The Movies

[Buddy Rich]

I watched Eyes Wide Shut again - I've probably watched this movie more times than I've seen anything else. Any other fans in here? If so, this insane individual has put together a shot-by-shot analysis that's pretty damn good. Excellent toilet reading: Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut - Table of Contents She also has ones for 2001, and The Shining.

I couldn’t find this in the link provided, so I’ll ask here in the hopes I get some theories because it has been driving me nuts for years! What would have happened if the mysterious woman had not "redeemed" Bill? After Red Cloak asks Bill to get undressed and remove his clothes, what would have happened?

[Nick Delgadillo]

I couldn’t find this in the link provided, so I’ll ask here in the hopes I get some theories because it has been driving me nuts for years! What would have happened if the mysterious woman had not "redeemed" Bill? After Red Cloak asks Bill to get undressed and remove his clothes, what would have happened?

I've never found an answer to this either, but doesn't it seem like the whole thing was staged? Just a power move. If Bill would have just dropped his pants and thought it was the greatest thing ever to happen to him, he wouldn't have been in the situation to begin with.

On a related note, Make SURE you have your subtitles turned on during the scene in the costume shop with Leelee Sobieski. I think this is one of the most important scenes in this movie.

[Buddy Rich]

I've never found an answer to this either, but doesn't it seem like the whole thing was staged? Just a power move. If Bill would have just dropped his pants and thought it was the greatest thing ever to happen to him, he wouldn't have been in the situation to begin with.

On a related note, Make SURE you have your subtitles turned on during the scene in the costume shop with Leelee Sobieski. I think this is one of the most important scenes in this movie.

I’ve been back and forth whether the whole thing was staged or not. Did they really put Nick on a plane back to Seattle? Is he really back with his family, you know, banging Mrs. Nick? That would be the first thing I’d check on if I was Dr Harford.

I always wondered what Leelee whispered in his ear. Didn’t realize the importance of it.

I watched again last night and picked up on a few things I didn’t before:

-Domino is wearing an Ermine coat when she picks Bill up on the street.

-The pool table scene. Sydney Pollack taps both the cue ball and the chalk…twice. Similar to Red Cloak tapping his staff twice. If Pollack was Red Cloak or the brains behind the whole operation. Then maybe there was just one party.

-Near the end at the toy store. The Magic Circle Game. Helena goes off on her own and right there are two men who were at the party. Yikes!

This movie will never get old. I can’t get enough of it.

[Nick Delgadillo]

I’ve been back and forth whether the whole thing was staged or not. Did they really put Nick on a plane back to Seattle? Is he really back with his family, you know, banging Mrs. Nick? That would be the first thing I’d check on if I was Dr Harford.

I always wondered what Leelee whispered in his ear. Didn’t realize the importance of it.

I watched again last night and picked up on a few things I didn’t before:

-Domino is wearing an Ermine coat when she picks Bill up on the street.

-The pool table scene. Sydney Pollack taps both the cue ball and the chalk…twice. Similar to Red Cloak tapping his staff twice. If Pollack was Red Cloak or the brains behind the whole operation. Then maybe there was just one party.

-Near the end at the toy store. The Magic Circle Game. Helena goes off on her own and right there are two men who were at the party. Yikes!

This movie will never get old. I can’t get enough of it.

Pollack also makes a swirling motion with his hand like Red Cloak does with the incense. Good catch. I never picked that up.

The end of the movie is disturbing in that it seems like they're delivering Helena to the two older guys. She turns the corner with them and she's gone. Plus all the teddy bear stuff people talk about with Kubrick movies.

Maybe Helena is Bill's ticket into this tier of people who have actual power and wealth? This was all some kind of initiation, maybe. Bill is obsessed with his image. It's hilarious that he flashes his medical license as if it's a badge. Just highlights the fact that he thinks he's wealthy and powerful, but he's no where near the level of the folks at the parties. These are the kind of people who can make inconvenient people disappear and face no consequences.

This movie was made before many people talked about these kinds of conspiracy theories, "the elite", and the shit they get up to. Kubrick was a sophisticated Alex Jones.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I watched Shane the other night. Made in 1953, it holds up pretty well, and served as the basis for lots of subsequent films about the quiet stranger sorting out problems for the normies/victims of evil. Worth a watch.

[Chiaki Nitya]

I've been really loving the movie discussion podcasts... really great topic. I'd like to suggest a possible genre recommendation for the next one: westerns. Personally, my top 5 westerns of all time:

Stagecoach (1939) - the greatest western ever filmed
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Silverado (1985) - a modern classic
The Proposition (2005) - a gritty look at the Australian outback
The Salvation (2014) - the best traditional western of the last 10 years

Honorable Mention: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2019) - the Coen Brothers anthology of western themes and motifs

[Mark Rippetoe]

Silverado will be in the list. I have other ideas about the rest.

[BubbaMD]

Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven has to be on a Western list. If it isn't, then you haven't seen it or don't know what you're talking about.

[Steve Cox]

Since we're on the subject of westerns, I have a question about High Noon. It's been so many years since I've watched it so maybe I forgot something, but the entire premise of the whole film has always bugged me, and made the whole movie ridiculous to me. Outside of suspense, why have the entire showdown in town? Why not ride out to the depot and cut them off right there as they got off the train completely unprepared, as opposed to letting them get to town fully armed and ready?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven has to be on a Western list. If it isn't, then you haven't seen it or don't know what you're talking about.

Sounds like a threat, Bubba. How about I just kill you?