106 years ago today, actor Robert Stack was born in Los Angeles, California.
Though Stack found his greatest success on television and as the original host of Unsolved Mysteries, he also had an active film career. Here he is in 1980’s Airplane!, demonstrating how to provide encouragement and build up confidence.
Today is Andrew Lawrence’s birthday!
Who is Andrew Lawrence? He is the director of the greatest film ever made, Money Plane! Today’s scene that I love comes from that 2020 masterpiece. In this scene, Adam Copeland learns that it’s not as easy to take over a plane as one might think. I just love this super-powered co-pilot!
116 years ago, an actor named Mort Mills was born.
Mort Mills may have never been a household name but he will be forever remembered for playing the suspicious highway patrolman in 1960’s Psycho. Anyone was have ever had to deal with a grim-faced, flat-voiced highway patrolman will automatically be able to relate to Janet Leigh’s fear in today’s scene that I love. I’ve watched this film numerous times and I still don’t know if the patrolman was just doing his job or if he really was suspicious of Marion. Mort Mills, with those dark glasses and flat affect, keeps you guessing. In this brief role, Mills makes an impression that will never be forgotten.
Cyrus?
He’s the one and only.
From 1979’s The Warriors (which was directed by Walter Hill, who celebrates his birthday today), here’s a scene that I love. Playing the role of Cyrus, the man who could bring all of the gangs of New York together, is Roger Hill. Playing the role of his assassin is the great David Patrick Kelly.
Cyrus knew what he was talking about but the world wasn’t ready for him.
Can you dig it?
In 1925, on this very date, Lee Van Cleef was born in Somervillve, New Jersey. In honor of what would have been Lee Van Cleef’s 100th birthday, here he is with Klaus Kinski and Clint Eastwood in For A Few Dollars More.
There’s not a lot of dialogue in this scene but when you had actors like Eastwood, Kinski, and Lee Van Cleef, you didn’t need a lot of dialogue to make an impression.
Predator (1987, directed by John McTiernan, DP: Donald McAlpine)
Look at how happy everyone is! Well, everyone except for Dutch. I don’t blame Dutch for not smiling. He had to deal with a lot in 1987’s Predator. Still, today’s scene that I love encourages us all to stay upbeat, even when we’re being stalked through the jungle by a fearsome extraterrestrial hunter.
If the crew of the Nostromo had smiled more, Alien would have ended on a much happier note.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 61st birthday to the great Nicolas Cage. Over the years, Cage has become an icon of everything that we love about the movies. He’s appeared in great films. He’s appeared in bad films. He’s done films that barely had a budget and he’s appeared in blockbusters. He can do drama. He can do comedy. He can do horror. He can do action. His performances are often so wonderfully bizarre that will sit through the worst films ever made just to catch a Nicolas Cage cameo. And yet, for every strange Cage performance, there’s a Cage performance that is undeniably brilliant, like his performance in Pig.
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1990’s Zandalee. In this scene, Nicolas Cage and Judge Reinhold share a dance on a Louisiana pier.
Today would have been the 100th birthday of inventor and would-be automotive tycoon, John DeLorean. Today’s scene that I love comes from 1985’s Back To The Future and it features DeLorean’s most famous contribution to world of driving (not to mention Doc Brown’s most famous invention, as well!).
Thank you, John DeLorean, for giving us a car so cool that it could travel through time.
1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies, which was directed by Roger Spottiswoode, was one of the most underrated of the Bond films. Perhaps not coincidentally, it also starred the most underrated Bond, Pierce Brosnan.
In this pre-credits opening scene, Brosnan shows us exactly who James Bond is meant to be. He’s the best at his job but he still knows how to enjoy himself. After the recent Daniel Craig films, it can be somewhat surprising to go back see how enjoyable James Bond was when he was angst-free.
Where does the admiral want his bombs delivered?
On this date, in 1941, future director George Pan Cosmatos was born in Italy. Cosmatos would go on to direct some of the most financially successfully (if critically lambasted) films of the 80s. He’s also credited as being the director on Tombstone, though it’s generally agreed that Cosmatos largely deferred to Kurt Russell on that film. (Cosmatos was a last minute replacement for the film’s original director.)
Other than Tombstone, Cosmatos is best-known for the films that he did with Sylvester Stallone. And today’s scene that I love comes from the 1986 film, Cobra. In this short but unforgettable scene, we get a chance to learn a little about the Cobra lifestyle. If you have any doubt that Cobra’s a badass, just wait until you see how eats a pizza. He handles his guns just as well as he handle a slice of Pepperoni and a pair of scissors. That Night Slasher better watch out!
Through the Shattered Lens 