Capturing a Golden Moment #8: North by Northwest

In this series I'd like to present some exceptional scenes inspired by cinema's most gifted artists of yesteryear.

North by Northwest (1959)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Scene: "The Auction"

Cary Grant cleverly gets himself out a jam in one of the master's best exercises in suspense courtesy of Ernest Lehman's ingenious, original screenplay and the cast's perfect performances.

North by Northwest is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Amazon below:

North by Northwest (50th Anniversary Edition in Blu-ray Book Packaging)

$25.18

Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau

Buy on Amazon

North By Northwest

$5.97

Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, Leo G. Carroll

Buy on Amazon

The original recording of Bernard Herrmann's fabulous score can currently be ordered by clicking on the image below. (Intrada ships worldwide).

Sterling Silver Dialogue #14

Sterling Silver Dialogue From The Movies: 

Do you know where they're from?

(After arriving at a secret hiding place for stolen money) "My uncle's grave. He was always good at keeping money so I thought I'd let him keep mine safe."

(A beautiful woman upon accidentally bumping into a man) "Oh, I'm sorry."

(the man looking her over) "I'm not."

Pool Attendant: "They kept it all incognito. They're gonna collect the body in an ice cream van."

(response) "Well there's a lot of dignity in that, in't there? Going out like a raspberry ripple."

Casino Manager: "It was a good night. Nothing unusual."

(response) "'Nothing unusual', he says! Eric's been blown to smithereens, Colin's been carved up, and I've got a bomb in me casino, and you say nothing unusual."

"Walk to the car, Billy, or I'll blow your spine off."

(response) "That's not a shooter, is it, Harold?"

(reply) "Oh don't be silly, Billy. Would I come hunting for you with me fingers?"

"I'd look good in a mink coat, honey."

(response) "You'd look good in a shower curtain."

"You wouldn't kill me in cold blood, would ya?"

(response) "No, I'll let ya warm up a little."

"Diamond, the only trouble with you is, you'd like to be me. You'd like to have my organization, my influence, my fix. You can't, it's impossible. You think it's money. It's not. It's personality. You haven't got it Lieutenant, you're a cop. Slow. Steady. Intelligent. With a bad temper and a gun under your arm. With a big yen for a girl you can't have. First is first and second is nobody."

(Nathan, to board members at an advertising agency) "Gentlemen I'd like you to meet Dr. Alvin Weasley. Dr. Weasley is one of the most respected motivational researchers in the country. Harvey's beer has dropped 84 percent. So Dr. Weasley will tell us how the American public really feels about beer. Dr. Weasley."

(Dr. Weasley) "Beer is for men who doubt their masculinity. That's why it's so popular at sporting events and poker games. On a superficial level a glass of beer is a cool, soothing beverage. But in reality... a glass of beer is:  pee-pee dickie! That's it."

(Nathan) Beautiful!... Beautiful!

"You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything, and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow."

"Well, you're about as romantic as a pair of handcuffs."

(looking over an undistinguished hotel room) "Hey, I like this. Early nothing."

"The main thing is to have the money. I've been rich and I've been poor. Believe me, rich is better."

(after an assassination) "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."

"Hope's a funny thing. You can have it even when there ain't no reason for it."

"I do think I oughta' kiss you just once, though, for all the times I won't."

Answers to Sterling Silver Dialogue #14 are here.

Hidden Gems #6

Hidden Gem #60: The Steel Trap (1952, U.S.A.)

Director: Andrew L. Stone

This 'man on the run' caper packs an additional wallop of suspense by focusing on our main protagonist's continuously fascinating and unpredictable behaviour: one response will surprise us with an even riskier "second job" for him to complete. (More here).   

Hidden Gem #59: The Hill (1965, U.K.)

Director: Sydney Lumet

Far less known than Lumet's earlier play adaptation of 12 Angry Men, this pressure cooker of a story by Ray Rigby is expertly handled by its accomplished director delivering intense characterisations and performances that burn right through us including a career best by Sean Connery. (See: Inspecting a Hidden Gem).

Hidden Gem #58: Death Note a.k.a. Desu nôto (2006, Japan)

Director: Shusuke Kaneko

A live action translation of a very popular, ingenious Manga/Anime series that's packed with creative characters, wild story elements, sly humour and a dramatically charged battle of strategies, taking us on one hell of a genre-crossing ride.

(Out of 5 Treasure Chests)

Hidden Gem #57: Death Note II: The Last Name a.k.a. Desu nôto: The last name (2006, Japan)

Director: Shusuke Kaneko

This bold sequel picks up right where the first Death Note left off, introducing additional captivating story twists and exciting conflict resolutions.

(Out of 5 Treasure Chests)

Hidden Gem #56: Diamonds of the Night a.k.a. Démanty noci (1964, Czechoslovakia)

Director: Jan Němec

Hallucinatory fantasy, brutal reality and 'Bunuelian' imagery are perfectly blended in this groundbreaking nightmare of two young Jewish concentration camp escapees; from an under appreciated director who importantly formed part of the Czech New Wave (including Ivan Passer and Milos Forman).

Hidden Gem #55: Your Three Minutes Are Up! (1973, U.S.A.)

Director: Douglas Schwartz

A highly enjoyable mixture of irreverent comedy with a serious examination of developing maturity, this gem contains a wealth of pleasantly engaging interactions between our two diverse lead performers.

Hidden Gem #54: Patterns (1956, U.S.A.)

Director: Fielder Cook

Personal ambition conflicts with the human values of a newly hired executive thrust into a world of ruthless big business practices, with Rod Serling's acidic dialogue being the fuse that ignites the explosive dramatic fireworks in this emotionally devastating cinematic gem. (More here).

Hidden Gem #53: The Holy Mountain (1973, Mexico/U.S.A.)

Director: Alexandro Jodorowsky

If you enjoy getting high, do so when seeing this expert satirist's abstract mosaic of absurd, grotesque imagery and sacrilegious symbolism which pokes fun at the idea that there is something meaningful to be made out of life or for that matter, this motion picture.  

Hidden Gem #52: Dark Hazard (1934, U.S.A.)

Director: Alfred E. Green

One wouldn't expect to find a compulsive gambler so endearing, but this character continuously exhibits such a distinctively warm human kindness, with the added bonus of being portrayed by the great Edward G. Robinson, that's precisely what happens in this little gem guaranteed to put a big grin on your face. (More here).

Hidden Gem #51: Straight Time (1978, U.S.A.)

Director: Ulu Grosbard

Just as Jose Giovanni (an ex-con turned screenwriter) introduced a sensational new perspective of gritty realism into the French crime genre, so did Edward Bunker for its American counterpart, not only writing Straight Time's source novel No Beast So Fierce while in prison, but also co-writing the screenplay and working as a consultant on this supremely made project. (More here).

A.G.

Hidden Gems #7 is here.

Sterling Silver Dialogue #13

Sterling Silver Dialogue From The Movies: 

Do you know where they're from?

"You always have a very smooth explanation ready."

(response) "What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?"

"I certainly wish you would have invented a more reasonable story. I felt distinctly like an idiot repeating it."

(response) "Don't worry about the story's goofiness. A sensible one would have had us all in the cooler."

"Well sir, here's to plain speaking, clear understanding. You're a close-mouthed man?"

(response) "Nah, I like to talk."

(reply) "Better and better. I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously, unless you keep in practice. Now, sir. We'll talk, if you like. I'll tell you right out, I am a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk."

"That's wonderful sir, wonderful. I do like a man who tells you right out he's looking out for himself. Don't we all? I don't trust a man who says he's not."

"By Gad sir, you are a character, that you are! There's never any telling what you'll say or do next, except that it's bound to be something astonishing."

"Keep on riding me and they're gonna be picking iron out of your liver."

 (reply) "The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter."

"Look, I'll make it easy for you. The time has come when you must tell me you have a wife and two adorable children... and this madness between us can't go on any longer."

(response) "Bet you've heard that line often enough."

"This is a very strange love affair."

(response) "Why?"

(reply) "Maybe the fact that you don't love me."

"Oh man... Don't hit me with them negative waves so early in the morning."

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves?!! Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?"

"Woof, woof, woof woof! That's my other dog imitation."

"Always with the negative waves Moriarty. Always with the negative waves."

"I'm a seeker too. But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help thinking that somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be."

Answers to Sterling Silver Dialogue #13 are here.