Robert Redford's 'Sneakers'

[Cirque du So-What]

For the first time since it appeared on movie screens in 1992, I watched the movie Sneakers a few minutes ago on Encore. This time, however, the movie percolated through my consciousness filtered by the experiences of these past eight years. Dan Aykroyd's character was the resident 'conspiracy theorist' who mentioned scenarios that are still being mulled over today. It's other things in the movie that have come to pass (and that we now take for granted) that make Sneakers such a great film that has endured the test of time.

Although fictional, this film can serve to remind the public that there are post-9/11 laws to overturn and rights to restore. After all there's a Constitution to uphold!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. It also has one of the funniest lines

ever spoken in a movie, and I'll bet it slipped right past you.

Hint: it's delivered by Robert Redford as he's directing the blind guy.

Breaks me up just to think of it.

Yes, it's a great movie, and quite prescient, hmmmm?

[dem629]

3. My favorite funny line from the movie:

Whistler: I want peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

Bernard Abbott: We are the United States Government. We don't do that sort of thing.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. Would that be the one

where he tells the blind driver that he's going to encounter a 'very gentle slope?'

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. No, but

you're getting close........

[Trekologer]

12. I believe it is along the lines of..

Keep your eyes on the road.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

13. Nope.

Another hint - it's really filthy and goes by really fast.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

31. I give up.

Do tell.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

33. OK

I'm going to get some details wrong, I am certain - but I got the basics down.

It happens so fast, you have to stop the DVD and play it over and over to make sure you heard what you thought you heard.

You did.

There's a scene where Redford is taking to (I think) the blind guy. (He might be talking, via remote, to another of the guys, so I'm not positive it's the blind guy.)

He's giving the guy directions on how to get something done. I don't think it's when he's got the blind guy driving the van - it's another scene, and it involves the guy telling a woman something.

So, Redford is quietly and quickly reciting what the guy needs to tell the woman, and then he very quickly utters the line, "And tell her you get head whenever you want it."

Then he continues.

Watch the movie for it. I bought the DVD just to make sure I saw what I thought I saw in the theater.

It's just wonderful.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

37. OK, I remember that scene

Yeah, it was the blind guy. It was earlier in the movie than trying to teach the blind guy how to drive.

I like that exchange too, especially the snarky follow-up:

"Give him head?"
"Be a beacon?"

[Cirque du So-What]

18. I seem to be stumped

For the life of me, I can't recall a line in that scene that could be even be construed as a double entendre.

[hedgehog]

43. I thought it was pretty much a single entendre, myself!

[pengillian101]

39. Just let me say what a fan I am.

I have loved Redford for decades! I went as a guest to a fancy fund-raising party in the 1980's in Minnesota and he was the speaker at this private party. Ooh, la, la, what a place!

Not only did I get an autograph - but every attendee got an individualized photograph with him! What a great Christmas card I sent that year, lol!

[hedgehog]

2. The score is fantastic as well.

[Yavin4]

34. I'm Been Trying To Find It

I cannot.

[saltpoint]

36. Agree.

[panader0]

5. Oh yeah, the movie. I thought this post was about his shoes.

[Cirque du So-What]

6. One thing's for sure...

his sneakers weren't PUMAs!

[Ellipsis]

7. "Too Many Secrets"

Great film.

[Salviati]

17. "Cooties Rat Semen"?

[Ellipsis]

27. "I want peace on earth and goodwill toward men."

Whistler: I want peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

Bernard Abbott: We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.

Martin Bishop: You're just gonna have to try.

Bernard Abbott: All right, I'll see what I can do.

Whistler: Thank you very much. That's all I ask.

[Catshrink]

8. I need to watch it again with national security in mind.

I've always thought of it as a hacker film.

Dan Ackroyd = Mother :rofl:

[.... callchet ....]

9. Do you know that the Movie "China Syndrome"

was made before the Three Mile Island accident, and it described it almost perfectly. "The film THE CHINA SYNDROME's release two weeks before the nuclear accident is dismissed as an interesting coincidence"

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. Consider -

the movie had been filmed almost two years before the Three Mile Island episode.

Two years.

[arcadian]

15. Is that a line from 'Sneakers'

or are you pointing this out?

[.... callchet ....]

22. Just the relationship bewteen movies and real life

whether coincidental or not, but interesting.

[NashVegas]

24. Good Writers Are Talented At Plausible Scenarios, Logical Chains of Events

[Tangerine LaBamba]

38. Remember this?

The willing suspension of disbelief.

[NashVegas]

41. Aye

Some of us are tougher than others :)

[csziggy]

42. Another coincidence - The National Geographic issue for that month was about nulcear power plants

And what could go wrong. I've always wondered about those three things happening at the same time.

[biscotti]

14. Michael Clayton reminds me of

Monsanto,when they intrude with their evil & loathsome hold they have on farming communities around the world, .

[Zomby Woof]

16. That's a very cool film

Robert Redford, David Strathairn, Ben Kingsley, and Sidney Poitier, all in fine form, and having great fun. :thumbsup:

"There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information! "

[baldguy]

19. The exchange that gets me is:

Cosmo- Posit: People think a bank might be financially shaky.

Bishop- Consequence: People start to withdraw their money.

Cosmo- Result: Pretty soon it is financially shaky.

Bishop- Conclusion: You can make banks fail.

Cosmo- Bzzt. I've already done that. Maybe you've heard about a few? Think bigger.

Bishop- Stock market?

Cosmo- Yes.

Bishop- Currency market?

Cosmo- Yes.

Bishop- Commodities market?

Cosmo- Yes.

Bishop- Small countries?

Cosmo- ...

=============================================

How much of that is true? Who's benefiting from the current economic mess?

[Cirque du So-What]

20. Yes, that one was certainly prescient

Cui bono? (Who benefits?)

[baldguy]

23. The usual suspects.

The haves and the have mores.

[leftstreet]

29. !!

Yes, who is benefiting?

[navarth]

21. well, you've convinced me. I'll have to see that movie. eom

[kimmylavin]

26. Oh, do!

Its such a great movie.

Incredible cast, fun/frightening story, great writing, good score.
I could go on, but do I really have to? :)

[Jazzgirl]

25. That movie is great!

I went ahead and recorded it a couple of weeks ago. Every time it comes on I watch it though. I happened to catch it at 4 A.M. one morning before I went to work. It was interesting because I also thought so many of the lines really had relevance for today.

[fishwax]

28. good movie

I haven't seen it in a couple of years, but it's definitely a good one--entertaining and with some insight :)

[NoGOPZone]

30. great cast in that movie

Ben Kingsley, Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Portier, River Phoenix, Mary McDonnell, James Earl Jones, Timothy Busfield, Stephen Toblowsky and others.

"I want a Winnebago. This isn't a car dealership!"

[saltpoint]

32. The script crackles. I like the way the characters are drawn

to interact with each other.

Great film.

[conscious evolution]

35. Sneaker Tip of the Day

If you ever have to get by a motion sensor it really helps if you wear military bdu's.

[girl gone mad]

40. Plus it has River Phoenix.

Sigh....