Everyone remembers the “Mad as Hell Speech” from Sidney Lumet’s 1976 satire, Network.
Personally, I think this scene below is just as good. Replace “tube” with TikTok and AI and you’ll have a pretty good explanation for why the world today is full of so many ignorant people who think they know more than they do.
(Usually, heavy-handed scenes annoy me. Fortunately, much like David Fincher with Aaron Sorkin’s script for The Social Network, Sidney Lumet knew the right directorial tone to take when translating Paddy Chayefsky’s script to the screen. One shudders to think of what Network would have been like with a less skilled director behind the camera.)
Today’s scene that I love comes from Bob Fosse’s 1979 masterpiece, All That Jazz.This scene features the legendary Ann Reinking at her best. Roy Scheider said that he cried after shooting this scene.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to the one and only Bruce Campbell!
A true American success story, Bruce Campbell first met and befriended Sam Raimi when the two of them were high school students in Michigan. Campbell first gained attention in Raimi’s Evil Dead films and he’s been a mainstay in Raimi’s films ever since. He’s also been a favorite of the Coen Brothers, Don Coscarelli, William Lustig, and scores of other director. Few actors can balance both drama and comedy with the adroitness of Bruce Campbell.
Campbell, of course, is best-known for his performance as Ash Williams, the S-Mart store clerk who lost his hand while spending the weekend at a cabin, spent some time in the past, and later earned the right to tell us all to say “hail to the king, baby.” Campbell’s ability to do often violent slapstick comedy, along with his ability to deliver the most absurd of dialogue with a straight face, came together to make him into a true pop cultural icon. Though Campbell has since announced his retirement from playing Ash (saying that, at his age, he can no longer physically spends hours a day getting beaten up), he remains a beloved actor to horror fans everywhere.
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1992’s Army of Darkness and it features Bruce Campbell at his best. All Ash has to do is remember three simple words and say them before taking the Necronomicon from its place. Of course, Ash being Ash, things don’t quite work out that simply….
Today’s scene that I love comes from Lucio Fulci’s 1981 masterpiece, The Beyond.
Liza (Catriona MacColl) meets the mysterious Emily (Cinzia Monreale) on one of Louisiana’s famous bridges to nowhere. This scene is Fulci at his most dream-like.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to actor Malcolm McDowell.
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1971’s A Clockwork Orange, featuring McDowell as Alex. This opening scene is famous for its music and its production design but what truly makes it work is the intensity of McDowell’s stare and the seductive menace of his half-smile.
Composer Carmine Coppola, the father of Francis Ford Coppola, was born 115 years ago today.
Coppola composed music for almost all of his son’s films. To me, his best work was the menacing and dream-like score that he and Francis put together for 1979’s ApocalypseNow. Some of that score can be heard in today’s scene of the day, as Willard (Martin Sheen) and the boat approach a bridge that is built every day and destroyed every night.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to Johnny Depp!
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1994’s Ed Wood. In this scene, Depp plays the infamous director as he first meets his future collaborator, Vampira (played by Lisa Marie).
Through the Shattered Lens 