(a truck pulls up to an archaeological sight in the desert)
Crow: Ford trucks, the official truck of The English Patient.
Again and obviously, a reference to The English Patient. TEP was set in the Sahara desert, although the characters were not archaeologists but cartographers (although they dabbled in archaeology, it seemed like, strangely…hmm…)
(a drunk guy talks in a really amusing raspy voice)
Drunk Guy: Yeah, I’ll take a walk…
Crow: …over to KIRK DOUGLAS’ HOUSE!!
This is my favorite line in that show. Just how Crow says it; it’s hilarious. Kirk Douglas was a famous actor in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s—he was in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Spartacus. He talked in that way. He’s the father of Michael Douglas, and is still alive, come to think of it. Little piece o’ trivia: he knew Lauren Bacall when they were both students at the AADA (American Academy of Dramatic Arts). Lauren Bacall had a giant crush on him. She talks about it in her book By Myself.
(the Heroine is sitting in front of a window, which gives those cool bar shadows look)
Mike: What, is she in Philip Marlowe’s office?
Crow: Bimbo noir.
Philip Marlowe is the famous detective of Raymond Chandler's mystery novels, the most famous arguably being The Big Sleep, which was first made in 1946 with Humphrey Bogart as Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge, and then in the 60’s by Robert Mitchum as Marlowe. I myself prefer the first version, with Bogart and Bacall, if only because I’m a mad Bogart-Bacall fan. Not only that, but this must be one of the best-written, wittiest detective films out there: there are great arguments between Marlowe and Eddie Mars, Marlowe and Vivian Rutledge—and pretty much Marlowe and everybody else in the movie. It’s incredibly good. There are two versions of this: the (longer) 1945 version and the 1946 version, which has more scenes between Bogart and Bacall (including the now famous racehorse conversation) and fewer with Vivian’s sister Carmen. If you can, get the 1946 version first, then get the 1945 pre-release version. Even better, get the 1945 version that, at the end, shows the 20 minutes of film used in the 1946 version and compares the two. Uh, I hope I didn’t confuse you there.
Update: Now that Warner Bros. has finally released The Big Sleep on DVD, you can watch both versions, and a 20-minute scene-by-scene comparison. Now go out and buy the damn thing!
(Werewolf Guy is howling on top of the roof of a building)
Crow: Made it, Ma! Top of the farmer’s bank!
Spin on James Cagney’s famous line from White Heat, “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!” He was actually on top of some sort of burning fuel tank when he yelled it—for some reason Cagney had the idea that he would rob a bank placed inside an electric plant, and when the cops closed in on him, he had the further intelligence to run into said electric plant, up to the highest point of the plant (the aforementioned fuel tank)…and then get blown to bits when the cops shot at him. It makes for very riveting cinema, I assure you. James Cagney was one of those actors who was great in whatever film he was in—I can always enjoy a Jimmy Cagney movie, even if the film in itself isn’t that great. In short, I love James Cagney. I lurve him. I’m in luurrve with him.
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