Random movie scene thread

The scene is excellent standing on its own, but ...

How does Denholm Elliott's character go from this competent and engaging to what he did in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"?

Not at all trying to submarine the scene in question, but the flags go up in a hurry in the bigger picture ...

 

That is a good point. Dr. Marcus Brody went from decent supporting character to comic relief caricature.

 

That was my exact reaction. He couldn't call him out for cheating without revealing his own subterfuge.*

*I enjoy that I was able to work the word "subterfuge" into a normal conversation.

 

This would have been mine had you not posted first. I performed this monologue for a theater project in college to fulfill my film minor. The professor tasked all of us on the first day of class with naming our favorite film and, while everyone else named classics such as Citizen Kane, Casablanca, various Kubrick movies, and other more "artsy" films, I named Jaws.

My prof was immediately taken by my response, wondering why — when everyone else was talking about movies that were "true art" — I chose a popcorn film. I explained that, for one thing, it was THE popcorn film. It not only defined the blockbuster film, it literally scared people out of the water. But, aside from that and the technical prowess of Spielberg (the Brody dolly/zoom shot, for instance), it was the interactions between Brody, Quint and Hooper that really made the movie for me. The personalities and class differences between them (and even, to a lesser extent, Mayor Vaughn) were compelling, as was the way they came together in the face of danger.

Don't get me wrong, I put in the work in the class throughout the semester to earn an A, but to this day, I'm convinced I aced that class the first day because I didn't give him some bullshit answer that I thought would impress him like 90 percent of the other students did.

He and I remain friends to this day and share movie recommendations whenever we see something worthwhile (or not).

 

Shaw gets a ton of deserved credit for this scene, but Dreyfuss sells the importance of what Shaw is saying almost as equally well.

If you watch the full scene they are all drunk and fucking around about scars and tattoos, but the second Shaw says Indianapolis, Dreyfuss’s character just immediately changes the mood of the scene along with Shaw. I loved that they kept Dreyfuss in the shot. Fantastic hat flip.

True story, also.

 

In 1968, this was a huge deal.

 

The fact that the whole chase makes absolutely no sense in terms of the movie's plot is a plus in my opinion.

 

Made more impressive by those cars having the turning radius of a battleship

 

If you've ever been to San Francisco, the lack of continuity in the locales of the chase are hilarious.

 

And even in Last Crusade, he starts out competent and engaging (except for being talked into treating Indy for dinner) in the first couple of scenes (finding Senior's living room trashed). Then he becomes bumbling, except for the one line where he tells Donovan that he's messing with powers he cannot possibly comprehend.

 

So many great scenes in this. I always liked the little part where Vinny, while telling Judge Haller about the store having the flu, says, "you get that?" He's exhausted, hasn't slept for days, has been dealing with the murder trial that could give his nephew the death penalty, and has all other stuff going on, and he's finally in Don't Give a Fuck Mode.

 

I always think of this scene whenever I'm trying to get a McDonald's bacon, egg and cheese bagel before they go to the limited all-day breakfast menu that doesn't include it.