The last couple of times I've written something on this subject I was stuck at home, either sick as a dog & close to a NyQuil coma or trying to clear my thoughts by thinking about something "Irrelevant." I thought it might be fun to revisit this topic, so I'm offering this up again as a little late-night diversion.
What are those moments from movies that have stuck in your memory, whether they were disturbing, enlightening or entertaining? Which movie moments have been the most memorable? Why are some scenes so iconic? The best movies that linger in our minds sometimes represent & personalize our own hopes, dreams, and fears.
The last time I did this you could have called the diary "How many YouTube Videos can be embeddded into a DKos diary before it explodes?", since I listed so many scenes & used so many embedded videos to the point it caused browsers to crash when opening the diary. So this time I'm not going to so much create my own list, as spotlight some scenes to get the ball rolling, and then open up the floor.
► ['Boogie Nights' - Drug Deal Gone Bad]
Paul Thomas Anderson's second film 'Boogie Nights' is full of great moments. It's a film that can be very funny at times, and then turn those things you were laughing at into terrible tragedy (for example, the running gag of William H. Macy's character "Little Bill" finding his wife with other men, which culminates at the New Year's Eve party).
If I had to pick just one scene from the film, it would be the "Drug Deal" towards the end of the movie with Alfred Molina's Rahad Jackson. Almost everyone at some point or another in their life has been talked into tagging along with friends, and went somewhere they shouldn't have. When you get there, there's this moment of epiphany where you look around & say to yourself "What the fuck am I doing here?", and "How quickly can I get out of here?"
This scene is basically that cranked up to 11, with "Sister Christian", "Jessie's Girl", "99 Luftballoons", and a drug dealer's boy-toy throwing firecrackers.
The great thing about this scene is that it perfectly balances being tense, terrifying, surreal, and funny. Usually conveying one of those things well is a good job, but getting all four across at the same time is an achievement.
There's also a great moment at about a minute into the video above, where Mark Wahlberg's Dirk Diggler stares into space, and there's enough on the screen to let you know the character is thinking to himself "Has it really come to this?"
► ['Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' - "I still thought you were going to save me." and "Ok."]
What is "true love"? If I asked you to empirically prove "true love" exists, could you? Someone once told me that we're all "broken" people searching for someone or something to make us whole. She might have gotten it from a fortune cookie for all I know, but it does make a certain amount of sense.
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Clementine: Look man, I'm telling you right off the bat, I'm high-maintainance, so... I'm not gonna tip-toe around your marriage, or whatever it is you've got goin' there. If you wanna be with me, you're with me.
Joel: Okay.
Clementine: Joel, I'm not a concept. Too many guys think I'm a concept or I complete them or I'm going to make them alive, but I'm just a fucked up girl who is looking for my own peace of mind. Don't assign me yours.
Joel: I remember that speech really well.
Clementine: I had you pegged, didn't I?
Joel: You had the whole human race pegged.
Clementine: Hmm. Probably.
Joel: I still thought you were going to save me... Even after that.
Clementine: Ohh... I know.
Joel: It would be different, if we could just give it another go-round.
Clementine: Remember me. Try your best; maybe we can.
This is probably one of the best love stories ever put to film, with Charlie Kaufman's usual upside down twist. I love that Kaufman makes the defining act of true love between the characters a leap of faith in deciding to love one another even in the face of knowing the relationship might be doomed to repeat the same mistakes. It might be irrational, but it is beautiful.
Joel: I don't see anything I don't like about you.
Clementine: But you will! But you will, and I'll get bored with you and feel trapped, because that's what happens with me.
[Joel smiles at Clementine]
Joel: Okay.
Clementine: Okay.
[Clementine is touched, and begins to cry]
Joel: Okay.
► ['Glengarry Glen Ross' - "Always Be Closing."]
No matter what else you may learn in life, just know this: "Coffee is for closers." This adapation of David Mamet's play is stunning in its depiction of salesmen who have to sell shitty real-estate, because it's "fuck or walk." The signature scene from the film is Alec Baldwin's pep talk.
The cast of the film supposedly dubbed it "Death Of A Fucking Salesman."
► ['Fight Club' - "I felt like destroying something beautiful."]
I almost chose Tyler Durden's speech, but there's something about this one that's both disturbing, yet revealing about aspects of Humanity. I think it was John Steinbeck who put an anecdote in one of his books about young boys who would walk miles to an abandoned house, just so they could get the enjoyment of breaking the windows.
[As he savagely beats Angel Face]
Narrator: (voice-over) I felt like putting a bullet between the eyes of every Panda that wouldn't screw to save its species. I wanted to open the dump valves on oil tankers and smother all those French beaches I'd never see. I wanted to breathe smoke.
[The Narrator stops beating Angel Face, turns around, and begins to walk out, as all the other members of Fight Club are in stunned silence.]
Tyler Durden: Where'd you go, psycho boy?
Narrator: I felt like destroying something beautiful.
► ['Cool Hand Luke' - "No Man Can Eat 50 Eggs."]
This is one of my favorite films, and it's a movie that's just full of memorable moments. Whether it's "a failure to communicate", the "car wash with Lucile", or the fight between Luke (Paul Newman) & Dragline (George Kennedy), where Luke wins by just refusing to lay down.