Film Nostalgia: The Crow

[jpark]

Re-watched the Crow last night.

It's an amazing film that I can watch repeatedly.  But once in awhile it leaves me shaken a bit - I just can't get over the tragic ironies behind the death of Brandon Lee when this film was made.

A few things:

1.  He died at 28, which beats his father Bruce Lee who died at 32.
2.  Both father and son die around the time of their greatest achievements.
3.  The year Brandon died - the flim on his father was just released that year - that talked of a curse that would take Bruce Lee's son also at a young age.
4.  Ironically, Brandon was to be married shortly after the film, in some ways echoing the plot line of the film and his depicted death also just prior to marriage.
5.  His last interview:  Brandon talks about the small things in life we take for granted, that occur so infrequently they may only happen a few more times before we die.

#5 was so poingent I see that it is by his grave site - quoted from his words in the final interview.

I am not a conspiracy theorist nor do I believe in curses.  I do however, miss this young man and the loss of his talent.

[Strazos]

I'm always curious about that accident. I mean...why not just buy some blanks? Why the heck were there even real bullets on the set? Why was the gun not checked before being used.

All very shady, and a shame really.

[Murgos]

As I recall it was blanks but there was the lead bullet portion of a dummy round stuck in the barrel when it happened.  But, yeah, bad saftey, you shouldn't be firing directly at someones head even with blanks.  Smoke, flame, and burning gunpowder come out that end and you can blind or disfigure someone permanently.

[Samwise]

He wasn't shot in the head, he was shot in the side.

[Murgos]

He wasn't shot in the head, he was shot in the side.

Fine, you shouldn't shoot someone in the side with blanks either.

[Riggswolfe]

The story is that the onset firearms safety guy left early that day.(Or something, in any case, he wasn't there.) They had just filmed a scene with a closeup of the gun so it had basically bullet tips in the cylinders so the audience wouldn't go "the gun's empty!". Somehow one of them stayed in and when the blank went off it was propelled into his abdomen and he basically bled to death.

Yeah, that final interview is what gets me too. It's almost like he had a feeling. I remember him saying something like "you never know. Tomorrow could be your last day or the day after. " Something to that effect and he added in the bit you mentioned about noticing the small things and appreciating life.

I think a large part of why the sequels haven't been as good (besides bad scripts) is that none of the other actors ever quite got the mix of nostalgia and meloncholy that Brandon put into the character.

[jpark]

The mood and passion Brandon put into the film was amazing.  There is only one other film that hits with the force of this one - Blade Runner (ah okay, Gladiator too).

Regarding the bullet - apparently the accident happened filming the last scene, which was actually the first scene of the film.  Bradon arrived home with groceries in hand - and Fun Boy shot him.  There was a small gimmick blood bag in the the shopping bag that created the blood on Brandon's body.  When he dropped to the floor - even though it was not the way it had been rehearsed - the film kept rolling while the scene played out.

Apparently, Brandon did some arm gestures while laying on the floor - but nobody really noticed.  Of course when the scene was over - initially they thought he remained on the floor as a prank... then all hell broke loose.

The bullet itself lodged right in his spine. 

So that whole first scene was shot with a double in order to release the film.  Any footage used above was confiscated and destroyed after the investigation.  When Brandon falls to his death in that opening scene - that is a double - with Brandon's face digitilly superimposed on the figure.

[HaemishM]

The Crow is still one of my mostest favoritest movies ever. Brandon should have lived long enough to play Daredevil.

I think it's a better movie not just because it's a better script (and better than any of the later Crow movie or comic scripts), but it had better actors, and a much better director (I, Robot not withstanding). Proyas is good, as evidenced by the way most of the digital retouches aren't even noticeable even that early in CGI history.

The 2nd and 3rd movies just tried to hard to stick to the "Crow" formula. And it had already been done.

[Trippy]

If you like Brandon Lee check out Rapid Fire. I actually like it more than The Crow but that's because I'm a martial arts movie fan.

[Velorath]

To this day I still think that The Crow is the best comic-based movie made (Sin City has come the closest to topping it).  I actually have the fourth movie "Wicked Prayer" on DVD (got it for free when I got a copy meant for Walmart in at my work one day) but I have yet to watch it.  Edward Furlong as the Crow, with Tara Reid and David Boreanaz (Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer).  I'm not into self-abuse via bad cinema like Haemish is.

[schild]

To this day I still think that The Crow is the best comic-based movie made (Sin City has come the closest to topping it).  I actually have the fourth movie "Wicked Prayer" on DVD (got it for free when I got a copy meant for Walmart in at my work one day) but I have yet to watch it.  Edward Furlong as the Crow, with Tara Reid and David Boreanaz (Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer).  I'm not into self-abuse via bad cinema like Haemish is.

Then send it to him and let him uh "review" it.

He <3s Tara "Frankennipple" Reid.

[Velorath]

Fuck, reading the back cover it's got fucking Macy Gray in it too.  Dennis Hopper proves once again that he must not turn down any roles he's offered.  Danny Trejo is probably the best actor in this movie.

[HRose]

Loved the movie, loved Nine Inch Nails (at that time).

But the comics is better.

[Strazos]

Then send it to him and let him uh "review" it.

He <3s Tara "Frankennipple" Reid.

Now that's just disrespectful.

[HaemishM]

Fuck, reading the back cover it's got fucking Macy Gray in it too.  Dennis Hopper proves once again that he must not turn down any roles he's offered.  Danny Trejo is probably the best actor in this movie.

It's #2 on my Netflix queue now. Anything with the potential to be that bad must be frontpaged.

[Abagadro]

What happened is that they needed dummy rounds (which are rounds with the bullet in them, but no powder) for a close up.  They didn't have any on hand so went to a friggin gun store and bought some rounds. They then took out the powder and reinserted the bullet. The problem was that the dopes forgot to take out the priming charge that the hammer uses to ignite the powder in the round.  At some point, they pulled the trigger on the dummy round and it went *pop* but didn't make that big of a sound (primer charges are really pretty small). However, it was enough that it popped the bullet out of the casing and into the barrel of the gun. No one noticed. They then took the same gun and put blanks into it. A blank has a full charge of power, but no bullet. But there was a bullet in the barrel. So when it was fired you had the combo of a full powder charge plus a bullet almost like you would with a live round.

Really, really sad and unforgivably stupid. It led to a number of regulations regarding the use of guns and rounds on movie sets.

[Ironwood]

What happened is that they needed dummy rounds (which are rounds with the bullet in them, but no powder) for a close up.  They didn't have any on hand so went to a friggin gun store and bought some rounds. They then took out the powder and reinserted the bullet. The problem was that the dopes forgot to take out the priming charge that the hammer uses to ignite the powder in the round.  At some point, they pulled the trigger on the dummy round and it went *pop* but didn't make that big of a sound (primer charges are really pretty small). However, it was enough that it popped the bullet out of the casing and into the barrel of the gun. No one noticed. They then took the same gun and put blanks into it. A blank has a full charge of power, but no bullet. But there was a bullet in the barrel. So when it was fired you had the combo of a full powder charge plus a bullet almost like you would with a live round.

Really, really sad and unforgivably stupid. It led to a number of regulations regarding the use of guns and rounds on movie sets.

You know, reading that :  Sounds like a curse to me.  That's a series of shitty coincidences that could play out as a scene in Final Destination.

[Murgos]

At some point, they pulled the trigger on the dummy round and it went *pop* but didn't make that big of a sound (primer charges are really pretty small).

Eh, not really.  Much louder than say, a cap.  It's really a decent bang, particularly when compressed in something like a barrel.

This is only tangentially related but is funny so you get to suffer through it.  A friend of mine decided he was going to keep a .50 round from a M2 Machine Gun for a souvenir while at the range one day.  So he slides one out of the belt and sticks it in his pocket, and at the end of the exercise heads on home to the barracks.  That Saturday morning at about 7 am everyone in the barracks is awoken by a HUGE bang and smoke coming out of this guys transom window.  Everyone runs over to see whats up and he opens his door and the air is filled with feathers and cordite smoke like a thick fog everywhere.

It turns out he had pulled the round out of the cartridge and dumped out the gun powder and he thought that the primer couldn't be all that much of a bang so he put his pillow over it and used a hammer and nail to set it off.  Blew his pillow to smithereens.

[WayAbvPar]

So he was instantly promoted, right? I am guessing Commander in Chief...

[Abagadro]

Depends on what your definition of "loud" is I guess. I've set off priming charges for .38 cal rounds and they aren't that big of a bang.   It was certainly loud enough that someone should have said "hey maybe we should see what just happened."  Part of the problem was apparently different crews/people handling the weapon without knowing what had been done with it prior to them getting it.

[Strazos]

Still, not checking the breach and barrel seems unexcusable to me.