One-shot wonders

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One-shot wonders; single scenes that make the movie
Topic Started: Sep 29 2009, 08:27 PM (65 Views)
Bonga	Sep 29 2009, 08:27 PM Post #1
Charter Member Posts: 109 Group: Members Member #19 Joined: September 4, 2005	Since I popped in I thought I'd contribute a little topic for discussion. I've become interested in actors who have a single scene in movies, but who take that scene and make it into something emblematic of the entire film. I'm not talking about the actor who pumps gas when the characters need a fill-up. I mean a scene that makes the entire film more than it would otherwise be, a scene that captures the essence of the film in a brief nutshell and becomes part of the foundation for all that either follows or has come before. Here's a few examples of the kind of performances I mean. None of these actors is onscreen for more than five minutes, but none of the films would be as great as they are without that five minute spot: Henry Jones as the coroner in Vertigo, a masterpiece of understated insinuation so dismissive and demeaning that another character has to comment on how rough he is. The actor does nothing you can put your finger on, but his summary of the efforts of the Jimmy Stewart character to keep Kim Novak alive is devastating in how right it is, and how wrong it is at the same time. Crispin Glover in Dead Man--I've said before that Crispin Glover is the reincarnated soul of Dwight Frye, and this walk-on buttresses that impression. Glover's bizarre cadence and insinuating questions at the beginning of this great film set the tone for all the bizarrity that follows, and tells you from the opening moments that the train that you are sharing with Johnny Depp is headed for a strange landscape . . . Jeff Corey in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid--no performance captures the essence of the film it's a part of as much as Corey's spitting out "You're two-bit outlaws, you're time is over, and you're going to die bloody--now gag me Sundance, I'm getting mean in my old age." If you wanted to capture the essence of a film in three minutes, this is the performance that does it. Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction--The hilarious monologue Walken contributes about the watch that has been passed down in Bruce Willis' family is both pure Walken and pure Tarintino--an actor who knew exactly what to do with dialogue that was written especially for him, ghastly and side-splitting at the same time, which is Tarantino's stock-in trade. either Agnes Morehead or Ray Collins in Citizen Kane--talk about actors who know what to do with a single scene. No overplaying here, no cheap scenery-chewing, just characters so perfectly realized that they need no comment to make a lasting impression. I have others in mind, anyone else have a candidate?



Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer	Sep 30 2009, 02:46 AM Post #2
Balconeer Creeper Posts: 14,188 Group: Members Member #244 Joined: July 6, 2007	Along the lines of Bonga's Butch Cassidy reference, I'll use Mabel Cavitt (Mrs. Parker) in Bonnie And Clyde. The entire picnic scene is dream-like, with it's surreal red sky. Bonnie's mother is prophetic in knowing her daughter will not be alive for long, and she even seems like she doesn't believe herself when she tells Clyde, "Take care of my little girl." Army Of Shadows came to mind, with the tied-up French resistance fighter in the chair. The scene shows the commitment that the fighters have, both as antagonists (to their own discovered brethern... also think Simone Signoret) and to the Nazis they try to undermine. Oh yeah, the actor. The tied-up fighter seems to know that the movement could be in jeopardy if he isn't killed, and it seems like he doesn't panic, as his fellow fighters talk about how they'll dispose of him. I just saw this in the past 3 months, and this scene is so powerful, that.... well that... that Criterion silhouette's it on the cover of their DVD box. Jack Nicholson in Little Shop Of Horrors popped in my mind, while thinking about this thread, and I gave it some thought, although I don't know if anything meaningful came from it. But I'll give it a whirl... The scene reflects how something painful (dentist/death) can spawn something silly (Nicholson's smile/Seymor's blooming). Now there's a stretch!!!
	"She's got style, she's got grace She's got long, long legs, she's got... Savoir Faire"


panzer the great & terrible	Oct 1 2009, 08:24 PM Post #3
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,376 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	I certainly agree about Henry Jones in Vertigo -- absolutely my favorite performance in any Hitchcock movie; a small masterpiece. Another that really caught my eye was the maid in Tomb of Ligeia. With a single sneeze she gives that movie the one genuine scare in all of Roger Corman's work. Gary Cooper's one scene in Wings is almost as electrifying. Raoul Walsh's John Wilkes Booth in The Birth of a Nation was impressive too. And of course Eric Von Stroheim stole La Grande Illusion, but maybe that part's too big to qualify. Nice to hear from you, Bonga. I've missed you. How old are the rug rats now? Do they still like serials?
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


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