Capturing a Golden Moment #7: Sometimes a Great Notion

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

Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)

Director: Paul Newman

Scene: "Logging Accident"

Harrowing but poignant, Newman's directorial debut reveals the unique identities of his characters and their deeply commited relationships with one another in this stunningly tragic scene.

Sometimes a Great Notion is available on Blu-ray here:

Sometimes A Great Notion [Blu-ray]

$13.30

Starring Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Lee Remick

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It is also available on DVD here:

Sometimes a Great Notion

$17.98

Starring Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Lee Remick, Richard Jaeckel, Linda Lawson

Buy on Amazon

Six Degrees of Treasure Trivia: Quiz #5

6 DEGREES OF TREASURE TRIVIA:  

Further hints to question #1 will be provided in the others (#2-#6).  Feel free to send your answers to arthur@thecinemacafe.com.

1. The following are heard in this film:

"Plantin' and readin', plantin' and readin'. Fill a man full o' lead, stick him in the ground an' then read words at him. Why, when you've killed a man, why try to read the Lord in as a partner on the job?"

Can you name the film?

2. Upon seeing the star's performance in film #1, a famous Director is reported to have said: "I didn’t know the big son of a bitch could act!"

Can you name the star of the film referred to in #1 and the Director (who often hired him) ascribed to making the above remark?

3. In a 1971 Academy Award Best Picture nominated film, the final movie that plays in a local town's theatre is the film referenced in #1.

Can you name this 1971 film?

4. An actor making his motion picture debut in film #1 played a priest accused of murder in this 1953 film directed by a famous British Director.

Can you name the actor, the 1953 film and its Director?

5. The U.S. southern state that film #1's story begins in has a one word name sometimes used to describe it. This name is the same title of a 1956 film.

Can you name the 1956 film?

6. Two of the principal stars in film #1 appeared in the same director's subsequent 1959 film. In this '59 film, two other co-stars who were both known as singers sing a song adapted from the theme heard throughout film #1.

Can you name the two actors appearing in both film #1 and the 1959 film, the title of the 1959 film, both films' Director, and the additional two actors (and singers) of the song described? For the real diehards out there, name the song's title they sing and its music's composer (who's also film #1's composer) and finally the most baffling of all: Name the original theme's title for film #1.

Sterling Silver Dialogue #11

Sterling Silver Dialogue From The Movies: 

Do you know where they're from?

"How singularly innocent I look this morning."

"Young woman, either you have been raised in some incredibly rustic community, where good manners are unknown, or you suffer from a common feminine delusion that the mere fact of being a woman exempts you from the rules of civilized conduct. Possibly both."

"I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom."

"I'll neither consider, endorse or use the Wallace pen. I hate pens. If your employer wishes me to publish that statement in my column, you may tell them that I should be delighted to oblige."

"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified. I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention."

"I'm not kind, I'm vicious. It's the secret of my charm."

"I cannot stand these morons any longer. If you don't come with me this instant, I shall run amok."

"You'd better watch out, McPherson, or you'll end up in a psychiatric ward. I don't think they've ever had a patient who fell in love with a corpse."

"... and thus as history has proved, love is eternal. It has been the strongest motivation for human actions throughout centuries. Love is stronger than life. It reaches beyond the dark shadow of death."

"The best part of myself. That's what you are. Do you think I'm going to leave it to the vulgar pawing of a second rate detective who thinks you're a dame? Do you think I could bear the thought of him holding you in his arms, kissing you, loving you?!"

"What the hell are you doin' here?" (reply)  "I'm lookin' at a tin star with a... drunk pinned on it."

"You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season."

"At least I shall have the pleasure of putting you out of my misery."

"I've always wanted to know somebody who's been to China. Tell me about it."   (reply)   "A lot of Chinese live there."

"Do you think my husband would like to see a picture of me hanging over the fireplace?"

(reply)  "I think your husband would like to see you hanging anyplace."

"Am I the worst oaf in the world?" (reply) "The world's a big place. You're the worst one in my life."

"Love is like the measles. You only get it once, and the older you are, the harder you take it."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt you to learn some manners, too."  (reply)  "What do I need manners for? I already got me a wife."

"If my answers frighten you Vincent, then you should cease asking scary questions."

"Then basically I'm just gonna walk the earth."  (reply)  "What'cha mean walk the earth?"  (response)  "You know, like Caine in 'Kung Fu'. Walk from place to place. Meet people. Get into adventures."

"You see that, young lady? Respect. Respect for one's elders gives character."  (reply)  "I have character."  (response)   "Just because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go home and have a heart attack."

Answers to Sterling Silver Dialogue #11 are here.

Sterling Silver Dialogue #10

Sterling Silver Dialogue From The Movies: 

Do you know where they're from?

"Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?"

(reply) "No, I don't think I do sir. No."   

(response)  "He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

(Advocating a stronger nuclear attack to offset a further Soviet retaliation)  "Mr. President, we are rapidly approaching a moment of truth both for ourselves as human beings and for the life of our nation. Now, truth is not always a pleasant thing. But it is necessary now to make a choice, to choose between two admittedly regrettable, but nevertheless distinguishable, postwar environments: One where you got twenty million people killed, and the other where you got a hundred and fifty million people killed."

(reply)  "You're talking about mass murder, General, not war!"

(response)  "Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks."

(reply)   "I will not go down in history as the greatest mass-murderer since Adolf Hitler."

(response)   "Perhaps it might be better, Mr. President, if you were more concerned with the American People than with your image in the history books."

"Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream? Ice cream, Mandrake, children's ice cream."

Mandrake: "Lord, Jack."

Jack: "You know when fluoridation first began?"

Mandrake: "I... no. I don't, Jack."

Jack: "Nineteen hundred and forty-six. 1946, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works."

Mandrake: "Uh, Jack, Jack, listen... tell me, tell me, Jack. When did you first... become... well, develop this theory?"

Jack: "Well, I, uh... I... I... first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love. Yes, a uh, a profound sense of fatigue... a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I... I was able to interpret these feelings correctly: Loss of essence. I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women uh... women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh... I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I... I do deny them my essence."

Mandrake: "Yes, Jack."

"I was a nervous child.  I was a bed wetter. When I was younger, I, I uh, used to sleep with an electric blanket and I was constantly electrocuting myself."

"Sometimes it isn't being fast that counts, or even accurate, but willing. Most men will draw a breath or blink an eye before they shoot. I won't."

"A gun is a tool, Marian, no better, no worse than any other tool: An axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that."

"If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working?"

(complaining about a steak he ordered) "Hey Hombre. This horse is still fighting for his life."

"What a dump!"

(impersonating the above) "What a dump!"

"You've just had a bad day, that's all."  (reply)   "That's a masterpiece of understatement."

"Is your handwriting legible?"   (reply)   "Except on weekends."

"She offered me free love. At the time, that was all I could afford."

"Just who the hell do you think you are? How dare you come sniffing in here like Napoleon ordering me about! You are a traitor! Does it occur to you? A wanted, spent, dishonest man, the lowest currency of the Cold War. We buy you - we sell you - we lose you - we even can shoot you! Not a bird would stir in the trees outside. Not even a single pheasant would turn his head to see what fell."

"What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not! They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me: little men, drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong?"

"I don't go to church. Kneeling bags my nylons."

Answers to Sterling Silver Dialogue #10 are here.

End Credits #9: Cinema's 2013 Lost Treasures Montage Part 3

Some of Cinema's 2013 Lost Treasures. The music by Rolfe Kent is from the film Nurse Betty.

Capturing a Golden Moment #6: Monkey Business (1931)

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

Monkey Business (1931)

Director: Norman Z. McLeod

Scene: "Passport Departure"

I wonder what Maurice Chevalier would have made of this.

Monkey Business is available on DVD along with four other Marx Brothers movies here:

The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection (The Cocoanuts / Animal Crackers / Monkey Business / Horse Feathers / Duck Soup)

$30.49

Starring Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Margaret Dumont

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