CineFix has put together in one video what it calls the “10 Most Effective Editing Moments of All Time.” While one might argue whether the list includes the actual top ten, it is hard to argue that these clips — from movies like Godfather (1972), Battleship Potemkin (1925), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and Psycho (1960) — are not at least among the best. I will not ruin which movie they chose as number one. Check it out.
What movie do you think has the most memorable editing moment? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Is there a better New Year’s Eve movie scene than this one in When Harry Met Sally? The movie makes perfect use of the holiday, including Harry Burns’s (Billy Crystal’s) questions about “Auld Lang Syne.”
Below is the climactic scene from the movie. {Spoiler alert: This clip is the film’s ending.}
After When Harry Met Sally shows Harry’s loneliness magnified by the special night, Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) wonders about the role the holiday played in Harry’s surprise appearance. She wonders if he is just lonely because he is by himself on New Year’s Eve. Harry directly confronts that possible explanation for why he ran to Sally: “And it’s not because it is New Year’s Eve. . . When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” Where are my tissues?
But the movie New Year’s Eve kiss that one might compare to When Harry Met Sally for dramatic impact is when Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) kisses Fredo (John Cazale) with the kiss of death at a New Year’s Eve party in The Godfather: Part II. Michael tells Fredo, “You broke my heart. You broke my heart.”
More tissues, please.
Happy New Year. In the new year, may your kisses be of the When Harry Met Sally type instead of of the Godfather: Part II type.
What is your favorite portrayal of New Year’s Eve? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Is there another actor who has been in more classic movies from different film categories than Robert Duvall? If you consider various movie genres and the top handful of movies in each category, a large number of those groups include movies with Robert Duvall. Consider:
(1) Gangster Movies: Godfather I and II (2) Sports Movies: The Natural (3) Lawyer Movies: To Kill a Mockingbird (4) War Movies: Apocalypse Now (5) Westerns: Lonesome Dove (and True Grit) (6) Social Commentary: Network (7) Satire: M*A*S*H and Network. (8) Preacher Movies: The Apostle (9) Singer Movies: Tender Mercies (and Crazy Heart) (10) Cop Movies/Car Chase Movies: Bullitt
In each category, the movies listed are among the top few. And yes, we are using a loose definition of “genre,” and the list is starting to stretch for categories a little at the end. But we stopped before adding “Military Family/Angry Father Movies” (The Great Santini).
The list is for movies where he appeared, so To Kill a Mockingbird qualifies even though he had a very small (yet important) part. Also, Lonesome Dove was a TV mini-series, but it still ranks up there among the very top classic westerns, and Duvall has said it was his favorite role. But if you do not like that one, replace it with the original True Grit (see the Chimesfreedomcomparison of the two versions of True Grit). Two other Duvall westerns, Open Range and Broken Trail were excellent, but not top classic status.
Although Duvall is respected, he usually is not mentioned with quite the same respect as actors like Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. But few actors have the range of work shown from the genre list above, due largely to his ability to become a character besides “Robert Duvall.” In one great scene from Lonesome Dove where he embodies the classic character of Gus McCrae, you can see the pain in his face when he has to hang an old friend who has fallen in with a bad gang. In particular, he conveys a world of meaning in the first few seconds after the hanging just through his face and his body language. [Update: Unfortunately a clip of that scene is no longer available on YouTube, but another scene from the miniseries is below.]
The movies in the genre list are true classics, among the best in each category. Through acting skill, excellent movie choices, and some luck, maybe no other actor has accomplished a similar feat of being in classic movies in so many different categories.
What is your favorite Robert Duvall Movie? Can you think of another actor who appeared in Great Movies in so many categories? Leave a comment.
