Movie lines

 

Hayter’s article for March 20, 2022

 

         “I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.”

     Oh, my goodness. You snuck up on me again, while I was compiling a list of stuff to talk about. One idea has to do with some favorite lines from movies or books. Here are two of ‘em.  This won’t hurt a bit.

          I’m was thinking of Rooster Cogburn from “True Grit”. John Wayne is sitting atop his, soon-to-be-dead horse, in a beautiful valley, surrounded by Aspen trees.  Lucky Ned Pepper and his gang are 70 or so yards away from Cogburn. Robert Duvall, playing Ned Pepper, shouts “What are your intentions (Rooster)? Do you think one on four is a dog fall?” (That metaphor must’ve died a century ago.)  And John Wayne yells back, “I aim to see you dead in one minute, Ned, or hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker’s convenience. Which will it be?” To which Ned Pepper replies, “I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man!”

          That’s just brilliant dialog. I would love to be in a movie where I was allowed to deliver lines like that. Or write lines like that. Either one. Anyway, since I’ve mentioned that one before, remind me not to bring it up again.

          Then there’s one from “Blade Runner” -- the first one. Rutger Hauer plays a cyborg that looks so much like Rutger Hauer it’s scary. I just hope they got permission to use his likeness. All through the movie, Harrison Ford has been chasing Hauer to shut him down because he’s gone rogue. By the way, the movie was set in the year 2019.

          Anyway. my favorite scene takes place in the pouring rain atop a building smack dab in the middle of a bunch of buildings. Hauer’s character, who has been chased by Ford all through the movie,  mysteriously saves Ford from falling to his death. He then drops him atop the flat roof and sits down in front of him. At that moment, Rutger Hauer looks up, and in the dull and drab, rainy night he delivers these lines in a slow and absolutely perfect manner. He said:

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. 
Attack ships off the shoulder of Orion.
I’ve watched C-Beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.
All of these moments will be lost in time (pause) like tears in rain. 
(pause) Time to die." 

While still sitting, he bows his head and does not move again. 

          I read that Hauer came up with lines himself. To me, the beauty of them and their delivery comes from the fact that we have not a clue what they mean, they’re as touching as all get out. Rutger Hauer had done some horrendous things throughout the movie. But at that one moment, he stole my heart.

          I would love to play a dead guy who delivers something like that…preferably before he dies. No matter. I believe I’ve also mentioned this one before. One thing I doubt I mentioned was that Rutger Hauer died the same year his AI character did -- 2019. 

          But forget that, unless I go completely daft, I’ll never bring those two episodes up again. Let me rephrase that. I’ll not knowingly bring them up again.

          Another topic I debated on bringing up is “penmanship”. Mine stinks on ice. I’ve always longed to have beautiful handwriting, but I was told at an early age that it was impossible. A couple of you may remember that my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Smith, told Mom that I was a “messy” kid and that I erased my mistakes with spit instead of an eraser. In my tiny fingers, those stupid first-grade art-gum erasers crumbled into a thousand pieces. They were chosen because they were hard for kids to eat.

Yep, that one experience ruined my penmanship for life. So, teachers, if you get nothing else out of this, which I’m certain you won’t, please be careful what you say to any particular student… at least one as daft and I am. They’re easy to spot, but their spread pretty thin. 

          Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. Nowadays, I write so seldom with pen or pencil, that it’s almost like a new experience each time. I wish you’d look at these notes around me. What’s this? -- “3 of u did to sane my core R D.” – That’s what it looks like to me. I can’t do anything with that. And, I’ll bet it means something great.  If Mrs. Smith thought I had trouble when I was six, she would probably call my mom and say, “See Mrs. Hayter,  he never changed, did he?” Well, at the moment, I doubt either one of ‘em gives two hoots.

          I’m still blown away that some schools no longer teach cursive. They would prefer students learn to write in the slowest manner possible. Draw their letters individually. While my printing is slightly neater than my writing, it takes forever for me to print a message. And, it’s impossible to read my handwriting. If our computers go belly-up, our only means of communication will be word of mouth. I’m too old to learn sign language.

          One last thing -- Venus! Isn’t that the craziest thing? I had no idea that—What? Oh, I wasn’t looking at the time. So, these were some talking points I intended to talk about. Now I need to make notes for our next meeting. You might remind me to mention ‘Venus’ because I can really forget stuff. That’s probably not the first time I’ve mentioned that.

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