Tag Archives: scene that I love

Scene That I Love: Kyle MacLachlan in Dune

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to the one and only Kyle MacLachlan!

Today’s scene that I love comes from MacLachlan’s film debut, 1984’s Dune.  MacLachlan played Paul Atriedes in David Lynch’s unfairly maligned film and his otherworldly vibe made him as perfect for the role as he would later be for Agent Dale Cooper in Lynch’s Twin Peaks.  As good as Timothee Chalamet was in the more recent adaptations of Frank Herbert’s novel, I still feel that MacLachlan is the superior Paul.

In this scene, Paul confronts the people who have been trying to destroy him and he proves his worth in an armed duel with Sting.

Scenes That I Love: Kelsey Grammer in Money Plane

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is Kesley Grammer’s 69th birthday.  In order to celebrate this event, here are three scenes from one of my favorite films, 2020’s Money Plane!

All of these scenes are short.  They only last a handful of seconds.  But all of them also feature Kelsey Grammer bringing the film to life as only he can.

And since I don’t do odd numbers, here’s a bonus clip of Frasier Crane reacting to Money Plane.

Scenes That I Love: Tibbs Meets Endicott in In The Heat Of The Night

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we observe what would have been Sidney Poitier’s 97th birthday.

Today’s scene that I love comes from the 1967 Best Picture winner, In The Heat of the Night.  In this film, Poitier plays Virgil Tibbs, a Northern cop who reluctantly finds himself helping a Southern sheriff (Rod Steiger) investigate a murder.  Tibbs’s number one suspect is Eric Endicott (Larry Gates), who owns what was then a modern-day plantation.

In this scene, Tibbs interrogates Endicott, a paternalistic racist who simply cannot believe or accept that he is being questioned by a black man.  When Endicott responds to one of Tibbs questions by slapping him, Tibbs slaps him right back.

While Endicott’s slap was in the original script, Tibbs’s response was not.  At first, Tibbs was meant to turn the other cheek and leave the plantation without saying a word.  Wisely, Poitier approached director Norman Jewison and objected to that, insisting that Tibbs would respond in kind.  The scene was rewritten and it became one of Poitier’s best moments in the film.

Scenes That I Love: Lee Marvin on Point Blank

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

100 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.

Have A Happy Mardi Gras With The Gang From Easy Rider!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy Mardi Gras!

If you can’t get down to New Orleans today (because maybe you have a sprained ankle like me), fear not!  Mardi Gras has been immortalized in a number of films.  In fact, some have theorized that the whole reason 1969’s Easy Rider was filmed was because Dennis Hopper wanted to go to New Orleans.

The Mardi Gras sequence occurs towards the end of Easy Rider.  After a long and eventful journey, Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) reach New Orleans and experience Mardi Gras with two women that they met at a brothel (Karen Black and Toni Basil).  However, the Mardi Gras scenes were actually amongst the first to be shot and Hopper actually filmed several hours of documentary footage of New Orleans’s most famous party.  If you watch the footage, you can see bystanders looking directly at the camera.  They were not extras hired for the film.  They were people on the street who became a part of one of the most important indie films in the history of American cinema.  These scenes were shot guerilla style, without permits or, by most reports, any advanced planning.

Hopper also filmed Fonda having an actual bad acid trip.  For obvious reasons, Fonda was not happy about being filmed in that condition but he did say, in later interviews, that Hopper made the right decision to include the footage in the film.

For the record, I relate to Toni Basil in this film.  She’s having fun and dancing no matter what.

Scenes That I Love: Audrey Horne’s Dance In Twin Peaks

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to Sherilyn Fenn, the actress who brought to life one of the best characters in television history, Twin Peaks‘s Audrey Horne.  As played by Fenn, Audrey may have been a force of chaos but she was also fiercely intelligent, ruthlessly determined, occasionally very naive, and always unapologetically impulsive.  For those of us with ADHD, Audrey is a character to whom we can very much relate.

The scene that first made Audrey (and Fenn) famous occurred during the second episode of Twin Peaks.  Here is Audrey’s dance.

Scenes That I Love: Gene Hackman In Mississippi Burning

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I was in a medically-approved Vicodin haze yesterday so I missed the fact that it was Gene Hackman’s birthday!  Well, let’s make up for it today with a scene of Hackman being a righteous badass in 1988’s Mississippi Burning.

If you need any proof that Gene Hackman is one of our best actors, just consider that it’s been nearly 20 years since he retired from acting and he’s rarely seen out in public (reportedly due to just naturally being a very private man) yet he remains a popular performer who earns new fans every day.  In this scene, Hackman plays an FBI agent who lets a bunch of racists know that just because he might share their accent, that doesn’t mean that he shares their beliefs.  No one could go from friendly to intimidating with as much style as Gene Hackman.

(And yes, that is a young Michael Rooker getting put in his place, along with Brad Dourif.)

Scenes That I Love: Charlie Comes Up With An Acronym in Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to director Whit Stillman!

Today’s scene that I love comes from Stillman’s first film, 1990’s Metropolitan.  In this scene, Charlie (Taylor Nichols) explains why UHB is a much better term for their social class than preppy.  As usual, Nick (Chris Eigeman) is there to provide support in his own unique way.  Nichols and Eigeman were both perfectly cast in this film.

Scenes That I Love: Ernest Borgnine Yells In The Poseidon Adventure

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Ernest Borgnine, that great character actor, was born 104 years ago today.  In tribute, today’s scene that I love comes from one of my favorite Borgnine films, 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure.

Borgnine was a great yeller and, in The Poseidon Adventure, he even manages to outyell the great Gene Hackman.

Scenes That I Love: Everything’s Alright from Norman Jewison’s Jesus Christ Superstar

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In memory of the late Norman Jewison, today scene that I love comes from my favorite film to have been directed by him.

In this scene from 1973’s Jesus Christ Superstar, Mary Magdalene (Yvonne Elliman) attempts to comfort Jesus (Ted Neeley) while Judas (Carl Anderson) tries to pull Jesus away from her.  This scene showcases both Elliman’s angelic voice and Anderson’s ferocious intensity as Mary and Judas present two very different sides of a spiritual journey.