Tag Archives: Scenes That I Love

Scenes I Love: John Carradine in Fallen Angel

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we celebrate the 120th birthday of actor John Carradine.

John Carradine appeared in over 300 movies over the course of a career that spanned nearly a century.  Born in 1906, Carradine made his film debut in 1930 and worked steadily until his death in 1988.  He was so prolific that films featuring him were still being released for years after his passing.  Though he’ll probably always be most-associated with the low-budget horror and thriller films that he appeared in, Carradine was also a favorite of directors like Cecil B. DeMille and John Ford.  He played key roles in such Ford films as Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  Carradine, however, often said that his true loves were Shakespeare and the theater and that the films were just something he did so he could afford to work on stage.

In this scene from 1945’s Fallen Angel, John Carradine plays a traveling fortune teller named Prof. Madley.

Scenes I Love: The End of The Original Dawn of the Dead

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The original Dawn of the Dead, which was released in 1978 and directed by George Romero, is not only one of the most influential horror films of all time.  (Even more so than Night of the Living Dead, Dawn was responsible for inspiring the Italian zombie boom.)  It’s also a rather dark satire of humanity and commercialism.  With the world ending, both humans and zombies head to the mall.  Briefly, the humans manage to form their own peaceful society but, inevitably, they end up screwing it all up.  The Dead may be slow and not particularly intelligent but, as poor old Steve discovered in that elevator, they’re absolutely determined to get what they want.

Dawn of the Dead ends with an apocalytpic combination of bikers, zombies, and one helicopter that has next to no fuel.  Our two remaining survivors head off in search of some place safe but we all know that helicopter isn’t going to stay in the sky for long.  In its way, the ending of Dawn of the Dead is even more bleak than the end of Night of the Living Dead.   With the end of this film, Romero’s message is clear.  Society is as dead as the creatures tearing it down.

Scenes That I Love: The Harvard Graduation Dance From Heaven’s Gate

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

How many westerns do you know that open with a graduation ceremony at Harvard?  I can only think of Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate.

Today’s scene that I love comes from the controversial 1981 epic western.  Some people feel that Heaven’s Gate is a secret masterpiece.  I’m not quite one of those people but I do think the Harvard graduation scene was a great way to launch Cimino’s idiosyncratic vision of the Old West.

Scenes I Love: John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The legendary director John Ford was born 132 years ago today, in Maine of all places.  He may have been born in New England but few directors have done a better job of capturing, on film, the forces that shaped America.

He also directed one of my favorite films, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  Today’s scene that I love comes from the end of that 1962 film and it features a line that would become a classic.  “Print the legend.”  That was a line that Ford clearly understood and I imagine it’s one that all great filmmakers eventually come to appreciate.

Scenes That I Love: Catherine O’Hara and Fred Willard in Waiting for Guffman

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

When I heard that the actress Catherine O’Hara had passed away, I immediately thought of Waiting For Guffman.

I know that a lot of people immediately thought of Schitt’s Creek.  And I imagine that a lot of people thought of her as the desperate mother in Home Alone.  And definitely, there are a lot of people on twitter who are posting clips of her work on SCTV right now.  But I’m a theater nerd and, when you’re a theater nerd, Waiting for Guffman pretty much feels likes watching your life on film.

The entire cast of Waiting for Guffman is brilliant.  It’s definitely the most emotionally satisfying of all of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries.  But I’ll have a special place in my heart for Catherine O’Hara and Fred Willard as the community theater superstars.  Today’s scene that I love features O’Hara and Willard giving the audition of a lifetime in Waiting For Guffman.

Scenes That I Love: The Pendulum Starts To Swing From The Pit and The Pendulum

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s scene that I love is from the 1961 Roger Corman-directed Edgar Allan Poe adaptation, The Pit and The Pendulum!

Not only is that pendulum nightmarish as Hell but check out that set design!  One can see that Corman definitely took some inspiration from the work being done in the UK by Hammer.  Watching this scene, it is easy to see why Corman devoted so much of the early 60s to directing Vincent Price in various Edgar Allan Poe adaptations.

Enjoy!

Scene that I Love: Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman Are Notorious

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The great Cary Grant was born 122 years ago today.

In honor of Cary Grant’s legendary career and screen charm, today’s scene that I love comes from one of my favorite Cary Grant/Ingrid Bergman/Claude Rains/Alfred Hitchcock movies!  From 1946’s Notorious, here is a scene that I love.

Scenes That I Love: James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today would have been James Earl Jones’s 95th birthday.

Today’s scene that I love features him reacting to an impromptu visit from Kevin Costner in 1989’s Field of Dreams.  With his famous voice, his good humor, and his own inspiring story of overcoming a childhood stutter to become one of our greatest actors, it’s often easy to forget that some of Jones’s best moments came when he played characters who were just fed up with the stupidity of the world.