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!
(SPOILERS BELOW)
The final moments of Sergio Leone’s epic 1984 gangster film, Once Upon A Time in America, are filed with questions and mysteries.
Who did Noodles (played by Robert De Niro) see standing outside of Max’s mansion? When the garbage truck pulled up, did the mysterious man get in the truck or was he thrown in by some unseen force?
Why, in 1968, did Noodles see a car from the 1920s, one that was full of people who appeared to be celebrating the end of prohibition? Was the car really there or was it an element of Noodles’s past as a gangster suddenly popping into his mind?
Once Upon A Time In America was Sergio Leone’s final film. It’s one that he spent decades trying to get made and, once it was finally produced, it was butchered and re-edited by a studio hacks who demanded that the film tell its story in a linear style. Leone was reportedly heart-broken by how his film was treated. Some have speculated that his disappointment may have even contributed to the heart attack that eventually killed him. It was only after Leone passed that his version of Once Upon A Time In America became widely available in the U.S. This enigmatic epic continues to spark debate. One thing that can’t be denied is that it’s a brilliant film.
As today is Leone’s birthday, it only seems appropriate to share a scene that I love, the final moments of Once Upon A Time In America.
Metropolis (1927, dir by Fritz Lang, DP: Karl Freund and Gunther Rittau)
Since today is National Science Fiction Day, it seems appropriate that today’s scene that I love should come from one of the first great science fiction films! In this scene from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, we get a look at how the future was imagined in 1927. Lang really was not that far off!
Strange Days (1995, dir by Kathryn Bigelow, DP: Matthew F. Leonetti)
2025’s first scene that I love comes to us from a film that was released 30 years ago. With its portrayal of a society desperately looking for both meaning and sensation in an increasingly digitized and detached world, Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days predicted the future and it has continued to find new fans and admirers despite having been a box office disappointment when it was originally released.
In this scene, Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett bring in the new year with the knowledge that they have many more strange days ahead of them.
As do we all.
(It’s always somewhat jarring to see a science fiction film that is set in what is now the past. Welcome to 2000! That said, Strange Days did a very good job of predicting where the world was heading.)
The scene below is a major spoiler for the film 10 to Midnight so don’t watch if you haven’t seen the film yet. And, to be honest, you probably shouldn’t even read the rest of this post, as the post itself is probably a spoiler as well. There’s no way to truly talk about this film without talking about the ending. 10 to Midnight is a film that’s been on my mind a lot this year, largely because Charles Bronson plays a character who reminds me of my Dad. Bronson’s relationship with his daughter (played by Lisa Eilbacher) also reminds me of my own relationship with my Dad. I doubt there’s many people who get sentimental over a relatively unheralded vigilante horror film from 1983 but, as I’m still processing losing my Dad earlier this year, I am one of those people.
If you have seen the film, you know that this is one of the best endings that Charles Bronson ever filmed. Indeed, in today’s chaotic world, there’s some very satisfying about both Bronson’s final line and his no-nonsense style of dealing with problems. And indeed, with all the bad vibes that seem to have been unleashed on the world over the past few years, this scene feels like an exorcism of sorts.
Serial killer Warren Stacy (Gene Davis) thought he could game the system. He thought he had everything figured out. He smugly assumed no one could stop his reign of terror.
Well, Bronson disagrees.
And with that one wonderful final line, Charles Bronson brings this year’s Horrorthon to a close.
This scene is from It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! It’s a crime that this wonderful and sweet animated special is no longer aired during the holidays. No wonder the Great Pumpkin hasn’t been seen this year!
What I love about this scene is that you can actually see the rock getting tossed into Charlie Brown’s bag while all of the other trick-or-treaters got candy. Everyone in the neighborhood knows which ghost is Charlie Brown and they’ve all decided to give him rocks!
Poor Charlie Brown!
From the original and still the best Halloween.
“Was that the Boogeyman?”
Tonight’s horror scene that I love is from the 1982 film, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, a film that has finally started to be recognized for being the horror classic that it is.
In this scene, Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy) explains not only the origins of Halloween but he also discusses how he’s going to make Halloween great again. This scene is probably the best in the film and it’s almost entirely due to O’Herlihy’s wonderfully menacing performance as Conal Cochran.
“….and happy Halloween.”
Through the Shattered Lens 