How did you all react to 'The scene'
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BillyFisher — 15 years ago(June 12, 2010 07:31 PM)
I laughed my ass off, but it was the look on Dickie Attenborough's face that really cracked me up.
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Focke_Wulf — 15 years ago(July 04, 2010 10:12 PM)
Hmmm. . . I just recently viewed this one on DVD, probably the fifth time I've seen it in my life. This is a crucial scene, yes. I can't help but wonder how it was played in the remake, but I have avoided that film like the plague.
The close of the scene is what is so intense and satisfying about it, as Attenborough's maniacal laughter segues to sobbing, hysterical weeping. But you know, there he is on the morning of the flight encouraging Stewart with the tale of Henson and Stringfellow. . .
They just don't make 'em like that anymore.
"I'm not from here, I just live here. . ."
-James Mc Murtry -
texasbillyaustin — 15 years ago(September 14, 2010 12:15 PM)
I take it some caught this on AMC a little earlier. And funny the beginning thread on this subject, I too, have always considered that to be "the SCENE". I first saw this with my dad, when I was six or seven years old. I loved airplanes, built model airplanes, and my dad said it was a great movie. And my dad is rarely wrong. But to this day, I can still remember how I felt when I first saw that scene. Even as a kid, I can remember the utter disbelief I felt when he was telling them they were MODEL airplanes he built.
This movie did an incredible job of making you feel the thirst, exhaustion, dirt, and downright exhaustion the characters were feeling. To try and build a plane in conditions most of us couldn't even fathom, ordered around by Heinrich, a man that the crew doesn't like, but are so desperate for a miracle, they hold faith in his "airplane design" abilitiesthey push themselves to do what even still seems like a pipedream. So when Towns and Moran find out Heinrich's planes are nothing more than small modelsevery time, I can feel all of the hope they had just slip through their fingers. The disbelief and loss of hope they experience at that point, is like pouring salt on a very big wound. And the thing is, the movie is good enough, and by this point you're so wrapped up and involved in it, that you can really think and feel what they are. And you realize that Moran's insane laughter is actually insane weeping. And at that point, it would be easy to do both at the same time. And you know it took a lot to keep it from the rest of the crew. One can only speculate at that point what would've happened. Everyone's performance in this movie was so fantastic, you can't help but like the characters that you don't like and the reason you don't like them.
As remakes go, I'd pass on the remake. I only watched it because it aired on cable on morning, nothing else was on, and I was curious how it would hold up to the original. It had a good cast, but the movie itself falls far short of the original. And Dennis Quaid is definitely no Jimmy Stewart. Another actor playing the role of Towns could've improved it a bit, but not that much. I was glad when it ended, and I can say I saw it, so I can tell people how the original is far superior in so many areas and why. Didn't mean to rant, but I hope that younger folks who haven't seen the original, definitely sit down and at least give it a chance. I don't think it would take much for them to be sucked in with interest.
Hey Fock Wolfe, great quote. James is a buddy of mine. And most people don't quote him from his first album. Most will sing the first few lines of "Choctaw Bingo"!
"Said I should've been here, back about ten years. Before it got ruined by folks like me" JM -
drainiet — 15 years ago(September 21, 2010 05:40 PM)
I love this scene. But especially what I like is the sound of Towns crinkling the paper of Dorfmann's catalogue as he's looking for the model Dorfmann is so proud of. In that pregnant awkward moment, the sound of the laminated paper pages moving is very juicy indeed.
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tohu — 15 years ago(October 22, 2010 06:23 AM)
Yes. Thats so true.
What I love about this scene is the way, just for a moment, Kruger is actually engaging with them on a level that is close to being pleasant, friendly, even 'human'. Of course it's all based on his lack of awareness - he thinks they are taking an interest in his career, and he responds by actually smiling at them and being nice to them - just for a moment. But of course all the time they are actually thinking he is insane. It's brilliantly done.
"Maybe I should go alone"
- Quint, Jaws.
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kevdun22 — 13 years ago(April 22, 2012 02:45 AM)
you can say that again TexasBilly ! the acting was superior in every respect.
if you think about it out of the entire cast there are only 10 main characters when you rule out the 3 guys who died 15 minutes into the movie and the exotic dancer during the mirage sequence.
out of the 10 main characters 5 have won oscars and 1 was nominated twice.
Attenborough - won as director :Ghandi
Borgnine - won best actor for :Marty
Finch - won best actor for :Network
Kennedy - won best supporting for :Cool Hand Luke
Stewart - won Best Actor for :Mr. Smith goes to Washington
Ian Bannan - nominated twice for academy award
Hardy Kruger - great actor owns every lifetime achievement award in Europe.
I was also impressed with Ron Fraser's portrayal of a despicable guy and
Christian Marquand's compassionate doctor.
I shouldn't really count the dude who lied inside the plane and committed suicide but he did have some touching scenes. I think the monkey did more
acting then him. ha ha.
little trivia for you allthis is second time Ernie Borgnine was in a movie with a small cast and had 4 other Oscar winners with him of which 2 of the 4 were multiple winners and 1 other was nominated. This movie only had 7 main characters. First one who answers wins a dried fig and some antifreeze to distill..cheers ! -
Fingaroo — 13 years ago(June 20, 2012 07:20 AM)
little trivia for you allthis is second time Ernie Borgnine was in a movie with a small cast and had 4 other Oscar winners with him of which 2 of the 4 were multiple winners and 1 other was nominated. This movie only had 7 main characters. First one who answers wins a dried fig and some antifreeze to distill..cheers !
I'd guess
The Poseidon Adventure
, (Gene Hackman and Shelley Winters were 2-time winners, and Red Buttons and Jack Albertson won 1 each.) Now pass the figs, Ratbags! -
joposa — 13 years ago(September 24, 2012 12:59 PM)
My reaction was both amusement and sadness. Amusement because it's like the commercial in which a guy is trying to land a plane on an endangered flight, only to inform the other passengers that although he has no flying experience, he did spend a night at a Holiday Inn Express. Sadness because Towns and Moran spent so much time kissing up to this pompous man, only to receive an epic letdown.
P.S. Stewart won Best Actor for The Philadelphia Story, not Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. -
craigsnb — 11 years ago(July 17, 2014 06:01 PM)
the thing that bothered me is that dorfman wouldnt have the slightest clue on how to put this plane together. A model is one thing, but the vast scale difference ie how to hold a plane of this magnitude together would be almost like apples and oranges. Only thing similar is the flight dynamics which I can believe because he designed a model similar to this.
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WyldeGoose — 13 years ago(August 10, 2012 09:39 AM)
I am not sure if any of you know the scene to which I am refferring to but its the scene where they find out he makes model airplanes. The reason I am asking is every time my mother sees this movie its always the same way. She sits in front of the tv STONE faced, not one word comes out of her mouth. Then I am in the other room and when it hits the scene where they find out he makes model airplanes its hillarious laughter. I guess my mother looses it every time she sees Jimmy Stewart face. Anyone else loose it over this scene?
I've always had a issue with this scene. Not a problem, necessarily, but it bothered me because it seemed very convenient to believe that Heinrich Dorfmann would be anywhere near the Sahara Desert, let alone to get a flight on this plane. I am given to believing in divine interventions that make things happen in such a way, but when it comes to a film, unless it's part of the plot (like in the film Signs) it bothers me because it's convenient.
Further, it's a bit silly. What is a model-maker doing out in the Sahara Desert with these guys? What, the French Riviera too crowded for holiday? He couldn't go to Monte Carlo? I can see a guy wanting to have some adventure, but this really seems just a bit too unusual to be believed. What I would've accepted is if Dorfmann had said, "I build airplanes," in the beginning, but later it's discovered that he has never designed a single airplane, but is an A&P mechanic or engineer. Or, better yet, he's all about electrical work in aircraft. There would be uses for such skills pretty much anywhere aircraft are needed in the world.
If that had been revealed, that would've made the horrifying doubt casting a pall on the whole venture more palpable and believable. It's one thing to have Dorfmann be a guy that designs model-aircraft that actually fly. It's another to have someone who has only worked on them, but hasn't any actual design experience. It would've been a bit more poignant if he had worked in the Luftwaffe during the war, had a lot of experience with aviation and pilots, but never designed one plane in his life. That would give him a bit more credibility in his criticisms about Mr. Towns.
Does Dorfmann being a model-maker work? Yes. It's a minor issue with me, and I just go with it. It's a bit tough to believe, but I go with it. -
Fingaroo — 13 years ago(August 10, 2012 12:47 PM)
What is a model-maker doing out in the Sahara Desert with these guys?
That's a reasonable question. I always assumed that he was an engineer for Arabco Oil, and his model business was just a sideline. Didn't he mention that he built planes with his brother? I'd guess the toy plane business wasn't all that busy and/or profitable. So to make a living he had to take the job in the desert, leaving his brother to run things at home.
Edit: Or didn't he say he was visiting his brother in the oil fields? That would make more sense. I'll have to watch it again.