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Title Screen
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Movie Title/Year and Scene Descriptions |
Screenshots
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Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
- a fast-paced, mistaken-identity tale and screwball
comedy from satirist writer/director Preston Sturges
- the character of medically-excused and
humiliated Marines reject Woodrow Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) (for
hay fever), who was urged to return to his hometown - to his mother
(Georgia Caine) and his ex-girlfriend Libby (Ella Raines) (who
was engaged to marry wealthy 4-F reject Forrest Noble (Bill Edwards),
the son of the town's mayor); he would arrive with the fabricated
story that he was wounded in battle and honorably discharged; in
San Diego, he met up with a group of veteran Marines just returned
from Guadalcanal, led by conniving Sgt. Julius Heffelfinger (William
Demarest), who were supportive and accompanied him on the train
to his home, providing him with a uniform and medals to wear
- Woodrow's frenzied homecoming arrival in Oakridge,
California, where he was embarrassed to be met with a patriotic
hero's welcome (with a statue to be erected in the town square
to immortalize his service), with four marching brass bands (led
by an exasperated Reception Committee Chairman (Franklin Pangborn)),
and Mayor Noble (Raymond Walburn), Judge Dennis (Jimmy Conlin),
and ex-mayoral candidate Doc Bissell (Harry Hayden) there to greet
him
- the burning of Woodrow's mother's mortgage note
by the Reverend Upperman (Arthur Hoyt)
- Woodrow's pleadings that he didn't deserve the accolades
and was not a hero, interpreted by the townsfolk as humility
- Woodrow's concluding heartfelt speech - the best
scene in the film - when he confessed to the deceptions ("If I
could reach as high as my father's shoestrings, my whole life
would be justified - and I would stand here before you proudly instead of as the thief and the coward that I am"); he was ready
to leave (when it was discovered that he was a fraud and was discharged
a year earlier), but was bolstered by a new effort to have him
run as Mayor in an upcoming election because of his courageous
honesty ("WIN WITH WOODROW")
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Half Baked (1998)
- the 'Munchie Run' scene of kindergarten teacher
Kenny Davis (Harland Williams) who was commissioned to go buy lots
of junk food at a grocery store by his stoned roommates - Brian
(Jim Breuer) instructed:
"Get some sour cream and onion chips with some dip, man, some
beef jerky, some peanut butter. Get some Häagen-Dazs ice cream
bars, a whole lot, make sure chocolate, gotta have chocolate, man.
Some popcorn, red popcorn, graham crackers, graham crackers with
marshmallows, the little marshmallows and little chocolate bars
and we can make s'mores, man....Also, celery, grape jelly, uh,
Cap'n Crunch with the little Crunch berries, pizzas. We need two
big pizzas, man, everything on 'em, with water, whole lotta water,
and Funyons"; Thurgood Jenkins (Dave Chappelle) added: "Get
me a box of condoms, and, uhm, what's that stuff? We used to eat
it all the time back in the day? Pussy, that's right"
- after his shopping expedition, Kenny was carrying
two large grocery bags of junk food and two pizza
boxes; he spoke to an NYPD cop's tired, diabetic horse tied
up outside the store: "Hey,
girl! Ya hungry?" -
but a black, overweight passerby (Jenni Burke) misinterpreted that
he was speaking to her and felt insulted: "F--k you, nigger!";
he responded: "Hey, I'm
sorry! I was talkin' to the horse here"
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The Hangover (2009)
- director Todd Phillips' vulgar, obscenity-filled,
absurdist quasi-comedy/bromance caper was the first of an eventual
trilogy, including The Hangover Part II (2011), and The
Hangover Part III (2013)
- the first installment told about the outlandish
adventures of four guys in "Sin City" Las Vegas in
mid-October of 2009 during two nights of a debauched bachelor
party and its aftermath, to celebrate the imminent wedding of
one of them:
- Alan Garner (Zach Galifianakis), the
bride's socially-awkward, perverted and bearded brother
suffering from ADHD, brother of the fiancee Tracy
- Phil Wenneck (Bradley Cooper), a married
schoolteacher, the "Wolfpack" leader
- Doug Billings (Justin Bartha), the bridegroom,
soon to be married to Tracy Garner (Sasha Barrese), daughter
of wealthy Sid Garner (Jeffery Tambor)
- Stu Price (Ed Helms), a nervous and anxious
Jewish dentist (Divine Dentistry), in a three-year relationship
with a mean, controlling, bitchy and abusive live-in girlfriend
Melissa (Rachael Harris)
"The Wolfpack"
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover4.jpg)
Alan Garner
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover3.jpg)
Doug Billings
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover5.jpg)
Phil Wenneck
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover6.jpg)
Stu Price
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- before the film's opening title credits, the film
actually began with a phone call placed in the Mohave Desert
from Phil to Doug's fiancee Tracy only five hours before her
wedding, with the confession about their screwed-up bachelor
party in Vegas: "We f--ked up...Things got out of control
and, uh, we lost Doug....We can't find Doug!"; given the
circumstances, Phil predicted that the wedding couldn't possibly
take place: "That's not gonna happen"
- in a flashback to two days earlier, the foursome
assembled together and drove to Vegas in Tracy's father's borrowed,
silver 1965 Mercedes 220SE convertible for a 48 hour bacchanalia;
they booked a spacious, luxury hotel "Villa" at Caesars
Palace for $4,200 dollars a night; they began the night by celebrating
with a rooftop toast with shots of Jägermeister beer; Alan
(with a "satchel" or "manpurse"
strapped across his shoulder) announced their new nickname - the "Wolfpack" - "Four
of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking
for strippers and cocaine. So tonight, I make a toast!"; to
their shock, Alan cut his hand with a knife to become "blood
brothers," but the others refused to follow suit; Phil spoke
about their collective memory - and stressed that they must keep
completely mum about their time together: "Forget everything....OK,
good or bad. We don't remember so we got nothing to talk about. Nothing,
guys, nothing!"; he toasted:
"To a night we'll never remember, but the four of us will never
forget"
- the following dawn after a fast-forward, Phil's
words rang somewhat true - they awoke in their spacious, now-wrecked
and upended hotel villa, with severe hangovers and no memory of
what had occurred the night before; their suite was completely
littered and trashed; in view was a smoldering chair, champagne
bottles set up like bowling pins at the end of a hallway, a clucking
chicken, Stu with a slightly bloodied shirt, and a growling tiger
in the bathroom; a female appeared to sneak out of the room without
disturbing any sleeping occupants; when he was awakened, Phil asked: "What
the f--k happened last night?"
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover9.jpg)
Stu's Missing Tooth
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Bengal Tiger in the Bathroom
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- Stu realized he was now missing a front tooth
(found shortly later in Alan's pocket), and both Doug and his
mattress was missing from the room; and then they heard a crying
baby in a closet that Alan named Carlos; the threesome began
a search for the missing Doug; they remembered the rooftop toasts,
dinner at the Palm at about 10 PM, and craps at the Hard Rock,
but then everything went blank for about 12 hours; Stu had an
ATM receipt from the Bellagio Hotel Casino at 11:05 PM for an
$800 withdrawal, and Alan had a Caesar's valet parking stub (stamped
5:15 AM), while Phil realized he was wearing a hospital arm-band
or bracelet; as they waited for the delivery of their valet car,
they saw Doug's mattress impaled outside on the arm of a Caesars
Palace statue; and when the valet service brought their car,
the Mercedes had been swapped with a stolen Las Vegas Metro Police
cruiser
- the threesome first retraced their steps to the
hospital at about noon-time where they questioned the doctor who
remembered that the foursome had arrived at 2:45 AM without a baby;
Phil was treated for a non-life threatening head concussion and
bruised ribs, and a blood work test revealed he had a large amount
of Ruphylin (or Rohypnol) (aka "roofies" or the "date-rape"
drug) in his system
- the doctor suggested that they visit Vegas' THE
BEST LITTLE CHAPEL because they had talked about a wedding; the
chapel's wedding organizer Eddie (Bryan Callen) warmly greeted
them and with official photos of the ceremony to prove it, he told
how Stu had been married and hitched up with a stripper/escort
named Jade (Heather Graham) who was the single mother of baby Tyler
found in their suite's closet
- as they were leaving the parking lot, they were
violently assaulted by two Asian thugs who demanded the return
of some person ("Where the hell is he?"), smashed the
windshield, and accidentally wounded Eddie with gunfire; they sped
off in the cruiser to Jade's apartment where she was happy to see
Stu and her baby again; after her late night work at the strip
club, she had been in the "Villa" with them in the early
morning when they were all passed out, but after leaving for coffee,
she returned and they had vacated the room; Stu became perturbed
when he noticed that he had given Jade a ring to wear - his grandmother's
'Holocaust' ring; Alan wondered: "I didn't know they gave
out rings at the Holocaust"
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Jade Happily Reunited With Stu and Her Baby
Tyler
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- the group was interrupted by two arresting police
officers who barged into the apartment with guns drawn and took
them in handcuffs to a police station; with his one phone call,
Phil called Tracy and lied that they had been 'comped' an extra
night and would be staying two nights at the hotel, although
the wedding was the next day; they were told by Officer Franklin
(Rob Riggle) that their impounded Mercedes vehicle had been found
in the middle of Las Vegas Blvd at 5:00 AM; to avoid being jailed
until a hearing before a judge on Monday morning (after the wedding),
they agreed to volunteer to be tasered by stun-guns as test subjects
for a touring group of schoolchildren, to demonstrate how the
police subdued suspects (the sadistic Officer after Phil was
felled: "Right in the nuts! That was beautiful")
- as they drove back to the hotel in their released
Mercedes from the impound yard, they were again attacked by a strange,
naked, feisty and gay Asian gangster Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong) who
was discovered locked in their Mercedes' trunk; he jumped out and
began beating them up with a crowbar; as the naked guy (with a
small penis hidden in massive amounts of pubic hair) wielded the
weapon and threatened Alan, Alan shouted out: "Nobody's gonna
f--k on you! I'm on your side! I hate Godzilla! I hate him too!
I hate him! He destroys cities! Please! This isn't your fault.
I'll get you some pants"; Alan was also struck with the crowbar
before Chow ran off
- feeling guilty, Alan admitted how he had drugged
the rooftop drinks with "Good Morning, Cinderella" -
what he thought was Ecstasy that he had bought at a liquor store
- but it was a strong drug known as Ruphylin that had completely
wiped their memories; Stu was upset at the results the drugs had
brought for him: "I lost a tooth, I married a whore"
- back at the hotel, they were confronted by legendary
boxer Mike Tyson (Himself) and his bodyguard; the boxer first encouraged
them to briefly join him in a sing-along to Phil Collins' In
the Air Tonight, but suddenly punched out Alan; the angry bodyguard
demanded that they return Tyson's pet Bengal tiger (in their bathroom)
that had been stolen from Tyson's mansion - within 40 minutes time
- by nightfall, the tiger was tranquilized with a
raw steak (spiked with 5 roofies) and driven in the backseat of
the Mercedes to Tyson's home, but during the trip, the animal awakened
and clawed Phil's neck before the three managed to scramble out
of the car after some fender-benders; as they pushed the car to
Tyson's home a mile away, the tiger completely ripped apart the
car's interior; security camera footage confirmed that the foursome
(including Doug) had kidnapped the leashed animal at 3:30 AM and
put it in their stolen police cruiser; Tyson approved of the theft: "Nice,
high-five that one"
- on their return trip to the hotel, the now-clothed
Chow with some Asian gang members broad-sided their vehicle with
their SUV; he demanded: "I want my purse back, assholes" -
referring to $80,000 dollars of stolen Bellagio casino poker chips
(eventually discovered in Doug's purse); he then accused the group
of kidnapping him and putting him in the car trunk; the gangsters
revealed that they had a head-covered hostage in the SUV (the guys
wrongly assumed it was Doug!), and gave a deadline of sunrise to
return the money to Big Rock in the Mojave Desert, in exchange
for the hostage
- that night Alan cheated at blackjack (by counting
cards, but evaded being caught for illegally gambling) to win the
$82,400 that was to be used for the exchange in the desert, but
when the hood was removed from the hostage's head, it wasn't Doug
(Alan: "The Doug we're looking for is a white"), but
an African-American who was called: "Black Doug" (Mike
Epps) - he was the drug-dealer in the liquor store who had sold
Alan the bad "roofies" advertised as Ecstasy, and he
had hung out with the group shooting craps at the Bellagio
- --- the flashback ENDED!! -- the scene returned
to the frantic phone call to Tracy about the missing Doug
- as they raced back to their hotel room, Stu surmised
that Doug - on the rooftop - had tried to signal his whereabouts
by throwing his mattress onto a statue below; he had to have been
on the roof, since the windows were inoperable in any of the rooms;
they discovered that Doug was severely sunburned and trapped for
a day and a half on the roof of Caesar's Palace; Stu remembered
that Doug had originally been moved there as a practical joke
- they checked out of the hotel, and before leaving
Stu made plans to meet up with Jade for a dinner date the following
weekend; the group drove the beaten-up, ruined Mercedes back home
to Los Angeles in only three and a half hours, during which time
Doug found the $80,000 in chips in his pocket; on the freeway,
they were tossed wrapped-up packages with phone-ordered tuxs from
The Tux Shop before arriving late, but just in time for Doug to
marry Tracy
- during the outdoor celebratory reception, it was
long overdue for Stu to drop his demanding girlfriend Melissa in
front of a large audience, when he admitted he had joined his friends
in Vegas: ("I think, in a healthy relationship, sometimes
a guy should be able to do what he wants to do...You're such a
bad person! Like, all the way through to your core!"), and
that he knew she had cheated on him with a bartender during last
June's cruise; after the wedding, Doug was pleasingly shocked and
relieved when told that his new bride's father had gifted him the
Mercedes (not knowing it was destroyed)
- Stu's discarded digital camera found by Alan in
the back seat of the car revealed what had happened during the
previous night - ("Some of it's even worse than we thought")
- the group decided to view the pictures together only one time
- "and then we delete the evidence"
- there were hilarious out-takes in the final credits
sequence (to the tune of Flo Rida's and Kesha's Right Round);
the images included Alan passed out next to a topless female, enjoying
a lap dance and also having his fat belly pierced; Stu and Phil
also cavorted with strippers and lap dancers, and Stu had pulled
out one of his front teeth with a pair of pliers as part of a dare
from Alan; the group played craps at the Bellagio casino and brought
Phil to the hospital with a concussion
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover28.jpg)
Stu with Strippers
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover29.jpg)
Stu with Jade
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/photos/hangover8.jpg)
Stu's Pulled Out Tooth With Pliers
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover32.jpg)
Gambling at the Craps Table
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover34.jpg)
Alan's Piercing At a Tattoo Parlor
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover35.jpg)
Phil in the Hospital
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover2.jpg)
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover.jpg)
Opening Scene: Distressed Phone Call by Phil in the Desert to Bride-to-Be
Tracy: "We lost Doug"
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover7.jpg)
Vegas Rooftop Toast
Alan Garner's Prepared Speech About Their New Nickname: "The
Wolfpack"
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover10.jpg)
Doug's Impaled Bed Mattress on a Caesars Palace Statue
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover11.jpg)
Caesars Palace Valet Service: Their Stolen Police Cruiser
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover12.jpg)
The Best Little Chapel
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover13.jpg)
Stu's Marriage Ceremony to Jade (Heather Graham)
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover14.jpg)
Wedding Photos
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover15.jpg)
Asian Gangster-Thug Threatening: "Where the hell is
he?"
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover19.jpg)
Officer Franklin Encouraging a Schoolchild to Taser Phil
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover20.jpg)
Naked, Gay Asian Leslie Chow In Trunk of Mercedes Attacking
Phil
Real-Life Boxer Mike Tyson (Himself) in Their Hotel "Villa" During
Sing-Along to "In the Air Tonight"
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover21.jpg)
Tiger Awakening in Back Seat of Mercedes
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover22.jpg)
Mercedes Broad-Sided by Chow's Large SUV
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover23.jpg)
Alan Card-Counting at Bellagio Casino
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover24.jpg)
The "Black Doug" Hostage
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover25.jpg)
Doug Found Sun-burned on the Hotel Rooftop
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover26.jpg)
The Arrival of the Disheveled Group in the Smashed Mercedes
![](http://www.filmsite.org/amazcovers/hangover27.jpg)
Viewing the Digital Camera Images of What Had Happened
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Happy Gilmore (1996)
- the opening credits sequence of Happy Gilmore (Adam
Sandler) in a lengthy voice-over explaining why he was destined
to play hockey:
"My name is Happy Gilmore. Ever since I was old enough to
skate, I loved hockey. I wasn't really the greatest skater though.
But that didn't stop my dad from teaching me the secret of smacking
the greatest slap shot. My dad worshipped hockey, my mom didn't.
That's why she moved to Egypt, where there's not a hockey rink
within 1500 miles. Dad always took me to games to cheer for our
favorite player, Terry O'Reilly, the Tasmanian Devil. He wasn't
the biggest guy in the league, but he feared nobody, just like
me. Handsome fella, huh? He always said that when I grew up, I
could be anything I wanted to be, but I never wanted to be anything
but a hockey player. Yeah, my childhood was goin' great, but life
is full of surprises. After the funeral, I was sent to live with
my grandma in Waterbury. I was kinda nervous since I really didn't
know her that well, but she dressed like Gene Simmons from KISS
to cheer me up. She's the sweetest person in the world. See after
my dad died, I developed kinda a short fuse. That kid right
there just stole my party blower, and instead of askin' for it
back, I felt I had to belt him in the head a bunch of times
with a hammer. Look at me go. But most of the time, I was
quick to say I was sorry. During high school, I played junior hockey
and still hold two league records; most time spent in the penalty
box, and I was the only guy to ever take off his skate and try
to stab somebody. After I graduated, I had a lot of different jobs;
I was a road worker, a janitor, a security guard, a gas station
attendant, and a plumber. Lately, I've been workin' construction.
It's not a bad racket. I'm a pretty good shot with a nail gun,
but, uh, one day my boss, Mr. Larson, uh, got in the way. Apparently
he also has a short fuse. Look at that monster. He got a few lucky
punches in there, but I still feel I won the fight. Anyways, those
jobs weren't for me. I was put on this planet for one reason -
to play hockey"
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Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
- in this comedy about two stoners driving
to a White Castle, the scene of Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar
Patel (Kal Penn) picking up hitchhiking, high-on-ecstasy, very
horny Neil Patrick Harris (as Himself but out of character), and
Kumar's question about his role as Doogie Howser M.D. on TV: "So,
I gotta ask you Neil, did you ever get it on with Wanda off the
set?" -
he replied: "Dude,
I humped every piece of ass ever on that show" except then
he clarified that he didn't go all the way with the "hot
nurse"
- Harris offered a suggestion: "Dude, I don't even
know where the f--k I am right now. I was at this party earlier
tonight and some guy hooked me up with this incredible "X" - next
thing I know, I'm being thrown out of a moving car. I've been trippin'
balls ever since...Forget White Castle, let's go get some pussy!...It's
a f--king sausage fest in here, bros. Let's get some poontang,
then we'll go to White Castle...I've been craving burgers, too.
Furburgers. Come on, dudes, let's pick up some trim at a strip
club. The Doogie line always works on strippers. (singing) Lapdance..."
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Harold and Maude (1971)
- the character of troubled and morbid 20 year-old
introverted rich kid Harold (Bud Cort) who staged many very
realistic, elaborately-faked suicides (hanging by a noose, cut
wrists and throat, immolation, shooting, stabbing, drowning,
etc.) for his desperate, widowed, socialite domineering mother
Mrs. Chasen's (Vivian Pickles) (Vivian Pickles) 'benefit' (and
her typical reaction: "I suppose
you think that's very funny") - often in front of dates
arranged by her
- his pretending to chop off his own left hand at
the wrist with a meat cleaver during a dry, boring brunch with
her and Edith Phern (Shari Summers), and his later, deadly and
precisely-asked question: "Do you.. like ...knives?"
- the funny scene in which Harold's over-bearing,
match-making mother filled out his computer dating service questionnaire
for him: ("Did you enjoy life when you were a child?" -- "Oh
yes, you were a wonderful baby, Harold"), while he calmly
loaded a revolver to commit fake suicide, and her continual efforts
to set up Harold on blind dates after "bride interviews"
- Harold's unlikely love affair with 79 year old
funeral-loving, free-spirited Maude (Ruth Gordon) - a concentration-camp
survivor that he first met at a stranger's funeral service --
Harold drove a hearse
- Harold's response to his ineffectual and detached
psychiatrist's query about what he did for fun and enjoyment:
"I go to funerals" - with eccentric and free-spirited
79 year-old soulmate Maude
- the scenes of Maude stealing a car and evading
a motorcycle cop
- Harold's talk with hawkish, crazed, one-armed
Uncle Victor (Charles Tyner), "General MacArthur's right-hand
man," who recommended that he sign up for Army boot camp
immediately, to "take on a man's job": "Now, that's
what this country needs - more Nathan Hales"
- the incredible scene when Harold performed harakiri in
front of his drama student date Sunshine Doré (Ellen Geer)
who also unwittingly acted out the tragic scene from Romeo
and Juliet with her dagger finding its sheath in her chest
- Harold's growing admiration for Maude: (Harold: "You
sure have a way with people." Maude: "Well, they're
my species!")
- the scene of a priest's (Eric Christmas) impassioned
warning to Harold about having sex with an elderly person: ("I
would be remiss in my duty if I did not tell you that the idea
of intercourse: and the fact of your firm, young body
co-mingling with the withered flesh, sagging breasts and flabby
buttocks, makes me want to vomit")
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Harvey (1950)
- the film's entire premise: eccentric and cheerful,
often inebriated and 42 year-old dipsomaniac Elwood P. Dowd (James
Stewart) had an invisible friend (identified as a "pooka" or
mischievous Celtic-Irish spirit of mythology - "a fairy
spirit in animal form") - a giant 6 foot three-and-a-half-inch
rabbit named Harvey that accompanied him everywhere; he
was oblivious that he was an embarrassment to his family and
that others couldn't see his furry white friend
![](http://www.filmsite.org/morepics/harvey.jpg)
Elwood P. Dowd (James Stewart) (with Harvey) in
Front of His Estate
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/morepics/harvey2.jpg)
(l to r): Elwood's Older Sister Veta (Josephine
Hull) and Her Unmarried Daughter Myrtle (Victoria Horne), Elwood's
Niece
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- Elwood had obviously become an embarrassment to
his family, including Elwood's eccentric older sister Mrs. Veta
Louise Dowd Simmons (Josephine Hull), and Veta's unmarried daughter
Myrtle Mae Simmons (Victoria Horne) - Elwood's niece; Elwood
was being accused of continually driving people away due to his
lunacy, and causing his family members to feel "disgraced" and
become social outcasts, while preventing Myrtle from meeting
eligible young men
- as Elwood walked about town, he carefully guided
Harvey across a busy street, causing befuddlement amongst townfolk
who saw him talking presumably to himself (they couldn't see
his large furry white friend); he often spent time drinking in
Charlie's Bar, where he ushered Harvey to a seat at the bar;
the bartender Mr. Cracker (Dick Wessel) humored Elwood by acknowledging
his friend and accepting his strange behavior
![](http://www.filmsite.org/morepics/harvey3.jpg)
Elwood Entering Charlie's Bar with Harvey
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/filmfotos/harvey.jpg)
Elwood with Harvey Inside Charlie's Bar
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- although Veta questioned Elwood's sanity, she surprisingly
and ironically occasionally could see Harvey and acknowledged his presence
- Veta led efforts to get Elwood committed to an insane asylum,
Chumley's Rest, run by Dr. William Chumley (Cecil Kellaway); she convinced
Elwood to join her in a drive to the front of the gated institution; while
sitting in the backseat next to Harvey in a taxi driven by Henry Riley
(Norman Leavitt), the delusionally-lunatic Elwood caused confusion when
he spoke to Harvey: - Elwood "Charming place, isn't it, Harvey?" -
Henry: "Name's Henry." - Elwood: "It's Henry, Harvey." -
Henry: "No, just plain Henry."
- at the sanitarium, the frazzled Veta spoke to Nurse Miss
Ruth Kelly (Peggy Dow), and to attending young assistant physician Dr.
Lyman Sanderson (Charles Drake) in his office; Veta insisted:
"I want him committed out here permanently because I cannot
stand another day of that Harvey!"; due to her absurd insinuations
about her brother and a rabbit, she ashamedly admitted: "Every
once in a while, I see this big white rabbit myself! Now, isn't that
terrible! And what's more, he's every bit as big as Elwood says he
is!"; thinking that she was a mental case herself, Dr. Sanderson
decided to immediately admit Veta for treatment instead of Elwood; white-coated
orderly Marvin Wilson (Jesse White)
was ordered to seize her, and he forcibly carried her over his shoulder
to the upstairs ward
- shortly later, Dr. Chumley realized that Dowd was actually
the insane one, so a town-wide search commenced
for Elwood to return him to Chumley's; four hours later, Elwood
was eventually tracked down to Charlie's Bar but found alone; he asserted
to Dr. Sanderson: "Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years,
Doctor. And I'm happy to state I finally won out over it"; he
claimed that he had spoken with Dr. Chumley, but the doctor had wandered
off with Harvey after several rounds of martinis to another joint;
the pleasant and sane-sounding Dowd recalled how he seemed to be
able to magically convince Dr. Chumley of Harvey's existence ("At
first, Dr. Chumley seemed a little frightened of Harvey, but that
gave way to admiration as the evening wore on")
- Wilson arrived with a policeman and they grabbed Elwood
to take him back to the sanitarium; back at the hospital, a disheveled,
frazzled and slightly paranoid Dr. Chumley (who feared that he was being
followed by the invisible presence of Harvey) arrived on foot, entered,
and was there to meet privately with "crackpot" Dowd in his office
- Chumley had obviously taken a liking to Harvey, and requested
that Harvey be allowed to stay with him for a while (presumably so he could
experience a fanciful dream trip to Ohio); Dowd had told him about Harvey's
miraculous powers - he could stop time and
miraculously send anyone to a destination: "Did I tell you he
could stop clocks?... Well, you've heard the expression 'His face would
stop a clock'? Well, Harvey can look at your clock and stop it. And
you can go anywhere you like, with anyone you like, and stay as long
as you like. And when you get back, not one minute will have ticked
by....You see, science has overcome time and space. Well, Harvey has
overcome not only time and space, but any objections"
- Dr. Chumley described his own perfect, therapeutic two-week
destination: Akron, OH, to visit a "cottage camp" in a beautiful
grove of maple trees, accompanied by cold beer and a pretty, strange, but
quiet woman - who after listening to his deepest, locked-up secrets would
call him a "poor, poor thing"
- as the film concluded, Veta at first complained that Dowd
had refused a cure for his rabbit-hallucinations (by an injection
of a serum known as "Formula 977"): "I don't think
I'd care for it") over Veta's objections ("I wish there might
never be another tomorrow! Not if Myrtle Mae and I have to go on living
with that rabbit! Our friends never come to see us anymore. We have no
social life whatever! We've no life at all. We're both perfectly miserable";
but then to please
his older sister, Dowd politely agreed to take the treatment in Dr. Sanderson's
office
- when Veta clearly realized that Dowd's cure would be worse
than his ailment (he would negatively change and revert back to "a
perfectly normal human being, and you know what stinkers they are"),
she intervened to stop the injection
- Harvey briefly remained behind
with Dr. Chumley (who asked: "Have you ever been to Akron?"),
but after an instantaneous trip of two weeks to Akron, Harvey rejoined
Elwood as he walked out of the hospital's gates toward the bus stop; the
two followed behind Veta and Myrtle as they headed into the sunrise, as
Elwood responded to Harvey: "Well, thank you, Harvey. I prefer you
too"
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Elwood Speaking to Harvey in the Backseat of a Taxi
![](http://www.filmsite.org/morepics/harvey8.jpg)
![](http://www.filmsite.org/morepics/harvey9.jpg)
Veta Wrongly Admitted to Chumley's Rest Sanitarium Instead
of Elwood - Kicking and Screaming
Elwood Admiring a Painting of His Invisible Friend-Companion
Harvey
![](http://www.filmsite.org/morepics/harvey15.jpg)
Dowd's Description of Harvey's Miraculous Powers
to Dr. Chumley in His Office
![](http://www.filmsite.org/morepics/harvey16.jpg)
Dr. Chumley's Description of a Dream Trip to Akron, Ohio
![](http://www.filmsite.org/morepics/harvey17.jpg)
All of the Major Characters Back at Chumley's Rest Hospital in the Film's Conclusion
![](http://www.filmsite.org/morepics/harvey20.jpg)
Ending Image: Elwood Walking with Harvey To the Bus Stop
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Heaven Can Wait (1978)
- an updated version of Here
Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
- a story about Los Angeles Rams quarterback Joe
Pendleton (Warren Beatty) who returned to earth (after a premature
death due to an error by heavenly escort (Buck Henry)) in the
body of a recently-murdered and eccentric billionaire Leo Farnsworth
- his dilemma: faced with his chief assistant Tony
(Charles Grodin) and Leo's scheming wife Julia (Dyan Cannon)
- lovers who were plotting to murder him!
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High Anxiety (1977)
In Mel Brooks' hilarious comedy - a satirical parody
of famous moments and scenes from various Hitchcock films - and
his fourth spoof film after Blazing Saddles
(1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), and Silent
Movie (1976):
- the lead starring role of Richard H. Thorndyke
(Brooks himself) as a Hitchcock prototype (a wrongly-accused
innocent man on the run) - a psychiatrist with acrophobia, and
the newly-appointed head of the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for
the Very, Very Nervous
- the scene of Thorndyke's airport arrival,
when an overly aggressive, screaming woman (Pearl Shear) rushed
at him, but she was only greeting her husband Harry, and Thorndyke's
assessment of everything highlighted by strident orchestral music: "What
a dramatic airport!"
- Thorndyke's photography-obsessed chauffeur Brophy
(Ron Carey) ("I love to take pictures. I'm very photogenic"),
who during their drive on an LA freeway, revealed the reason for
the death of Thorndyke's predecessor: "I think Dr. Ashley
was the victim of - foul play" - with a swelling of dramatic
music on the soundtrack, accompanied by the anachronistic view
of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra playing on a bus next to
them (the gag revealed the difference between a non-diegetic scoring
cue and a diegetic one - one heard by the characters)
- the devious character of Nurse Charlotte Diesel
(Cloris Leachman) and her pointy-breasted white uniform and manly
mustache (introduced by Dr. Charles Montague (Harvey Korman) as "my
right-hand man, woman"), who had strict rules: "Those
who are tardy (to dinner) do not get fruit cup" - she doubled
as a sadistic, Neo-Nazi dominatrix, with whom Montague later had
a closet spanking session: (Montague: "I know you better than
you know yourself. You live for bondage and discipline. Too much
bondage, not enough discipline")
- Thorndyke's own tooth-brushing tutorial delivered
to his own mirror image as he brushed his teeth: ("Up and
down. Up and down. Side, side, side, side, side. In and out. In
and out. Side, side, side, side, side (repeated)")
- the psychiatrist's explanation for Thorndyke's high
anxiety over acrophobia - with a flashback to his infancy and his
abusive parents, and his insight in an epiphany: "It's not
height I'm afraid of. It's parents!"
- the classic spoof scenes: an attack in a shower
(stabbed by an angry bellhop (Barry Levinson) with a rolled-up
newspaper and newspaper ink - not blood - running down the drain,
and Thorndyke's quip: "That boy gets no tip"), a scatalogical
scene involving a massive horde of pigeons on a park's jungle-jim
that chased (and pooped) on Thorndyke
- Thorndyke's awkward speech to a psychiatric convention
in San Francisco, when asked about his use of the term "Penis
envy"; with two young children in the audience, he had to
modify his terms, using "pee-pee envy",
"balloons" (for breasts), "number one or cocky-doody" (terms
related to toilet training), and the "woo-woo" (for the "female
erogenous zone" or womb): "As I was saying, in a world
of predominantly male-oriented psychology, it was only natural to
arrive at the term, pee - Pee, 'Peepee envy'"
- the copy-catting of Hitchcock's filming style or
camera angles - a through-the-door tracking shot into a dining
room that crashed through the windowed doors, a low-angle shot
looking up through a glass coffee table, but obstructed by a carafe,
saucers, etc., an overhead shot in a padded cell (with all the
actors suddenly looking up at the camera), and another backwards-moving
traveling shot in the final honeymoon scene that literally broke
through the wall
- the obscene phone call scene, when Thorndyke was
placing a phone booth call to his love interest Victoria Brisbane
(Madeline Kahn), a patient's wealthy daughter, and he was attacked
from behind by assassin "Braces" (Rudy DeLuca) (a take-off
on Bond's
"Jaws"); with the cord wrapped around his throat to strangle
him, all he could utter was "Ahhh," "Oooh," and
"Uuhh" - after resisting a little, Victoria interpreted
his words as kinky sex talk from an anonymous caller and responded: "How
did you, uhm, get my room number...What are you wearing?...You're
wearing jeans? I'll bet they're tight...Oh my God. You are an animal";
after he killed the attacker, he was able to speak to her, when she
backtracked: "I knew it was you all the time. I just went along
with it"
- the climactic tower scene (a replicated and parodied
amalgam of Vertigo and Spellbound) with Thorndyke
and Victoria caught on a crumbling staircase
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His Girl
Friday (1940)
- a classic comedy - and one of the most fast-paced
ever made, with numerous quips and wisecracks
- the frantic, overlapping whirlwind nature of the
sophisticated, fast-talking battle of the sexes dialogue (and
duel of wits) in the opening scene (and throughout the entire
film) between big-city newspaper editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant)
and his ex-reporter/ex-wife Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell);
his main goal was to keep Hildy from getting remarried to a country
bumpkin fiancee named Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy)
- Walter's first meeting with Bruce Baldwin, but
at first mistaking an older Mr. Davis in the office as Bruce
- classic one-liners such as Hildy's description
to Bruce of Walter's charm: "Well,
he comes by it naturally. His grandfather was a snake"
- the hilarious restaurant-luncheon scene with
Walter and Hildy's fiancee - the staid, dull, but devoted insurance
salesman Bruce, when Walter deliberately sat between the two
of them, and his unending conniving to find a way to dislodge
Hildy from her imminent marriage and stop the couple's impending
move to Albany to live in Bruce's mother's house; his words dripped
in irony as he amusedly commented: Walter
(sarcastically): "Oh, you're gonna live with your mother?...Oh,
that will be nice! Yes, yes, a home with mother - in Albany too!"
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Home Alone (1990)
- the scene of 8 year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay
Culkin) slapping too much after-shave to his cheeks - and screaming
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Horse
Feathers (1932)
- the opening scene of Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff's
(Groucho Marx) address to Huxley College faculty members and
students: ("... As I look over your eager faces, I can readily
understand why this college is flat on its back. The last college
I presided over, things were slightly different. I was flat on
my back. Things kept going from bad to worse but we all put our
shoulders to the wheel and it wasn't long before I was flat on
my back again")
- Wagstaff's opening musical number: "I'm
Against It"
- the sequence at a speakeasy where Wagstaff attempted
to guess doorman Baravelli's (Chico Marx) secret password ("swordfish")
- Pinky (Harpo Marx) providing a hot cup of coffee
from the inside of his coat for a bum on the street
- Pinky's scene with his horse blocking traffic
and a cop who wrote him a ticket
- the classic Biology classroom scene that degenerated
into a peashooter fight between Wagstaff and two unruly students
- Wagstaff's romancing and serenading of flirtatious "college
widow" Connie Bailey (Thelma Todd) with "Everyone Says
I Love You" - and their scene in a canoe on a duck pond
- and his response to her baby talk:
"If icky girl keep on talking that way, big stwong man's gonna
kick all her teef wight down her thwoat"
- the scene of the attempted kidnap of the two
star Darwin College athletes
- the climactic zany Huxley-Darwin football game
(partly inspired by the silent Harold Lloyd classic The Freshman
(1925)) involving audible football signals, banana peels,
an elastic band, and a chariot
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Hot Rod (2007)
- the character of inept, goofy, wanna-be moped-riding
stuntman Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) - with a fake mustache and daredevil
costume in his quest to be Evel Knievel - who was in a forest
setting (his "quiet place") dancing to the tune of Moving Pictures' Never;
in the big extended stunt scene while doing several impressive
flips, trampoline jumps, cartwheels, pummel-horse gymnastics moves,
and punch-dance routines, he careened over a huge log and suddenly,
he began tumbling down the steep mountain grade - FOREVER
- the scene of Rod and his half-brother Kevin Powell
(Jorma Taccone) discussing the proper pronunciation of his safe
word: 'whiskey'
- the bizarre "Cool Beans" pseudo
rap-song when Rod and Kevin together sang the words 'cool beans'
- the scene of Rod's hallucinatory "profound
out-of-body experience" (after a momentous crash during a
jump over 15 school buses) of a grilled cheese sandwich battling
against a taco in a heavenly setting; earlier, he had asked love
interest Denise (Isla Fisher) who would win such a contest and
she answered: 'Grilled cheese, but only in a fair
fight. If it's prison rules, I'd take the taco" -
he noted: "Wow,
that's pretty racist, but correct"; now, when he came to consciousness,
he told Denise: "Denise, you were right, the taco won"
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Howard the Duck (1986)
- the clever opening credits sequence set in Howard
T. Duck's Marshington DC apartment (3636 Lakeside Dr.) located
on a "duck" version of Earth (Duckworld), with duck-versions
of everything ("Rolling Egg" Magazine, a film poster
for "Breeders of the Lost Stork" with Indiana Drake,
Mae Nest and W.C. Fowls in a My Little Chickadee film
poster, Playduck Magazine, etc.)
- the sudden expulsion of Howard in his armchair
into outer space (and his landing in Cleveland)
- the scene of the interstellar duck Howard saving
the life of Beverly Switzler (Lea Thompson), a musician in a
struggling punk rock band known as Cherry Bomb, by declaring:
("That's it, no more Mr. Nice Duck"), and fighting
off mean street thugs with strange martial arts: ("Let the
female creature go! Every duck's got his limit, and you scum
have pushed me over the line...No one laughs at a master of quack-fu")
- the sequence of Howard the Duck having a "brewski"
at Beverly's apartment, and admitting that he was having an identity
crisis: ("What I don't know is what the hell I'm doing
here! It's like a bad trip. I mean, talk about an identity
crisis"), and then when he fell asleep, Beverly's peek
into his wallet, where she found his ID, photos, credit cards
(MallardCard and Bloomingducks), cash bills with a duck President,
and a condom!
- the hilarious scene in the Ohio Bureau of Employment
Services where Howard was advised about finding a job by a large
and outspoken counselor named Cora Mae (Virginia Capers) - warning
that she didn't like dealing with a "slacker" or "misfit" like
him: ("They think that by trapsing in here and looking outlandish,
they are not gonna be able to find work....Do you think that
by looking controversial, you is never gonna find a job and just
go on coIlecting unemployment and living happy on the public
dole. Well, dude, you've got another thing coming! Because Cora
Mae always places her interviewee. I'm gonna find your ass a
job that'll wipe that snarl right off your face, little - whatever
you is. In fact, I think I got just the position for you! I got
a feeling you're gonna take to this job like a duck to water")
- the strange seduction scene in Beverly's apartment
when Howard complimented her figure: ("I have developed
a greater appreciation for the female version of the human anatomy");
he joined her in bed to watch David Letterman on television,
as he suggestively remarked: ("Maybe it's not a man you
should be looking for"); she wondered: ("Do you think
I might find happiness in the animal kingdom, duckie?")
and he proposed: ("Like they say, doll, love's strange.
We could always give it a try. Hmm?"); she called his bluff
and began unbuttoning the front of Howard's shirt - as the feathers
in the middle of his head flared up: ("OK, let's go for
it, Mr. Macho...It's just that you're so incredibly soft and
cuddly...I just can't resist your intense animal magnetism");
he expressed his worry: ("Anyway, where will it all lead?
Marriage? Kids? A house in the suburbs?"), and as she began
to remove her blouse: ("Let's just face it, it's fate"),
he shied away from intimacy - but they shared a few short kisses,
seen in silhouette
- the long extended scenes (about getting Howard
back home with a reversed cosmic ray) involving multiple chase
scenes and lots of explosions, including Howard and scientist/janitor
Phil's (Tim Robbins) ride in an ultralight aircraft
- the character of researcher Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey
Jones) becoming possessed while driving: ("Listen, an evil
has landed. The world is in great danger...It feels like something
inside me gnawing at my guts! What's wrong with me?..The pain.
It's like I'm transforming inside. I'm afraid I'm about to become
something else...Something's growing inside me...It's replicating
and superceding all my internal organs!...That monster's shape
I saw...It's inside my body...The end of the world is coming,
and I will be the cause of it...I'm not Jenning any more. The
transformation is complete. I am now someone else")
- the scene in Joe Roma's Cajun Sushi restaurant,
when the waitress asked the possessed Dr. Jenning about his food
order: ("What do you think he'd like to eat?"), with
his reply: ("I no longer need human food...You are about
to witness the end of the old world and the birth of the new");
then he explained his transformation into the Dark Overlord:
("I told you, bird brain, I am not Jenning any more! I am
now one of the Dark Overlords of the universe... Tonight the
laser beam hit the Nexus of Sominus...It lies beyond the planets.
It is a region of demons to which we Dark Overlords were exiled
eons ago...Just as you were brought down here accidentally. Tonight,
the laser beam released me from that region of demons and pulled
me down into that lab...During the explosion, I entered Jenning's
body. So, I have disguised my true form which would be considered
hideous and revoIting here...This will mean the extinction of
all existing life forms...My powers are growing"); he then
showed them the code-key - that he would soon use that night
to activate the laser spectra scope to bring down the other Dark
Overlords; he ended with the threat: ("Soon the Dark Overlords
will engulf the Earth - Nothing human will remain here")
- and he soon destroyed much of the diner: ("If you can't
stand the heat, get out of the kitchen")
- and the scene of the possessed Dr. Jenning driving
a truck with Beverly as his hostage - and at one point - using
his extended tongue to extract power from the vehicle's dashboard
cigarette lighter; he then entered an Exhaust Emissions Testing
area, where he used a laser-beam blast from his eyes to obliterate
other cars - and then joked: "Smog inspection!"
- the sequence of the Dark Overlord of the Universe
(created by George Lucas' special effects division) transforming
into a monstrous scorpion-like creature
- Howard's coming to the saving rescue and defeating
the monstrous creature by blowing it to smithereens with an experimental "neutron
disintegrator" laser
- the film's conclusion with Howard (strumming a
red electric guitar) and Beverly on-stage and singing together: "Howard
the Duck"
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I |
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I'm No
Angel (1933)
- the film's opening - one-ring circus and sideshow
carnival barker's (Russell Hopton) tempting of a crowded audience,
and his introduction of carnival queen and dazzling international
small-time, vamp circus star performer Tira (Mae West) in a sequined,
tight-fitting gown: ("Over there, Tira, the beautiful Tira,
dancing, singing, marvel of the age, supreme flower of feminine
pulchritude, the girl who discovered you don't have to have feet
to be a dancer")
- Tira's sauntering entrance on the catwalk and her
purring to spectators to follow her behind the curtain: ("A
penny for your thoughts....Get the idea, boys....Ya follow me?")
- the final courtroom scene (Tira was wearing a floor-length
black gown and fur wrap), when she sued lover Jack Clayton (Cary
Grant) for breach of promise; she flirted with the judge, and asserted
her right to have lots of male acquaintances to her own lawyer: "Why
shouldn't I know guys? I've been around. I travel from coast to
coast. A dame like me can't make trips like that without meetin'
some of the male population"
- her self-defense when she acted as her own lawyer,
and at one point quipped: ("How'm I doin'?"); with her
hands on her hips, she sashayed in front of the male jury, and
cross-examined many male witnesses before having the case dismissed
- the courtroom scene ended with a risque one-liner
and memorable quip when she was asked why she knew so many men
in her life: "Well, it's not the men in your life that counts,
it's the life in your men"
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The In-Laws (1979)
- a light-hearted, odd-couple
comedy with the funny and unpredictable teaming
of the title's in-laws: respected, mildly neurotic NYC
dentist Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) and lunatic
but wily CIA agent Vince Ricardo (Peter Falk)
- all of Vince's wild tales, especially his one about
being in the Guatemalan jungle bush for nine months in the mid-1950s
on a consulting trip - with tse-tse flies the size of eagles that
carried off native children: "They
have tsetse flies down there the size of eagles....Really. In the
evening, I would stand in front of my hut and watch in horror as
these giant flies would pick children off the ground and carry
them away....Oh, it was an incredible sight. Peasants screaming,
chasing these flies down the road, waving brooms. You can imagine
the pathetic quality of this. Waving these crudely fashioned brooms
at these enormous flies as they carried their children off to
almost certain death...Flies - natives had a name for 'em. Jos
Grecos de Muertos. 'Flamenco dancers of death.'...The enormous
flies flapping slowly away into the sunset. Small brown babies
clutched in their beaks...A sight I'll never forget. I was stunned.
Appalled...Sadly, there is very little you can do because of
the tremendous red tape in the bush....Enormous red tape, Sheldon.
These flies, for example. They're protected against pilferage under
the provisions of the Guacamole Act of 1917"
- the wild adventure taken
by them from Manhattan to a Central American dictatorship (the
fictional Latin American republic of Tijada) where they were greeted
by Senator Jesus Braunschweiger (Eduardo Noriega), as Vince noted:
("They're all crooks down here. At least this one don't make any
bones about it"); suddenly the Senator was shot dead by snipers,
and Sheldon asked: "Is he dead?" Vince replied: "If he's alive,
he's puttin' on a hell of an act, ain't he?"; as they fled from
the random gunfire to escape, Vince yelled out that they should
not run in a straight line, but use a serpentine weaving pattern,
while retrieving the car keys from the dead man's pocket: "Serpentine
Shelly. Serpentine!"
- Tijada's leader: counterfeiter
General Garcia's (Richard Libertini) who proposed a new national
flag - a portrait of himself alongside a topless local native village
prostitute, with his complaint: "If it was not for the church,
this flag would already today be flying at the U.N. But
no, they stand in the way, THEY STAND IN THE WAY!"
- the firing
squad scene (with a chorus of sharpshooting executioners), when
Vince and Shelly demanded blindfolds and cigarettes, and Shelly's
dismay: "Oh,
oh, am I shot, am I shot?" - when gunfire was heard from a
rescue team of CIA agents
- the concluding scene at the wedding, when the two
in-laws were confronted by Vince's fellow CIA agent Barry Lutz
(Ed Begley, Jr.), who hadn't been formally invited; Shelly apologized: "It's
simple. We counted wrong, Bar...We just made a mistake....In the
counting of the invitations." And then Barry said that he
was only "ribbing"
them, and presented them with a $50 savings bond from the agency,
as the ceremony began - and a bi-plane trailing a "HAPPY WEDDING"
sign dropped balloons
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The Interview (2014)
- the conversation between talk show host Dave Skylark
(James Franco) and Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen), his show producer:
- Aaron: "What is there to be jealous of?"
- Dave: "F--kers hate us 'cause they ain't us!"
- Aaron: "They hate us 'cause we anus? What the f--k does an anus
have to do with this?"
- Dave: "They hate us 'cause they AIN'T us!"
- Aaron: "That's not what it is!"
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![](http://www.filmsite.org/shots/interview.jpg)
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It Happened
One Night (1934)
- the pursuit of spoiled runaway
heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) by recently-fired, scheming
and cocky newspaperman Peter Warne (Clark Gable) - a tale of two
mismatched individuals
- the "Walls of Jericho" scene when the
two were separated in their shared twin bedroom in an autocamp
by a clothesline and a blanket: (Peter: "Well, I like privacy
when I retire. Yes, I'm very delicate in that respect. Prying eyes
annoy me. Behold the walls of Jericho! Uh, maybe not as thick as
the ones that Joshua blew down with his trumpet, but a lot safer.
You see, uh, I have no trumpet"); she fled to her side when
he later warned: ("...you
got nothin' to worry about. The walls of Jericho will protect you
from the big bad wolf")
- Peter also provided a lesson on how men undress,
and bared his chest without an undershirt: "You know, it's
a funny thing about that. Quite a study in psychology. No two
men do it alike. You know, I once knew a man who kept his hat on
until he was completely undressed. Now he made a picture. Years
later, his secret came out. He wore a toupee. Yeah. I have a method
all my own. If you notice, the coat came first, then the tie, then
the shirt. Now, uh, according to Hoyle, after that, the, uh, pants
should be next. There's where I'm different..."
- and later, Peter's breakfast lesson on how to dunk
donuts and how real folks eat: ("Dunking's an art. Don't let
it soak so long. A dip and (he stuffed the donut in his mouth)
plop, in your mouth. Let it hang there too long, it'll get soft
and fall off. It's all a matter of timing. Aw, I oughta write a
book about it")
- the scene of their deception of two nosy private
investigators by impersonating a make-believe, quarreling married
couple - he berated her for flirting with a "big Swede" on
the Elks' dance floor and then insulted her: ("You're just
like your old man. Once a plumber's daughter, always a plumber's
daughter. There's not an ounce of brains in your whole family");
when the flabbergasted detectives left, the auto-camp manager commented: "I
told you they were a perfectly nice married couple"
- the thumb vs. show-some-leg hitchhiking technique
scene at the side of the road; Peter condescendingly lectured Ellie:
("It's all in that ol' thumb, see?...that ol' thumb never
fails. It's all a matter of how you do it, though"); after
a detailed lecture on the three proper and correct ways that common
people hail passing cars while thumb hitchhiking, he failed miserably
and she suggested her method: ("Oh, you're such a smart alec.
Nobody knows anything but you. I'll stop a car and I won't use
my thumb...It's a system all my own") - she provocatively
raised her skirt above the knee, exposing a shapely, stockinged
leg and garter - an immediately effective technique - the next
car screeched to a halt; she joked: ("Well, I proved once
and for all that the limb is mightier than the thumb"); he
quipped back: ("Why didn't you take off all your clothes?
You could have stopped forty cars")
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It's a
Gift (1934)
In director Norman Z. McLeod's very funny comedy:
- the hilarious grocery store sequences (with
a number of slapstick segments and sight gags) involving bumbling
New Jersey store owner Harold Bissonette (W. C. Fields) and
his incompetent store clerk Everett Ricks (Tammany Young)
- Bissonette's eccentric patrons included a disruptive
and grumpy Mr. Jasper Fitchmueller (Morgan Wallace) who kept
requesting
"ten pounds of kumquats - and I'm in a hurry", a cantankerous,
blind/deaf and destructive Mr. Muckle (Charles Sellon) - a house-detective
wearing sunglasses and wielding a cane, and Baby Ellwood Dunk
(Baby LeRoy) spreading molasses all over the floor; all the while,
Harold rushed around responding to an increasingly-exasperated
Mr. Fitchmueller, promising: "Coming, coming..."
- as Muckle approached the store, Bissonette screamed
out to Everett: "Open the door for Mr. Muckle" -
knowing that full-scale destruction of the store was about
to happen; unable to get to the closed front door in time to
open it, the irrascible old Muckle smashed its plate glass
window with his wildly waving cane, shouting out: "You
got that door closed again!"
- with an ear trumpet, the hard-of hearing Muckle
only purchased a stick of chewing gum after a prolonged, difficult
conversation with Harold - and then proceeded to destroy a
display of light bulbs that exploded as they dropped to the
floor; when leaving the store after demanding the delivery
of the gum, Muckle successfully smashed the other front door's
window on his way out, cheerfully adding: "Well, you got
that door closed again!"
- a later tour-de-force episode: the funny sequence
of the bedeviled Harold's continued attempts to peacefully
sleep on his faulty back porch swing while bothered by a milkman
and his rattling glass milk bottles (Harold requested:
"Please stop playing with those sleigh bells, will ya?"),
a coconut noisily bouncing down the steps, an insurance salesman
(T. Roy Barnes) looking for Carl LaFong, by Baby Dunk dropping
grapes on him ("Right on the proboscis!" and his exclamation: "Shades
of Bacchus!"), a chattering, sing-song repartee-conversation
between young Miss Abby Dunk (Diana Lewis) and her mother about
whether she should buy ipecac or syrup of squill for Baby Dunk,
a squeaky clothesline, and a noisy vegetable/fruit vendor (Jerry
Mandy)
- Harold's conversation with the salesman was
priceless:
- Salesman: Carl LaFong, Capital L, small a, capital F, small
o, small n, small g. LaFong. Carl LaFong.
- Harold: No. I don't know Carl LaFong - Capital L, small a,
Capital F, small o, small n, small g. And if I did know Carl
LaFong, I wouldn't admit it!
- the entire California trip sequence - Bissonette's
dreamland where he imagined owning an orange grove - including
their family picnic scene (not at a camp or picnic grounds,
but on the private lawn of an exclusive mansion) where they
littered everything with garbage and pillow feathers
- their arrival at Harold's property - located
in a disaster area - a dessicated section of sunbaked desert
land with a "Tobacco Road" ramshackle shack on it
- although due to good fortune, the worthless land was immediately
purchased by a developer for a race-track and grandstand for
a windfall amount of $44,000!- in the final scene, a triumphant,
vindicated and relaxed Harold was on the porch of his new prosperous
property: "Bissonette's
Blue Bird Oranges" where he was mixing screwdriver cocktails
and lazily reaching out and effortlessly plucking an orange
from a nearby lush tree
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It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World
(1963)
- an epic-length road-trip comedy known for its all-star
cast and its many quick-cut cameo performances, including Jack
Benny, the Three Stooges, Sterling Holloway, Andy Devine, Joe E.
Brown, Jerry Lewis, Don Knotts, Buster Keaton, Arnold Stang, Zasu
Pitts, and Carl Reiner among many others
- the film's premise: the mad-cap dash for $350,000
allegedly buried in Santa Rosita State Park near the Mexican border
under "The
Big W" - the cash was stolen from a tuna factory
15 years earlier by ex-convict "Smiler" Grogan
(Jimmy Durante), who literally "kicked the bucket" after
a car crash, but was able to reveal the treasure's location during
his last words: "Look, there's this
dough, see? There's all this dough, $350 Gs! Do you hear what I'm
sayin'? $350 Gs! In the park, in Rosita, Rosita Beach State Park
just south of Dago in Santa Rosita. It's in this box buried under
this...buried under this big W. You'll see it. You'll see it under
this, under this big W. Ya can't miss it, a big, a big W. And it's
been there, and it's been layin' there for 15 years....You just
drive down and dig it up. Dig it all up. And then, and then ya
fix yourselves all up. Fix yourselves all up. Walk down the street
like a king, back to the old neighborhood. See the fellas, the
dames, the dames, all with a big hello, a big hello for old Smiler.
Good old Smiler - everybody's friend"
- by plane, car, and other modes of transportation,
the various individuals and groups recklessly struggled to get
to Santa Rosita Park - for example, truck driver Lennie Pike (Jonathan
Winters) was stranded on a road with only a little girl's bike
to ride; there were multiple car crashes and chase sequences, plane
mishaps, the destruction of a gas station and hardware store, and
one car sank crossing a river
- the many unusual characters, including dim-witted,
life-guard son Sylvester Marcus (Dick Shawn), a mama's boy (with
his hip-swiveling, laconic girlfriend (Barrie Chase) to the song
"31 Flavors" - referring to kissing - performed by the Shirelles)
who promised to race to his loud-mouthed mother Mrs. Marcus (Ethel
Merman) instead of toward the treasure ("You
stay right there, because I'm coming, Mom. I'm coming to get you
right now, Mom")
- she called him "a big,
stupid, muscle-headed moron!" for not listening to her
- the conversation between businessman J. Russell
Finch (Milton Berle) and Britisher J. Algernon Hawthorne (Terry-Thomas),
who spoke out against America and its preoccupation with breasts: "I
should be positively astounded to hear of anything that could be
said for it. Why, the whole bloody place is the most unspeakable
matriarchy in the whole history of civilization! Look at yourself,
and the way your wife and her strumpet of a mother push you through
the hoop! As far as I can see, American men have been totally emasculated.
They're like slaves! They die like flies from coronary thrombosis,
while their women sit under hairdryers, eating chocolates and arranging
for every second Tuesday to be some sort of Mother's Day! And this
positively infantile preoccupation with bosoms. In all my time
in this wretched, God-forsaken country, the one thing that has
appalled me most of all is this preposterous preoccupation with
bosoms. Don't you realize that they have become the dominant theme
in American culture, in literature, advertising and all fields
of entertainment and everything? I'll wager you anything you like.
If American women stopped wearing brassieres, your whole national
economy would collapse overnight"
- the discovery of the meaning of "The Big W" -
four palm trees forming the letter W, and the digging up of the
treasure, soon stolen by Police Captain T.G. Culpeper (Spencer
Tracy) of Santa Rosita, culminating in many of the treasure-seekers
becoming stranded on a fire-escape of a condemned building during
the frenzied chase (and the people below were showered with the
cash), and individuals were flung in various directions during
a death-defying attempt to rescue them with a fire-truck's extension
ladder
- the hospital finale, where the injured and bandaged
(many in traction) talked about their fate; Culpeper told them
that everyone didn't have to worry because he would be getting
the harshest punishment: ("My wife is divorcing me. My mother-in-law
is suing me for damages. My daughter is applying to the courts
to have her name changed. My pension has been revoked. And the
only reason that you ten idiots will very likely get off lightly,
is because the judge will have me up there to throw the book at!...I'd
like to think that sometime, maybe 10 or 20 years from now, there'd
be something I could laugh at... Anything"); and then, Mrs.
Marcus marched into the hospital wing and slipped on a banana peel,
causing everyone to laugh uncontrollably, painfully, and hysterically
at the sight - even Culpeper joined in
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