5 Fav Kubrick Scenes

[Jerky]

It seems to me that many of Kubrick's films have at least one scene that is
hard to watch (emotionally difficult, I mean).  Here's a partial (and
largely un-thought-out) list of some of those scenes.
                     
The Killing - the scene with Tim Carey and the black parking lot attendant.
 That scene has the force of a tol-chock to the yarbles (I wonder if it was
as powerful back in the late 50's, or if it had most of the audience
chortling?).  I get a sinking feeling in my gut every time I watch that
scene.  As Carey's forced cameraderie starts to turn sour, I literally
dread the inevitable climax.
                     
Paths of Glory - the march to the firing squad.  Once again, Carey (an
actor who's exquisite and unique talents were only ever tapped successfully
by two directors:  Kubrick and Cassavettes, see Killing of a Chinese
Bookie) kills me with his raw, authentic terror.  As the priest tries (a
bit embarrasedly) to comfort and quiet him, and as Ralph Meeker puts on a
stony, stoic front in the name of personal dignity, Carey plumbs the depths
of the terror and frustration that this most ultimate of injustices must
certainly inspire.  Ugh...
                     
Lolita - the scene where Lolita, decked out in a fairy-princess costume for
her high-school play, explodes at Humbert.  The cruel truth-telling of
youth crushing this sick man's fantasy is bad enough, but his subsequently
having to put on a facade for a concerned neighbor...  Truth be told, most
of Lolita disturbs me greatly.
                     
Dr. Strangelove - I don't know why, but even though I find Slim Picken's
bomb-ride to be one of the greatest sight-gags in movie history, it still
disturbs the hell out of me.  Maybe it's the realization (beyond the
obvious level of satire) that this man's selfless herosim (which, whatever
your political leanings, this certainly is) has as its ultimate consequence
the destruction of all life on earth.  I don't know for sure, but I think
this most bravura of all movie scenes deserves closer scrutiny than it has
recieved (at least from what I've read).
                     
2001 - the killing of HAL9000.
                     
Clockwork Orange - the HOME rape scene, with Alex's brutal slap to his
victim's face... a bracing moment that  always brings me back to the
realization that this charming young cad is the worst kind of monster.
Also (and, paradoxically), the scene where his former droogs (now cops) try
to drown him in a trough...  I almost always leave the room during it (I
have a thing about drowning, so this one may well not be universal).
                     
Barry Lyndon - the funeral scene, for all its gloriously rendered pain, is
not, to me, as difficult to watch as the scene  when Lyndon, in his
attempts to earn a peerage, is 'snooted' by the King.  You know, when
Barry's friend tells the King: 'and Mr. Barry has raised a regiment of men
to go and fight in the Americas' to which the King responds very good, Mr.
Barry.  Raise another regiment, and go with them next time.'  Redmond not
fully 'getting' the dig (as far as I can tell from O'Neal's facial
expression) only makes the scene more poignant.  Redmond never had a
snowball's chance in hell.
                     
The Shining - when Jack first explodes at Wendy, when she interupts his
'work' to tell him that the forcast called for snow.  I've known people
like Jack.  I've known people who behave in that way, and that scene, to
me, rings so painfully true to the potential cruelty that some people are
unconciously capable of that I actually often find myself looking at the
floor when it comes on.
                     
Full Metal Jacket - the soap scene.  Pyle's tortured howls of
uncomprehending pain at this merciless betrayal... shudder.  I want to
mirror Modine and cover my ears.  In the next scene, with the KCS (Kubrick
Crazy Stare), we can tell that Pyle is finished.  The murder of a man's
soul, literally. 

Eyes Wide Shut - I don't know yet.

Cheers,
Mark T.

(PS - I seem to not be on the list anymore, as most of my posts don't make
it up, yet I still receive every message!  Would it be possible to receive
posts from one e-mail and send them from another?)