THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

[SKIN JOB 66]

[joberg]

Definite line of thoughts on these (imitation is the best form...you know the rest). Love Frazetta's work. Good stuff Fred

[SKIN JOB 66]

Thanks JB !



I can see more posts about Conan coming soon... and they'll show how John Milius was maybe influenced by Paolo Pasolini ! (No kidding !)

Fred
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[jameth]

Cool stuff

[Gaff87]

I hope it's ok to post in your topic Fred.
I know it's your baby

I've just finished watching AVATAR......and loved it.

But once again, Fred, you're totally right.

AVATAR reminded me of 3 main movies...

Aliens + The Matrix + Apocalypse Now.

There are probably a lot more but those are the ones I've picked up on.

I have to say that I really enjoyed the movie and will definitely see it again.

Fred, you must see it

Neil

[Bassnoir]

....the movie Avatar most reminded me of was "Dances With Wolves" (in space)......
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[Gaff87]

Ok, so today I was watching another favourite of mine The good, the bad and the ugly and noticed 2 things in particular.

I don't have any screencaps but will see if I can find some pictures online.

2 scenes reminded me of Blade Runner.

The first one was when Angel Eyes shoots the guy under the table near the beginning of the film, Leon style.

Second time was when Tuco nearly has his eyes gauged out by Corporal Wallace (I think his name is) almost the same as Tyrell in Blade Runner.

Let me know what you think?

Neil

[SKIN JOB 66]

I'll post something interesting regarding The good, the Bad & the Ugly asap, but for now there's something more important to show here :

5 never before seen (at least, to my knowledge) pages of storyboard from Blade Runner have surfaced here :

http://forgottensilver.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/blade-runner-storyboard-inedit/


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[Gaff87]

Looking forward to your next post Fred.

Those sketches are great!

The walls remind me of the the cut scene with Holden, after he got wounded.

Neil

[andy]

I have seen a good number of the story boards for the film and those do not match any of the styles of drawing of any of the others. I have a feeling they are not made for the movie, but well after the fact.

It is possible though that since they decided not to use the hospital scene with Holden, they may have wanted to reuse the set already made for the final Tyrell reveal, and hired another storyboard artist to draw them up.

Andy

[SKIN JOB 66]

They say in the short article where those boards are displayed that they were drawn by Sherman Labby.
He's credited in The illustrated Blade Runner... and I definitely identify his style here, don't you Andy ? (it reminds me a lot of the "Leon VK test" scene in this book)

Fred

PS : But I agree with you Andy, it looks like those boards were made during production because (yes Neil, you're right) they maybe have intended at some point to use the Hospital set as Tyrell's cryocrypt ? (this scene is supposed to show Batty & Sebastian in the crypt)
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[andy]

When I look at the rest of the boards from the link, they do look more like Labby's work. Makes me wonder what came first, the crypt, or the hospital?

Andy

[SKIN JOB 66]

OK Neil, here is what I wanted to say about Sergio Leone's masterpiece The Good, the Bad & the Ugly…

I noticed a long time ago that the first and last sequences of the film are revolving around a very obvious geometric figure : a circle.

Both scenes where we first meet Angel Eyes and where he dies take place on a circle… A circular stone place… Strange, isn't it ? Let's try to analyze what's really going on in those sequences.



FIRST CIRCLE
A boy on a donkey is seen revolving around a well. The gentle light makes us feel we're just after dawn. It's a little boring to watch but the scene is so peaceful, like a glimpse into eternity, know what I mean ? It could go on and on and on like this forever… BUT a dark rider appears in the background. The boy looks afraid, or at least concerned by this appearance, so he stops the donkey and runs out of frame. The dark rider crosses the circular place and stops nearby. We see Angel eyes for the first time.

The water out of the well is a symbol of life, THE symbol of ALL life. the boy turning around the well could then symbolize a foetus… the place, a circle, could remind us of a mother's belly / matrix… Yes, we contemplate a foetus in his mother's matrix. He's unborn. Everything's peaceful. Time doesn't exist for him.
The desert, a symbol of death, is surrounding this oasis of life. When Angel Eyes comes out from the desert, we could see him as an emanation of this deadly environment. He scares the boy who leaves the circle. The riders crosses / violates the circle.

Note : In the Italian and french versions of the film, Angel Eyes is named Sentenza. Sentenza means "phrase" in french & italian, but it's also very close to "sentence", you get the idea ? Yes, "death sentence". This guy is an executioner.

My interpretation of this scene is that Angel Eyes is Death incarnate (the Angel of Death). He enters the mother's matrix like a bullet (His trajectory is a straight line, from background to foreground of the frame), forcing the child / story to be born. Eternity is over. The story begins.





LAST CIRCLE
Last time we see Angel Eyes / Angel of Death, it's in the famous cemetary duel by the end of the film. It takes place on a circular stone place very similar to the one seen in the scene analyzed above but this time in a cemetary, an obvious symbol of death. We're in Angel Eyes' realm, in a way. He looks powerful and dangerous in this scene.
The sequence begins when Blondie puts a stone (the grave name where the gold is buried in written on its underside) at the center of the place. Then the three shooters take their positions around the stone… But when the guns speak, Angel Eyes is the only one to die. His body falls into a grave...

Before I begin to analyze this sequence, Iet's see what happened to the boy who escaped the frame in the opening sequence. I'd like to think that he separated in two entities, Blondie & Tuco. Two sides of the same coin. Twins. I remember that in Christopher Frayling's book, Something to do with Death (a great book about Sergio Leone's life and films) Frayling underscores that Blondie & Tuco act like two clowns, Blondie being the whiteface and Tuco the Auguste. They're rivals but basicaly on the same side, trying to find the gold before Angel Eyes, but also trying to escape him during the POW sequence.

I believe this stone Blondie puts at the center of the place could be something like the philosophers' stone.
A quick Wikipedia definition : The philosophers' stone (Latin lapis philosophorum) is a legendary alchemical substance, supposedly capable of turning base metals, especially lead, into gold ; it was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality.

Turning lead into gold = turning bullets into gold. The faster shooter will find the gold.
An elixir of life : The stone is sitting at the center of the place / matrix. Blondie, one of the twins created from the boy seen in the first scene, puts it there. This means that he wants to re-establish eternity at the center of the circle. if he wants to re-establish eternity, this means he'd like to make time (= Death = Angel Eyes) disappear.
Useful for rejuvenation : The twins would like to be reunited into a single, younger self, the boy.

We know at this point that the film is close to its end, it's even going to come back to its original state. Even Angel Eyes is walking backwards as he takes his position in the circle.
When Blondie shoots Angel Eyes, he literally ejects him from the circle, sending him back in the desert surrounding the circle, in the grave where he really belongs. It's almost like a Sumo fight. The one who's ejected from the circle looses the game.

Blondie, the smartest of the twins, had planned everything from the start. He smiles to Tuco… Will they be reunited ?

No.

He leaves Tuco attached nearby the circle and runs away with his half of the gold, just like the boy left the donkey in the first scene discussed above !
Tuco shouts at him, he says he's going to take his revenge, etc…

This means that once Angel Eyes / Death / Time are gone, those two won't reunite into a single self but will continue to play their kids' game for eternity.

This movie is an ode to eternity, that you only experience as a child.

Fred
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[Gaff87]

Fred. I'm astonished right now.
I think you've hit the nail on the head.
I've never thought of any of those things before.
I just like Clint's movie and am a western fan.
I'm lost for words right now.
Everything sounded spot on.

Angel Eyes totally fits in with being a grim reaper type, even wearing black.

Fred, I salute you!

Neil

[SKIN JOB 66]

HEHE, thank you Neil !



That's the great thing with those classics, as soon as you scratch the surface you discover interesting things ! (I doubt I could make such analysis with the Transformers or G.I. Joe movies !)



Fred
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[andy]

Also one of my favorite movies, that I must go back and watch soon. thank you again Fred.

Andy

[joberg]

The circle is closed: the begining is the end and the end the begining...great analysis Fred.

[Insomniac]

Wow...
Love your perceptive analysis , Fred.
A amazing philosophical perspective, I'd never have picked up any of that without you.
Thank you for sharing!

A little input:
(Bear with me, I haven't seen the movie in a year or two hopefully you can put up with my shitty stuff)

Most of the movie is about brothers separated, North/South (civil war) and the death and destruction that each side faced and created despite the family they once shared. This split shows how motivated by their inherited viewpoints and pride/greed and how they drive them destructively, in the end the brothers are inevitably reunited at (Antietam) the end of the war. They are family. The older stronger brother (North) shows the younger one they can put aside there disputes and both come out of it with some pride intact and yet would be forced to be together although there clashing views.

The story is the same for Tuco and Blondie. Faking a brotherly relationship the two inevitably form in nature and not of blood: brotherhood, mentioned by SKIN JOB 66.

Blondie being the more intelligent, experienced and clever brother, leading Tuco around like an older brother does. Tuco is a less perceptive and more rash (younger brother) who tries to undermine the other or stab him in the back. This creates a fair-weather family held together by the promise of gold. The "brothers" similar in nature are also divided and reunited multiple times thru-out the film, each time reuniting in survivalist fashion; in the face of a threat or just to save there necks to insure the future of the secret of and the future of the gold.

In the end the overwhelming epiphany of death hits Tuco and he snaps prematurely and tries to cheat death (angel eyes) and his brother and fails luckily while Blondie saves him thru the respect of the brotherhood and the pact they once had. Blondie gives Tuco what he wants, yet doesn't help Tuco cheat the fate that he deserves. Breaking the brotherhood, Blondie leaves the circle.



Thanks for reading my bullshit.
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I am busy planning things that don't happen, and procrastinating things that I don't want to happen.
-Me

[REdYOdA]

That's a really interesting analysis of one of my favorite films. I never get tired of seeing the trilogy and am anxious to re-watch, keeping these ideas in mind.

On another note...
I found this for sale, not a prop, but a real firing replica...pretty cool imho...

http://www.cimarron-firearms.com/Conversions/ManNo%20NameConv.htm#

I've got an 1860 Colt Army 44 replica I'd love to mod to look like Blondie's.

[SKIN JOB 66]

Thank you guys for your comments and analysis, it's always interesting to read your thoughts and/or reactions to my own analysis !



A little out of place detail a friend of mine saw in Russel Crowe's Almost Famous : This scene takes place in a early 70's San Francisco street... but look at the Obey Giant poster at the left on the image... A typical example of Obey's late 90's work !



Fred


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