By Tim McGlynn
I hide it from my family, co-workers and friends, although
I’m sure they suspect. I indulge only in
secret within the confines of a darkened room late at night. The sleeplessness and bloodshot eyes in the
morning are the tell-tale signs that something is wrong. I am hopelessly hooked and there is no
possibility of recovery or reform. I am
a DVD pause-button junkie.
There are two kinds of pause-button addicts, each with their
own agenda and needs. The first is the
type who dissects action scenes in a movie looking for flaws. I know one of these geeks, Zippy the
Zit-Faced Kid. Zippy can’t wait to buy a
new DVD of a recent action film and freeze-frame his way through a car chase or
battle scene. He eagerly looks for
continuity mistakes he can report to the goofs section of the Internet Movie
Database.
Zippy, and those like him, may be the ones responsible for
the heavy reliance on CGI effects in films today. Directors and editors, sure
that their work will be put under the microscope by legions of fault finders
with their DVRs and DVD players, take the safe route with computer generated
perfection. Their efforts result in explosive
special effects that somehow don’t provide us with the “wow†factor the way the
old masters did in the Sixties and Seventies.
I, on the other hand, have purer intentions. I want to appreciate the artistic skills that
went into creating a set piece during an action-adventure film. I admire the craftsmanship of the model makers,
process photographers and stunt people involved in the production of a
science-fiction or action classic. In
other words, I just want to see that exploding head, bloody squib or bare
breast a little clearer. I pause to
enjoy, not to destroy.
Listed below, in no particular order, is a small sampling of
favorite freeze-frame moments from my personal DVD library. Zippy wouldn’t bother with any of these films;
they were all made before he was born.
The Thing From
Another World – 1951
As the vegetable-like alien, played by James Arness,
continues to threaten the scientists at the North Pole, Kenneth Tobey and his
crew decide to set the creature on fire.
The monster enters the room and is doused in kerosene and set
aflame. Slow-motion playback reveals a
terribly dangerous sequence as several stuntmen take turns throwing buckets of
fuel at the burning monster. One pail of
kerosene is hurled at the Thing as another cast member stands directly behind
it, seemingly in the path of the flaming liquid.
Common sense tells that me that this scene was thoroughly
planned and rehearsed with safety in mind.
But it still looks incredibly risky.
Dr. No. – 1962
Any James Bond movie will provide several pause-button
worthy moments in the flashy title sequences.
Those silhouetted models during Maurice Binder’s montages were barely
covered up by precise placement of the titles.
In this film, Sean Connery and Ursula Andress shower in a de-contamination
chamber after exposure to radiation.
After a towel is handed to Ms. Andress, it appears that we get a glimpse
of more than we should see. Closer
inspection with the pause feature reveals that, alas, it is merely a
skin-colored bikini top. Not to despair Bond fans.
A careful viewing of the love scene between Connery and Jill St. John in
Diamonds are Forever does provide a
fleeting glance of Ms. St. John in the altogether.
The Exorcist – 1974
William Freidkin’s tale of demonic possession includes
graphic scenes worthy of closer examination including the projectile vomiting
effect, Linda Blair’s rotating head and the infamous crucifix sequence. My favorite pause-button moments, however, are
the near-subliminal images inserted into key scenes involving Father Karras,
played by Jason Miller. In the theater
the viewers realize they have seen something hideous, but they are unable to
identify it. Freezing the film reveals a
truly terrifying shot of a demon. Friedkin
also used this technique in his 1980 thriller Cruising, and director David Fincher utilized flash images in
1999’s Fight Club.
The Gauntlet – 1977
As Clint Eastwood attempts to escort mob witness Sondra
Locke from Las Vegas to Phoenix, several attempts are made on their
lives. In one scene, an ambulance driver
jumps into a rented car to start it up for the fleeing pair. A loud explosion destroys the auto and the
helpless paramedic trapped inside. The
pause button reveals a realistic dummy in the driver seat that bounces around
from the force of the blast. Car bombs
in the movies always have a generic quality and this effect demonstrates how
truly violent they can be.
Papillion – 1973
While Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman are imprisoned at Devils Island,
a condemned man is led to the guillotine for execution. As the camera looks up at the giant blade,
the prisoner’s head is also visible. Movie
goers were probably thinking director Franklin J. Schaffner and editor Robert
Swink would cut away at the last second, before the falling blade struck the
man’s neck. In a beautiful example of
cinematic sleight of hand, the shot changes and a prosthetic head is
inserted. By keeping our attention
focused on that blade, the filmmakers startled audiences when the head was
chopped off and blood appeared to cover the lens.
As with all of the examples included in this list, the pause
button is used to admire the filmmakers’ technique, not to spoil the effect.
War of the Worlds –
1953
Byron Haskin’s version of The War of the Worlds, produced by George Pal, scared the daylights
out of me when I was young. After my
first viewing on television at the age of nine, I was under the sheets hiding
from those deadly Martian machines.
This film, along with The
Thing From Another World, was among the first to feature a full-body fire
stunt and the result was terrifying. As
troops come under fire from the deadly heat ray, stuntman Mushy Callahan dances
across the screen completely engulfed in flames. Standing right in front of him is another
soldier, totally oblivious, stomping out a burning piece of paper. Maybe it was
a classified document they wanted to keep away from the alien invaders.
As I overcame my fear of Martians and flaming stuntmen, The War of the Worlds became a
treasured classic in my DVD collection.
A Star is Born – 1976
In this remake of a remake, Barbra Streisand and Kris
Kristofferson, both playing pop singers, share a romantic interlude. As the camera gracefully circles the lovers,
Ms. Streisand’s blouse is lifted over her head and falls away. We are prevented from seeing any real nudity
by clever camera work, subdued lighting and the precise placement of the
actors’ arms. Undoubtedly this scene had
to be rehearsed several times to get the timing just right. In today’s films a little CGI airbrushing can
remove any unwanted body parts.
The Hunting Party –
1971
A violent western obviously influenced by the graphic
gunplay in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild
Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy the
Kid. Don Medford’s film features a
nasty rancher, played by Gene Hackman, who tracks down and executes the kidnappers
who have taken his wife. In one of the
bloody ambush scenes we are not only treated to slow-motion squib hits, we see
a bare-chested cowboy take a high-powered rifle shot to the abdomen. Further review with the pause-button reveals
a chilling effect featuring prosthetics and make-up.
The Fury – 1977
And finally, we come to Brian DePalma’s psychic thriller, The Fury. John Cassavetes, as John Childress, is the
villain who plans to harvest the telekinetic powers of Andrew Stevens and Amy
Irving for military use. As with all
cinematic evil doers, he who lives by the sword must perish by it. Childress literally explodes in a tense confrontation
with Irving utilizing
slow-motion photography, multiple camera angles and flying body parts in an orgasmic
finale of total revenge. Rick Baker’s
prosthetic work is outstanding, as always, and the effect is startling. Some have criticized this scene as indulgent
overkill by De Palma, but I believe it is beautifully shot and edited. I have found myself uncontrollably pressing
the repeat button on my DVR to watch the scene over and over, mesmerized by this
Grand Guignol imagery.
While Zippy and his
legion of hypercritics might not agree, I find this old-fashioned style of
filmmaking more visceral and exciting.
Computer generated effects are nothing short of amazing when employed in
limited quantities -but when movies
become wall-to-wall digital tapestries, they lose the “wow†factor and we stop
wondering how they did it.
(Tim McGlynn is the author of the recently published book Now Playing at a Theater Near Me.)
