13th Edition

12.31.09

( = vote for Audience Award )

Tropic Thunder [Paul]
trailer for Scorcher VI

Contact [Tim]
signals in space

Elf [Christa]
Opening (Bob Newhart)

Guys and Dolls [Christa]
"Fugue for Tinhorns"

Way Down East [Deirdre]
ice floe rescue

Ratatouille [Ben]
"You cannot be Mommy!"

On the Town [Diane & Evie]
Miss Turnstiles

Surf's Up [Tallulah]
carving the surf board

Mauvais Sang [Tod]
"Modern Love"

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy [Tallulah]
"The shovel is my pick."

Pretty in Pink [Laura]
"Try a Little Tenderness"

Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The [Jim]
Owl's house in a storm

Star Wars [Chris]
TIE fighter attack

Paint Your Wagon [Paul]
"I Talk to the Trees"

2001: A Space Odyssey [Tim]
"Open the pod bay doors, Hal."

Dude, Where's My Car? [Matt]
tattoos

Colma: The Musical [Harriet]
"Colma Stays"

Mulan [Ben]
suiting up

Young Frankenstein [Tallulah]
put the candle back

Hard Day's Night [Sara]
Ringo goes for a walk

Drumline [Chris]
final showdown

{ intermission }

Pontypool [Mike]
opening credits monologue

Duplicity [Mike]
opening credits slow-motion fight

Private Eyes, The [Chris]
loose collar

The Third Man [David]
ferris wheel chat

Wordplay [Anne]
reading the mail

Rear Window [Tim]
a kiss from Lisa

Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The (Le scaphandre et le papillon) [Warren]
waking up in the hospital

Robocop [Chris]
waking up in the hospital

Be Kind, Rewind [Laura]
Sweding one-shot

Destry Rides Again [Harriet]
"You've Got That Look"

Blazing Saddles [Harriet]
"I'm Tired"

Apartment, The [Sara]
spaghetti dinner, interrupted

Sherman's March [Laura]
blind date

Burn After Reading (1) [Tod]
JK Simmons #1

Coraline [Warren]
performing with the ladies

M [David]
capturing the criminal

Muppet Movie, The [Christa]
"Never Before, Never Again"

Double Indemnity [Jim]
suicide tables

Days of Heaven [Paul]
locusts

Wizards [Paul]
armies marching

Viva Las Vegas [Chris]
Rusty rehearses

United 93 [Anne]
air traffic near-collision

{ intermission }

JCVD [Mike]
opening credits one-shot action sequence

Bonnie and Clyde [Jim]
drinking Cokes

Sunshine [Laura]
opening the sun filter

Wayward Cloud, The (Tian bian yi duo yun) [Warren]
date with Chen (musical number)

Sexy Beast [Mike]
opening credits ("Peaches")

Midnight Run [Chris]
Sidney, shut your mouth

Eraserhead [Tod]
leaving for the night

Casino Royale (1967) [Tim]
the villain revealed

Postman Always Rings Twice, The [Jim]
Cora considers murder

Babes in Arms [Chris]
"Minstrel Man"

Sukiyaki Western Django [Harriet]
Tarantino story

Tropic Thunder [Warren & Harriet]
a call from Flaming Dragon

Magnolia [Anne]
hail of frogs

Repo Man [Tim]
plate of shrimp

Repo: The Genetic Opera [Paul]
"Seventeen"

Paths of Glory [David]
march to the firing line

Monty Python and the Holy Grail [Matt]
Prince Herbert's guards

Big Night [Christa]
final scene

Burn After Reading (2) [Tod]
JK Simmons #2

{ end }

The reason I choose to dole out awards each year is to encourage a healthy variety of clips. Without a Montalban Award, for instance, it would be easy for the party to descend into ever narrower tunnels of the obscure and unknown.

Some years, however, we just won't see much of certain genres--this year the only "action" sequences submitted were Deirdre's 1923 silent ice floe rescue from WAY DOWN EAST, and the abstractions of a slow-motion fistfight and live-action videogame walkthrough from Mike (DUPLICITY, JCVD). Diane and Evie contributed the only real dance number¹, ON THE TOWN's "Miss Turnstiles", which was more interested in its costuming and comedic conceit than its choreography. The remaining musical numbers (and there were plenty, despite Matt's continued objections) featured either deliberately bad dancing (THE WAYWARD CLOUD) or no dancing at all (COLMA: THE MUSICAL, PAINT YOUR WAGON, GUYS AND DOLLS).

So this year I opted not to award The Harold & Fayard (Best Dance Number) or The Bodhi (Best Chase).

Our international representation was low once again, limiting the field of clips eligible for The Kurosawa award. But this year I gladly handed it to Tod for his striking clip from MAUVAIS SANG, featuring David Bowie's "Modern Love". (Note that I do plan to rename this award so that its title doesn't inadvertently discourage the submission of any clips from Kurosawa himself. I'm currently torn between The Unamerican and The Damn Foreigner.)

I did present awards in two wholly noncompetitive categories, in cases where the clips could have handily won in any other year amid a crowded field. Grace Kelly's ambush of James Stewart in the dark earned Tim's REAR WINDOW clip Il Bacio (Best Kiss). And Matt's contribution of two shirtless knuckleheads with back tattoos from DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? earned him The Pepe, for the best clip under 60 seconds.

Matt's clips from DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? ("Dude! What does mine say?") and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL ("Stay here, and make sure he doesn't leave the room.") perfectly matched Tallulah's ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY ("Take your pick.") with their ridiculous verbal misunderstandings. I had previously retired the Accidental Baxter award (Best Motif, Unintended Collaboration) in favor of rewarding the individual achievement of The Baxter. But I've realized that decision places too much emphasis on the materialistic aspect of the awards—I fashion an award in order to attract certain kinds of clips, people submit clips with a particular award in mind. The Accidental Baxter allows that other creative forces can be at play in this collaborative collage, and transforms the conception of the award from a recognition of achievement to a recognition of the audience's delight.

Thus The Accidental Baxter is shared by Matt and Tallulah, and is the only Baxter awarded.

The absence of dance and action was indicative of an overall trend this year away from the kinetic and emotional toward the cerebral and cool. Many of the evening's most dramatic scenes were themselves about what wasn't happening—Hal not opening the pod bay doors (2001, The Montalban), United 175 not responding to radio communication (UNITED 93, The Jessie), Jean-Dominique Bauby unable to speak to his doctor (THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY), three soldiers about to be shot by a firing squad (PATHS OF GLORY), a man unable to rise from his bed as his baby screams and wife departs (ERASERHEAD).

And there was plenty of talk, talk, talk. Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten conversing high above Vienna (THE THIRD MAN). Two CIA officers discussing a curious case (in Tod's two scenes from BURN AFTER READING). Mentors attempting to school their acolytes (SURF'S UP, REPO MAN, SHERMAN'S MARCH, RATATOUILLE). Bob Newhart and Quentin Tarantino telling tales (ELF, SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO). Edward G. Robinson reciting actuarial table headings (DOUBLE INDEMNITY). Will Shortz reading the mail (WORDPLAY).

Given the makeup of our party regulars these kinds of trends aren't wholly surprising. A different mix of people might place more emphasis on the ultraviolence of John Woo, or Takashi Miike, or Eli Roth. Other men might be quicker to assemble a Lightning Round of the breasts they most remember from the R-rated movies of their adolescence. The tradition of flagging clips with warning labels (and, now, keeping Act I kid-friendly) emerged from my own preconceptions of viewer sensitivities, and has set a tone that tends to limit the amount and degree of uncomfortable or risky material.

It was in this context that I decided to screen the first portion² of the Rooney/Garland blackface minstrel number from BABES IN ARMS.

A couple of interesting questions about this choice came up in our post-screening discussion. 1) Would I have screened it had we any black people at the party, and 2) was the warning card ("Discomfiting cultural anachronisms") strong enough? The answer to the first was: yes, but (I acknowledged) I might have made the warning card more blunt. Which I suppose answers the second question. But then I'll point out that the blackface number was mentioned neither in the TCM lead-in nor the Wikipedia article about the film. The Maltin Guide hints obliquely at it with a simple: "Dated fun." Meaning the extent to which this clip may unsettle any of us is not indicative of a cultural consensus.

There is I think is an even more interesting question underlying these question: are there limits on the kinds of clips we should screen? At what point does an uncomfortable clip become a violation of the trust this community has established with each other?

Because there are different ways clips can disturb us. The filmmakers themselves can be working to provoke or disgust or unsettle us. In other cases they can be promoting a political agenda or worldview that offends us (e.g. if someone were to bring an inflammatory clip from BIRTH OF A NATION or TRIUMPH OF THE WILL). In this case the filmmakers were merely wanting to entertain the audience—to showcase Rooney and Garland's talent at performing a popular American art form they'd grown up with.

Is there a qualitative distinction here? And how does intent figure into it? Why does someone want to screen the clip? To educate? To provoke? To defend the principle of free expression? I do think clips should be able to engage us as well as delight us.

Not that I'm looking to open up a long email thread about this. Perhaps when we get together this June (see below) we can set aside time to toss around these kinds of questions. Or perhaps I could open up a forum on the site for further discussion. Having a clear point of view will help if we begin to grow the guest list.

Ultimately I do think it's up to me as editor to make a call about what I'm willing to screen. And as always I'll place the more challenging material in Act III, broken up by light or silly clips and the Lightning Round.

There were plenty of wordless clips eligible for The Teller, but Paul's entry from Terrence Malick's DAYS OF HEAVEN was an easy choice³. Enough other guests agreed that the clip also went on to win The Miriam Engelberg Audience Award.⁴

I don't have much to say on the topic of this year's What the Hell Was That? Award, which I handed to Harriet for SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO (by the aforementioned Miike), except perhaps to clarify what I'm generally looking for here. Or more precisely what I'm not looking for. The dorky camp of Warren's THE WAYWARD CLOUD was certainly oddball enough to be in consideration, but might have been more effective in a smaller dose. And as for Paul's clip from REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA, I'm not sure any amount of trimming could have helped it turn the awful-to-awesome corner. Again, everyone is free to contribute shrill, incompetent, mawkish, cloying, and otherwise painful clips. They're just not likely to win an award from me when they do.

Finally on the subject of awards I've decided to exercise a prerogative as host and revive another award I'd previously retired, for the individual (or couple) who provided my favorite contributions of the night. Mike's four opening title sequences were quite strong, and I nearly gave the award to Tod for submitting the dual JK Simmons/David Rasche scenes from BURN AFTER READING. Another strong contender was Tallulah, who put forward a solid slate of clips in her first year as a contributor. But this year I present the Editor's Choice (previously Best Clip Choice) Award to David for his three dramatic, classic, and artful scenes (M, THE THIRD MAN, PATHS OF GLORY). Way to as-they-say class up the joint.

Yours in the continuing degradation
of the American attention span,

- C

¹ I do add certain clips in editing in the attempt to restore some balance, for example the TIE fighter attack from STAR WARS and Ann-Margret's hair-flipping dance rehearsal from VIVA LAS VEGAS.

² The scene goes on. And on.

³ A stickler might point out that there are, in fact, a handful of words uttered during the sequence ("Smoke 'em out!"). In determining its eligibility, however, I assess the extent to which the scene would communicate its entire meaning if one were to replace the words in ADR with mutters of "Rhubarb! Rhubarb!" This question first came up in awarding Paul a Teller (his second of now three) for the opening to WEST SIDE STORY in year 9. While the Jets merely whistle and snap, a couple of kids on the basketball court can be heard shouting to each other. In both cases words are employed more as sound effect than text.

⁴ It should be noted that Paul achieved his Audience Award victory by voting for his own clip at the last moment, breaking an otherwise deadlocked tie with Matt's clip from DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? While self-voting has never been explicitly prohibited, this unconventional win felt a bit like a replay of the epic tie of year 7, in which a late vote change for Tod's overlong A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH—which ran a whopping 5 minutes 45 seconds—left Matt's clip from TRON in second place. If anything like it happens again I may give Matt a special award and call it The Meryl Streep.

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