I don't know what possessed me to write this piece, but I've always been a fan of the underdog, and have always been one myself. So, for some reason I started racking my brain for moments that "popped" in movies that didn't. There's art in them there films, even in possibly small stretches.
1. Halloween II (2009).
Rob Zombie's much maligned sequel to his own remake has a lot wrong with it. However, there's a scene, a gut-wrenching piece of maestro-level acting from Brad Dourif, that literally had me in tears. Dourif, who many know as the town doctor in Deadwood and poor Billy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, plays the cynical Sherriff Brackett (the role that belonged to Charles Cyphers in the original) and he's just found out his beloved daughter Annie has been murdered. The grief shown is of the heart-rending variety that I don't think I've seen since Ed Harris' mournful explosion when Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio drowns in The Abyss, or Leonardo DiCaprio's shock over his daughters in Shutter Island, and I've not seen again.
2. The Puppet Masters (1994).
The character played by the underused actor Eric Thal, has been released from the grips of a parasitic creature that writer Robert Heinlein's mind envisioned and unleashed upon us all. Later he has a breakdown in the shower in a scene that probably gives decent insight into visualizing drug withdrawal.
A colleague, played by Julie Warner, attempts to pick the nude Thal up off the shower floor. (She's unable to because of the size difference, so she merely holds his weeping form). This is not sexual, it's empathy on full display. This is true acting at its finest by a pair of then young performers that never really broke that Hollywood ceiling. The Puppet Masters is an underrated film that deserves re-assessment, but this scene packs one hell of a kick.
3. Deep Rising. (1998).
Our Hero's sidekick, Kevin J. O'Connor, muse of Stephen Sommers, comes upon the suffering form of antagonist Wes Studi. O'Connor realizes Studi is trapped in a situation he can't escape from, and is enduring a slow and agonizing death. Despite Studi's character being a murderous insufferable bastard, O'Connor mercifully gives him a handgun so he can end the suffering on his own terms, a largely undeserved gesture. This is proven when Studi promptly fires the weapon directly at O'Connor.
Some people don't appreciate or deserve even the smallest favors.
"Here endeth the lesson." - Sean Connery, The Untouchables
4. Lightning Bug. (2008).
Green Graves is a poor teenage kid who likes to make model creatures ordered (that his mother's cro-magnon boyfriend calls "faggot pottery monsters") from magazines, and creature monster and gore effects. His mother has dependency issues, (both substance and relationship) and finds herself mercilessly run over and murdered by that piece of shit boyfriend played by Waingro, I mean Kevin Gage, who specializes in pieces of shit. When Green realizes this, he puts his skills to use.
Using his make up and effects abilities, he manufactures a situation where Gage's character gets himself shot to death. After the smoke settles, the kid emerges quietly from the forest behind the trailer where the gunplay occurred, and removes the mask from his face that made it all happen. This is a fist pumping moment.
5. Rookie of the Year (1993).
In this silly kids laugher, a 12 year old Thomas Ian Nicholas (future star of American Pie, a film I've proudly never seen) breaks his arm, and after it mends, the over-tightened tendons result in him throwing a 110 MPH fastball. Needless to say, he ends up with the lowly Chicago Cubs. Daniel Stern, a perennial Rob Will favorite directed this little jaunt, and makes small appearances as pitching coach Ralph Brickma. Ralph spends more time dealing with our little lead on the level of conserving airline food than controlling his fastball however.
He also gets trapped in the gap between the doors of adjoining hotel rooms.
"Little help"
"Little help, now." he mutters to the ceiling.
Stern's worth the price of admission alone, in fact this applies to all of his films, Home Alone notwithstanding.
Readers? See C.H.U.D. You not only get Stern, you get John Heard.
6. Three O'Clock High.
In Phil Joanou's debut, 1987's Three O'Clock High, the crux of the plot is Casey Sziemaszko's character, Jerry Mitchell, attempting to avoid a fight with his High School's newest student, uber-hard-ass Buddy Revell.
In a scene late in the film, in desperation, Jerry attempts to pay Revell not to fight with him. This appears to work, as Richard Tyson (brilliant as Revell) sneers at Jerry and growls,
"You didn't even try. How does that feel?"
From the first of many times I've seen the film, I felt that. Right in the gut. That disgusted face. The condescension. Even at his desire not to get his ass kicked. Mitchell's full-on attempt at self-preservation. Engaging in an act of self-survival, he gave in to his fear.
And was made to feel like less than a human for it. And Revell, psychotic turd that he appears to be, has an inkling of truth in his question.
I'm not gonna lie. I've used that phrase in insult many times in my life. "How does that feel?"
