Sticky Situations Make For Sticky Scenes

I am no self-proclaimed movie critic; just a fan who prefers to comment about things I like rather than criticize. (Note: after watching and agreeing with the points made in Jamie Kennedy's Heckler documentary, I'd prefer to point out specific things I like in movies, rather than trash them in a vain attempt at sensationalism) But, there are some special scenes from various movies that seem to "stick" in my brain over time. And I do not necessarily favor the entire corresponding movie, just a specific scene or two. I suspect this is true for many people for their favorite genres but, I wonder what percentage of favorite movies or TV shows can owe their acclaim to an story line versus a few, if not one, well played scenes? This is why I propose that the Academy and Emmy Awards merge, and proceed to give out acting and writing awards based on scenes rather than entire movies or TV series. Incidently, this would also translate well to Internet syndications.

I know what you are going to say; "But the whole must be considered with the part. One can not take subject material out of the context of a story line and judge it singulalry." I partially agree. The masterfully written and acted scenes that I replay in my mind would be meaningless to me without the knowledge of the entire story line in which they fall. But those great talents and works of art rarely sustain themselves for the entirety of a given media content format.

Allow me to describe several examples, admittedly chalk-full of my personal preferences. :-)

Note: If you are interested in seeing the video clips described below, please email me at david.blogger@jacobsonhome.com

My friend Jim Martin once told me that a tried and true formula for a good movie or TV show was to "take an ordinary person, put them in extraordinary circumstances, and watch them squirm!" I emphatically agree; this theme categorizes many of my favorite "sticky scene" flics. This type of plot device offers so many opportunites for suspense, humor, irony, poignant and humanizing drama, etc.

For example, the AMC TV series Breaking Bad (AMC web site) takes a struggling, terminally ill high school chemistry teacher (Bryan Cranston) and desperately places him in the middle of the illegal and dangerous methampetamine drug industry. But, the scene from the Pilot where he accidently ends up in the middle of the desert in his underwear with a broken down RV turned into meth lab is wildly hilarious, and sets up the entire series for similarly ingenious scenes showing his haphazard stumbles through his new life.

In a scene from The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, the local sheriff Belmont (Dwight Yoakam) is placed in a position where he must shoot his friend since childhood, Pete (Tommy Lee Jones) because he is on the run with a kidnapped border agent. Belmont is probably the only person with the skill to track his friend down across West Texas and Mexico but, with Pete in his sights, he can not pull the trigger. He rolls over exasperated and contemplates a hawk flying overhead. At that moment, his cell phone goes off and his girl friend Rachel (Melissa Leo), who ironically is also dating Pete on the side, yanks Belmont back to the earth's surface; Rachel: "Whatcha doin'?" Belmont, slowly, annoyed: "I'm at werrrk." Life moves on, even after such a powerful moment. This scene always makes me laugh.

The ending of No Country for Old Men has been discussed, analyzed, debated by many people. You either love or hate the Coen brothers' ending. Some people protest how the ending served the rest of the film but, I prefer to focus on the scene itself, with the rest of the story serving as its context. The dream, poignantly described by Ed (Tommy Lee Jones), paints a picture of something impending to me. Whether we are ultimately victorious or defeated by what lies ahead, the dream poetically describes the universal anxiety of approaching it. Whether the outcome is certain or uncertain is irrelevant. I find it an incredibly humanizing moment.

And lastly, to drive my point home about awarding specific scenes as opposed to movies, Mike Judge's Idiocracy is not one of my favorite movies in its entirety. But, this movie's cynical depiction of the future of mankind summarized in its introductory sequence is ingeniously hilarious. If scenes could be singled out, even comedies might get some props now and then.