May I quibble with screenplay vs delivery? Hackman absolutely sold an essentially deadpan comic line. Not many Americans even knew what espresso was in 1974, and called it “expresso” till Starbucks opened.
If I watch that movie again - which will be somewhat depressing as only the director and one of the screenplay writers lives (and may he live 20 more years). Yet Marty Feldman, Wilder and Boyle did not do some improv/ad-libbing?
As I wrote above, as that ‘espresso’ scene was a wide-shot with Boyle breaking the door and running off-screen while on fire, while Hackman/Blind Man is still smoking a cigar, was very likely done in one take. In 1974 there was (law or order that…) no animal control people on-set, and likely no pyrotechnic/fire people either.
And very unfortunately, as I’ve not commented on cause of death, it does look like CO and it was days and weeks ago. That is very sad, not like Mel Brook’s famous quip: “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.”
One of my colleagues died like this about 10 years ago.
I remember she complained about a non-stop headache for a couple of days, then didn’t come to work that Friday. We got an email the following Monday telling us that she had died, and coworkers who knew her well disclosed that was CO poisoning. That’s when the significance of her “non-stop headache” hit me.
Then give plausible explanations of why there wasn’t any evidence of it. For example if it was a cracked heat exchanger in a furnace, it would stay cracked and continue to output CO. If Gene left his car running in the garage to warm it up then the car would eventually run out of gas and the ignition switch would still be on.
I am also surprised there weren’t people they regularly interacted with such as housekeeping services, even if they didn’t have a regular maid, along with friends, etc.
You also have to replace them when you sell the house, regardless of how old they are (at least in some states).
A coworker and friend in Lisbon was telling me about the vacation he and his family had just returned from. He says “Ya know, it’s weird, but we were having headaches a lot before we left, and then it cleared up when we were traveling. Then after we got back they started up again.” Uh-oh. I immediately grabbed a couple of my maintenance guys and headed out to his place. It’s common in Europe to have flash heaters near any water outlet so you have instant hot water. The one in their kitchen had never been vented.
Not to detract from Hackman’s overall skill/career, we recently rewatched YF (and Blazing Saddles). Found neither anywhere near as funny as I had remembered.
I had been aware of folk extolling the greatness of GH’s espresso line. Had not recalled it as anything terribly funny, nor did it seem so on rewatching. Just wanted to point out the degree to which folk differ in they taste in/reaction to humor.
(It is SO disappointing to rewatch something you remember so fondly as being the HEIGHT of comedy, only to keep thinking, “Yeah, those are the funny lines I remembered. I thought there were more of them. Boy, there is a lot on unfunny filler in between those few good lines.”
well NOW the news is implying that CO has not been ruled out. I’m confident on ABC news last night, they heavily implied that CO was not a factor, hence my post earlier.
I need to walk back my my statement that CO was NOT involved, since the updated news stories are doing the same.
That can be true of many movies (as well as books and TV shows, of course).
Social tastes evolve. Like in YF, where the monster drags Madeleine Kahn off and basically rapes her. I don’t think that scene would be made, today. Or the frequent use of the N word in Blazing Saddles. It worked, at the time, because it was still somewhat in popular use though considered quite offensive even then, and the shock value was a big part of it. Plus, as with YF, “I LIKE rape” in the “recruiting the criminals” scene.
I remember when Weird Al’s parents died. He still performed that night, saying something about how his music made others happy and so performing might help him feel happy as well. (I believe that making others happy is one of the best things that one can do.)
Ignition switch? Cars don’ got no steenkin’ ignition switch. Unless the late Mr Hackman drove a ~2005 car.
Once it runs out of gas, the typical modern car will … within a couple minutes the main computer will power down the electrical system & go to sleep itself.
If that controlled power-down doesn’t happen, odds are the battery will be drained in 24-36 hours. So an empty gas tank and a dead battery would be a tell for that scenario. BTDT. Oops. But not in an enclosed garage, so no people or animals were harmed in the making of that f***-up
Mamet is an acquired taste, especially as a director, but if you say anything bad about Glengarry Glen Ross I’m going to make you put that coffee down!
Rebecca Pidgeon, on the other hand, never puts in more than an adequate performance. She doesn’t kill Heist the way she did The Spanish Prisoner but I never buy her as a femme fatale.
Maybe you need to adjust that date a little. I have a 2014 Subaru with an ignition switch. My sense is the move from keys (even keys with electronics in them) to fobs took several years.
no signs of CO poisoning, dog was locked in a kennel. other dogs were able to get out of the house…
…so…
I’m back to my first speculation from a couple of days ago.
Its not inconceivable that he just died and she, in her distraught state, died of stress induced heart condition or something. its all a guessing game at this point.
My prediction is Hackman died in his sleep as nonagenarians are wont to do, and his heartbroken wife killed herself, forgetting the dog was locked up and would run out of water.
