In the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City and Graham Platner’s possible victory in Maine, I’ve become a lot more interested in watching anti-communist films. And really, it doesn’t get more anti-communist than a movie about an independent, non-union trucker who has no interest in being an authoritarian and who only want to be left alone so that he can raise his son and make a little money arm-wrestling.
In this scene from 1987’s Over The Top, Lincoln Hawk (played by Sylvester Stallone) explains the importance of turning his hat. That’s all it takes.
Today’s scene that I love comes from my favorite film of all time, 1972’s The Godfather.
In this scene, Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) has moved on and is working as a teacher. Suddenly, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) shows up. He’s been back from Sicily for a year and he’s working with his father. Michael promises her that the Corleone family is getting out of the rackets. We, of course, know that is never going to happen.
In this scene from Fargo, nothing is going right for Jerry. He can’t even get the ice off of his windshield and, even if he does, imagine trying to pull out of the snow-covered parking lot. One good thing about living in Texas is that I only have deal with this maybe once or twice a year.
In Alan J. Pakula’s 1974 film The Parallax View, Warren Beatty plays a seedy journalist who goes undercover to investigate the links between the mysterious Parallax Corporation and a series of recent political assassinations. In the film’s most famous sequence, Beatty — pretending to be a job applicant (read: potential assassin) for the Parallax Corporation — is shown an orientation film that has been designed to test whether or not he’s a suitable applicant. The montage is shown in its entirety, without once cutting away to show us Beatty’s reaction. The implication, of course, is that what’s important isn’t how Beatty reacts to the montage but how the viewers sitting out in the audience react.
So, at the risk of furthering the conspiracy, here’s that montage.
In honor of Ethan Hawke’s birthday, here is the wonderfully romantic Ferris wheel scene from 1995’s Before Sunrise. Director Richard Lnklater considered this scene to be an homage to The Third Man.
I was feeling a bit under-the-weather last night. Some of it was anxiety over the direction of the country. Some of it was just the standard blues that I always feel after Halloween. Horrorthon is such a big project that it always takes me a while to get back to normal once it ends.
Luckily, I’ve got movies to cheer me up. Last night, I watchedHappy Gilmore and I was going to share a scene from it today but it occurred to me that I’ve already shared both the fight with Bob Barker and Happy shouting, “You’re going to die, clown!” multiple times. So, instead, I’m going to share another scene from a comedy that always makes me laugh. This film was also a favorite of my father’s.
In 1978’s Animal House, Dean Wormer and the Student Court try to railroad the Delta House. Needless, the Deltas aren’t going to stand for that. When Hoover’s earnest defense fails to sway the Dean, the Deltas don’t hold back. I love this movie and I love this scene.
Taxi Driver is nearly 50 years old but it’s still one of cinema’s most definitive portraits of urban paranoia and societal detachment. Travis (played by Robert De Niro) obsesses on the city that he harshly judges even though he’s as much a part of New York as those who he wishes will be washed away.
This scene features Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Schrader at their definite best. I imagine that, for a lot of people, this is one of those scenes that solidified their opinions on New York City. For the record, the last time I was in New York, everyone was fairly pleasant. They weren’t exactly friendly but I also didn’t get my bag stolen. (Those of us who don’t live in New York tend to assume that we’ll get mugged as soon as we leave JFK.)
I do worry about the future of New York, especially with the election that is being held today. To say I’m not a fan of either of the two front runners would be an understatement but, at the same time, it’s not my place to tell people in New York City how to vote. (I’m a big believer in not telling people in other cities and states how to vote. Whenever anyone from up north asks me why Beto didn’t win in 2018, I tell them the truth. A bunch of pro-Beto yankees came down here and got on everyone’s nerves right before they voted.) Instead of telling people what to do, I’ll just say that I sincerely hope that whatever happens will work out as well as it possibly can.
(That’s another reason I don’t endorsements. “Vote for the candidate who will work as well as he possibly can,” probably isn’t going to gets the cheers that some other slogans would.)
On the precipice of becoming an international superstar, director Sergio Leone gave Charles Bronson one of the coolest introduction scenes in film history in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. Enjoy my friends!
Until 1954’s DRUM BEAT, Charles Bronson had been billed on screen as Charles Buchinsky. He then proceeded to steal the film right out from under star Alan Ladd. Bronson’s powerful performance as renegade Modoc indian Captain Jack is an early sign of Bronson’s immense talent and charisma.
Enjoy this action-packed clip from Delmer Davis’ excellent western, and happy 104th birthday, Charles Bronson!
For today’s scene that I love, here’s Harold Lloyd in 1923’s Safety Last, climbing the side of a building and nearly getting killed by an untrustworthy clock. Lloyd performed all of his stunts in this scene so it wasn’t just the character holding on for dear life. It was also Lloyd himself.
Through the Shattered Lens 