Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to actor Rory Cochrane.
In this scene, from 1993’s Dazed and Confused, Rory Cochrane plays archetypical stoner Slater and gives everyone a history lesson. If you want to know why Cochrane’s performance is remembered while Shawn Andrews’s performance as Pickford is derided even by his fellow cast members, just watch this scene.
Today would have been the 94th birthday of one of the greatest film stars of all time, Elizabeth Taylor!
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1963’s Cleopatra. Cleopatra is often dismissed as the film that nearly bankrupted a studio but it’s enjoyable if you’re in the right mood and you’ve got four hours of free time. Elizabeth Taylor may not have been a historically accurate Cleopatra but who cares? It seems appropriate that the most glamorous woman of what was then the modern world played the most glamorous woman of the ancient world.
In this scene, Cleopatra arrives in Rome with all of the fanfare befitting the world’s most beautiful and powerful woman. Keep in mind that this scene was done in the days before AI. Every costume was real. Every extra was real. Everything about this scene was real.
Today, we celebrate what would have been the 95th birthday of the rugged American actor Christopher George.
George may have gotten his start in westerns and war movies but he is best remembered for a series of horror films in which he appeared in the late 70s and early 80s. One of the best of those was Lucio Fulci’s 1980 classic, City of the Living Dead.
In today’s scene that I love, Christopher George plays a reporter who realizes that psychic Catriona MacColl has been buried alive. He digs her up. Of course, this is a Fulci film, so things nearly go terribly wrong.
Rest in Peace, Robert Carradine. The veteran character actor and son of John Carradine (as well as brother of Keith and half-brother of David) has passed away at the age of 71.
Most of the articles about his death describe him as being “Lizzie Maguire star Robert Carradine.” Robert Carradine, however, had a long career and it started long before Lizzie Maguire. Eternally youthful, he was still playing teenagers when he was in his 30s. (Let’s just say that he was a bit old to be a college freshman in Revenge of the Nerds.) Robert appeared in his share of 70s exploitation films but he also appeared in films directed by Hal Ashby, Walter Hill, and Martin Scorsese.
In fact, one of Carradine’s first roles was in Scorseses’s 1973 masterpiece, Mean Streets. Here he is, sharing an unforgettable scene with his brother David.
Today would have been Peter Fonda’s 86th birthday.
This scene is from Roger Corman’s 1967 film, The Trip. Corman dropped acid himself before filming Peter Fonda doing the same thing in this film. Regardless of how one views Corman’s cinematic recreation of Fonda’s experience with acid, The Trip is considered to be one of the first nuanced drug films. While it doesn’t endorse drug use, it also doesn’t descend into the hysterics of a film like Reefer Madness. Interestingly enough, the script was written by Jack Nicholson.
Here is Peter Fonda, exploring the city on LSD, in The Trip:
From 1986’s Manhunter.
Only Tom Noonan could have Francis Dollarhyde both so human and so monstrous.
RIP.
In this scene from Robert Altman’s 1975 masterpiece, Nashville, Julie Christie plays herself as a famous visitor to the city for which the film is named. She is introduced to Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson), Haven’s lawyer, Delbert Reese (Ned Beatty), political advance man John Triplette (Michael Murphy), and country music star Connie White (Karen Black). Julie Christie may be a star in Hollywood but Connie is the star of Nashville.
Karen Black improvised her dismissive line about Julie Christine not even being able to comb her hair. It was a moment that reportedly shocked the rest of the cast and the crew but it was also a line that perfectly summed up both Connie as a character and Altman’s version of Nashville.
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.
Saturday Night Fever (1977, dir. John Badham)
Today is John Travolta’s birthday!
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:
Through the Shattered Lens 