Wednesday, August 3, 2011

WELCOME, MY FRIENDS. WELCOME TO MY CHOCOLATE FACTORY: Buzzfeed attempts to catalog the ten greatest entrances in movie history. Don't click on the link if you still don't know who played John Doe in Seven. Filmsite lists many more here ... and, really, how does this list not start with Clarice Starling's walk past the underground cells to meet Dr. Lecter?

6 comments:

  1. Wow, that buzzfeed list is one shitty list.  Apparently "ever" means "since approximately 1970, and only movies that teenagers would think are awesome."  Joseph, I'm with you about The Third Man... and Adam, I'm with you about Silence of the Lambs.  I would also add Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, Kim Novak in Vertigo, and (why the hell not?) Tim Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show.

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  2. My parents went to the drive-in in, oh, 1972.  And they'd already watched the first feature.  And then there's the intermission/interlude.  And they were doing what you might expect newlyweds without children to be doing at a drive-in.  And the second movie starts up, with silence, so they don't pay a lot of attention as a young man walks around the room, starting a record that plays some tinkly piano music, and lighting candles. Still not paying a whole lot of attention as he steps up on a stool, and then apparently hangs himself. They immediately stopped doing what newlyweds do at a drive-in and gave the movie their full attention. Now, that's an entrance, Harold.
    http://www.youtube.com/v/b6n1adZgY2I" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140

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  3. Jordan12:28 PM

    It's been a while since I've seen it, but in terms of memorable entrances, they picked the wrong one from Jaws.  Nails on a chalkboard? That'll get your attention.

    But my favorite entrance of all time isn't from a movie, but a TV show.  Is there a better first line out there than President Bartlett's?

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  4. Daniel Fienberg3:48 PM

    I really hate to be one of those "The absence of TKTK invalidates the whole list" commenters, but I'm with Joseph: Harry Lime's entrance in "The Third Man" is one of the greatest moments in the history of cinema, a triumph of pure storytelling and also of cinematic storytelling. When I hear "Greatest entrances in movie history," Harry Lime is the alpha and omega. Several of the entrances on that list are good. But Lime is sublime and everything else is sub-Lime. OK. My brain is mush. My apologies for that last sentence.

    -Daniel

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  5. gtv20003:57 PM

    The alien in Alien?

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  6. gtv20003:59 PM

    Should read the links before I post, I guess.

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