Tag Archives: scene that I love

Scenes That I Love: Dan O’Herlihy Explains The Meaning of Halloween in Halloween III: Season of The Witch

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

105 years ago, on this date, the great character actor Dan O’Herlihy was born in Wexford, Wexford County, Ireland.

O’Herlihy would have a long career as an actor, making his feature debut in 1947’s Odd Man Out and working steadily in film and television for the next 50 years.  For modern viewers, he is perhaps best remembered for his role as The Old Man in the first two Robocop films and his performance as the sinister trickster, Conal Cochran, in 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

Today’s scene that I love from from the latter film.  O’Herlihy explains the mean of Halloween to a trapped Tom Atkins.  O’Herlihy truly turned Conal Cochran into one of the great horror villains of the 80s and his performance is one of the main reasons that the rather oddball Halloween III retains a loyal audience to this day.

Scenes That I Love: Gal Gadot Crosses No Man’s Land In Wonder Woman

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to the great Gal Gadot.

Perhaps not surprisingly, today’s scene that I love comes from the film that made Gadot a star worldwide, 2017’s Wonder Woman.  Steve Trevor thinks that no one can cross No Man’s Land.  Wonder Woman (played, of course, by Gal Gadot) is going to prove him wrong.

Scenes That I Love: Reb Brown in Space Mutiny

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yell it loud …. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, REB BROWN!

Reb Brown, the star of some of the loudest movies ever made, is 76 years old today but I bet he could still beat the evil doers and encourage us all by shouting, “Go!  Go!  Go!”  A former college football player turned actor, Reb Brown holds the distinction of being one of the first actors to play Captain America and for also starring in classic films like Yor Hunter of the Future, Strike Commando and Strike Commando 2. Though he may not have ever become a household name, Reb Brown is a beloved figure amongst my circle of film-loving friends.

The scene below is from 1988’s Space Mutiny and it featured Reb doing what Red does best.

Scenes That I Love: The Traitor Scene From Red Dawn

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The original Red Dawn doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves.

It’s often described as just being an anti-communist film but actually, it’s a lot more complex than that.  Yes, it’s about a group of teenagers who wage guerilla warfare against communist invaders.  But it’s also about how those teenagers lose their innocence as a result and how they all come to realize that war is not as simple as they thought it was.  The movie celebrates the Wolverines while also mourning that they were put in the position to have to risk and sacrifice their lives in the first place.

That’s what today’s scene that I love is all about.  After they are tracked down and attacked by a group of Russian soldiers, the Wolverines discover that one of the original members of the group visited his father in town and was forced to swallow a tracking device.  In this scene, the group is forced to deal with the reality of war.  The fact that the traitor was a friend to all of them and popular enough to be president of his class just adds to the difficulty of emotionally processing with his betrayal.  Patrick Swayze can’t bring himself to pull the trigger.  C. Thomas Howell, on the other hand, is so quick to shoot his former friend that you realize just how consumed by hate he has become.

Today’s scene was directed by the brilliant John Milius.

Scenes That I Love: Jean-Paul Belmondo in Breathless

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today would have been the 91st birthday of international screen icon, Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Belmondo spent the majority of his career in France, where he was one of the early faces of the New Wave and also a prominent action star, famed for doing his own very dangerous stunts.  In America, he was best-known for his starring turn in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless.  In Breathless, Belmondo was the perfect existential outlaw, living life day-by-day and obviously doomed but still so incredibly magnetic and stylish.

In tribute to Belmondo, here is a scene that I love, the final moments of Breathless, with Belmondo and Jean Seberg.

Scenes I Love: The Trip from A Field In England

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy Eclipse Day!

In honor of the eclipse that I will probably not be able to see because of the clouds and the rain, today’s scene that I love comes from 2014’s A Field In England.  This film may (or may not) take place during a solar eclipse.  I won’t try to explain everything that is happening in the scene, beyond stating that this particular field in England is home to some interesting mushrooms.  I encourage you see to watch the film for yourself.

Scenes That I Love: Harry’s Nightmare from The Conversation

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

1974 was a very good year for Francis Ford Coppola.  Not only did he direct the Oscar-winning Godfather Part II but he also directed another film that was nominated for Best Picture, an intense study of paranoia called The Conversation. 

Today’s scene that I love comes from The Conversation.  Surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman, giving one of his best performances) fears that his work may lead to murder.  In this scene, he has a nightmare in which he tries, in vain, to talk to one of the people who he has been surveilling.  This scene perfectly captures the horrific logic and helpless feeling of a nightmare.  Harry, who is not the most open or emotional of men, can only be his true self in his dreams.

Scenes That I Love: Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

108 years ago today, the actor Gregory Peck was born in San Diego, California.  With his deep voice and his Lincolnesque profile, Peck was always best cast as a man of integrity who was willing to take a stand, even if it meant going against the majority.  That made him ideal for the role of attorney Atticus Finch in 1962’s To Kill A Mockingbird.

Today’s scene that I love comes from that film.  In this scene, Atticus makes his closing statement in the murder trial of Tom Robinson.  While Atticus is speaking to the jury, Gregory Peck is speaking to the audience in the theater (and later, in front of the television).  Reportedly, Peck only needed one take to perfectly deliver his speech.

Scenes That I Love: Robert Downey, Jr. and Nicholas Pryor in Less Than Zero

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to actor and now-Oscar winner Robert Downey, Jr!

Today’s scene that I love comes from 1987’s Less Than Zero.  Long before he played Iron Man, Downey played Julian, a young, self-destructive drug addict in Los Angeles.  In this scene, Julian talks to his father, played by the great character actor, Nicholas Pryor.

Downey has said that playing Julian was not a huge stretch for him as he was dealing with his own growing drug addiction while making Less Than Zero.  (Considering how heavy-handed the film was in its anti-drug message, it’s interesting that both Downey and Andrew McCarthy have talked about first experimenting with cocaine while making the film.)  It’s been quite a turn-around for Downey, who went from being a poster boy for self-destruction to a beloved pop cultural icon.  Just last month, Downey won an Oscar for his performance in Oppenheimer.  He deserved every minute of the applause he received.

Scene That I Love: Vito Corleone and Johnny Fontane in The Godfather

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Continuing our tribute to the great Marlon Brando, today’s scene that I love comes from The Godfather.

In this scene, a self-pitying Johnny Fontane (Al Martino) discusses his career problems with Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone.  Johnny is losing his voice.  Johnny is up for a role in a big movie but he worries that the producer will never allow him to appear in the film.  Johnny says he doesn’t know what to do and he sheds a tear….

….and that’s not a smart thing to do when you’re talking to Don Corleone.

This scene contains some of the best moments of The Godfather.  Al Martino was a professional singer with little acting experience.  (While Johnny Fontane was a major character in Mario Puzo’s book, he only appeared in two scenes in the film version.  Coppola later said that he thought the Johnny Fontane chapters were so poorly written that he would have turned down the film if he had to include too much of the character.)  In order to get an effective performance out of Martino, Brando did not warn him that he would actually be slapping him.  During one take, Brando got so aggressive that he knocked off Martino’s toupee and caused Robert Duvall to start laughing.  It was all worth it, though.  Martino was thoroughly convincing as Johnny Fontane and Marlon Brando won (but did not accept) his second Oscar for Best Actor.