Most Rewatchable Scene
The opening, Miles’s advice, the dance, the Porsche chase, Joel’s pimp transformation and the ending.
In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:37Read transcript
- The opening ten minutes: train credits, dream and poker-table banter about pedaling home to masturbate.
- Miles's what-the-fuck speech ties risk-taking to freedom, opportunity and business success.
- The frozen dinner followed by Cruise's Old Time Rock and Roll dance, whose fame now exceeds the movie's.
- The brief get-off-the-babysitter fantasy, with Ron Dean as the police sergeant.
- The Porsche chase after leaving the Drake, especially Miles's trig-midterm and killer-pimp line, remembered as a huge theatrical laugh.
- Miles's throw-up aside and the Porsche slogan payoff cap the chase; Guido tapping the window with a gun abruptly raises the danger.
- The Porsche rolling into the lake, with convincingly stoned Cruise and the temporary relief before the dock collapses.
- Joel's unraveling after the accident and frantic run upstairs to Lana are visually inventive.
- Joel becomes a pimp, recruiting friends and comparing dating costs with paid sex at the burger joint.
- The brothel party is clearly staged within the familiar house, then Rutherford's arrival produces another surprise and the University of Illinois punchline.
- Joel buys his belongings back, including the negotiation over the artsy-fartsy object.
- The released ending's human-fulfillment line and residual hope are defended, though the original lake-view ending also works.
- Final preferences include Joel's pimp transformation and street recruitment, plus the car chase and Lana's amused reactions.
- Craig argues that the dance scene overshadowed a richer movie and would not make his personal top ten scenes; he also finds Joel's dress-shirt, underwear and socks outfit strange. — Craig Horlbeck