My favorite aspect of this movie would have to be the comedy laced in. Being a comedy fan, of course this is what I picked out. Everything from the little timeteller man shuffling around, to the huge hulking giant carrying a big mallet, to the mama’s boy who mama doesn’t really like, they were my favorite characters. Who doesn’t love a little humor every now and then?
On to some serious stuff I learned today. I would like to point out that the scene where Sanjuro is being beaten up is pretty much exactly the same scene in The Glass Keywhere Ned Beaumont is beaten up, including the two cronies sitting playing a game and the main character’s cunning escape. This must be Heisler’s “tip of the hat,” just like George Lucas’ in Star Wars that we discussed today (which really made me want to see those movies again).
Why do directors copy scenes from other directors’ works? It has two sides to it: some might say that this is an easy way out of making a movie, just put a bunch of scenes together that have worked really really well in the past and make them your own. But I think it is much more than that. It’s not like they are copying the whole movie (oh wait that happens all the time…), directors are just using little bits that show that they know what a good scene is made of. I like it. It works. It entertains the crowd. So why not?