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Intellect Books - Scott Jordan Harris

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114 pages

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Dorothy’s ruby slippers. Michael Myers’s mask. Marilyn Monroe’s billowy white dress. Indiana Jones’s trusty hat. These objects are icons of popular culture synonymous with the films they appear in, and, at long last, a book has come along that sorts and chronicles fifty of them.

Rosebud Sleds and Horses’ Heads presents incisive discussion of fifty of the most significant objects in cinema history and explores their importance within their films and within the popular imagination. With original full color illustrations, this book surveys objects from a range of genres, from the birth of cinema to the present day.

Curated and written by a prominent film critic who routinely writes for some of the leading publications in the English language, as well as broadcasts for the BBC, Rosebud Sleds and Horses’ Heads is the only book of its kind. With a fascinating, original, and instantly understandable concept, it will find grateful audiences in film buffs around the world.

The Clock on the Skyscraper in Safety Last! (1923)

The Baby Carriage on the Steps in Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Maria the Robot in Metropolis (1927)

The Ruby Slippers in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Floating Globe in The Great Dictator (1940)

The Maltese Falcon in The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The Rosebud Sled in Citizen Kane (1941)

The Letters of Transit in Casablanca (1942)

The Portrait of Laura Hunt in Laura (1944)

Harold Russell’s Metal Hands in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

The Escalator between Heaven and Earth in A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

The Camera with a Telescopic Lens in Rear Window (1954)

Marilyn Monroe’s White Dress in The Seven Year Itch (1955)

The Red Balloon in The Red Balloon (1956)

The Bridge on the River Kwai in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

The Chess Set in The Seventh Seal (1957)

Apu’s Manuscript in The World of Apu (1959)

Mrs Robinson’s Stockings in The Graduate (1967)

The Cosmic Cup of Coffee in Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967)

The Alien Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

The Harmonica in Once Upon A Time in the West (1968)

Rooster Cogburn’s Eye Patch in True Grit (1969)

The .44 Magnum in Dirty Harry (1971)

Charlie’s Golden Ticket in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

The Horse’s Head in The Godfather (1972)

The Golden Gun in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

The Two-Headed Coin in Sholay (1975)

Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

Michael Myers’s Mask in Halloween (1978)

Kermit the Frog’s Bicycle in The Muppet Movie (1979)

The Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

The Discarded Coke Bottle in The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

Jake LaMotta’s Title Belt in Raging Bull (1980)

Indiana Jones’s Hat in The Indiana Jones films (1981-2008)

The Red Ryder BB Gun in A Christmas Story (1983)

The Wafer-Thin Mint in Monty’s Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983)

Marty McFly’s Hoverboard in Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Christy Brown’s Wheelchair in My Left Foot (1989)

Jack Gable’s Typewriter in Delirious (1991)

The Little Girl’s Red Coat in Schindler’s List (1993)

The Briefcase in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Sheriff Woody in Toy Story (1995)

‘The Worst Toilet in Scotland’ in Trainspotting (1996)

Dirk Diggler’s (Prosthetic) Penis in Boogie Nights (1997)

The Neuralyzer in Men in Black (1997)

The White Plastic Bag in American Beauty (1999)

The Red Pill and the Blue Pill in The Matrix (1999)

The One Ring in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

The Batmobile in Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005)

Ryan Bingham’s Backpack in Up in the Air (2009)

Sujets

Arts visuels

Cinéma

Cinema

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Art

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Informations

Publié par	Intellect Books
Date de parution	01 janvier 2013
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781783201174
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	5 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0600€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

JO TTRDA O CN SH y A B n tR e iR t r I W S UD BS EL SE D O S R 5∙ ∙OF FILM’S ANMOST EVOCATIVEY A NLLOBJECTSRS E D IN HIRATEDD U O U S J T oOA l l u s tN RE aI r t iK n sR RH SA BE y P EES’ C HE D A Y LJ I, N MA AL RL SI HCM AM LL,DAVID

“A WONDERFUL BOOK, AS ESSENTIAL AS IT IS ENTERTAININ G.”Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

ROSEBUD SLEDS AND HORSES' HEADS 50 OF FILM'S MOST EVOCATIVE OBJECTS★ w r i t t e n b y s c ot t j o r d a n h a r r i s

With illustrations by Charlie Marshall, David McMillan and Jayde Perkin

First Published in the UK in 2013 by Intellect Books, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First Published in the USA in 2013 by Intellect Books, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Cover design: Allcity Media

Author: Scott Jordan Harris

Book design: Gabriel Solomons

Copy editor: Emma Rhys

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written consent.

A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Rosebud Sleds and Horses' Heads: 50 of Film's Most Evocative Objects

ISBN: 978-1-78320-040-5 eISBN: 978-1-78320-117-4 / 978-1-78320-118-1

Printed and bound by Bell & Bain Ltd.

FOREWORD ★ b y j o h n L e t h a m a n d n i c k Va r L e y o f Pa r k c i r c u s f i L m s

he Godfater, Casablanca, he Bridge on te River Kwai, Raging BullandPulp Fictionall ave one ting in common. hat tey are great ﬁlms is a given, but tey are also memorable for te images tey present. Images like tose in tis book. Some of te greatest joys of going to te cinema are tose moments wen a particular scene really speaks to us. It migt remind us of a speciﬁc event in our lives, or could be a caracter, prop or quote tat becomes a worldwide cult so powerful tat, even if you ave never seen te ﬁlm it comes from, you immediately know wat people are talking about wen tey mention it. Park Circus as spent te last ten years bringing tese wonderful moments back to te big screen to new and not-so-new audiences by re-releasing classic ﬁlms in cinemas, as teir directors and cinematograpers intended tem to be seen. It is terefore ﬁtting to team up wit Intellect on tis book celebrating evocative objects from te movies. We ave been privileged over te years to work wit many of te fantastic ﬁlms featured in tese pages. We look forward to bringing even more memories back to te big screen in te years to come. To paraprase tat silent sensation, Lina Lamont, ‘If we ave brougt a little joy into your lives, it makes us feel as toug our ard work ain’t been in vain for notin’.’

DEDICATION

To my parents, wo couldn’t give me teir legs but made sure I ad a weelcair instead.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, I am grateful to Gabriel Solomons for creating te concept of tese pieces and for enabling me to write a book of tem. Secondly, I am grateful to Carlie Marsall, David McMillan and Jayde Perkin for illustrating it so expertly. hirdly, I am grateful to Jon Letam, Nick Varley, Jen Davies and all at Park Circus for teir invaluable support. And, ﬁnally, I am grateful to woever tougt up Captain Sulu’s teacup.

INTRODUCTION ★

b y s c ot t j o r d a n h a r r i s

       '    always movie nigt. My parents would was rent a cassette from te local video sop and we would watc it after dinner but before I fell asleep waiting for midnigt to arrive. he ﬁlms were not necessarily classics; tey were just movies we could watc as a family and tat my parents tougt I would enjoy. One year, we rentedStar Trek VI: he Undiscovered Country(Nicolas Meyer, 1991). It began wit a close-up of an ornate cina tea cup, wic sat in front of George Takei’s Sulu. Sulu ad been inStar Trek since te 1960s, on television and in ﬁlms, but always as a subordinate, faitfully following orders from Captain Kirk and Mr Spock. Now e was captain of is own starsip. He sat imperiously in its command cair and sipped from is tea cup in a delicate, aﬀected way. his was eﬀete, funny and sligtly absurd but it was also igly eﬀective ﬁlm-making: in a few moments, te tea cup taugtStar Trek fans more about Sulu’s true caracter, about ow e saw imself and ow e would like to be seen, tan tey ad learned in te 25 years e ad spent on teir screens as a supporting player in te adventures of oters. It was my favourite scene in te movie and it began my unfading fascination wit evocative objects on ﬁlm. Wen I applied to joinhe Big Picturemagazine as a writer in 2009, I was cieﬂy attracted by an ongoing series of articles it ad started tat examined ﬁlm’s most noteworty objects. I was trilled wen, over te next few monts, I came to write most of te entries in tis series. And wen I became editor of te magazine I unapologetically assigned tem to myself as often as I could. hey are still my favourite type of article to write, and tat is wy I ave written tis book. It is a celebration of 50 of te most evocative and important objects tat can be found in ﬁlm. But it is not an

attempt to determine, and still less to rank, te top 50 objects in ﬁlm istory. Werever possible I ave avoided spoiling te plots of te ﬁlms in wic tese objects feature, altoug it is often impossible to discuss te signiﬁcance of an object witout discussing te resolution of te story tat surrounds it. Extended and improved versions of some of te pieces I wrote forhe Big Pictureappear ere but most are completely new, as are all te illustrations. Many of te objects included (suc as te ruby slippers inhe Wizard of Oz[Victor Fleming, 1939], te rosebud sled inCitizen Kane[Orson Welles, 1941] and te orse’s ead inhe Godfater[Francis Ford Coppola, 1972]) are iconic: bot tey and te ﬁlms tat contain tem are enduring parts of popular culture. Oter objects (suc as Jack Gable’s typewriter inDelirious[Tom Mankiewicz, 1991] or Ryan Bingam’s backpack inUp in te Air[ Jason Reitman, 2009]) come from less celebrated ﬁlms but ave been cosen because tey are suc excellent examples of ow evocative a movie object can be. here are guns and gadgets, cars and clotes, drugs and documents, art works and artefacts, objects te like of wic we see every day and objects te like of wic we could only ever see on-screen. hey come from sort ﬁlms and silent ﬁlms, comedies and dramas, animation and musicals, Hollywood and Bollywood, summer blockbusters and art ouse classics. Some (suc as te Maltese Falcon or te briefcase belonging to Marsellus Wallace) are not just objects but objectives, pursued by bot eroes and villains. Oters (suc as Batman’s Batmobile or Dirty Harry’s .44 Magnum) are extensions of te caracters wo own tem. Some are ricly symbolic and oters are purely entertaining. But all are unforgettable.

THE OBJECTS

The Clock on the Skyscraper inSafety Last!(1923)................................................................................ 8 The Baby Carriage on the Steps inBattleship Potemkin(1925) ............................................................ 10 Maria the Robot inMetropolis(1927)................................................................................................... 12 The Ruby Slippers inThe Wizard of Oz(1939) ....................................................................................... 14 The Floating Globe inThe Great Dictator(1940) ................................................................................... 16 The Maltese Falcon inThe Maltese Falcon(1941) ................................................................................ 18 The Rosebud Sled inCitizen Kane(1941) ............................................................................................. 20 The Letters of Transit inCasablanca22(1942) ......................................................................................... The Portrait of Laura Hunt inLaura(1944) ........................................................................................... 24 Harold Russell’s Metal Hands inThe Best Years of Our Lives(1946) ..................................................... 26 The Escalator between Heaven and Earth inA Matter of Life and Death(1946).................................... 28 The Camera with a Telescopic Lens inRear Window(1954) .................................................................. 30 Marilyn Monroe’s White Dress inThe Seven Year Itch(1955) ................................................................ 32The Red Balloon inThe Red Balloon(1956) .......................................................................................... 34 The Bridge on the River Kwai inThe Bridge on the River Kwai(1957) .................................................... 36 The Chess Set inThe Seventh Seal(1957) ............................................................................................ 38 Apu’s Manuscript inThe World of Apu(1959) ....................................................................................... 40 Mrs Robinson’s Stockings inThe Graduate(1967)................................................................................ 42 The Cosmic Cup of Coffee inTwo or Three Things I Know About Her(1967) ........................................... 44 The Alien Monolith in2001: A Space Odyssey(1968)............................................................................. 46 The Harmonica inOnce Upon A Time in the West(1968) ....................................................................... 48 Rooster Cogburn’s Eye Patch inTrue Grit50(1969) .................................................................................. The .44 Magnum inDirty Harry(1971) .................................................................................................. 52 Charlie’s Golden Ticket inWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory(1971)................................................. 54 The Horse’s Head inThe Godfather(1972)............................................................................................ 56

THE OBJECTS

The Golden Gun inThe Man with the Golden Gun(1974)....................................................................... 58 The Two-Headed Coin inSholay(1975) ................................................................................................ 60 Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber inStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope(1977)............................................ 62 Michael Myers’s Mask inHalloween(1978) .......................................................................................... 64 Kermit the Frog’s Bicycle inThe Muppet Movie(1979) ......................................................................... 66 The Starship Enterprise inStar Trek: The Motion Picture(1979)........................................................... 68 The Discarded Coke Bottle inThe Gods Must Be Crazy(1980) .............................................................. 70 Jake LaMotta’s Title Belt inRaging Bull(1980)..................................................................................... 72 Indiana Jones’s Hat in TheIndiana JonesIlms (1981-2008)................................................................. 74 The Red Ryder BB Gun inA Christmas Story(1983) .............................................................................. 76 The Wafer-Thin Mint inMonty’s Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983) .................................................... 78 Marty McFly’s Hoverboard inBack to the Future Part II(1989) ............................................................. 80 Christy Brown’s Wheelchair inMy Left Foot(1989) ............................................................................... 82 Jack Gable’s Typewriter inDelirious(1991) .......................................................................................... 84 The Little Girl’s Red Coat inSchindler’s List(1993)............................................................................... 86 The Briefcase inPulp Fiction(1994)..................................................................................................... 88 Sheriff Woody inToy Story(1995)......................................................................................................... 90 ‘The Worst Toilet in Scotland’ inTrainspotting(1996) ........................................................................... 92 Dirk Diggler’s (Prosthetic) Penis inBoogie Nights(1997) ...................................................................... 94 The Neuralyzer inMen in Black(1997) ................................................................................................. 96 The White Plastic Bag inAmerican Beauty(1999) ................................................................................ 98 The Red Pill and the Blue Pill inThe Matrix(1999) ............................................................................. 100 The One Ring inThe Lord of the RingsTrilogy (2001-2003) .................................................................. 102 The Batmobile inBatman Begins(Christopher Nolan, 2005) .............................................................. 104 Ryan Bingham’s Backpack inUp in the Air(2009) ............................................................................... 106

№01

THE CLOCK ON THE SKYSCRAPER ★ s a f e t y L a s t ! (USA / Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, 1923) tYpE OF fIlM >Silent, Comedy tYpE OF oBJECT >Timepiece

          was as muc a cornerstone of silent comedy as Buster Keaton or Carlie Caplin but, in te decades following te silent age, is reputation diminised and is ﬁlms were less frequently revisited. It is a tribute to te best scene inSafety Last!even during tis period, tat, te image of Lloyd dangling from te ands of an enormous clock atop a skyscraper remained probably te most famous sot from any silent ﬁlm. Lloyd’s caracter as arranged for a uman ﬂy to scale a skyscraper so e can claim a $1000 reward for bringing publicity to te sop were e works – but te uman ﬂy is being pursued by a policeman and so Lloyd as to climb te building imself. Comedies of tis kind were called ‘trill pictures’ and tey contain no sigt more trilling tan Harold Lloyd overbalancing as e nears te summit of te skyscraper and saving imself by catcing old of te clock above im. he clock is less sturdy tan it seems. Its minute and drops to

six o’clock te instant Lloyd grasps it and is weigt causes its face to peel forward, making is position even more precarious. Wen e ﬁnally clambers back onto a ledge, e catces is foot in one of te clock’s exposed springs, wic treatens to slingsot im to te street a dizzying distance below. Film is ﬁlled wit evocative clocks. Most old some sort of symbolism, usually reﬂecting te ﬁnite nature of life by counting down te time until deat, weter in te literal, sort-term sense of te clocks tat tick away te minutes until te ﬁnal gun ﬁgt in Fred Zinnemann’sHig Noon (1952) or in te more ﬁgurative sense of te clock wit no ands tat appears in a dream to remind a man of is mortality in Ingmar Bergman’sWild Strawberries/ Smultronstället(1957). But tis, te greatest of all movie clocks, as no real symbolism. It exists entirely as a set-up for a joke but, because tat joke is so funny, it as become an everlasting image of silent cinema.