Sunday, February 17, 2008

Self-defense 101-347 *grisly film clip alert*



This is one of my favorite scenes in all of filmdom. It's vulgar and it's gory and extraordinarily unlikely, but it's a beautiful reversal. In this scene, the kitten kills the cobra. Never give up-- never give in. Never walk willingly to your own slaughter.

I keep thinking of that guy who killed those 5 women at the Lane Bryant store in Illinois-- there's a possibility that together they outweighed him five-fold -- how's come they didn't at least dogpile him? I'm baffled by the passivity. I'm not blaming them for being murdered, but I'm sad they didn't find a way to --if not take the melon farmer out-- at least prevent him from killing all of them. Shocking.

I remembered a passage from a post by LawDog sometime last year, and it really struck a chord on awareness which I think bears repeating:

...seeing what you are looking at is an invaluable aid to surviving. Don't just look at Street, Urban, Dingy, One Ea. -- see it: where are the ways out (both standard and non-traditional), how many people are present, possible improvised tools, ambush points -- see all of this, but also see the other things. The things that speak to you and lift your spirits. Decorations. Colours. Horned toads.

By all means, stop and smell the roses, but keep your eyes peeled for weirdos.

Armed with guns or no, I keep waiting for people to wise up and beat the ever-loving shit out of one of these lunatics. There was the CHL woman in Colorado who stopped the guy killing people at that church-- we need more of that to happen, but barring that, people need to grab onto anything at their disposal. How about taking a page from the terrorists' book and using those box-cutters-- they had to have those in the backroom of that store? Then again, I suppose the sheeple mentality which allows people to stand docile whilst awaiting slaughter is what comes of an entitlement society: "someone else will save me, I'll just wait for the gub'mint to show up and fix this."

Here Arquette should have won an award for best deployment of Elvis statuary. Then there's her creative use of the corkscrew, derision, shampoo, lid to the toilet tank, hairspray and lighter combo, shotgun, more corkscrew action, and shotgun as blunt instrument/primal scream therapy accessory.

James Gandolfini and Patricia Arquette in True Romance, which features a riveting scene with Dennis Hopper as a retired policeman and Christopher Walken as a big mob boss trying to wheedle information out of Hopper. Brilliant scene. Gary Oldman is a bad guy too. Great film, if you've the stomach for it.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was thinking the same thing- why didn't these big girls in Lane Bryant just attack him? Then again, I wasn't there and I'm guessing no saw it coming just like the ILL. college shooting. Sad.

John R said...

We do have this little gem that happened not far from my work place:

Dallas rape suspect beaten, shot in melee -

A mob turned the tables on a man accused of raping a mother at knifepoint in her Red Bird-area apartment with her children present, authorities said.

The 26-year-old man, who had not been identified, was undergoing surgery Friday afternoon after being beaten with a baseball bat and shot at least twice, apparently once in the head.


That is from the Dallas Morning News.

Anonymous said...

Do you ever observe just how oblivious to their surroundings most people are? MP3 player stuck in one ear, cell phone in the other. Or blathering away to their friends and relations and sometimes not even watching where they're walking? Let alone scoping out an escape route. Nothing can happen to me. I'm at the mall, right?

Anonymous said...

She was the epitome of never say die. And I especially like the shampoo and hairspray. To say nothing of the multiple uses for the shotgun.

Barbara Bruederlin said...

Dang, I feel like buying some hairspray now. That was brilliant.

phlegmfatale said...

lainy - they probably trusted if they gave him what he wanted, he'd just leave them alone. Not an honourable lot, that.

jr - that's a beautiful story! THanks for sharing. I love a happy ending.

Myron - as if there weren't already a good reason to stay away from malls(mauls?). Sheesh.

myron - Yeah, Alabama Worley was an ass-kicking celestial creampuff. Great use of props.

barbara - Yeah, it was fantastic. Great movie.

FatQuarterQuiltFarm said...

Little too close to home that Lane Bryant thing!. I work at an outlet mall part-time and naturally was going through escape scenarios at my workplace....never thinking about the dozen boxcutters nor the heavy duty steel bars and fixtures at my disposal.Back in the mid 90's I had a permit to carry a handgun and did so.My friends and I were just talking bout how people go around on a day to day basis
COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS to their surroundings. It's so true. People need to pull their heads out of their asses and turn off their MP3,phone PDA etc and pay attention to the task at hand.
Shut up and drive!!!!!!!!!!!

Zelda said...

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Go ahead and look. It's in my profile.

And out of the whole awesome movie, this is the most awesome scene.

"YOU LOOK RIDICULOUS!!!!"

The best.

It's all I can do to keep from screaming with her at the very end every time I see it.

alphonsedamoose said...

Under our old Liberal regime up here and the idiots on our Supreme Court, the man in the video could have sued her for use of excessive force while protecting herself.Hopefully that will change with our new crime bill.

Xavier said...

True that........Far to many people give up their most precious possession, their very life, all to easily.

I wonder if they regret having done so in the afterlife.

DBA Dude said...

Have not watched this film for 5 years, now where did I leave the DVD?

SpeakerTweaker said...

Well done, my lady.

For Crying Out Loud, grab something! If you're going to die anyway, what have you got to lose? You only have something to gain!

Something else Deputy 'Dawg said that reigns true: The only true weapon we have is the mind.

The bad guys' minds are made up. They are going to be bad. They are going to kill. Our minds must be made up to survive at all costs, or it will cost us most dearly.



tweaker

J.R.Shirley said...

True Romance. It was one of the flicks I watched at Tamara's a few years back...