Braveheart

Braveheart

1995

Director: Mel Gibson

Writer: Randall Wallance

177 Minutes

Braveheart is an epic tale of William Wallace (Mel Gibson), a Scottish Rebel, standing up against the oppressive English rule. Though Mel has had problems of his own, he was at the top of his game in making this film. It won five Academy Awards including cinematographer, director, sound effects, makeup, and best picture.

But, this film is not about William Wallace. It’s about Robert the Bruce (Angus MacFadyen). Robert the Bruce, a Scottish aristocrat and first in line for the Scottish thrown, is one of the greatest sub-heroes in the history of cinema.

See, it doesn’t matter what William Wallace did because in the end, his ultimate journey was not about freedom, but more about reconnecting with his wife. He came back to raise a family and never wanted to be involved. After his wife’s death, he gathered allies against Edward the Longshanks (Patrick McGoohan) and pushes English soldiers past York, but he doesn’t change his goal, nor change as a character. And we, the audience, need change.

In the scene above, Robert the Bruce has gathered what’s left of the Scottish Army on the battlefield, facing hundreds of English soldiers, and is certain to surrender to the English officers. More so, for the entire film, Robert the Bruce has laid down his sword, his outspoken voice, and his freedom for English titles and land given by Longshanks. But in reality, he wants to unite his country. He wants to feel inspired. He wants to rise up and speak out against an evil country that raped, murdered, and demoralized his people.

But, he can’t. He needs William Wallace. He needs him in order to change. Even though, on the other side of the country, Longshanks feels that if he stops Wallace, the rebellion will die. Longshanks knows Wallace is their leader and having Robert the Bruce restrained, he understands once Wallace is dead, Longshanks can control his country again.

Thus, Wallace is captured. Wallace is tried. Wallace is beheaded.

End of story?

No.

When the hero dies in a film, you often need a sub-hero to carry on the hero’s message. It’s the sub-hero, like Robert the Bruce, who is often the protagonist that changes in the end. Robert the Bruce was a coward, politician who becomes a heroic, nobleman.

Robert the Bruce changes. We change.

“You’ve bled with Wallace! Now, bleed with me,” he exclaims before drawing his sword and charging the stunned English officers.

William Wallace is a hero, but if his death were the end of the film, there would be no hope. His accomplishments and secondary quest for freedom would have died with him. But since we have Robert the Bruce inspiring, leading, and commanding Scottish troops into battle – just as Wallace did – the message, hope, and freedom lives on.

And that’s what we ultimately want. That's what we ultimately need.

Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter

1945

Director: David Lean

Writer: Noel Coward, Anthony Havelock-Allen, David Lean, and Ronald Neame.

86 Minutes

If you have never seen a David Lean film, start with Brief Encounter. His films are epic, tall tales about the human condition and normally end on a down note parallel to our own reality, which is why most people haven’t seen a David Lean film.

But, they are good. They are so good.

And Brief Encounter takes the cake. It’s a story about two married people who meet a train station for seven weeks carrying on a hot affair. Both know it’s wrong, realizing their short-lived time together will come to a bitter end, but it’s love. It’s love above everything else. And although forbidden, I quote John Lennon saying, ‘All you need is love.”

This is the not the case.

I picked this opening scene because it’s the end. The death. The end of the relationship. The movie is told through narration and flashback (which everyone explains those tools slow down a movie), yet this film is short. It goes quick. Characters interrupt, others create conflict, but none every question these two in their “friendship.” As if there was no doubt of monogamy.

But, this film is important for two reasons: one, it shows two people can be so right, but so wrong. And two, it explains the history of relationships and the duty behind marriage.

Today, people would get divorced.

“Oh, you found someone else? What are you going to do about your wife?”

“Getting a divorce, but I’m happy.”

Divorce is common - like foldiong laundry or only seven hours of sleep at nights. Today, it’s an easy (and expensive) road to be with the person you want to be with, even if he or she or you are/where married. Yet, in the 1940’s, there was an obligation.

“I met a woman. Another woman. I don’t know what to do. I’m miserable.”

“End it now before your life goes to hell.”

Perhaps that’s what makes this film great: responsibility. These two people meet, fall in love, and have to take responsibility for it. In this world, taking responsibility for your feelings, attitude, and actions is so rare that even though these two people are cheating, they realize what must be done.

A wrong. A right. A broken heart. A duty.

In the end, Brief Encounter is a film you’d find a public library, been shelved for months, but given the right audience, evening, and time in your life - this film could change everything. It’s magical and forbidden.

David Lean does it again. And again. And again.

Jaws

Jaws

1975

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer: Peter Benchley and Carl Gottieb

124

Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) has a problem. He is afraid of the water. Chief Brody has a crisis. There is a killer shark in the water. Chief Brody has a dilemma. The people of Amity want to keep the beaches open, so the town’s tourism doesn’t suffer.

But, you need this scene.

In the opening scene, a handful of teenagers are partying at the beach. They’re drinking, playing guitar, and enjoying what could be a great Memorial Day weekend. Two people, boy and girl, run off together in hopes of skinny dip in the dark ocean waters.

Excitingly, the girl strips down and jumps into the ocean. The boy, a little more intoxicated, falls to the sand and passes out. The girl treads water and waits for him. From underneath, the camera creeps in. But, you know it’s not a camera. It’s a shark.

Above water, the girl gets bumped. Then bumped again. Then pulled under. Then finally dragged side to side, back and forth, until finally Mr. Spielberg cuts to the boy lying on the beach with no clue he’s not getting laid.

Like I said, you need this scene.

You need to set the tone of the film. Here, a bunch of kids wanted to have fun, have sex, and it was ruined by a bloodthirsty shark. In the film, a community wants to enjoy the summer, make some money, and it’s ruined by their own greed and complacency. And a bloodthirsty shark.

Because in all horror films, you need that sin. You need the character(s) in the film to commit a sin. Sex before marriage, selling your soul, bad parenting, or greed are sins. And the devil (or shark) will come to collect.

What makes Jaws so incredible is that you (almost) never see the shark. The power of the unknown is scarier than knowing. In the scene above, if you had seen the shark, you’d realize you could kill it. You wouldn’t have been as scaried. But, when the shark pulls the dock away from the island, you never see the shark – you just know it has the power to destroy a dock. And even at the end, Brody harpoons orange drums into the body of the shark and you see him drag them, take them underwater, and finally get ride of them.

But you (almost) never see the shark.

And that’s because they had so many problems with the shark. One, the model of the shark was never tested in water, so when they first put it into the wawter, it sank to the ocean floor and had to be recovered. Moreso, the shark (named ‘Bruce’) was constantly malfunctioning, thus it was easier to film docks moving and drums sinking. It was an accidentally success, which a lot of great films bank on.

All in all, Jaw goes down as one scary, intense film that doesn’t disappoint. It presented a certain fear to stay out of the water and needing a bigger boat. That, combined with one kick-ass two-note soundtrack is why Jaws is an incredible piece of art.

But, how disappointed was that boy in the beginning when he woke up and realized a shark ate his easy-lay girl. Total bummer.

Count of Monte Cristo

Count of Monte Cristo

2002

Directed: Kevin Reynolds

Writers: Alexandre Dumas and Jay Wolpert

131 Minutes

Edmond Dantes (James Caviezel) lands on Elba – an island off the coast of Italy – and he’s burdened with a sick captain. Once on the island, he encounters British soldiers and eventually Napoleon Bonaparte (Alex Norton), who has been exiled on Elba.

“We are kings or pawns,” Napoleon explains to him in the scene above. His captain dies, but Dantes is forever changed by this interaction.

The rest of the movie is played out with a false imprisonment (because of his interaction with Napoleon), eventual escape, and seeks revenge revolving around being the top or bottom of the food chain.

Dantes – a pawn - gets lucky. With the help of his mentor, Dantes find the lost Gold of Sparta. In that turn of events, he becomes something more - a king. Before, he was a sailor, recently just given his Captain’s papers, and would work towards a ring for his bride-to-be. Now can buy any ring his bride wishes.

But, the movie isn’t about money. It’s about revenge. And in all good revenge movies, the hero realizes in the end there is more to life than revenge.

Yet the quote, “We are kings or pawns,” means the ability to change your own destiny. You could go through life being a nothing or you can make something for yourself, which this is why Americans love films like the Count of Monte Cristo.

We all want to make something of ourselves.

It’s why people play the lottery. It’s why people leave their hometowns. It’s why people dream. The chance to change your own stars, seek out a different predetermined future, and live out their dreams is the American way. Those ideals is what this country was founded on. It’s why the settlers left British rule. People simply seek a better life.

In short, Dantes starts the film as a pawn, but ends as a king. He worked hard. He was tested. And he eventually succeeds in the end.

We should all be so lucky.

Shawshank Redemption

Shawshank Redemption

1994

Director: Frank Darabont

Writer Frank Darabont and Stephen King (Short Story)

142 Minutes

What a terrific movie. Perfect and brilliant. There is not enough you can say about Shawshank Redemption, though I can tell you this.: it did not reach number one in the box office. There was a buddy-road trip-comedy that out-grossed Shawshank Redemption. Something we all saw. Something called Dumb and Dumber, which opened the same weekend.

Who says box office scores determine greatness?

For those of you who haven’t seen this film, stop reading. Actually, stop reading all together and turn on TNT. I’m sure it’s on. But for those of us who have seen it, you realize what an impact this film had that year. It changed how we saw film, perhaps made us a lover of the art. It did for me.

And with many scenes to choose from – like when Warden Nortan (Bob Gunton) takes Andy’s (Tim Robbins) bible and references phrases back and forth, or Andy’s final escape, crawling through 500 yards of shit, or two friends meeting on the beach – though this movie comes down to Red (Morgan Freeman) and his harmonica.

Sure, Andy is the main character. We empathize with him, see his journey, and cheer for his escape, but Red is the protagonist. Red has the character arch. In short, Red changes. Andy doesn’t.

Andy never loses hope. Red has lost it.

Hope is the theme and Andy the messenger. Throughout the movie, that’s what he brings. He got beers for his fellow “co-workers” when they were tarring the roof, even Red’s voice-over explaining, ‘we felt like free men.” He got a dozen inmates a high school education, including Tommy (Gil Bellow), who had a wife, kid, and no future. And he built a library full of used books and Hank Williams records.

Everything Andy does in this film is about hope. And he creates the idea that hope lives outside the walls of the dark, grayish-toned Shawshank Prison. Hope that there is was music – even Opera music – and books and a future and a beach in Mexico. Hope is what you can’t take away from someone, which he explains to his friends after a week in the hole.

The scene above is about Red and the crossroads between hope and despair. He used to play a mean harmonica, but he doesn’t make much sense to him now. Nevertheless, Andy gives him a harmonica as a parole rejection present, but Red can’t play it.

“Not right now,” he replies to the gift and puts it away.

Later, in his cell, Red stares down at the harmonica. He looks back on a life that was taken away from him - a life once hopeful. He slowly brings the harmonica to his lips and plays one note. He stops and grasps it with his hand.

That’s all the hope he can take.

Because like his friend and mentor Brooke Hatlen (James Whitmore), who ran the library, got paroled, and ended up hanging himself, Red has no hope. He needs Andy to bring it back for him.

“You come here for life and that’s exactly what you get,” says Red.

In the end, Red eventually gets paroled. And like Brooks, he gets a job at the grocery market. Yet, he is forever changed by Andy. He is no longer scared. He is no longer alone. He has something to look forward too. He has hope.

Andy explains in his letter, ‘Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and a good thing never dies,” while the last lines of the movie are, “I hope I can make it across the boarder, I hope to see my friend and shake his hand, I hope the Pacific is as blue as it is my dreams, I hope….”

Kinda jammed down your throat, isn’t it? Yet, it’s a word most never think of when watching Shawshank because the story is so great. It’s a word used at the end of most American films. Because us, as Americans, love hope. Like we love freedom, patriotism, and hot dogs. Hope is engrained in our society, so we can have something more. A lover. A dream. Or a new life with your best friend. That’s all Red needed. And hope is all we needed.

Casablanca

Casablanca

1942

Director: Michael Curtiz

Writer Julius J. Epstein, Philip Epstein, and Howard Koch

102 Minutes

When Casablanca started filming, the script wasn’t even finished. The cast and crew didn’t know who Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) would choose in the end. Would it be Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) or Victor Laszio (Paul Henreid)?

In a great cinematic end, Iisa boards the plane with Victor supported by Rick who helped the couple escape for the greater good of man. Rick, who feelings were repressed to nothing the moment Iisa broke his heart, is put in the middle of his desire to not get involved, a romantic past, and the French resistance against Nazi occupation.

But, the movie comes down to the scene above. Yvonne (Madeleine LeBeau), a French woman and former lover of Rick, has come to the café that night with a German solider. Apparently, she has switched sides to appease her willingness for love (or to make Rick jealous.)

She is turncoat against her country. And she knows it.

Over the course of the night, fellow German soldiers begin to sing the German National Anthem. Rick and Victor are upstairs, discussing the letters of transit and overhear this blatant Nazi patriotism. Victor storms down the stairs and goes straight to the house band.

‘Play La Marseillaise. Play it!” He exclaims.

The band looks to Rick for approval. Rick nods. The band begins to play La Marseillaise, the French National Anthem, and French citizens around the bar begin to sing.

They are loud.

Soon, the entire bar begins to sing. German officers forcefully sing the German Anthem in contrast, though everyone else is singing the French Anthem until they drown out their evil oppressors.

And in the middle of it all is Yvonne. She stands, sings, and cries her national anthem. Her pride pours out. She is a turncoat no longer. She realizes love does not supersede her country's pride.

This scene is the entire war, played out in a tiny bar in Casablanca. It’s Germany vs. France. It’s East vs. West. It’s Victor taking control and standing up against the German Generals. It’s Rick, not wanting to get involved, giving the nod to get involved.

Even Ilsa glimmers at Victor with loving admiration, realizing why she left Rick in Paris and how important the movement is. She's again turned to loving Victor over Rick.

In the end, Victor is the hero. Yvonne screams out for her country, “Viva la France!”

But, the German officers aren’t to be made fools. They intend to shut down Rick’s Café because the customers are “having much too good of time.” They realize if Victor has this much power in a tiny bar in Casablanca, what kind of power will he have on the wartime front?

Rick’s is shut down, but Yvonne is set right.

The scene is about National Pride, which when faced with war, is all you have.

Casablanca is a great film because it deals with doing what’s right for everyone, not simply what’s right for yourself. That kind of integrity is often lost and we need films like Casablanca to remind us of it.

Yet, this story compels us with Ilsa's whispered words, "Play it Sam..." It hurts even now.

Sleepless in Seattle

Sleepless in Seattle

1993

Director: Nora Ephron

Writer: Jeff Arch, Nora Ephron, and David Ward.

105 Minutes

There is no one scene in this movie that stands out, but more a collection of characters that make this film lovable.

Sleepless in Seattle became an instant hit, grossing over 100 million (but never more than 4 million each week it was out), and launched a plethora of romantic comedies in the years, now almost two decades, after this film came to theaters.

The film is about Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) who's wife dies and moves to Seattle. Across the country is Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) recently engaged, yet overhears Sam on a radio talk show, instantly falls in love, and decides to search him out.

It’s a fate, destiny type of film.

But one character stands out above the rest: Jonah Baldwin (Ross Malinger). Jonah is Sam’s son, about nine years old, and is the only character that speaks the truth in the film.

Jonah is the voice of reason.

Jonah calls in the radio talk show host. Jonah finds Annie for his father. Jonah knows Sam’s new girlfriend Victoria (Barabara Garrick) is bad. And finally, Jonah decodes the Beatles and hears, “Paul is dead.”

Jonah leads the charge of his father’s life. Without him, Sam would have carried out his depression until death. It was when Jonah had a girl over, Jessica (Gaby Hoffman) that Sam decides to “get back in the saddle” again.

In the end, Jonah flies to New York to meet Annie at the top of the Empire State Building, thus Sam has to chase him. And only there does Sam find Annie.

Jonah is the hero. He saves the day. He gives his father love. He gives his father hope. Hell, his father better give him a damn good Christmas present after that year.

Hats off to you, Jonah. You did know what’s best.

Rain Man

Rain Man

1988

Director: Barry Levinson

Writer: Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass

133 Minutes

Charlie Babbit (Tom Cruise) finds out he has a brother. A very special brother. A brother he never remembered, but took everything their father never offered to Charlie: acceptance. And a large sum of money.

So, Charlie steals his brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) until he gets his hand on the money, so he can save his failing car dealership. But, Charlie has more to learn past saving his business. He has to learn how to love and accept others.

And learning to love means accepting someone else’s smelly farts and that’s exactly what this impromptu scene is about.

Raymond doesn’t want to fly, citing dates to plane crashes for all the major airlines, thus Charlie has to accept driving across the country with his brother. Acceptance is the key here.

These two make stops, conflict between beds under windows, K-mart boxers, and Judge Wapner arise, until Charlie eventually discovers Raymond’s unique knowledge of bankrupting Las Vegas Casinos.

In the scene above, Charlie and Raymond have stopped to rest. Charlie is forced to keep Raymond close, too close, so he doesn’t get into trouble. Charlie makes a phone call about his business, yet Raymond doesn’t care either way. Charlie discusses this money there and that money here, but Raymond doesn’t know the wise. And then it slips.

“Did you fart?” – Charlie

The funny part of this scene is while setting up the shot, Dustin Hoffman actually farted with Tom Cruise in the phone booth. He stayed in character saying, “ah, oh…” and Tom Cruise’s reaction was the same.

“Did you fart?” - Tom

Barry Levinson listening in, loved it. It was magic in a bottle. It’s exactly what this scene needed, but also the movie needed. Because accepting someone means accepting all of them, even at their comical worst.

Charlie did learn to accept his brother Raymond and more so, accept himself past his deceased father notion of parenting. And we got to share these moments with him.

Thank you, Charlie.

Back to the Future

Back to the Future 

1985 

Director: Robert Zemeckis 

Writer: Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale 

117 Minutes 

Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travels back in time, disrupts his parent's meet-cute, and has to find the scientist that built the time machine fifteen years before he actually builds it otherwise Marty be erased from existence. 

“Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?”

Mixed with a major Oedipus complex, Back to the Future is one of the great pieces of storytelling throughout cinema. It holds true that the decisions we make as adolescents greatly affect us as adults. Though this film was nominated for best writing, sound, sound editing, and song “The Power of Love,” the Academy Awards went to Charles Campbell and Robert Rutledge for Best Effects and Sound Effects Editing. 

The scene above is two-fold. The first picture is Marty rolling up to Twin Pines Mall at the beginning of the movie to meet Doctor Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Einstein, the dog. In the establishing shot, the Twin Pines Mall sign glows in the foreground, where then Doc explains the time machine to Marty. Doc recalls a time when that “whole area was owned by old Peabody” who wanted to raise pine trees. Then Libyan terrorist show up, then Doc is killed, and then Marty travels back into time. 

Of course, his time machine takes him back to the exact location he left from: the Peabody farm. Marty crashes into the barn, still in his yellow radiation suit, and awakes the entire Peabody family. They think he’s a Martian. Daddy Peabody takes out his shotgun and shoots at him, which prompts Marty to get the hell out of there. In a split second, Marty drives over the lawn and runs over one of the two pine trees in the front lawn. Daddy Peabody yells, “MY PINES!” 

He fires his last shot and explodes the mailbox. Marty ran over one of the Twin Pines. Fast forward to the third act and after he meets his father, kisses his mother, and sings “Johnny B. Good,” Marty travels back to the future and tries to stop the Libyan terrorist from killing his friend. He goes back to the mall. 

In picture two, you realize that the mall sign now reads Lone Pine Mall. It’s because of Marty's lack of environmental integrity that things are different. He destroyed two pines to make lone pine. And not only is the sign different, but his entire life is changed. Doc lives. Marty’s family thrives. And Marty takes his girlfriend up to the lake in his brand-new truck. Life, after this journey, is better. It's why we go to movies. 

Compliments to Cameron Birnie (set designer) for making this small choice have a larger meaning. 

My favorite lines though are as follows: 

Dr. Emmett Brown

Then tell me, "Future Boy", who's President in the United States in 1985?

 

Marty McFly

Ronald Reagan. 

Dr. Emmett Brown

Ronald Reagan? The actor? Then who's Vice-President? Jerry Lewis? 

Bravo, Mr. Zemeckis. Though, Jerry Lewis would have been fun in the post-cold war era.

Match Point

Match Point

2005

Director: Woody Allen

Writer Woody Allen

122 Minutes

Woody Allen at his best who explored the question to what’s more important: luck or hard work.

Match Point is about former tennis pro who married into money, but has an affair with his friend’s sexy x-girlfriend. Jonathan Rhyn Meyers plays the former tennis pro, while Scarlett Johansson plays the x-girlfriend. And the classical musical score adds an epic romanticism and painful truth of this film.

“There are moments in a (tennis) match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose.” – Opening voice-over told by Jonathan Rhyn Meyers character, Chris Willton, while watching a tennis ball fly back and forth across a net, hitting the top, bouncing up, and pausing.

Chris is lucky, not skillful. And he has based his entire life on that. He was lucky to marry into money. He was lucky to land a good job. He was unlucky to get his mistress pregnant. And he was unlucky that the police found her posthumous journal.

But the above scene is both lucky and unlucky. Lucky for Chris, though unlucky to man who will take the blame for the crime he committed: murder.

Forced by his mistress’s decision to keep their bastard child, Chris intends to stage a robbery, steal some jewelry, and shoot his mistress in the process. After the crime is complete, he will throw the jewelry in the Thames and continue with his life, unphased.

But in the process of throwing the jewelry, a ring hits the railing, bouncing up, and lands on the pavement below. Thinking this could lead to his downfall, the ring is found by a man who already committed a previous crime, thus blamed for the robbery and murder of Chris’s mistress.

Like I said, lucky for Chris.

But this shot mirrors the opening shot, the one with the tennis ball striking the net. Because in this game – life or tennis – it is luck which way the item – ball or ring – falls.

Woody Allen once said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” How’s that for luck?

Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan

1998

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer: Robert Rodat

169 Minutes

We all remember the opening sequence. It was like we were there. The pingin on metal. The bullets hitting sand. The blood soaked wave washing up on shore. It was LIKE we were there, only not as real.

To the heroes of Normandy and the rest of the Armed Forces serving foreign and domestic fronts, Saving Private Ryan was a nod to the men and women who fought and dead in World War II. It was a chance for that generation to turn to their kids and kids of kids and say, “yep, that’s what it was like…’

But, the film came down to one man: Private James Francis Ryan.

In most military films, it comes down to one man - the man next to you. You don’t leave him behind. You don’t leave him at all. Every command, unit, squadron, corp, formation, brigade, division, wing, organization, platoon, battalion, regiment, flight, ship, group, region, fleet, or theater all comes down to one person. That’s what makes the United States Military great.

The film is about Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) and his group of soldiers (eight in total) risking their lives for an individual, named Private James Francis Ryan, who lost three brothers in combat in or around the European front.

General George Marshall is quoted, “I have here a very old letter, written to a Mrs. Bixby in Boston. "Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln."

He follows it up with if that boy is out there, we’re going to find him and bring him home.

The scene above is after the fact, many years later, when Private Ryan has come back, with his family, to Tom Hank’s gravesite. He falls before it, thanks him, and then turns to his wife - pleading for her to tell him he was a good man and lived a good life - more so, begging her to help him understand why eight men gave their lives for one man to live and if that’s the case, tell him he lived the best life he could have lived.

She nods, confirming that one man did matter. He has a good life, perfect family, and lived out what those boys on the beaches of Normandy dead for: freedom.

We all remember the opening sequence and the hundreds of men who dead, but at the heart of his film is an individual. Whether it be Tom Hanks or Matt Damon, the individual is what’s important. And what makes this scene great is the justification of living rather than dying or people dying in order for you to live.

That’s what makes this scene great. That’s what makes this country great.

Christmas Vacation

Christmas Vacation

1989

Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik

Writer: John Hughes

97 Minutes

Clark W. Griswold is the ultimate father trying to give his family the best experiences. And he fails perfectly.

The National Lampoon Vacation movies are about Clark’s adventures with his family – whether it be road trips, Christmas, Europe, or Las Vegas – and all the mischief and mayhem they get into.

See, Clark believes in the American Dream. He is trying to give his family what he never had: a better life for their children. That’s what all father’s want. And that’s what Clark wants.

“We're kicking off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols.” – Clark Griswold on cutting down a tree in Christmas Vacation

In the scene above, Clark has been locked in the attic after hiding presents and finds old home movies of his childhood. Though nostalgic, they aren’t very colorful. They are almost depressing. Yet, Clark cries. He realizes it’s his responsibility to bring the Christmas spirit to his family. And he will do what it takes.

The rest of the movie is filled with squirrels running around the house, trees burning in the livingroom, cats dying, and an entire swat team bringing into the Griswold household.

But this scene, beautiful soundtrack’d with Ray Charles, “Spirit of Christmas,” screams Clark wanting this to be an old-fashion family Christmas, regardless if he’s wearing pink gloves.

He’s a good father and that’s why we like him.

Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting

1997

Director Gun Van Sant

Writer: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

126 Minutes

The boys from Boston, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, used to drive across the country and make up stories to keep each other awake while driving. When they found a hotel for the night, one of them would write the stories down. Good Will Hunting was one of those stories.

Though, it was rejected by nearly every studio, it took an old friend named Kevin Smith to bring this project to Miramax (Now the Weinstein Company) and eventually get it produced, which is why Kevin Smith and his producing partner Scott Moser are co-executive producers.

This movie was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning best writing and best supporting actor. It launched the careers of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and still holds a place in every 1997 graduates heart.

And then there was this scene. The scene about Sean’s deceased wife.

“When did you know? Like, she was the one for you…” asked Will Hunting (Matt Damon).

“October 21st, 1975,” replied Sean Maguire (Robin Williams)

It was the date of World Series, Game 6, Boston Red Soxs vs Cincinnati Reds where Carlton “Pudge” Fisk hit a game winning home run in the bottom of the twelfth inning. The camera man kept focus on Fisk as he waved the ball fair and the Red Sox went onto win the game.

The fans rushed the field, which brings us back to the scene when Will excitingly asks Sean, “Did you rush the field?”

“No, I was having a drink with my future wife.”

He admits he told his friends, who waited with him all night to get tickets for that game, that he had to see about a girl. Though romantic, he later jokingly admits he didn’t know Fisk was going to hit a homerun.

This scene is vital - proving that you need to live without regrets and put everything on the table - something Will Hunting has refused to do.

The scene begins with an overhead shot of Sean’s office, symbolically placing four chairs in a diamond shape. These chairs will later represent bases as Sean tells the story of Pudge Fisk running, pushing fans out of the way, and making it around the baseball diamond.

Gus Van Sant and editor Pietro Scalia intercut Sean and Will’s conversation with archived footage of that magical Red Sox’s victory forever sealing that bond between these two characters. This scene connected Sean and Will between the love of a woman and love for the Boston Red Sox.

Matt Damon once said on his favorte roles, Good Will Hunting is so close to my heart because my best friend (Ben Affleck) and I invented him, he's from Boston, and it was what we knew.”

In the end, it would have been nice to catch that game.

Empire Strikes Back

Empire Strikes Back

1980

Director: Irvin Kershner

Writer: Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, and George Lucus

124 Minutes

 

“No, I am your father,” – Darth Vader

Before it was ruined, Star Wars was the greatest series known to cinema and help create the term blockbuster in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Star Wars was the hero’s journey about a boy and his droids in a galaxy far, far away.

But no one expected the ending of Empire, which is why it is considered the best by fans and critics alike.

“Empire had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings” – Dante Hicks from Clerks, written by Fanboy Kevin Smith.

This scene was crucial, hidden from the cast and crew, and even the voice of Darth Vader, the great James Earl Jones, questioned George Lucus if he was sure he wanted to say that.  

But he did. Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father.

This quote has been over used and misquoted for decades after the original release of one of the greatest sequels to ever come to light. It floored audiences. How can this be? Did he really say that? No way, that can’t be?

And then audiences had to wait another three years before Return of the Jedi came out and explained everything.

This scene is important not only for the line, “No, I am your father, “ but for the reaction Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) gives. Surely, he denies. He screams out, but Vader explains for his son to search his feelings.

Once Skywalker realizes Vader is his father, he has a choice: live with the truth or fall to your death. He looks down, looks back to his evil father, and then let’s go.

Skywalker made the choice that it is better to die than live with the reality of his father.  

In the end, Luke falls perfectly down a tube, slides to a halt, and then again, falls to his near-death outside the City of Clouds where Princess Leia, Lando Cairissian, and Chewbacca rescue him.

If you found out Darth Vader was your father, would you do the same? 

The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker

2008

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Writer: Mark Boal

131 Minutes

 

Like many of us, The Hurt Locker came into our lives like a surprise birthday party. It was a film that was passed around at parties, bars, and independent festivals worldwide.

“Did you see the Hurt Locker? Oh God, it will blow your mind.”

It shocked us, pushed us, and gripped our attention for over two hours, while three bomb experts carried out day-to-day actions in Iraq. In doing so, it won the Academy awards from directing, editing, sound, sound editing, writing, and best picture.

The scene above is when Sergeant First Class William James (Jeremy Renner) has returned home from battle and goes grocery shopping with his lover and child. He wheels his child to the cereal isle and has to choose what kind of cereal to buy. A simply task, but James faces an amazingly difficult decision: what is the best cereal?

James can’t decide.

This scene comes after countless bombs defused, intense sniper fire, and effortless life-or-death decision making, yet James cannot choose what breakfast food to eat. There are too many choices here. What is good? What is bad? Is this right? Is this wrong?

This extreme long shot, displaying all the chooses, amplifies that difficulties soldiers face when returning home. They gage of normalcy is lost in the year plus they spend in the desert and when they are return home, the simplicity of life is stolen.

Brigadier General (Ret) Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D. wrote “These soldiers say that they are just not the same. They don't know why, but they feel changed, and the important stuff around them has changed. Combat will do that to almost anyone - everyone is changed, for better or worse, and sometimes both better and worse. These soldiers say that they are just not the same. They don't know why, but they feel changed, and the important stuff around them has changed.”

And though the Hurt Locker’s message of “what do you love…” explained by James to his son that eventually you’ll just love on thing, this scene is vital to show what’s important. For James, it’s war. This explains why he doesn’t want to make dinner with his lover, nor grocery shop for cereal. None of that matters.

In the end, the Chris Hedges quote comes full circle, “the rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.” For this, James another 365 days is his drug.