Thursday, October 22, 2009

It was a dark and stormy night...

Don't know about where you are but last night we had thunderstorms. So my son and I turned out all the lights and watched one of my favorite thrillers of all time:



I saw this one in the theater when it came out when I was about 15 or 16 and it was, to put it mildly, a memorable experience! Sandy commented that Alan Arkin's character here ranks at the top of his list of scary bad men in films (along with Jack Torrence from "The Shining", among others), so I always enjoyed how Arkin spoke about playing this character in interviews like this one:



The biggest drawback of the film is the dickhead character of Sam, the husband. But that's so typical of the genre: The audience's experience of the victim's isolation is enhanced by the cluelessness, emotional and/or physical distance, or just plain absence of his/her support system. Still, many (including me) felt that Sam's reaction to Suzy's plight at the end of the film was a bit, er, odd to say the least.

So, getting ready for Halloween? Who's on your list of Top Badasses in scary movies?

UPDATE: I knew I had posted about "Wait Until Dark" before, so I decided to look it up and, sure enough, it was on Halloween last year! I even posted the same interview with Alan Arkin. Lord, am I predictable or what.

3 comments:

capmconnundrum said...

Robert Mitchum in "Night of the Hunter" is super creepy. But not very halloweeny
Charles Boyer in "Gaslight" also not right for the season.

Getting closer to seasonal favorites:
Peter Lorre in "Mad Love"
But for halloween, "The Haunting" or "The Old Dark House"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5BTFqnQLi4&feature=related

Mike Thomas said...

Darth Vader
Toht (the Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark played by Ronald Lacey)
The mechanical shark (and the menacing music) from Jaws
The Wicked Witch from Wizard of Oz
and the most awful, despicable, heartless, cruel villian of them all......
The Stepmother in Cinderella (shudder)

AnnPW said...

Good choices, Cap! I love all of those films and characters, except for "The Haunting" which I just never could get into. I think it's mostly because of Julie Harris, bleh.

Peter Lorre, now THERE'S a guy for Halloween! I never saw him in anything he wasn't great in.

Oh and you too, Mike, great picks! But no Cruella Deville? Seems like she should get a mention for her name alone.