C (continued) |
Title Screen
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Movie Title/Year and Scene
Descriptions |
Screenshots
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Cool Hand
Luke (1967)
In director Stuart Rosenberg's popular prison chain-gang
drama with numerous Christ references and images:
- the imprisonment of rebel prisoner Luke (Paul Newman) for maliciously destroying municipal property (cutting
the heads off of parking meters)
- the 'rules' of the
house delivered to the prisoners by Carr (Clifton James): ("Them
clothes got laundry numbers on 'em. You remember your number and
always wear the ones that has your number. Any man forgets his number
spends the night in the box...")
- the titillating scene of a sexy teenage girl (Joy
Harmon) - the warden's daughter? - frustrating the prisoners by soaping
up, pressing her sudsy breasts against the window, and hosing off
herself and her car in plain sight ("drivin' us crazy and lovin'
every minute of it")
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Soapy and Sexy Car-Wash
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Boxing Match against Dragline
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Egg-Eating Contest
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- the epic brutal boxing match with boss convict
Dragline (George Kennedy) in which Luke refused to give up by staying
down on the ground - and thereby received a beating
- the entertaining, one-hour long, hard-boiled egg-eating
contest that Luke won by consuming 50 eggs
- the image of the guard's impenetrable sunglasses
- the prison visit of Luke's sick mother Arletta (Jo
Van Fleet) who talked to him from the back of a pickup truck
- the scene of Luke strumming a guitar singing the
irreverent
"Plastic Jesus" song following his mother's death
- the nasty prison boss Captain's (Strother Martin)
famous line to defiant Luke: "What we got here is failure to
communicate"
- the escape attempt in the concluding
sequence with the final Christ-figure imagery and the smile on Luke's
face as he sassed back: ("What we've got here is a failure
to communicate")
and was killed (and his epitaph: "he's a natural-born world-shaker")
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Luke
(Paul Newman)
The 'Rules of the House"
Guard's Reflective Sunglasses

"Plastic Jesus"

"What we got here is failure to communicate"

Luke's Death
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The Court
Jester (1955)
In co-directors Melvin Frank's and Norman Panama's
classic musical comedy set in medieval England that spoofed
swashbucklers, with Danny Kaye in a dual role as carnival entertainer
Hubert Hawkins, and as a court jester impersonating Giacomo:
- the infamous rhyming wordplay and convoluted dialogue
- the first tongue-twisting wordplay
scene between King Roderick (Cecil Parker) and Hubert Hawkins (Danny
Kaye), impersonating court jester Giacomo:
- The Duke. What did the Duke do?
- Uh, the Duke do?
- Yes. And what about the Doge?
- Oh, the Doge!
- Uh. Well what did the Doge do?
- The Doge do?
- Yes, the Doge do.
- Well, uh, the Doge did what the Doge does. Uh, when the Doge does his duty
to the Duke, that is.
- What? What's that?
- Oh, it's very simple, sire. When the Doge did his duty and the Duke didn't,
that's when the Duchess did the dirt to the Duke with the Doge.
- Who did what to what?
- Oh, they all did, sire. There they were in the dark; the Duke with his dagger,
the Doge with his dart, and the Duchess with her dirk.
- Duchess with her dirk?
- Yes! The Duchess dove at the Duke just when the Duke dove at the Doge. Now
the Duke ducked, the Doge dodged, and the Duchess didn't. So the Duke got the
Duchess, the Duchess got the Doge, and the Doge got the Duke!
- the hypnotizing spell cast on the court jester by
ambitious court witch Griselda (Mildred Natwick) that could hilariously
be undone - and reinstated - by just a snap of the fingers, employed
in the scene in which he was hypnotized (to believe he was a dashing
lover) and he snuck into Princess Gwendolyn's (Angela Lansbury) chambers
to woo her: ("What
manner of man is Giacomo? Ha ha! I shall tell you what manner of
man is he. He lives for a sigh, he dies for a kiss, he lusts for
the laugh, ha! He never walks when he can leap! He never flees when
he can fight (thud), Oop! He swoons at the beauty of a rose. And
I offer myself to you, all of me. My heart. My lips. My legs. My
calves. Do what you will - my love endures. Beat me. Kick me. (kiss,
kiss) I am yours")
- the discussion between court jester Giacomo and
court witch Griselda about a riddle,
with instructions on how to avoid a poisoned drink - specifically,
about his having to remember the cup location for a pre-joust toast
with a drink in a vessel that was poisoned by pellets, but then --
much confusion with a change in the directions, with hilarious results:
- "I've got it! I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in
the vessel with the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew
that is true! Right?"
- "Right. But there's been a change. They broke the chalice
from the palace!"
- "They broke the chalice from the palace?"
- "And replaced it with a flagon."
- "A flagon...?"
- "With the figure of a dragon."
- "Flagon with a dragon."
- "Right."
- "But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel
with the pestle?"
- "No! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon!
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!"
- "The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon;
the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true."
- "Just remember that..."
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"What did the Duke do?"

Court Jester Hubert Hawkins/Giacomo (Danny Kaye) with
King Roderick's Daughter, Princess Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury) Under
a Magical Hypnotic Spell
Court Jester Giacomo with Court Witch Griselda
"The Pellet with the Poison in the Vessel with the
Pestle"
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The Covered Wagon (1923)
In director James Cruze's early epic western, often
considered the first great western:
- the first authentic-looking outdoor views of the
pioneering Western frontier, including the rugged trail, Conestoga
wagons, plains, ranges, and buttes (of Utah and Nevada), and even
Native-Americans
- the 1848 "westward ho" trek of "the mightiest caravan
that was ever to crawl across the valley of the Platte" - and the
many adversities that the pioneers faced, including ferrying wagons
across rivers, evidence of a deadly Pawnee Indian attack, quicksand,
severe weather, etc.
- with many of the stereotypical scenes included in
early westerns, such as Indian attacks and shoot outs,
river crossings and braving snow storms, and a buffalo hunt.
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Pioneer Life on Frontier
Indians on Attack
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Creep Show (1982)
In writer Stephen King and director George A. Romero's
satirical horror anthology and tribute to EC's horror comics of the
1950's:
- in the last of the five horror anthology tales: "They're
Creeping Up on You" - the creepy, sickening
scene of the swarm-attack of ugly and gigantic cockroaches that
emerged during a blackout in the germproof, sparkling-white, sterile,
vacuum-sealed penthouse apartment of roach-phobic, obsessively-clean,
racist, miserly, eccentric and cruel millionaire Professor Upson
Pratt (E. G. Marshall). Swarms of the insects emerged from inside
his corpse - from his chest and mouth
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Crime Wave (1954)
In director Andre De Toth's low-budget, hard-boiled
gangster-crime drama, shot on location in 1950s Los Angeles - the
tale of an ex-convict and reformed San Quentin parolee Steve Lacey
(Gene Nelson) trying to go straight as an airplane mechanic, with
loving wife Ellen (Phyllis Kirk):
- the opening scene (shot from the POV of the thieves
in their car) - the robbery of a gas station by 'Doc' Penny's (Ted
de Corsia) gang of three, resulting in the killing of a motorcycle
cop, and the wounding of gang member Gat Morgan (Ned Young)
- the victimization of Steve, who became trapped
and haunted by his former life when his former cellmate Gat,
the wounded fugitive gang member (all gang members were escapees
from San Quentin), demanded to be harbored
in Steve's apartment; when his wife Ellen was threatened, Steve
was pressured into joining the gang in a complex, daylight bank
heist in Glendale (functioning as the getaway car driver and airplane
pilot to fly them to Mexico afterwards)
- the failed Saturday robbery when Steve's written
tip alerted police, and the bank was staffed by policemen disguised
as bank personnel and customers
- throughout the film, Steve was pursued as
a suspect by a relentless, toothpick-chewing,
sadistic homicide Detective Lieutenant Sims (Sterling Hayden)
(who believed: "Once a crook, always a crook") -
and Steve's own fear of being marked as a criminal: ("Once
you do a stretch, you're never clean again! You're never free!
They've always got a string on you, and they tug, tug, tug!
Before you know it, you're back again!")
- in the end,
although Steve was handcuffed and arrested by Sims, in the
final moments, it was all a pretense - Steve was let go and
allowed to resume his life
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Opening Gas Station Robbery
Steve (Gene Nelson) with Wife Ellen (Phyllis Kirk)
Relentless Det. Lieut Sims (Sterling Hayden)

Steve's "Arrest"
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Crimes of Passion (1984)
In British director Ken Russell's neon-lit, dark,
'guilty pleasure' cult tale and erotic thriller - with the tagline:
"Her name is China Blue. She is watched. She is worshipped. And,
she must remain a mystery":
- the main protagonist: a moonlighting, kinky
LA prostitute named China Blue (Kathleen Turner) - who at night
wore a platinum wig and a light-blue silky dress (and frequented
the Paradise Isle Hotel for tricks), and by day worked as a prim
but workaholic sporting fashion designer named Joanna Crane
- China Blue's entrance in
the film: with male client Carl (John G. Scanlon) who insisted
that she role-play for him a beauty pageant contestant named Miss
Liberty 1984 as he was kneeling between her spread-eagled legs.
She euphemistically told about how she could blow his "instrument" -
and she tantalized him with her sex-talk while unzipping his pants: "First
I unzip the case, and take out the instrument very carefully. I'm
very gentle. And then I run my little hand all over it. Up and
down, and up and down. And then I-I fondle it so softly, so softly.
Hmm, I love the look of it. Oh, I love the feel of it, so smooth
and firm. Oh, I love to wrap my fingers around it and tenderly
caress it. Well, I like to lift it to my mouth and wrap my lips
around it. And then I just wait for that sweet, sweet music to
come pourin' out."
- her next client had a sexual fetish of pretending
to stalk and attack her, before "raping" her in her room
in the Paradise Isle Hotel;
during sex, she imagined Japanese
erotic art prints or other exaggerated drawings of enlarged male
genitals
Hooker China Blue (Kathleen Turner)
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One Client's Rape Fetish
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Japanese Erotic Art
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- also notable were the scenes with deranged, stalking
psychotic Reverend believing he was China Blue's savior - the perverse,
ranting, peeping-tom, self-proclaimed Reverend Peter Shayne (Anthony
Perkins) with strange erotic fantasies; he believed he was China
Blue's savior ("Save your soul, whore!").
- China Blue's description of her profession to the
Reverend, that was designed to completely fulfill any of her clients'
fantasies: "This is a fantasy business, Reverend. You can have
any truth you want....Why don't you f--k me? That'll save me...What
disease? I'm healthy as a horse. I'm fit as a fiddle and ready for
cock...I'm Cinderella, Cleopatra, Goldie Hawn, Eva Braun, I'm Little
Miss Muffin, I'm Pocahontas, I'm whoever you want me to be, Reverend"
- her shock when she discovered the Reverend's
razor-tipped, chrome-steel dildo (dubbed "Superman") in
his doctor's bag of sex toys
- art-time private investigator and
security expert Bobby Grady's (John Laughlin) escape from a dull
11-year marriage to Amy (Annie Potts), who faked her orgasms, substituted
by his intense, obsessive, erotic relationship with China Blue; during
her first sexual encounter with him (for $50), she fantasy
role-played as a flight attendant: ("Good evening. Welcome to
China Blue Airlines Flight 69, non-stop service to Paradise. We'll
be taking off shortly. I'll be unbuckling your belt and seeing that
big bird rise and rise, finally settling into the comfort only this
wide body can provide. We're
here to serve you. Please remember that although we may run out of
Pan Am coffee, we'll never run out of T-W-A-Tea"); she sucked
on his bare toe and then had sexual intercourse with him
in multiple positions (viewed as silhouettes behind a gauzy curtain),
while they were peeped upon by the Reverend
China Blue's S&M Sex Scene with Policeman
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- later in a dominatrix S & M scene (deleted from
some versions to avoid an X-rating), a policeman (Randall Brady)
was handcuffed to a bed and then brutalized and sodomized with his
own nightstick; he bled from his restrained wrists and from her spiked
stiletto heels
Twist Ending, Resulting in the Death of the Reverend
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- the twist ending in which China Blue was 'saved'
by the threatening Reverend involving a role-reversal (and costume-reversal);
the character wearing China Blue's dress (presumably Joanna) was
stabbed in the back by the razor-tipped dildo/vibrator. However,
the Reverend was wearing the China Blue dress and a wig, while she
was wearing the Reverend's outfit - a costume twist. She stabbed
him as he threatened to assault Grady (who had arrived to save Joanna)
with a pair of scissors; the
Reverend's death were accompanied with his parting words: "Goodbye,
China Blue"
- the film's ending: Grady attended a marital therapy
group where he admitted he was in a new relationship with Joanna: "I'm
here tonight because I wanted to finally start telling the truth.
My wife and I, we have split up for good. That's right. Me, the
Boy Scout. I just never had the guts to admit the truth, that Amy
and I had just stopped loving each other. There's nobody to blame.
That's just what happened. Then, I met this woman, Joanna. She
saved my life. We're together now. I'm not sure if it's gonna work
out. We don't have a, a whole hell of a lot in common, other than
the fact that, that we both need help - and each other. The thing,
you see, that scared me the most during my marriage was just admitting
that I was scared and letting Amy down. Well, I can't pretend
anymore. I was scared s--tless to come back here. I told Joanna.
And she took me in her arms and she said, 'It's OK to be scared.'
I felt stronger and freer and more like a man than I've ever felt
before in my life. Then we f--ked our brains out."
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China Blue
(Kathleen Turner) as Miss Liberty 1984
Rev. Peter Shayne
(Anthony Hopkins)
The Reverend's Dildo: "Is this a Cruise Missile or a Pershing?"
Grady's First Trick with China Blue
Grady's Concluding Confession to Therapy Group
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"Crocodile" Dundee (1986)
In the surprise sleeper hit and romantic comedy from
Australia:
- the scene in which Australian Outback ranger Michael
(Mick) J. 'Crocodile' Dundee (Paul Hogan, co-nominated for Best
Original Screenplay) rescued American newspaper feature reporter
Sue Charlton (Hogan's real-life wife Linda Kozlowski) from a large
crocodile in the wild as she was going for a swim (and a croc lunged
out of the water, grabbed her necklace, and threatened to pull
her in); he twisted a knife into the crocodile's head, and when
she asked: "Is it dead?" he replied: "Well, if it isn't,
I'm goin' to have a hell of a job skinnin' the bastard";
afterwards, he roasted it like a giant shish kabob
- the fish-out-of-water sequences in New York City,
including the memorable scene in which the leader of a street gang
with a small switch-blade knife attempted to mug Dundee - the unflappable
and chuckling 'Crocodile' man responded as he pulled out his large
bushwhacker Bowie knife -- "THAT's a knife!", and then
slashed the tough's jacket; after the gang fled, he said amiably
to Sue: "Just kids having fun!"
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Dundee's and Sue's Subway Platform Reconciliation
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- the final scene of Nick going on a "walkabout" after
Sue foolishly became engaged to her editor Richard Mason (Mark Blum)
- his journey began in a crowded subway station; Sue raced on the
street after him to the subway entry two blocks away, but on the
crowded platform, she could not reach him; she called out: "Mick
Dundee!"; she relayed her messages to Mick - the guy in the
black hat - from bystander to bystander: (Sue: "Tell
him not to leave. I'm not gonna marry Richard...Tell him I love
him. I love you!"),
and then Mick climbed up to the girders or rafters to gain height
and walked to Sue on the heads and raised hands of the onlookers:
("I'll
tell her meself. I'm comin' through")
- to tell her of his love and to kiss her; the crowd erupted in applause
- before a freeze-frame and the ending credits
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"Dundee" Saved Sue From Crocodile
In NYC
"THAT's a Knife!" to Muggers
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000,
US/HK/China/Taiwan) (aka Wo Hu Cang Long)
In Ang Lee's Best Picture-nominated martial arts/romantic
film set in 18th century China, with spectacular cinematography and
martial arts action sequences, that won the Best Foreign Language
Film Academy Award:
- the many exciting, kinetic action sequences revolving
around the mystical, legendary 400 year-old Excalibur-like
sword known as "Green Destiny"
- the first appearance of Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi), the
18 year-old district governor's daughter, and the revelation that
she was a disciple - secretly apprenticing under the harsh
tutelage of bitter, heartless, murderous, evil and treacherous
arch-criminal Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-pei) (who had been posing as
Jen's governess for many years)
- the scene of the theft of the Green Destiny sword
in an estate by impetuous and headstrong masked thief
Jen Yu, and the exciting scene of security officer
and female warrior Yu Shu Lien's (Michelle Yeoh) gravity-defying
pursuit of masked thief Jen up walls, across buildings and over rooftops,
and their martial-arts styled fighting
- the poignant, secret and unfulfilled romance between
Yu Shu Lien and heroic spiritual master and martial arts/swordsman
fighter Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) who was about to retire, when they
shared their love for each other over a cup of tea: (Li Mu Bai: "Shu
Lien - There's no eternity to the things we can touch. My master
would say, 'There's nothing we can hold onto in this world. Only
by letting go can we truly possess what is real.'" Shu Lien: "Even
to an old Taoist like you, not everything is an illusion. When you
were holding my hand just now, wasn't that real?" Li Mu Bai: "Your
hand is cold and callused from practicing machetes. All these years,
and I've never had the courage to touch it. Crouching tigers and
hidden dragons are in the underworld, but so are human feelings.
Swords and knives harbor unknown perils, but so do human relationships")
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Li Mu Bai: "Real sharpness comes without effort."
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The Sword Fight In Green Bamboo Forest
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Lo to Jen: "A Faithful Heart Makes Wishes Come
True"
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- Li Mu Bai's fatherly and
scholarly interest in the petulant Jen, casually imparting advice
during one sword fight and teaching her: ("Real
sharpness comes without effort. No growth, without assistance. No
action, without reaction...")
- the
visually-stunning sword fight between Li Mu Bai and Jen on the top
of a green bamboo forest
- the "faithful heart makes wishes come true" speech
by Jen's kind lover - a barbarian desert bandit named Lo "Dark
Cloud" (Chang
Chen) - about a mystical legend of a man who jumped from a mountain
cliff to make his wish come true - and was saved from death
because his heart was faithful and pure: ("We have a legend. Anyone
who dares to jump from the mountain, God will grant his wish. Long
ago, a young man's parents were ill, so he jumped. He didn't die.
He wasn't even hurt. He floated away, far away, never to return.
He knew his wish had come true. If you believe, it will happen. The
elders say, 'A faithful heart makes wishes come true.'"); Lo awaited
Jen at Mt. Wudang
- the climactic, artistic duel (with multiple weapons)
between Jen (wielding the Green Destiny) and Shu Lien in an empty dueling
arena - brilliantly shot with overhead cameras
- the scene of Jen's rejection of her master teacher
Jade Fox because she had outgrown her instruction, with Jade's response:
"Believe me, I've a lesson or two left to teach you!"
- Jade Fox's last words after being executed
by Li Mu Bai: "You know what poison is? An 8 year-old girl full
of deceit. That's poison!...Jen...my only family...my only enemy...';
however, Li Mu Bai realized he had been hit in the neck by a Fox's
dart (with Purple Yin poison and "no antidote"), and suffered a tearjerking
death
- during Li Mu Bai's death, he delivered his final,
long overdue declaration of undying, concealed love for Yu Shu
Lien with his last breaths: ("I've already wasted
my whole life. I want to tell you with my remaining strength that
I love you. I always have. (They kissed) I'll drift next to you every
day as a ghost just to be with you. Even if I was banished to the
darkest place, my love will keep me from being a lonely spirit")
- the transcendent ending in which Jen, after spending
one night with Lo, jumped off Wudang Mountain, and floated softly
downward to disappear into the mist
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Jen Yu vs. Yu Shu Lien
Li Mu Bai, in a Secret Love Affair With Yu Shu Lien
Jen vs. Shu Lien
The Poisoned Dart Death of Mu Bai, With a Final Kiss
From Yu Shu Lien
Jen's Jump From Mt. Wudang (believing in Lo's legend)
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The Crowd
(1928)
In King Vidor's urban melodrama:
- the staircase scene in 1912 when a young 12 year-old
boy climbed claustrophobic, steep stairs and near the top learned
that his father had died; he was told (in a title card: "You must
be brave now, little man...like your father would want you to be")
- the arrival of ambitious, wide-eyed 21 year-old
John Sims (James Murray) in NYC, with marvelous
visuals capturing New York City's teeming streets, and the enormous
crowd shots
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John Sims at His Desk in a NYC Skyscraper
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- the sweeping camera sequence from curbside outside
a towering skyscraper, moving up the face of the building and through
a upper window and zeroing in (with a dissolve) on the view of a
low-level, dehumanized office worker John Sims lost in
a sea of desks lined up in rows - positioned at desk 137; in fact,
he was not working, but watching the clock in anticipation of a 5:00
pm quitting time (the sequence was paid homage to in Billy Wilder's
The Apartment (1960)), and pondering answers for a get-rich-quick
$100 prize contest by naming a "new motor fuel" (his entries
included Petrol-Pep and Jazz-o-Lene)
- the romantic/courtship scenes between the two young
lovers John and Mary (Eleanor Boardman) - especially in the sequences
on Coney Island (The Tunnel of Love, amusement park rides, etc.),
and he attempted to kiss her but she was reluctant at first: "Gee...I
oughtn't to let you kiss me" - but then freely allowed him to
romance her
Coney Island Sequence: John on Date
with Mary (Eleanor Boardman)
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- soon afterwards after a tiring day and ride back on
the train to the city, John impulsively proposed to Mary resting in
his arms ("Mary,
let's you and me get married"); she nodded in agreement, and soon
they were married, spending their honeymoon at Niagara Falls
- in the hospital, the scene of John's anxiety over
the birth of their first child - and his whispered words to his wife
when the baby boy was delivered to their bedside: ("This is all I've
needed to make me try harder, dear...I'll be somebody now, I promise.")
Tragic Truck Accident, Killing Young
Daughter - Horrifed Reaction
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- the couple's reaction to the accidental death of
their young second child, a daughter, who was accidentally hit by a
truck as she raced across a busy NYC street - reflected on the horrified
faces of the parents who were watching from a nearby window
- the poignant scene of suicidal John with his young
son on a railroad overpass when the boy restored John's faith in
himself by expressing his unconditional love
- and the final sequence of the reconciled couple enjoying
a comical vaudeville show as the camera pulled back and they became
anonymous in the audience
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Young John Climbing Stairs With News of Father's Death
John Sims
(James Murray)

Honeymooning at Niagara Falls
John's Anxiety in the Hospital Over The Birth of Their
First Child

Young Son's Unconditional Love For Suicidal Father
Ending - John and Mary Seated in a Vaudeville Show Audience
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Cruel Intentions (1999)
In an update of the French Les Liaisons Dangereuses:
- the prolonged, wet, spit-swapping kiss scene between
innocent Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair) and manipulative Kathryn
Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar)
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Cruel Story of Youth (1960, Jp.) (aka Naked
Youth, or Seishun Zankoku Monogatari)
In writer/director Nagisa Ôshima's 'New Wave' cautionary
drama (his second film) about teen sexuality, crime and delinquency
in post-war Japan, similar in impact and theme to Nicholas Ray's Rebel
Without a Cause (1955),
and various Bonnie and Clyde tales:
- the ominous, opening titles - blood-red-painted script
with newsprint in the background
- the pivotal opening sequence of naive,
impulsive, restless, and flirtatious schoolgirl Makoto (Miyuki Kuwano)
hitchhiking - and then saved from an older man's rape-assault in
a secluded area by delinquent teen Kiyoshi (Yusuke Kawazu), wearing
a school uniform, who beat up the assailant and threatened to take
him to the police, but instead accepted a cash bribe
- the next day, Kiyoshi and Makoto met at a
protest rally of idealistic students (against the Japan/US Security
Pact, aka the Anpo Treaty), but they became bored as aimless, uncommitted
bystanders - they preferred to leave and rent a motor-speedboat
- the scene at a desolate, grungy, seaside dock filled
with lashed-together log pontoons when Kiyoshi was refused a kiss
with Makoto and she slapped him; he struck her back, followed her
onto the floating pontoons, and pushed her into the water (she claimed
that she couldn't swim); he stood above her and kept kicking away
her clinging fingers when she attempted to hold onto the log - and
used blackmail to get her to agree to sex, in order to help her get
out: ("Will
you do as I say?...Too bad for you. Why don't you want to? So why
did you come then? You're curious about men? For sex? I'll satisfy
that curiosity"); when she became exhausted, he eventually pulled
her out - and forcefully raped her; afterwards, he told her that
he was angry, not really at her, but at "everyone" in his
world
- the revelation of Kiyoshi's background - he was pimping
himself out to a wealthy middle-aged woman, and he rented his apartment
to friends for their indiscreet sexual liaisons (i.e., The Apartment
(1960))
- the scenes of Makoto's growing infatuation with the
reckless, cruel, predatory and misogynistic Kiyoshi, their volatile,
dysfunctional and abusive relationship as careless, wild lovers and
petty crooks - and their
re-enactment of their initial meeting as a manipulative scam and
profitable technique, using her as sexual bait while he followed
behind on a borrowed motorcycle, and scammed the
older men through extortion for money
- the sequence of Makoto's illegal back-street abortion
in a shoddy clinic performed by drunken Dr. Akimoto (Fumio Watanabe)
- the former degenerated suitor of Makoto's embittered older
sister Yuki (Yoshiko Kuga); in the scene after the operation, Kiyoshi
watched over the groggy Makoto, while on the other side of the wall,
Yuki and Akimoto discussed their own lost ideals, dreams
and abandoned hopes - their talk was regarded as disturbing but prophetic
by Kiyoshi:
(Yuki: "What splendid irony. We tried to
change the world, with my puppet play and your doctor's bag. We were
both so determined. What good was it?"
Akimoto: "We couldn't
do anything about it. This is a cruel world and it destroyed our
love. At least our love remained pure and chaste. We vented our anger
with the student demonstrations. But it was all pointless. We got
hurt and we split up. We had to accept defeat. Your sister and her
man, on the other hand, struggle with the world by giving in to all
their desires. But they won't be able to win. In the end, their failures,
like this abortion, will drive them apart."
Kiyoshi (shouted at them): "No, never!"
Akimoto: "The poor
girl looked desperate when she arrived."
Kiyoshi: "You're
wrong! Don't talk nonsense. We're not like you two."
Yuki: "I
wish that were the case."
Akimoto: "But it's not."
Yuki: "Don't destroy my last
hope. Or you'll destroy theirs too."
Kiyoshi: "We
have no dreams, that's why we'll never end up like you."
Yuki: "Are you so sure you
will stay together?"
Kiyoshi: "Of course!")
Kiyoshi
heard the two decide to leave together and get drunk ("We were
beaten again tonight. Let's have a drink. We needn't see each other
again. Let's drink the night away") but then left
separately
- while Makoto was recuperating, he opened up a bag
and took out two apples, one bright red, and one green; he put the
red one on Makoto's chest, and violently crunched down into the green
one; he stared off blankly into space as he continued to bite into
it during a very lengthy sequence; when she finally awakened, he told
her he was there for her: "I must be kind occasionally. I don't
want you to cheat on me"
Deaths of Both Teens
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- the downbeat violent, bloody, and graphically gruesome
ending resulting in the deaths of both teens: Kiyoshi was brutally
murdered by pimping yakuza gangsters (by beating, strangulation,
and a boot smothering his head) when he wouldn't relinquish Makoto
to them, and while hitchhiking at the same time and sensing Kiyoshi
in danger, Makoto jumped from a moving car to avoid another rape-kidnapping,
but her foot caught in the door and she was dragged to death; the
faces of the two doomed, dead lovers were pictured left and right
in split-screen as the film ended
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Makoto
(Miyuki Kuwano)
Kiyoshi
(Yusuke Kawazu)

At a Dock, Makoto's Rape By Kiyoshi
Makoto's Backstreet Abortion
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The Crying Game
(1992, UK)
In Irish writer/director Neil Jordan's jolting thriller:
- the scene of IRA volunteer soldier Jimmy/Fergus
(Stephen Rea) visiting gorgeous-looking androgynous, London nightclub
singer/hairdresser Dil (Oscar-nominated
Jaye Davidson) - known as the 'wee black chick' that Jody loved,
to fulfill kidnapped/dead British soldier Jody's (Forest Whitaker)
dying wish
- after kissing each other, the superbly unexpected
moment of transgender revelation when Dil's red kimono robe dropped
to the floor as the camera panned down to show off 'his' true gender
and manhood, followed by his apology to the shocked Fergus:
"You did know, didn't you?"
The Major Plot Twist:
Dil's Revelation of Manhood to Jimmy/Fergus
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- the tearful "interrogation" scene between
a gun-toting Dil and Fergus, whom Dil had tied to his bed after finding
out he had been complicit in the death of his ex-lover Jody, as the
song "The Crying Game"
played on Dil's tape deck. With a gun pointed at him, Fergus told Dil
that he loved him: ("I love you Dil"), would do anything
for him: ("I'd do anything for you, Dil") and would never
leave him - with Dil responding, as he laid his head on Fergus' chest/shoulder: "I
know you're lying, Jimmy, but it's nice to hear it"
- the scene of Dil's vengeful murder of Fergus' accomplice
Jude (Miranda Richardson), a femme fatale IRA accomplice/assassin,
when he accused her of being implicated in Jody's death - she had
allegedly entrapped Jody by seducing him while he was intoxicated -
and thereby had fooled him:
"You was there, wasn't you? You used those tits and that ass to
get him, didn't you?!"
- following Jude's death, Dil held the gun on Fergus,
who had untied himself from the bed, but Dil couldn't pull the trigger;
Fergus reassuringly took the gun away when Dil put the gun in his
mouth to commit suicide, and asked him with deep love and caring
to run away (and hide out until later) - promising Dil he would see
him again; after Dil fled, the police arrived on the street below;
Fergus took the gun, wiped Dil's fingerprints from it (thereby replacing
Dil's prints with his own), and then awaited the police's arrival
- he took the fall for Dil, and received a sentence of six years
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Dil With Jimmy/Fergus After Revelation


Dil's Murder of Jude, Fergus' Accomplice
Dil's Threat to Kill Himself
Fergus/Jimmy Awaiting Arresting Police
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Curse of the Demon (1957, UK) (aka Night
of the Demon)
In Jacques Tourneur's fourth true horror film (a fantasy
horror thriller), an intelligent and thoughtful adaptation of the original
ghost story "Casting the Runes" by noted practitioner Montague
R. James - about a US psychiatrist's investigation into a Satanic cult
in England:
- the ominous opening voice-over narration, heard over
views of the ancient ruins of Stonehedge: "It has been written
since the beginning of time, even unto these ancient stones, that evil
supernatural creatures exist in a world of darkness. And it is also
said man using the magic power of the ancient runic symbols can call
forth these powers of darkness, the demons of Hell. Through the ages,
men have feared and worshipped these creatures. The practice of witchcraft,
the cults of evil have endured and exist to this day"
- the early sequence of the death of scientist and Professor
Henry Harrington (Maurice Denham) after meeting with suspected devil
cult leader Dr. Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) - as Harrington drove
into his home's car garage, a demonic figure emerged from the woods
and scared him and he accidentally reversed his car into an electrical
pole and was electrocuted by live wires as he exited his vehicle, and
his body was mutilated by the beast
- the film's theme - the dramatic conflict between two
world-views as represented by skeptical American psychiatrist Dr. John
Holden (Dana Andrews) (who didn't believe in witchcraft and devil cults
and was in England to debunk the supernatural) and the occultist warlock
leader Dr. Julian Karswell
- in the scene set at an
annual Halloween party held at Karswell's country estate, the
sinister cult leader (dressed as a clown to entertain the children) expressed
his views to Holden: "Do
I believe in witchcraft? What kind of witchcraft? The legendary witch
that rides on the imaginary broom? The hex that tortures the thoughts
of the victim? The pin stuck in the image that wastes away the mind and
the body?" Holden answered: "Also imaginary"; Karswell continued: "But
where does imagination end and reality begin? What is this twilight,
this half world of the mind that you profess to know so much about? How
can we differentiate between the powers of darkness and the powers of
the mind?"
- to prove his words in the following sequence, Karswell
removed his hat and pinched his forehead - soon after, a violent wind
storm was summoned or conjured up; after retreating to the indoors,
Holden spoke to Karswell: "I didn't know you had cyclones in England!"
and Karswell replied: "We don't"; Karswell predicted that
Holden would die in three days (Holden was unaware that a ancient
parchment passed to him, originally in Harrington's possession, held
a curse written in runic script on his life)
- Holden's statement of his skepticism about black magic,
the paranormal, superstition, and Harrington's unexpected death; he
also spoke of his doubts about the single-most important link that
could prove Karswell's involvement in the Professor's death - the character
of accused murderer Rand Hobart (Brian Wilde) who had recently and
coincidentally become catatonic: "The
whole question of this demon monster that you think shocked Hobart
out of his mind is
a perfect example of auto-suggestion and mass hysteria. Just the same
as flying saucers. Someone imagines that they see moving lights in
the sky. And the next thing, a thousand hysterical witnesses turn up
all over the world swearing that Martians are attacking us. And now,
this nonsense. It even affects serious men like yourselves. Sometimes
even me. But logic -- the reality of the seeable and the touchable
-- that's what convinces me finally. Certainly not rumor or intuition
or funny feelings"
- later, he told Joanna Harrington (Peggy Cummins),
the dead professor's niece: "Nobody's free from fear. I have an imagination
like anyone else. It's easy to see a demon in every dark corner. But
I refuse to let this thing take possession of my good senses. If this
world is ruled by demons and monsters, we may as well give up right
now"
- the dark sequence of Dr. Holden sneaking into Karswell’s
country estate house, when an ordinary small house cat was transformed
into a predatory panther that attacked
- after leaving Karswell's home, the eerie, atmospheric
and scary scene of Dr. Holden pursued by a flaming ball of smoke in
the forest
- in the concluding scene at a Southampton train station,
Holden was able to return the ancient parchment
into Karswell's pocket; when the piece of paper escaped from Karswell's
hands, he chased after it as it blew in the wind along train tracks
- it cursed him and doomed him to death at 10 pm - this was the scheduled
time for Holden's predicted death, now transferred to Karswell; after
the paper burned to combustible ash against one of the rails, it transformed
into a monstrous 30 foot demon and Karswell appeared to be attacked
as a train raced by
Attack on Karswell Along Southampton Train Tracks
After The Parchment With Curse Combusted
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- after witnessing the terrible accident (or attack),
Joanna gave an opinion to Dr. Holden about what had just happened:
"Maybe it's better not to know"; after train officials announced: "The
train must have hit him," Holden agreed with Joanna
in the film's final line that they shouldn't try to figure out what had
happened: "You're
right. Maybe it's better not to know"
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The Stone Circle at Stonehedge



Professor Harrington's Electrocution and Mutilation


Devil Cult Leader Dr. Karswell with US Psychiatrist Dr.
Holden

Attack on Dr. Holden by Karswell's House Cat/Panther

Dr. Holden Pursued in Forest Outside Karswell's Home

Joanna with Holden - Final Lines: "Maybe it's better
not to know"
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Cutter's Way (1981) (aka Cutter
and Bone)
In Czech filmmaker Ivan Passer's crime thriller:
- the amazing opening slow-motion sequence (under
the credits, with music by Jack Nitzsche) of a Santa Barbara, CA
main street Old Spanish Days Fiesta parade (that slowly changed
from b/w to color) - with the camera following a blonde twirling
in a white frilly dress
- the sequence then wiped into a day and night-time
shot of the exterior of a hotel (labeled El Encanto in neon) - to
introduce one of the film's two main characters, with a side close-up
of the chin-mustache of laconic yacht-salesman-beach-bum Richard
Bone (Jeff Bridges) while he was touching up with a woman's electric
shaver following hiring out his gigolo services to a blonde (Nina
Van Pallandt), the wife of a boat customer, for a one-night stand
- afterwards, a silhouetted figure wearing sun-glasses
was witnessed dumping 17 year-old sex-crime victim Vickie into a
garbage can in a dark alley on a rainy night
- the scene of embittered, self-righteous, drunken,
one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged, crazed and angry Vietnam vet Alexander
Cutter (John Heard) crashing into his neighbor's car while returning
home with an expired license, and later becoming completely obsessed
over confronting the girl's killer - believing the real suspect to
be elite and menacing oil businessmen J. J. Cord (Stephen Elliott)
- the scene of Maureen "Mo" Cutter (Lisa
Eichhorn) telling her disgruntled husband that his plan to blackmail/extort
Cord regarding the girl's murder was itself a dumb crime: "You're
not some saint avenging the sins of the Earth, you know. Alex. And
if you are, what am I doing here? Oh, I know. I'm like your leg.
Your leg! Sending messages to your brain when there's nothing there
anymore" - before being viciously slapped
- the stunning concluding scene of Cutter riding heroically
(and tragically) on a white stallion within Cord's guarded residential
mansion during a large garden party - and lethally crashing into
Cord's study window where Bone had just learned that Cord was the
female's killer - inspiring the usually-uncommitted and reluctant
Bone to take up the fight and shoot Cord with the weapon in Cutter's
dead hand - to abruptly end the film
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Cutter's Heroic Ride to the Death in a Doomed Effort
to Kill J.J. Cord
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Bone's Killing of Cord with the Gun in Cutter's Hand
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Fiesta Days Parade
Gigolo/Beach Bum Richard Bone Shaving
Bone Witnessing Sex-Crime Victim Body-Dumping
Cutter's Wife Mo Speaking with Husband
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Cyrano de Bergerac (1990,
Fr.)
In director Jean-Paul Rappeneau's romance drama:
- the balcony scene of long-nosed, bulky swordsman
Cyrano de Bergerac's (Oscar-nominated Gerard Depardieu) recitation
of poetry to his love Roxane (Anne Brochet) who was above on her
balcony - while coaching gallant but inarticulate soldier Christian
de Neuvillette (Vincent Perez)
- during Cyrano's words, she became
suspicious: ("But why are your words so hesitant? Why?");
Cyrano took over the dialogue: ("It's dark...They grope
in the darkness looking for your ear...It's normal they should find
their way. For it's upon my heart they prey. My heart is large whereas
your ear is small. Besides, your words slip down speedily along the
wall. Mine are heavy like fruit on a bough");
then when she realized that his responses were more rapid ("They're
arriving faster now"), Cyrano told her: ("They're
now used to the exercise"); when she described how she was above
him ("I'm standing here in the skies"), he replied: ("One harsh
word from so high could make my heart die")
- Cyrano kept up the charade and refused to join her
in person; he told her he was using his "true voice" that
sounded altered to her: ("Let
us stay near but talk without seeing each other...It's quite wonderful
- in darkness. You see a cloak of blackness. I see a dress of summer
white. I'm but a shadow. You are a light. I'm using my true voice...
In this dark night which protects me, I can be myself")
- and
then Cyrano realized how he regretted deceptively pantomiming
his true love: ("It's a crime, in love, to play
this pantomime. There always has to come a moment. And I pity those
who know it not. When we a noble love attain but each pretty word
causes pain....All those, all those, all those which come. Everything,
I throw away. I'm stifling! I love you. This is no game! My heart
cries your name! I've loved you every passing day. Last year, on
the twelfth of May, you changed the style of your hair. I was dazzled
by its bright flare. Do you understand? Do you realize? Do you
feel my soul rise to the skies? Everything tonight is so wonderful,
so sweet. I speak, you listen. Me, at your feet! Even in my sweetest
dreams, I never planned on this. Now I must die.")
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Roxane
(Anne Brochet)
Christian de Neuvillette
(Vincent Perez)
Cyrano de Bergerac (Gerard Depardieu)
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