Tag Archives: Scenes I Love

Scenes That I Love: The Opening Of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since today is Tobe Hooper’s birthday, it seems fitting that today’s scene of the day should come from his best-known film.  The opening of 1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is genuinely unsettling, from the opening narration to the scene of the body being dug up to the news reports of grave robbery.  Even the opening credits feel ominous!

The narration was, of course, provided by a young John Larroquette, who has since said that he was “paid in marijuana” for what would become his first feature film credit.

 

Scenes That I Love: John Belushi’s Motivational Speech From Animal House

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today would have been the 76th birthday of actor John Belushi.

Today’s scene that I love comes from Belushi’s first film, 1978’s Animal House.  In the scene, Belushi (playing Bluto) gives the greatest motivational speech of all time.  My father was quite a fan of Mr. Belushi’s.  I’d like to think that this speech was the reason why.

 

Scenes That I Love: “That’s Bird Seed!” from The Oscar

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Have you ever wondered what it takes to win an Oscar?  The 1966 film, The Oscar, revealed to audiences just how sleazy a world Hollywood can be.  Frankie Fane (Stephen Boyd) does everything he can to win an Oscar and he doesn’t care who he hurts!  But fear not — Hollywood may not be perfect but it has no room for someone like Frankie Fane!  At the end of the movie, a man named Frank does win the Oscar but his last name is Sinatra and Frankie Fane is left humiliated.  That’ll teach him to try to pull one over on the Academy!

The Oscar is an incredibly silly film but it’s also a lot of fun.  In this scene that I love, Frankie’s best friend — played by Tony Bennett, in both his first and final film — confronts Frankie about the type of star that he’s become.

“That’s birdseed!”

Scenes I Love: The Raid 2

Posted on by Arleigh

Yesterday, I highlighted one of my more recent guilty pleasures, Timu Tjahjanto’s unhinged action thriller The Night Comes for Us, and today I highlight an action scene from an earlier film that helped propel Indonesia’s action film scene to most Westerners with a little sequence from Gareth Edwards’ The Raid 2. A sequel to his own earlier film, The Raid.

This sequence stars the character only known as Hammer Girl and played Julie Estelle who is also in The Night Comes for Us. I would’ve picked her scene from that film to highlight but it spoils a major part of the film so I decided on this scene in The Raid 2 that got her noticed with action film aficionados worldwide.

It’s a simple set-up. Girl with two claw hammers in a crowded train silently squares up against a train car full of yakuza members. What comes next is a masterclass in action choreography that induces many a visceral response form the viewer yet hard to look away from.

Scenes I Love: The Final Scene of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

“What year is this?”

The final scene of Twin Peaks: The Return has haunted me ever since I first watched it 2017.  I’m still not sure what the ending meant or where Cooper and Laura were but somehow, as enigmatic as it all was, it felt like the only proper way to end the saga of Twin Peaks.

And really, this is a scene that only Lynch could have made work.  Another director would have tried too hard to tell the audience what to think or how to react.  Of course, many directors probably wouldn’t have had the guts to end things on such on open-ended note.  But Lynch not only had the courage to stick to his vision but he also had the faith to trust his audience to figure it out for themselves.  Courage and faith are two of the main reasons why David Lynch was one of the greatest directors of his time.

Scenes That I Love: Vincent Price Performs The Raven

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As today is the anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, today’s scene that I love features Poe’s most famous interpreter, Vincent Price, reciting and performing The Raven.  This scene comes from a 1985 television special that was called The Teller and the Tale.

 

Scene That I Love: Dueling Banjos from John Boorman’s Deliverance

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Diliverance (1972,dir by John Boorman, DP: Vilmos Zsigmond)

Today’s scene that I love comes from John Boorman’s 1972 film, Deliverance.  For the longest time, I thought that this scene was improvised and the kid with the banjo just happened to be hanging out around the set.  That makes for a nice story but I have recently read that this scene was actually scripted and the kid, while a local, was hired ahead-of-time to show up and play the banjo.

From Deliverance, here are the Dueling Banjos!

Scene That I Love: “Obey” from John Carpenter’s They Live

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

They Live (1988, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Gary B. Kibbe)

Today, we continue to wish John Carpenter a truly happy birthday!  Needless to say, today’s scene that I love comes from a Carpenter film, 1988’s They Live.  Though They Live was apparently not a huge box office success when it was first released, it’s a film that feels more relevant with each passing day.  Carpenter is often described as being a great horror director but, with this film and The Thing, he shows that he’s a master of capturing cinematic paranoia.

There’s definitely a reason why They Live continues to find new fans over 30 years since it was originally released.  Who hasn’t experienced that secret message of “OBEY!”

Scenes I Love: Mr Inbetween

Posted on by Arleigh

There’s something to say about an individual who follows a code of behavior and has a moral compass that may seem archaic for today’s sensibilities, but when one really thinks about it…well, they’re not wrong.

We may hate that such people may be correct in their way of thinking and that it may offend certain sensibilities but that doesn’t necessarily means its wrong.

And on that note let me introduce you to Ray Shoesmith aka Mr Inbetween. This scene of him attending an anger management class best describes not just who Ray is but sets the tone for what this series is all about.