and Hollywood never forgave him for it. Merely seven years after the release of Citizen Kane, Orson Welles found himself as such a pariah in the American film industry that he relocated to Europe. There, he made some of his best films though few of them would be fully appreciated when first released.
(Indeed, there still seems to be the strange need among some to try to diminish Orson Welles’s talents and achievements. Just last year, Mank tried to deny him the credit that he most certainly deserved for Citizen Kane. Interestingly enough, David Fincher claimed that his father’s original script portrayed Welles even more negatively than Welles came across in the finished film. One has to wonder about the motives of anyone who would slander Orson Welles while deifying Upton Sinclair.)
1965’s Chimes At Midnight is one of Welles’s best. Filmed in Spain, Chimes at Midnight is combination of five of Shakespeare’s plays, primarily Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2, but also Richard II, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Welles cast himself in the role of Falstaff, enjoying life while educating the young Prince Hal in the ways of the world. When Prince Hal becomes Henry V, Falstaff attends his coronation, just to be rejected. The new king has new place in his court for someone like Falstaff. Was Prince Hal perhaps a stand-in for the many filmmakers who claimed to have been inspired by Welles’s work but who still refused to help Welles when he later came to them for help? Perhaps.
In the scene below, Falstaff is rejected by the new king. It’s a heart-breaking moment and one that features some of Welles’s best work as both an actor and a director.
Today, we wish a happy birthday to the one and only Christopher Walken! And what better way to do that than with a little song and dance?
Walken only has one big scene in the 1981 film, Pennies From Heaven, but it’s a showstopper. In this satirical and downbeat musical, he plays Tom, a stylish pimp who seduces a school teacher named Eileen (Bernadette Peters) by singing, tap dancing, and stripping on a bar. Director Herbert Ross did five takes of the scene and, each time, Walken performed the entire dance without stopping once. This is a scene that, in my opinion, shows that Christopher Walken is more than just a character actor with a unique way of speaking. At his best, he’s a force of nature.
Today is Quentin Tarantino’s 59 birthday. In order to celebrate the occasion, here’s Brad Pitt beating up a hippie.
This scene, of course, is from my favorite Tarantino film, 2019’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. While some may say that Cliff goes overboard on the hippie, you should understand that this is no ordinary hippie. This hippie is meant to be Steve “Clem” Grogan, a real-life member of the Manson Family who, in 1969, murdered an actor and stuntman named Donald “Shorty” Shea. Shea, who worked on the Spahn Rannch, had apparently once taken Grogan under his wing but, when it was decided the Shea knew too much about Manson’s crimes and that he was a threat to Manson’s control of ranch owner George Spahn, the order apparently went out that Shea had to die. While Manson, Grogan and Manson’s second-in-command, Bruce Davis, were the only three people convicted of Shea’s murder, it’s felt that they were probably aided by Tex Watson (played by Austin Butler in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood). In real life, Grogan was sentenced to death for Shea’s murder, though his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, with the judge reportedly saying that Grogan was obviously too stupid and too stoned to decide to murder Shea on his own.
The 18 year-old Grogan was a high school drop out and was also nicknamed Scramblehead, due to even the members of the Manson Family considering him to be abnormally dumb. Grogan, reportedly, wrecked several cars, including one owned by Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and, shortly before the murders, he was arrested for exposing himself. That said, it’s also been suggested that Grogan was never as dumb as he pretended to be. According to Ed Sanders’s book, The Family, Grogan did turn his life around once he was locked far away from the rest of the Family and free from Manson’s influence. A model prisoner, he eventually led the police to the location of Shea’s body and he was paroled in 1985. To date, he is the only one of the Manson murderers to have been released from prison. (Bruce Davis, who was also convicted of killing Shea, has been ruled suitable for parole six times over the past ten years but, each time, the decision has been overturned by California’s governor. He was mostly recently ruled suitable for parole on January 22nd of this year but Governor Newsom has yet to announce whether he will be blocking the decision.) Grogan is 69 years old now and, as of a few years ago, he was working as a musician in the Los Angeles area. Regardless of whether Clem Grogan turned his life around or not, considering what happened to Shorty Shea, it does seem appropriate that Once Upon A Time In Hollywood sees Clem getting his ass kicked by a stuntman.
In fact, Cliff’s entire visit to the Spahn Ranch is one of the best moments in Tarantino’s entire filmography. It plays out like a combination of a horror flick and a western and there’s just enough odd humor tossed in to keep the audience especially nervous. Given just how creepy the entire sequence is, there’s something very cathartic about Cliff’s refusal to play any games with Clem and the other hippies. Cliff’s refusal to even let Clem wipe the blood off his face feels especially satisfying, in an odd sort of way.
Anyway, a happy birthday to Quentin Tarantino! Last year, I observed Tarantino’s birthday by ranking all of his film, in order from worst to best. You check that out by clicking here!
The great filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa, was born 111 years ago today, in Tokyo. Kurosawa would go on to become one of the most influential directors of all time, making 30 films over a career that lasted 57 years. Though Kurosawa is often cited as an influence on westerns (Seven Samurai became The Magnificent Seven, Yojimbo inspired Serigo Leone to create The Man With No Name), Kurosawa’s influence goes for beyond just one genre. He directed action films. He directed gangster films. He directed social problem films. He directed historical epics. Kurosawa taught an entire generation of future film film directors the language of cinema.
In honor of the anniversary of Akira Kurosawa’s birth, here is a scene that we all love from his 1961 masterpiece, Yojimbo. Playing the lead role of the lone swordsman is, of course, Kurosawa’s frequent star, Toshiro Mifune.
Through the Shattered Lens 