Seeing as how today would have been Gert Frobe’s birthday, it seems only appropriate that today’s scene of the day should be one of the best moments from the original Bond franchise. In 1964’s Goldfinger, Frobe sets the standard by which all other Bond villains would be judged.
Today would have been the 85th birthday of actor and director Peter Fonda. Today’s scene that I love comes from Fonda’s best-known film, 1969’s Easy Rider. In this scene, Fonda is the epitome of cool as he and Dennis Hopper prepare to ride their bikes across America.
Today’s scene that I love comes from the Jonathan Demme-directed concert film, 1984’s Stop Making Sense. In this scene, brilliantly directed and edited by Demme, Talking Heads perform Life During Wartime. I love the energy in this performance. I’d love to be Tina Weymouth, able to play perfect bass and run in place at the same time.
Today is Kesley Grammer’s 70th birthday. In order to celebrate this event, here is an amazing 8-second scene from one of my favorite films, 2020’s Money Plane!
It’s rumble time!
Since today would have been Robert Altman’s 100th birthday, it only seems right that today’s song of the day should come from his best film. In this scene from 1975’s Nashville, Keith Carradine sings I’m Easy as Altman’s camera finds each of his lovers in the audience, all convinced that Carradine is singing expressly to them.
This song won Nashville it’s only Oscar. It also made Keith, who wrote the song, the only Oscar winner amongst the fabled Carradine family.
Point Blank (1967, directed by John Boorman)
Today is the anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest of the screen tough guys, Mr. Lee Marvin! Today’s scene that I love comes from the 1967 film, Point Blank. In this short but emotionally exhausting scene, Angie Dickinson hits Lee Marvin’s career criminal, over and over again. Marvin, for his part, barely reacts. This scene is the epitome of Lee Marvin’s mystique. He played men who only showed emotion when it was necessary. Dickinson hits Marvin to try to make him feel something but Marvin’s career criminal in beyond such concerns.
From Point Blank, here is today’s scene that I love:
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1986’s Pretty In Pink, starring Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Jon Cryer, and James Spader and written by John Hughes.
In the final scene, we discover Andie at prom with Duckie. Fortunately, Blaine shows up. Listen, I know that there are a lot of people who think that Andie should have ended up with Duckie. That’s how the script was originally written and the film’s ending was reshot after test audiences literally booed the idea of Andie going to prom with her best friend. In this case, though, the test audience was correct. Duckie was sweet but he wasn’t a prom date. Andie and Blaine belonged together.
Today is both President’s Day and Don Coscarelli’s birthday! As such, it only seems appropriate that today’s scene of the day should come from Coscarelli’s 2002 film, Bubba Ho-Tep.
In this film, Elvis (Bruce Campbell) and John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) team up to battle the killer Mummy that is haunting their nursing home. Personally, I choose to believe that both Elvis and JFK were exactly who they said they were in this film.
In honor of Alan Parker’s birthday, today’s scene of the day comes from his 1980 film, Fame. This is one of the best finales ever captured on film.
In this scene, the film’s characters performer for one last time before graduating and heading out into a world that, for all their talent, promises nothing. The film follows these students over the course of their four years at the High School for the Performing Arts and, as the finale plays out, we know that, no matter what happens, there years at the school will remain some of the most important of their lives.
Today is Kim Novak’s 92nd birthday!
Today’s scene of the day is the wonderfully sensual dance scene that she shares with William Holden in 1955’s Picnic. Picnic is a film that has its flaws, the main one being that William Holden, as charming and ruggedly handsome as he is, is a bit too old for the lead role. But none of that matter once he and Kim Novak start dancing.
(At around the 18 second mark, the picture appears to freeze but don’t panic. That’s a glitch in the upload and it only lasts for a second or two.)
Through the Shattered Lens 