A hero's farewell

The story’s been played out many times. Stranger comes to town. Town under siege by bad guys. Stranger single-handedly saves the town. Stranger disappears into oblivion. One of the first, if not best example is Shane. Great western, great cinematography that framed the formulaic story. But at the end, if you didn’t shed a tear at Joey’s pleas for Shane to stay, you don’t have a heart. And of course, every time you want someone to stay (home team superstar) you probably feel the same way as Joey.

Smells like.....victory

OK, you’ve all heard the line before, but do you get the context? Robert Duvall plays man-among-men Lt. Col. Kilgore in “Apocalypse Now”. In the heat of battle, shirt off with utter nonchalance to the chaos of war all around him, he so calmly yet with full braggadocio spouts off on the beauty and charm of the most deadly of incendiaries used in Vietnam.

The line’s been used for nearly every type of odor, usually offensive, but it’s a sign of machismo and makes you feel good just to be able to say it. After all, we all have a little Kilgore in us.

THAT RUG......

Sometimes the quote is from a cult hit that may not have the ubiquity of a more popular production.  Buzzwords or phrases arise from these classics, knowledge of which gains one admission to the “club”.  Such is the case with today’s entry.

If you ever hear someone walk into a room and say, “that rug really ties the room together”, it’s highly likely that they are not so much paying a compliment to the decorator as they are giving a wink and a nod to the Coen Brothers’ homage to bowling as a way of life, “The Big Lebowski”.  Actually, there’s really a lot more to it than just bowling, believe me. Maybe you really need to see the movie to better understand the context (not for the prim and proper viewer, mind you), but when you hear the line, you just know it’s an instant quotable that only those in the club will appreciate.

More to come from the Dude.

HHHHHWAT HAVE WE HERE?

Classic movies have some of the greatest quotes.  Some are so iconic that they’ve transcended the movie itself and become part of our cultural lexicon.  You hear it, you use it, but you may not even know the story behind it.

Such is the case with today’s quote.  Luke Jackson, hero of the movie “Cool Hand Luke” is boundlessly defiant.  Against the greatest of odds, he lives life his way, which is usually the wrong way. Beginning with his arrest for vandalizing parking meters, the movie tracks his unbreakable will against his imprisoners, his fellow inmates, the prison Warden and, some might suggest, the Lord himself.  And he just doesn’t seem to care.

The Warden, portrayed inimitably by Strother Martin, is continuously perplexed at his own inability to break Luke.  When he counsels Luke that he’s just looking out for Luke’s own good, Luke asks the Warden not to be so good to him. This sets the Warden off on a short but violent tirade. He then checks himself and offers a line for the ages.  Any time anyone feels as though he or she is not getting his point across is prone to repeat this line, even if they don’t know from whence it came.

Part of what makes this quote so memorable (and quotable) is Strother Martin’s delivery.  Emphasizing the “h” of “what” gives him that air of southern aristocracy, the perfect foil to Luke’s defiant rebel.

More to come from this classic movie.  Stay tuned……

One Word

It is said that a picture can be worth a thousand words. Could the reverse be true, that one word could be worth an entire picture?  Such is indubitably the case of “Citizen Kane” thought of by many including the American Film Institute as the greatest movie ever made.

The very first word spoken in the movie, the dying word of the protagonist, fuels the search for its meaning, becoming a two hour “documentary” on the life of a man who had nearly everything he wanted.  Fame, fortune, women, power… all were within his grasp at one time or another.  Until his dying breath when he realized he had lost possibly the only thing in his life that he actually treasured.  Suspend disbelief for a moment, because nobody was in the room when he uttered the mysterious word.  Sorry, no spoiler here.  If you don’t know what it means, you owe it to yourself to watch the movie and discover it on your own. 

I bet we all have some Rosebud in our life, something we cherished in our youth that is long lost. So when you get what this movie is about, you, too, may shed a tear on some lost piece of your childhood.  Just don’t end up bitter and alone like Charles Foster Kane.

Merry Christmas Bedford Falls

It’s Christmas time.  You know, Jingle Bells, Deck The Halls, Fa-la-la-la-la and all that stuff.  And while we’re thinking about tidings of comfort and joy, is there a better example of the joys of the season than the sheer glee expressed by one George Bailey towards the end of “It’s A Wonderful Life”?

Here’s a guy whose lifelong dreams were to leave his small town and conquer the world.  Yet his dreams were repeatedly denied by his innate desire to do right by his fellow man, particularly against the evils of society represented by Bedford Falls’ very own Scrooge, Henry Potter.  You know the story (spoiler alert, but if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you should)- Old Man Potter wanted to control the town and George Bailey kept getting in his way.  After Potter framed George for some bank fraud, George thought his life was in ruins and wanted to end it all.  He was saved by his Guardian Angel.  When he ran back into town yelling “Merry Christmas” to anyone, everyone, every business and every building, if you didn’t shed a tear then you have ice running through your veins. 

Perhaps more powerful is when he runs up to the window of is nemesis, the evil Mr. Potter, and offers him a “Merry Christmas” with all the same vigor and spirit.  The misanthropes among us will then give a snarling grin when they hear Mr. Potter’s miserable retort.

and, while we’re at it……MERRY CHRISTMAS INTERNET!

The American Dream

The American Dream.  We all live for it.  For centuries, people from all over the world have traveled here, some undergoing great hardship to get here, all to live the American Dream.  And there may be no better depiction of this struggle than one of the greatest movies of all- The Godfather.

On the surface you might think it’s just another gangster movie, but you’d be missing the point.  The story of the Corleone family is the struggle of a family to live the American Dream.  Vito Corleone wanted nothing more than to enjoy his piece of the pie.  However, when he found himself being denied, he realized he had to fight for it, on his terms. He never wanted the gangster life; he just wanted the best for his wife and family.

Most stories with a moral teach the lesson at the end. With The Godfather, the moral is found in the first lines of the movie, spoken by Amerigo Buonasera.  (You gotta love an undertaker whose name loosely means “good night”.) His are the first words of the movie, and they set the stage for the rest of the saga. All he wanted was his slice of the American Dream.  And nobody said it better.