Raw L. The Ridley Scott Encyclopedia

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Alien Series,” New Review of Film and Television Studies 1, no.1

(2003): 127; Valerie Su-Lin Wee, “The Most Poetic Subject in the

World: Observations on Death, (Beautiful) Women and Represen-

tation in Blade Runner,” Kinema 7 (April 1997): 70.

Bibliography

Judi Addelston, “Doing the Full Monty with Dick and Jane: Using

the Phallus to Validate Marginalized Masculinities,” Journal of Men’s

Studies 7, no.3 (Spring 1999): 337–52; Ellen Bishop,“Alien Sub-

ject/Alien Thought: The Female Subject in the Aliens Films,” in

Critical Studies on the Feminist Subject, ed. Giovanna Covi (Trento:

Dipartimento di Scienze Filologiche e Storiche, 1997), 127–63;

Patricia Ticineto Clough, “The ‘Final Girl’ in the Fictions of Sci-

ence and Culture,” Stanford Humanities Review 2, nos. 2–3 (1992):

57–69; Brenda Cooper, “Chick Flicks as Feminist Texts: The Appro-

priation of the Male Gaze in Thelma & Louise,” Women’s Studies in

Communication 23, no.3 (Fall 2000): 277–306; Thomas Doherty,

“Genre, Gender and the Aliens Trilogy,” in The Dread of Difference:

Gender and the Horror Film, ed. Barry Keith Grant (Austin: Uni-

versity of Texas Press, 1996), 181–99; Jessica Enevold,“The Daugh-

ters of Thelma and Louise: New Aesthetics of the Road,” in Gender,

Genre and Identity in Women’s Travel Writing, ed. Kristi Siegel (New

York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 2004), 73–97; Linda Frost, “The

Decentered Subject of Feminism: Postfeminism and Thelma and

Louise,” in Rhetoric in an Antifoundational World: Language, Cul-

ture and Pedagogy, ed. Michael Bernard-Donals and Richard R.

Glejzer (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998),

147–69; Rosalind Gill and Elena Herdieckeroff, “Rewriting the

Romance: New Femininities in Chick Lit?” Feminist Media Studies

6, no.4 (2006): 487–504; Lynda Hart, “’Till Death Us Do Part:

Impossible Spaces in Thelma and Louise,” Journal of the History of

Sexuality 4, no.3 (January 1994): 430–46; Ros Jennings, “Desire and

Design—Ripley Undressed,” in Immortal, Invisible: Lesbians and the

Moving Image, ed. Tamsin Wilton (London and New York: Rout-

ledge, 1995), 193–206; Deborah Jermyn, “The Rachel Papers: In

Search of Blade Runner’s Femme Fatale,” in The Blade Runner Expe-

rience: The Legacy of a Science Fiction Classic,ed.Will Brooker

(London and New York: Wallflower Press, 2005), 159–73; Barbara

Johnson, “Lesbian Spectacles: Reading Sula, Passing, Thelma and

Louise, and The Accused,” in Media Spectacles, ed. Marjorie Garber,

Jann Matlock, and Rebecca L. Walkowitz (New York and London:

Routledge, 1993), 160–66; Louise J. Kaplan, “Fits and Misfits: The

Body of a Woman.” American Image 50, no. 4 (1995): 457–80; Kath-

leen Murphy, “Only Angels Have Wings,” Film Comment 27, no.4

(July–August 1991); 26–29; Zhuang Qing,“Freedom in Residence:

Feminism in Thelma & Louise,” in Re-reading America: Changes &

Challenges, ed. Zhong Weihe and Han Rui (Lockhampton, UK:

Reardon Publishing, 2004), 227–37; Raphael Shargel,“Gender and

Genre Bending,” New Leader 80, no. 15 (22 September 1997):

20–21; Robert Torry, “Awakening to the Other: Feminism and the

Ego Ideal in Alien,” Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal

23, no.4 (1994): 343–63; Jason P. Vest, “Double Jeopardy: The Sex-

ual Dynamics of Blade Runner,” in The Image of the Twentieth Cen-

tury: Proceedings, 2000 Conference, Society for the Interdisciplinary

Study of Social Imagery,

ed. Will Wright and Steven Kaplan (Pueblo,

CO: University of Southern Colorado, 2001), 349–58; Jeffrey Walsh,

“Elite Woman Warriors and Dog Soldiers: Gender Adaptations in

Modern War Films,” in Gender and Warfare in the Twentieth Cen-

tury: Textual Representations, ed. Angela G. Smith (Manchester and

New York: Manchester University Press, 2004), 195–216; Linda

Williams,“Body Talk.” Sight and Sound 7, no.11 (November 1997):

20–21.

FERRY, BRYAN (1945– )

Scott co-directed the video for the song “AVALON,” released

by Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music in 1982. Four years later

Ferry sung the ballad “Is Your Love Strong Enough?” which

plays over the end credits of LEGEND. Ferry collaborated

with Scott on the production of the video/feature film trailer

for the film, which featured Ferry singing the song while

assuming “good and evil characteristics. There is also the

screen [featured behind Ferry on the video] which is look-

ing out at the room with a hand that seems to be reaching

down to Bryan.” Ferry liked working on the film’s theme

because he believed that the film “is a fantasy and has a

mood to it—like my songs.”

References

Rod Powell, “A Bit of a Legend,” Televisual, May 1986, 42.

FEUERSTEIN, MARK (1971– )

Feuerstein’s first major film was Rules of Engagement (2000).

Cast in the largely secondary role of Simon Stein in IN HER

SHOES, produced by Scott and directed by CURTIS HAN-

SON, Feuerstein does not have to do much other than to

give an understated performance. It is clear he doesn’t

understand his fiancée Rose, accusing her of “ping-ponging

between comatose and homicidal,” when her main problem

consists of not being able to talk about her family tragedy—

her mother’s suicide when she was a child. Eventually Simon

discovers what was wrong, and agrees to marry Rose—even

though he understands that her sister will make his life a liv-

ing hell. In a preproduction interview, Feuerstein claimed he

accepted the role because he enjoyed playing “a guy who

loves food, which is me. Playing a guy who is upfront and

honest about what he feels. It was just a dream for me.”

References

Susannah Grant,“In Her Shoes Script” (transcribed from the DVD

version of the film), www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/i/in-

her-shoes-script-transcript.html (accessed 17 January 2009);

Rebecca Murray, “In Her Shoes” (10 January 2005), about.com,

http://movies.about.com/od/inhershoes/a/shoesmf100105.htm

(accessed 8 August 2008).

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FERRY, BRYAN (1945– )

FICHTNER, WILLIAM (1956– )

Born in 1956 on Long Island, New York, raised in Cheek-

towaga, William Fichtner graduated from Maryvale High

School in 1974. His first roles were in sitcoms like Grace Under

Fire (1993). He has also been in films such as Armageddon

(1998) and The Perfect Storm (2000).

Cast as Sanderson in BLACK HAWK DOWN, Fichtner

was struck by the rigor of the training the actors had to

endure before filming began. In a preproduction interview

he recalled that: “They [the soldiers in the camps] took us

out to this place in the woods, blew the door off the hinges,

and said, ‘Who’s next? Go ahead, Bill.’ It didn’t take long to

figure out that if the insurance company had any idea, I

don’t think we’d be doing this.” On their final day in Fort

Bragg, North Carolina, Fichtner (ERIC BANA) and other

members of the cast received detailed instructions on the

proper handling and operation of weapons used by the

Delta Force in Somalia, as well as “breaching training”

(entering locked or obstructed doorways or windows using

explosives, and learning how to enter and clear a building of

potential threats).

As a member of the Delta Force, Sanderson is commit-

ted to his duties—even if it brings him into conflict with the

Rangers. As one point during the raid he encounters Steele

(JASON ISAACS) and tells him that he is simply “doing

[his] job! Look, we gotta get to that crash site! We gotta get

on to that street and we gotta move! . . . give me some of

your shooters and that’ll get closer to the bird [i.e., the

crashed Black Hawk helicopter].” Impressed, Steele agrees to

Sanderson’s demands.

References

William Fichtner, quoted in Fred Schruers, “The Way We War,” Pre-

miere 15, no.6 (February 2002): 53; Ken Nolan, Black Hawk Down:

The Shooting Script (New York: Newmarket Press, 2002), 71.

FIGGIS, MIKE (1948– )

First film was Stormy Monday (1988), followed by Internal

Affairs (1988). His film Mr. Jones (1993) experienced con-

siderable difficulties obtaining a release.

Figgis was invited to direct THE BROWNING VER-

SION by producer Ridley Scott. In a 2003 interview he

recalled that he “read the script, and it was a good piece of

writing and a very good adaptation, it was set in England,

which I liked the idea of. And it helped that Ridley was a

director that I respected....”In another interview published

prior to the film’s 1994 premiere he admitted that he “cer-

tainly had a lot of sympathy for Crocker-Harris’s character

and could relate to it and his constant humiliations ...I

needed a change of pace. If I had been playing a sort of hard

rock, there’s something very attractive about doing an album

of Cole Porter standards, because they’re brilliant. There’s a

cruelty and a subtlety and a kind of sophistication to them

which are open to interpretation.”

Filming was apparently a pleasurable experience,

according to Figgis in 2003: “We had an idyllic summer

shooting the film in the most beautiful part of England. It’s

a strong piece of drama, and I thought Albert [Finney] was

incredible.” But what happened afterwards certainly wasn’t:

“I delivered the film. I knew that Ridley didn’t like the film,

and he made no bones about it when I saw it. He didn’t like

Finney’s performance. He didn’t like the way I directed it. So

I kind of felt I was back in a very familiar territory in a way

...I ended up back in LA with the film, because I had to

show it to the studio. SHERRY LANSING from Paramount

Pictures was there, and Ridley was there, along with some

others ...I was being somewhat shocked by what appeared

to be their favorable reaction. I remember catching the word

‘Oscar’ and Sherry saying, ‘It’s just the most beautiful film.

ALBERT FINNEY is going to get an Oscar. Everybody come

to my office and we’ll talk about this.’ ...It was kind of an

odd situation because I knew Ridley didn’t really like the

film, and suddenly Sherry loved the film, you know. She was

the head of Paramount!”

Compared to Figgis’s other work, The Browning Version

is something of an anachronism; one does not expect the

director of a gritty contemporary work to helm an adaptation

of a TERRENCE RATTIGAN play. Nonetheless, Figgis does a

competent job with the material, as he focuses in particular

on the four central characters in the play—Crocker-Harris

(Finney), Laura (GRETA SCACCHI), Frank (MATTHEW

MODINE), and Taplow (BEN SILVERSTONE). The subject

matter might be very localized, even parochial (non-British

audiences might find it difficult to respond to the material set

in and around a British “public” school—even the name of

which would confuse many American viewers), but the con-

flicts between the characters are readily accessible.

References

Robert J. Emery, The Directors—Take Four (New York: Allworth

Press, 2003), 181–83; Howard Feinstein,“No Gravy in Browning,”

The Guardian, 20 October 1994, Section 2, 8.

FIGHTER PILOT

GB 1940 r/t 8 min b/w. Production Companies: Ministry of

Information in association with British Movietone News.

Producer: Gerald Sanger. Director: Raymond Perrin.

An attempt to cover the life of a fighter pilot in World

War II, covering training, operations, sleep (if at all), take-

off, flight and battle in the air against the German invaders.

Ridley Scott covered similar material in his television series

AFP—AMERICAN FIGHTER PILOT, but the impact sixty-

two years later was minimal compared to the earlier British

version.

FIGHTER PILOT

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FILM NOIR

This popular cinematic genre of the 1940s is characterized

by a series of elements, notably low-key lighting, claustro-

phobic framing of character and scene, the use of heavy

shadow, offbeat compositions and bizarre camera angles,

and rain-soaked urban landscapes.

BLADE RUNNER consciously borrows from this tradi-

tion in its determination to depict a dark, value-bereft soci-

ety in which the distinctions between right and wrong no

longer exist. Ethical distinctions are as difficult to draw as

the line between REPLICANTS and human beings. The film

also suggests that human beings are powerless in this world;

their life span has been predetermined, and such qualities as

friendship or even person-to-person communication are no

longer valued. Film noir became a popular genre immedi-

ately after the end of World War II, as filmmakers caught the

atmosphere of insecurity existing amongst the American

people, who had won the battle abroad, yet had come back

to a country in which age-old moral certainties (and gender

distinctions) no longer seemed important. Blade Runner

suggests that the world of the early 1980s was experiencing

similar conflicts of value.

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME likewise incorpo-

rates film noir elements. New York City might be “the ulti-

mate object of man’s desire” but it is also a threatening place,

where crooks like Venza (ANDREAS KATSULAS) can escape

conviction and force a woman such as Claire Gregory (MIMI

ROGERS) to be perpetually looking over her shoulder. Claire

herself is portrayed as a classic femme fatale, an ice-cold

beauty whose first appearance marks her out as “a special

beauty and clearly someone very special.” Despite her attrac-

tions, Claire remains a fundamentally lonely woman who is

forced to give up the opportunity of personal happiness to

ensure the future of Mike Keegan’s (TOM BERENGER’s)

MARRIAGE. In the amoral world of film noir, no one can

achieve happiness, friendship no longer exists, and love affairs

are doomed to fail. This atmosphere is especially appropri-

ate to Someone, whose soundtrack incorporates 1930s and

1940s standards such as the title song, Al Bowlly’s “What

More Can I Ask?”“Suspicious Minds,” and “Cry.”

James Maxfield’s book The Fatal Woman situates

THELMA & LOUISE in the film noir tradition, but argues

that the film departs from generic expectations of the film by

showing how the heroines’ actions are justifiable. Maxfield

deplores their deaths as a tragic waste after their triumphant

battles against patriarchy. The Ridley Scott-produced film

CLAY PIGEONS relocates the noir tradition in SMALL

TOWNS; consequently, much of the dialogue takes place in

daylight rather than darkness. Carol Reed’s classic film noir

THE THIRD MAN provided the inspiration for the settings

in the war-torn city of Budapest during the Hungarian

Uprising, as depicted in THE COMPANY.

Bibliography

Susan Doll and Greg Faller, “Blade Runner and Genre: Film Noir

and Science Fiction,” Literature/Film Quarterly 14, no.2 (1986):

89–101; W. Russel Gray,“Entropy, Energy, Empathy: Blade Runner

and Detective Fiction,” in Retrofitting Blade Runner, ed. Judith B.

Kerman (Bowling Green: Bowling State University Popular Press,

2nd ed., 1997), 66–75; James Maxfield, The Fatal Woman: Sources

of Male Anxiety in American Film Noir 1941–1991 (Cranfield, NJ:

Associated University Presses, 1996); Isolde Standish, “Akira, Post-

modernism and Resistance,” in Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction

Film Reader, ed. Sean Redmond (London and New York: Wall-

flower Press, 2004), 249–59; Slavoj Z

izˇek, “The Thing That Thinks:

The Kantian Background of the Noir Subject,” in Shades of Noir: A

Reader, ed. Joan Copjec (London and New York: Verso, 1993),

199–226.

FILMS AFTER 9/11

Several of Ridley Scott’s most recent works make reference

to the changed sociopolitical situation after 9/11.

While BLACK HAWK DOWN avoids any direct allusion

to the tragedy (even though the idea was contemplated by

the director and the producers), it nonetheless articulates a

specific conception of American identity, based on fear of

the Other. Like BLACK RAIN before it, the film represents

non-Americans as unthinkingly brutal: such strategies,

according to Trevor B. McCrisken and Andrew Pepper, were

significant for the United States’ efforts to recover its self-

image. The film overlooked issues of “causation, morality

and political significance and instead emphasized the indi-

vidual courage and valor of American soldiers who managed

to extricate themselves from a seemingly impossible situa-

tion.” In the “Director’s Commentary” to the 2004 DVD

release, Scott recalled that he withdrew a title-card at the end

of the film suggesting that the US withdrawal from Somalia

paved the way for the 2001 terrorist attack. This was done to

avoid upsetting the families of those soldiers who perished

in the Somalian raid.

Despite this move, Black Hawk Down was a script the

new government/Hollywood alliance deemed appropriate

for the post-9/11 environment. Its original release was

pushed forward to December 2001, and Sony Pictures spon-

sored a special screening at the White House attended by

President George W. Bush and other members of his staff.

Oliver North attended the Washington premiere. Copies

were also flown out to boost morale among American

troops in Afghanistan.

Although principal photography was completed on the

reality series AMERICAN FIGHTER PILOT before 9/11, the

producers incorporated direct references to the tragedy, once

it was broadcast on CBS in 2002. Each episode begins with

a montage sequence showing images of the disaster and the

people associated with it—one of the planes crashing into

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FILM NOIR

the Twin Towers, the scene of devastation on the NEW

YORK streets, and a close-up of Osama bin Laden—plus a

shot of the Stars and Stripes. On the soundtrack a recording

of President George W. Bush’s speech can be heard, as he

emphasizes America’s strength and its willingness to fight

for freedom. Throughout the series the three recruits—Mike

Love, Marcus Gregory, and Todd Giggy—make reference to

the disaster, and their determination to ensure that it never

happens again, even if that means bombing Iraq. Made with

the full assent of the Pentagon, the series was clearly

designed to improve morale in the wake of 9/11. Sadly, the

reviewers did not respond in the same way to the series;

many of them found it boring and poorly shot. CBS can-

celed the show after only two of the scheduled seven

episodes had been broadcast.

The remake of THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN shows

what happens when governments do not pay sufficient heed

to the threat from external forces that threaten to engulf the

population. The Andromeda Strain virus itself might be seen

as a symbol of terrorism, which can only be neutralized by

everyone—citizens, scientists, the US MILITARY as well as

governments—working together. The script also includes

some overt references to the possible threat posed to Amer-

ica’s stability by communist states such as North Korea.

While KINGDOM OF HEAVEN did not communicate

such an overt political message, Scott was nonetheless care-

ful to acknowledge in the introduction to the book of the

film that “[as] we are now living in the post 9/11 world,

Kingdom of Heaven will inevitably be looked at from that

perspective. We did make some conscious choices about the

values expressed through the story, beginning with the cen-

tral situation of two leaders trying to serve their own people

and their sense of mission, while exercising a degree of tol-

erance of the ‘other.’” He continues the analysis in BODY OF

LIES, by showing that the conflicts initiated during the Cru-

sades persist to this day, creating a situation where there are

no winners and losers, just victims. There seems no place for

tolerance in a context where no one actually trusts one

another, despite the Jordanian Secret Service chief Hani’s

(MARK STRONG’s) exhortation to CIA agent Roger Ferris

(LEONARDO DICAPRIO) that “this [i.e. the Middle East]

is a part of the world where friendship matters. It can save

your life.” A similar discourse permeates certain episodes of

NUMB3RS, particularly “When Worlds Collide” (Series 4,

Episode 18).

References

Trevor B. McCrisken and Andrew Pepper, American History and

Contemporary Hollywood Film (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University

Press, 2005), 204; Ridley Scott, “Director’s Commentary” to the 2-

disc DVD release of Black Hawk Down (Los Angeles: Revolution

Studios Distribution Company LLG & Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc.,

2004); Ridley Scott,“Introduction,” in Kingdom of Heaven: The Rid-

ley Scott Film and the History Behind the Story, ed. Diana Landau

(London: Simon and Schuster Ltd., 2005), 8.

Bibliography

Robin Andersen, A Century of Media, A Century of War (New York:

Peter Lang Publishing Inc., 2006); Wheeler Winston Dixon, ed.,

Film and Television After 9/11 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois Uni-

versity Press, 2004); Nancy Lynch Street, “Stanley Kubrick and

America’s ‘Strange Love’ of War,” in War and Film in America: His-

torical and Critical Essays, ed. Marilyn J. Matelski and Nancy Lynch

Street (Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland and Co. [Publish-

ers], 2003), 175–95.

THE FINEST HOURS

GB 1964 r/t 116 min b/w & color. Production Companies:

Columbia Pictures Corporation and Le Vien International.

Producer: Jack Le Vien (later Jack Levin). Director:Peter

Baylis. Writer: Victor Wolfson from the book The Second

World War by Winston Churchill. Director of Photography:

Hone Glendinning. Music: Ron Grainer. Cast: Orson Welles

(Narrator), George Baker, Faith Brook, David Healy, Patrick

Wymark (Voices).

A life of Winston Churchill placing particular empha-

sis on his role in the years leading up to the outbreak of

World War II, as well as his career as Prime Minister. The

film’s material anticipates much of that used in THE GATH-

ERING STORM.

The director Jack le Vien (later known as Jack Levin)

had worked with Churchill during his visits to the various

battle fronts in World War II, where he organized press cov-

erage. The film uses archive footage interspersed with

Churchill’s own words read by actors. Le Vien’s aim, as

expressed in the book of the film, was to “illustrate certain

facets of his [Churchill’s] life in a fresh candid and some-

times, perhaps, surprising way.”

References

Jack le Vien and Peter Lewis, The Finest Hours (London: Corgi

Books, 1964), 10.

FINNEY, ALBERT (1936– )

Albert Finney came to films after a distinguished theatrical

start to his career. His first major role was Arthur Seaton in

Karel Reisz’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960).

Finney plays a cameo role as Fouché, the chief of the secret

police, in THE DUELLISTS. Ludicrously over-dressed in

tight-fitting pants and braided jacket, he looks the very epit-

ome of authority as he agrees to remove Feraud’s (HARVEY

KEITEL’s) name from the list of officers to be tried for trea-

son. However, we soon learn that he controls the soldiers’

destinies as a way of saving himself; like the film’s two main

FINNEY, ALBERT (1936– )

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113

characters, his life is dictated by self-interest. This explains

the presence of so much poverty in Scott’s film: people sel-

dom bother to work for the community at large.

In THE BROWNING VERSION (1994), produced by

Scott and directed by MIKE FIGGIS, Finney plays Arthur

Crocker-Harris, a classics teacher who (like Fouché) values

self-interest above public duty. To prepare for the role,

Finney watched a classics class at Sherborne School, Dorset,

in southwest England; his apparent facility with Greek and

Latin came courtesy of some teaching by an academic at Bal-

liol College, Oxford. Finney claimed that he had “never

played a part that’s so isolated and stoic. It goes back to Eng-

lish good manners—that you are not supposed to show the

world how you are, how you feel or to express your emo-

tions ...In this role, instead of showing the character’s true

feelings and intentions, I had to keep masking them.”

Crocker-Harris is a remote personality, unable to look his

students in the eye while trying (and dismally failing) to

compensate for his inadequacies by speaking in a sarcastic

tone. Such failings are prompted by Crocker-Harris’s belief

that his life has been a failure. Once a brilliant classical

scholar, he entered into an unhappy MARRIAGE while rot-

ting away at a minor private school, ruthlessly exploited by

his colleagues and a Machiavellian headmaster (MICHAEL

GAMBON). Crocker-Harris’s character is brilliantly sug-

gested in Finney’s performance, his face remaining expres-

sionless as he stares at the ground or into the middle

distance, as if experiencing a living death.

When the boy Taplow (BEN SILVERSTONE) gives him

a present of the Robert Browning translation of Aeschylus’s

Agamemnon (the “Browning Version” of the film’s title),

Crocker-Harris can hardly control himself as he realizes that

someone cares for him after all. His lips tremble and his body

shakes with emotion as he puts a hand to his mouth and

turns away from Taplow, mumbling that he has been “under

rather a strain.” In spite of everything, he has the capacity to

change lives. This quality is reemphasized in the film’s climax

as Crocker-Harris stands before the entire school and apol-

ogizes for being a failure, for not committing himself to the

task of training young minds. He begs the students’ forgive-

ness and then walks out of the hall with his head held high.

Although his future is far from secure (having been forced to

leave the school because of ill health), Crocker-Harris has

emerged from his cocoon of self-interest; it is not surprising

that he should be applauded as he bids farewell.

Finney creates another study of self-interest as Win-

ston Churchill in the Ridley Scott–produced television film

THE GATHERING STORM (2002). In a preproduction

interview Finney asserted that Churchill “had an extraor-

dinary personality”—as manifested in a remarkable capac-

ity for work. He was quite accustomed to working twenty

hours a day, “and he expected them [his staff] to work

extraordinary hours, as he did—they all adored him. They

certainly seemed to tolerate it—he had people for a very

long time, he was a fascinating man.” Finney worked hard

on recreating Churchill’s speech patterns, although he

stopped short of giving a direct impersonation: “I had to free

it up so it was a creative act and not an imitative one. I had

to have the essence of him, that was all ...It doesn’t worry

me, people who have their idea of him have it anyway.”

Described as “a self-serving opportunist,” Finney’s

Churchill truly believes in his destiny to save England and

the [British] Empire. One shot in The Gathering Storm

recalls The Duellists, as he stands at the edge of the frame,

with the glorious Kentish hills in the background illumi-

nated by winter sunlight. Unlike the earlier film (which uses

a similar shot to emphasize Feraud’s alienation), The Gath-

ering Storm stresses Churchill’s intimate relationship to his

country. Like Crocker-Harris, Churchill comes to under-

stand the importance of relating to others. One sequence

begins with him criticizing his wife Clemmie (VANESSA

REDGRAVE) for accepting an offer to go on a foreign trip,

even if that means leaving home and family. Clemmie

responds by storming out of the room, upsetting a plate of

sprouts as she does so. As a maid (Lyndsey Marshall) tries to

clear them up, Churchill smiles sheepishly and explains that

the vegetables were angry and fell to the ground of their own

accord. While seeking not to lose face in front of the ser-

vants, he believes that something must be said, even if it is

only a weak joke. Churchill goes upstairs and taps on Clem-

mie’s door, using his pet name of “Mr. Pug” in an attempt to

placate her. It is obvious that he is very much in love, even

after twenty-six years of marriage. Churchill’s attitude

towards people is summed up in an epigraph to the film,

taken from his VE Day speech of May 1945: “In all our long

history, we have never seen a greater day than this. Everyone,

man or woman, has done their best.” Finney won the Best

Actor Emmy award in 2002 for his performance.

In Scott’s A GOOD YEAR (2005), Finney’s Uncle Henry

comes across as someone totally in control of himself. Hav-

ing moved to FRANCE and taken on a vineyard, he discov-

ers life’s enduring virtues—sunshine, fresh air and good

wine. At one point his associate Duflot (DIDIER BOUR-

DON) describes him as “a man of secrets. A man of pas-

sions.” Scott continually photographs him in soft-focus,

his face illuminated by bright sunlight or the flicker of a

candle—a technique recalling Scott’s work in commercials

such as HOVIS BREAD. By this method Scott emphasizes

Henry’s satisfaction with life’s simple pleasures. Max (RUS-

SELL CROWE) remembers him with affection; when he was

a boy he learned Henry’s philosophy of life, which accord-

ing to the film’s pressbook “has mostly to do with wine in

particular, but around that is a philosophy of enjoying life.”

Uncle Henry is contrasted with his nephew Max Skinner

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FINNEY, ALBERT (1936– )

(Crowe), a city slicker who gradually undergoes a process of

self-discovery, something signaled by a change in the way

Crowe delivers his lines. By the final sequence he reproduces

Finney’s slow, measured tones, suggesting that both men

have now understood that happiness lies in the unchanging

world of the château.

References

Quentin Falk, Albert Finney in Character (London: Robson Books,

2002), 195; The Gathering Storm: Information Pack Issued 17 June

2002 (London: BBC, 2002), www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/

stories/2002/06_june/17/gathering_storm_pack.pdf (accessed 24

December 2008); Marc Klein, “A Good Year: Screenplay” (Draft

dated 5 September 2005), http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/

A-GOOD-YEAR-2.pdf (accessed 26 January 2009); Pressbook: A

Good Year (Los Angeles: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation,

2006), 3.

FIORENTINO, LINDA (1958– )

Made her name playing Bridget Gregory in The Last Seduction

(1993), plus roles in Men in Black (1997) and Dogma (1999).

Interviewed by Bruce Kirkland while promoting her role

as Carol MacKay in WHERE THE MONEY IS, Fiorentino

claimed to find PAUL NEWMAN, her seventy-five-year-old

leading man, very attractive: “He’s about the only man I

could think of that I would have sex with even if he were in

his nineties. He is beautiful physically, but he has this inter-

nal beauty, too. It’s endless. It’s forever ...His skin still looks

soft and supple, his body is still trim and virile and those

colour-blind, baby-blue eyes still pierce when people lock

him in a gaze.” This is certainly not the case in the film itself;

whereas Carol certainly admires Henry Manning (Newman’s

character), the relationship is strictly platonic, based on

mutual respect rather than sexual attraction.

Alexander Walker found the casting of Fiorentino in the

film “a perfect match” for Newman: “Her resourcefulness

answers his, feisty flash for flash: they perform a sort of ven-

erable Butch and feminist Sundance.” Anthony Quinn in The

Independent admired her “comic touch that’s very appealing

indeed. It [this film] won’t be a milestone in her career, but

it won’t do her any harm either.”

References

Linda Fiorentino, quoted in Daniel O’Brien, Paul Newman (Lon-

don: Faber and Faber Ltd., 2004), 296; Anthony Quinn,“The King

of the Hustlers Pulls off One More Sting,” The Independent,6 Octo-

ber 2000, 10; Alexander Walker, “A Con, a Pro and a Caper to Trea-

sure,” Evening Standard, 5 October 2000, 29.

FODEN, TOM (?– )

British-born production designer who made his name with

music video designs on “Closer” (Nine Inch Nails), “Scream”

(Michael Jackson), “Bedtime Stories” (Madonna), and

“Weird” (Hanson). Foden was engaged as designer on

MATCHSTICK MEN, and was keen to exploit the LOS

ANGELES locations to show Roy’s (NICHOLAS CAGE’s)

idiosyncrasies of character. In a preproduction interview he

stressed that Roy would have to live “in a spare and orderly

environment,” with much of the inspiration coming from

“the paintings of John Register ...His [Register’s] use of

strong afternoon sunlight and long shadows, combined with

contemporary settings was an idea I thought could set the

mood of the film. It provided a linear sectioning between

order and disarray which really defines the character of Roy.”

References

Production Information: Matchstick Men (Los Angeles: Warner Bros.

Pictures, 2003), 14.

FORBIDDEN PLANET

US 1956 r/t 98 min col. Production Company: MGM. Pro-

ducer: Nicholas Nayfack. Director: Fred M. Wilcox. Writer:

Cyril Hume. Director of Photography: George J. Folsey. Pro-

duction Designers: Cedric Gibbons and Arthur Lonergan.

Music: Bebe and Louis Barron. Cast: Walter Pidgeon (Dr.

Morbius), Anne Francis (Altaira Morbius), Leslie Nielsen

(Commander Adams), Warren Stevens (Lieut. “Doc” Ostrow),

Jack Kelly (Lieut. Farman), Richard Anderson (Chief Quinn),

Earl Holliman (Cook), Robby the Robot (Himself).

The famous movie based on Shakespeare’s Tempest.

ALIEN contains numerous allusions to it—notably in the

scene where the crew members investigate the deserted

planet where they first encounter the beast. Both films also

explore the consequences of human beings seeking to med-

dle with the unknowable.

Ridley Scott was interviewed about the film—and other

classics that inspired him—in the 2005 TV documentary

Watch the Skies! Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us. Written

and produced by critic Richard Schickel, this documentary

chronicles the history of science-fiction movies, from the

silent era to the present. It is currently available on the two-

disc fiftieth-anniversary DVD release of Forbidden Planet.

Given Scott’s enthusiasm for science fiction, it came as

rather a surprise to find that by 2007 he was prepared to

state that the genre was all but dead: “There’s nothing orig-

inal. We’ve seen it all before. Been there. Done it.”

Reference

Dalya Alberge,“Sci-fi Films Are as Dead as Westerns, Says Ridley

Scott,” The Times (London), 30 August 2007, 30.

FORD, HARRISON (1942– )

His father was Irish, his mother Russian-Jewish. He was a

lackluster student at Maine Township High School East in

FORD, HARRISON (1942– )

■

115

Park Ridge, Illinois (no athletic star, never above a C aver-

age). He became a star as Bob Falfa in George Lucas’s Amer-

ican Graffiti (1973). Ford was not the first actor to be

considered for the role of Deckard in BLADE RUNNER.

Originally screenwriter HAMPTON FANCHER thought of

Robert Mitchum—remembering, perhaps, that Mitchum

had played Philip Marlowe in two recent remakes of Farewell

My Lovely (1975) and The Big Sleep (1978). Other actors

were also in the frame, notably Dustin Hoffman. Eventually

Ford was engaged on the basis of his performance in Star

Wars (1977). Producer MICHAEL DEELEY observed in

1981 that “Deckard’s curious mixture of emerging sensitiv-

ity and hard-boiled bureaucracy would offer an excellent

chance for Harrison [Ford].” Ford himself liked the “ambi-

guity” of the role: “He’s [Deckard is] struggling with a job-

oriented fear. That involves killing; shooting people is not

something he likes to do. So although he might be a pretty

good Blade Runner, Deckard’s also a reluctant one.” Scott

observed in the pressbook for the film’s original release that

“Harrison possesses some of the laconic dourness of Bogey

[Humphrey Bogart], but he’s more ambivalent, more

human. He’s almost an antihero.”

Ford’s characterization focuses on Deckard’s gradual

discovery of human feeling—that quality separating a

human being from a REPLICANT. This is brought out in

the sequence where we see him slumped over the piano in

his apartment. In the DIRECTOR’S CUT (1992), this shot

is followed by a dissolve to a shot of a unicorn in a forest,

galloping towards the camera, before returning to a close-

up of Deckard. Both versions of the film then show a pan of

a series of photographs on Deckard’s piano; Deckard picks

one up and analyzes it closely, to ascertain whether Rachael

(SEAN YOUNG) is a replicant. This sequence shows

Deckard’s meticulous nature; like all good detectives, he

investigates the evidence thoroughly. On the other hand,

Rachael’s memory clearly stimulates his imagination,

prompting him to reflect on his past.

Deckard’s growing self-awareness is stressed later on,

when he turns towards Rachael at the piano and compli-

ments her: “You play beautifully.” This is followed by a two-

shot where Deckard kisses her tentatively on the neck and

moves towards her lips. Rachael runs away, pursued by

Deckard who slams the door, takes her in his arms so that

she cannot escape, and forcibly kisses her on the lips.

Deckard’s sudden release of pent-up emotion, born of frus-

tration, is extremely powerful; he wants to show his love for

Rachael, but cannot do so except through violent means.

In the end, however, Deckard does change; having seen

off Batty (RUTGER HAUER), he returns to his apartment

to find Rachael covered with a sheet. Thinking that she is

dead, Deckard puts his face close to hers and bursts into

tears. When she wakes up he murmurs “Do you love me?”

and she replies “I love you” without coercion. At last Deckard

has discovered the kind of tenderness that enables him to

sustain a relationship.

As the two of them leave the apartment, Deckard picks

up an aluminum foil model of a unicorn while we hear the

line “It’s too bad she won’t live, but then again, who does?”

on the soundtrack. In the original theatrical version, this

moment underlines Rachael’s mortality; her love affair will

inevitably be a short one, despite the fact that both of them

escape the city for an edenic world of green fields. In the

DIRECTOR’S CUT, the unicorn clearly refers us back to the

earlier, dream-sequence one, suggesting that the memory has

been implanted in Deckard’s mind—and thus he (like

Rachael) is a replicant.

In a documentary “Deck-a-Rep: the True Nature of

Rick Deckard” included in the five-disc collector’s edition

of Blade Runner, Scott states quite categorically that

Deckard is a replicant. Others are not so sure; in the same

documentary Ford insists that Deckard is a human being,

“an emotional representative” that viewers can identify with

in a DYSTOPIAN world. It is not particularly important

whether or not Deckard is a replicant; what matters more

is Ford’s performance as someone who “must shake off the

troubles he’s seen, the numbing shell, to get back in touch

with his feelings. He becomes human again, thanks prima-

rily to the replicants who are driven by love for one another

to develop empathy.”

Both PAUL M. SAMMON’s Future Noir (on the mak-

ing of the film) and the Collector’s Edition suggest that Ford

had his differences with Scott during the making of the film.

Nonetheless, Blade Runner remains one of his signature per-

formances in a career as a star which continues to this day.

References

Michael Deeley, Harrison Ford, quoted in Paul M. Sammon, Future

Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, 2nd ed. (London: Gollancz,

2007), 88–89; Rita Kempley, “Blade Runner,” Washington Post,11

September 1992, A2; Ridley Scott, Harrison Ford, interviewed in

“Deck-a-Rep: the True Nature of Rick Deckard,” Documentary

included in Blade Runner: Collector’s Edition (Los Angeles: Warner

Bros. Entertainment, Inc., and the Blade Runner Partnership, 2007).

Bibliography

Brad Duke, Harrison Ford: The Films (Jefferson, NC and London:

McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005).

FORD, ROBERT (1862–1892)

An American OUTLAW who gained fame by killing JESSE

JAMES in 1882. He was an idealistic and ambitious young

man who had devoted his life to the hope of one day riding

alongside his idol. He could never have imagined that history

would ultimately mark him as the “the dirty little coward”

116

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FORD, ROBERT (1862–1892)

who shot Jesse in the back. ANDREW DOMINIK, director

of THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COW-

ARD ROBERT FORD, described him thus: “Robert is a per-

son who seems easily hurt. He might have imagined that if

he was with Jesse James—more to the point, if he was Jesse

James—it would be a kind of armor that would protect him

[from censure] . . . A person imagines himself having a spe-

cial connection to someone, then discovers it’s not true, or it’s

not enough. Adoration turns to anger. I think Ford’s feelings

are always running side by side between the two emotions.”

Ford was eventually assassinated in the small town of

Creede by Edward O’Kelley in 1892. Ford’s gravestone says

“The Man That Shot Jesse James.”

References

“About the Production” [The Assassination of Jesse James], http://

party931.com/common/movies/notes/54706-1-full.html (accessed

12 August 2008).

FOSTER, JODIE (1962– )

Jodie Foster made her name as a child star in Tax i Dr ive r

(1976). She received two Oscars before she was thirty years

old—one for The Accused (1988) and the other for SILENCE

OF THE LAMBS (1991).

Originally slated to repeat her award-winning role as

Clarice Starling in HANNIBAL, Foster eventually withdrew

from the picture on account of the script, which she believed

was too grisly and too far-fetched for her: “The original

movie worked because people believed in Clarice’s heroism.

I won’t play her with negative attributes she would never

have.” She was eventually replaced by JULIANNE MOORE.

Nonetheless her presence in the film is very apparent, as

Linda Mizejewski observes: “[Those] who imagine Foster as

Starling in the new Hannibal have a vivid way to picture the

more complex traits of this character: powerful, competent

female authority, beauty without glamour; and a sexual

attractiveness that excludes easy categorization . . . the sex-

uality of Starling . . . is more acceptable if read through Jodie

Foster, whose persona makes some of these contradictions

or unanswered opinions acceptable.”

References

Jodie Foster, quoted in Adam Smith, “Signed, Sealed, De-livered,”

Empire 141 (March 2001): 73; Linda Mizejewski, “Stardom and Ser-

ial Fantasies: Thomas Harris’s Hannibal,” in Keyframes: Popular

Cinema and Cultural Studies, ed. Matthew Tinkcom and Amy Vil-

larejo (London and New York: Routledge, 2001), 165–66.

Bibliography

Boyd Farrow, “Food Fight.” Screen International 1235 (19 Novem-

ber 1999): 27; Daniel Fierman, “Lamb Chops,” Entertainment

Weekly 521 (14 January 2000): 12–13; “Has Foster Killed Agent

Starling?” StarBurst 259 (March 2000): 6; Karen Hollinger, The

Actress: Hollywood Acting and the Female Star (New York and Lon-

don: Routledge, 2006).

FOSTER’S QUEST

GB 2007 Commercial r/t 30 sec col. Production Company:

RSA Films. Director: Ridley Scott.

This commercial, produced for RSA Asia, begins with a

shot of the Australian outback at sunset, with the words

“Sometime in the Future” appearing on screen. The action

dissolves to an improvised shelter, where two farmers—one

young, one old—watch a recording of two T-shirted women

drinking Foster’s lager by a beautiful blue sea. The young

farm worker exclaims,“The amber nectar, eh?” to which the

older man replies, “That was real special, son, like an angel

crying on your tongue.” On the soundtrack some sweet nos-

talgic music can be heard. The action cuts back to the

younger man asking: “Could it be the inspiration for a more

decent way of life?” The older man replies, “Nah—but it

tastes good,” as the music abruptly ceases. The older man

continues: “Son—the time has come. Take the one machine

that still works and go out and find it. Remember all I’ve

taught you about urban survival!” The young man replies:

“No worries. Always lay the soup spoon on the outside of

the knife,” as he gets into his truck and speeds off into the

sunset. The old man exclaims approvingly, “That’s my boy,”

as the words appear on screen “Will he find it? Is there any-

one else out there?”“Whatever happened to computer dat-

ing?” The final shot shows a glass of Foster’s with the words,

“Search for the Amber Nectar.”

This commercial makes fun of familiar film conven-

tions, such as the young man leaving the country for the city

in his truck, while suggesting that any activity other than

going to find Foster’s is ultimately futile. As with many of

Scott’s works, both as director or producer, the commercial

deliberately foregrounds the landscape—in this case, the

rolling Australian prairie.

1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE

GB/France/Spain 1992 r/t 155 min col. Production Companies:

Légende Enterprises, France 3 Cinéma, Due West, CYRK, with

the participation of the French and Spanish Ministries of Cul-

ture. Producers: Alain Goldman and Ridley Scott. Director:

Ridley Scott. Writer: Roselyne Bosch. Director of Photography:

Adrian Biddle. Production Designer: Norris Spencer. Music:

Vangelis. Cast: Gérard Depardieu (Christopher Columbus),

Armand Assante (Sanchez), Sigourney Weaver (Queen Isabel),

Angela Molina (Beatrix), Fernando Rey (Marchena), Michael

Wincott (Moxica), Tcheky Karyo (Pinzon), Kevin Dunn

(Captain Mendez), Frank Langella (Santangel), Mark Mar-

golis (Bobadilla), Bercello Moya (Utapan).

After BLACK RAIN Scott told Ana Maria Bahiana that

he was looking to do a period film, one that reconstructed

1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE

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period behavior and attitudes. The idea for 1492 came about

when journalist ROSELYNE BOSCH was researching an

article about the five-hundredth anniversary celebrations of

the discovery of America to go into La Pointe magazine. She

took her story to producer ALAIN GOLDMAN and they

tried to find a suitable director. Scott was their fifth choice,

after Francis Coppola, Roland Joffé, Oliver Stone, and

DAVID PUTTNAM. Scott himself had been approached by

the Salkind brothers to work on the rival Columbus film to

be produced at the same time, which was eventually titled

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: THE DISCOVERY. This was

not the first film to be made about Columbus: in 1949 the

British director David MacDonald had made CHRISTO-

PHER COLUMBUS, with Fredric March in the title role. It

was not a success.

For the latest version, Scott’s one condition was that

GÉRARD DEPARDIEU be cast as Columbus; he told Amy

Taubin that the French actor was one of the few possessing

“the proper energy and outsized personality for the Colum-

bus character . . . Gérard Depardieu is Columbus. He is an

extremely passionate character driven almost purely by his

intuition.” Anjelica Huston was approached for the role of

Queen Isabella but ultimately was unable to commit and so

the part went to SIGOURNEY WEAVER. Several of the

technical staff had worked with Scott before, including pro-

duction designer NORRIS SPENCER, composer VANGE-

LIS, cinematographer ADRIAN BIDDLE, and set decorator

Ann Mollo (LEGEND).

However the choice of subject proved problematic with

potential financial backers: production at Pinewood Studios

in England was halted twice through lack of funds. None of

the major Hollywood studios would touch the project, and

Scott eventually financed the film by selling the distribution

rights territory by territory. Scott himself admitted in an

interview in the British film magazine Empire that “Colum-

bus is going to be very unpopular. We’re going to have every

Indian society after us for racism. But his vision was very

extreme—even more extreme than NASA’s and more daunt-

ing. His crew believed he was going to sail to the edge of the

world. The NASA people, at least, have their co-ordinates

when they send up a mission.”

Nonetheless, after several initial hiccups, shooting began

on 2 December 1991 and continued for about eighty days.

Exterior footage was shot in Spain, the Dominican Repub-

lic, and Costa Rica, the primary location for the New World

part of the film because of its pristine beaches, islands, and

jungles. Scott was enthusiastic about the project. He insisted

in the Empire interview that he was not striving for histori-

cal recreation but to offer an “intelligent speculation on what

really happened and who he [Columbus] really was, and at

the end you make up your own mind. Was he a man finally

ridden by guilt, or was he unaware of what he’s really done?

Could he in fact have had a perspective on what he was

doing at that particular time, given the fact that the norm

was to burn twenty-nine heretics in a square in Seville or

Madrid?”

However this enthusiasm was not shared by reviewers.

Michael Sragow of the New Yorker called it “one huge objet

d’non-art.” J. Hoberman of the Village Voice went further,

describing it as “a lumbering bear-hug of a movie, his worst

since Legend. Impaled on the clichés of Roselyne Bosch’s

script, Scott hoists flags, rings bells, and flogs extras in vain.

The more desperate the tumult, the more lifeless the wax

museum.” British reviewers were no less censorious: Kevin

Jackson described the film as a “historical epic as rock video.

The tropical storm that destroys Columbus’s settlement is

shot on eye-scorching strobes right out of ALIEN, and this

is not the only moment which prompts comparison between

the Santa Maria and the NOSTROMO.” Jonathan Romney

took a more ironic stance: “Everything is beautifully worn

and weathered—the sails, the maps, the monks—but next

to nothing happens, bar the year’s most realistic on-screen

garottings. The story . . . will be remembered for one lovely

shot of mists parting, and for Depardieu solemnly telling

Sigourney Weaver’s Isabel, ‘You’re the only queen I know.’”

The only dissenting voice came from the film magazine

Empire, who complimented Scott on producing “a snapshot

of history on a par with the best, the atmosphere of fear,

dread and ignorance in medieval Spain being brilliantly

recreated, and the sheer vastness of the undertaking . . . com-

ing across ...despite the irritating use of some coloured fil-

ters left over from The Duellists.”

The film encountered problems even before it opened,

as the producers battled with the Salkind brothers over the

right to use the name Christopher Columbus in the title.

Eventually producer Goldman emerged victorious, accord-

ing to the Hollywood Reporter.However 1492 was a financial

disaster at the box office: costing $44 million to make, it

grossed only $7 million at the US box office.

Nonetheless the film is an interesting text, as it takes up

and develops several of the themes raised in Scott’s earlier

work. CLASS DIFFERENCES become a major issue, as the

foreign adventurer Columbus expects everyone, even the

Spanish nobles, to work on building his city in the New

World. Robert Thurston’s novelized version of the screenplay

makes this clear: “He [Moxica] wished he had not come to

this godforsaken new world, especially to knuckle under the

leadership of this damned rogue Columbus.” Back in Spain,

Sanchez and his fellow nobles experience similar feelings:

“The last few days, in the company of the members of the

court, he [Columbus] had begun to question his own ambi-

tion to be accepted in the higher realms of society. While they

feted him and praised his discoveries, they continually

seemed to sniff at his lower origins with their aristocratic

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1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE

noses.” Moxica renders these prejudices explicit just before

he dies: “You are nothing! . . . Your bastards will not inherit

your titles! We are everything. We are immortal.”“We” in this

sense refers to the Spanish nobles who, as representatives of

the Old World, consider themselves untouchable. The clash

between Columbus and Moxica recalls that of SOMEONE

TO WATCH OVER ME: while ostensibly contributing to the

greater good of Spain, Columbus can never become one of

the ruling elite. He will always remain the outsider, whose

titles have been awarded rather than inherited.

The clash between Old and New Worlds is an interest-

ing one. On the one hand Scott asks us in 1492 to believe

that Columbus’s world is one of possibility—despite the

hardships involved, Columbus’s desire to colonize new ter-

ritories is identified as something positive. This is made clear

right at the end, when Columbus is permitted by the queen

to continue his voyages, and an end title-card informs us

that he eventually discovered the Pacific Ocean, thus prov-

ing the adage that “Life has more imagination that we carry

in our dreams.” This stands in stark contrast to the Old

World of medieval Spain, which is dominated by fear and

suspicion and where crowds gather to watch heretics being

burned at the stake. A failure to respect “the word of God”

(in other words, the official view of Catholicism) inevitably

leads to punishment. The Old World is also a violent world;

at one point Moxica suspects an Indian of lying and pun-

ishes him by cutting off his hand with a sword. This scene

recalls a similar sequence in Black Rain; like the Japanese in

the earlier film, the Spanish have an extreme way of dealing

with what they perceive as “dishonorable” behavior.

On the other hand, the New World proves equally

unforgiving, as Columbus’s efforts to create an ideal city

come to nothing. The Spanish crew seek to leave this “god-

less place,” while Brother Buyl (John Heffernan) observes

that “no one wants a New World”—least of all the Indians,

who eventually turn against the Spaniards. Ultimately the

city is destroyed by a violent storm; the church—supposedly

the symbol of Spanish “civilization”—is reduced to ruins,

while insects are seen crawling over Columbus’s prostrate

body as he tries to come to terms with what has happened.

At this point the New World resembles other DYSTOPIAS

from Scott’s films, notably that of BLADE RUNNER.

Thurston’s novelization describes Columbus’s feelings thus:

“[He] realized suddenly that it was not just his world being

destroyed, but the world of Méndez and the others, the loyal

ones who had faith in his grand design.”

In complete contrast to THELMA & LOUISE, where the

protagonists were both women and Scott seemed to be try-

ing to reflect on established gender relations, 1492 follows

BLACK RAIN and Someone to Watch Over Me by focusing

on a male hero embarking on a voyage of self-discovery.

Although in many ways a visionary in his desire to discover

new territories, Columbus has been tainted by Old World

values; this is especially evident, for instance, in the way he

hangs those members of his crew who have mutinied against

him, in a sequence specifically designed to recall the earlier

sequence in Spain when religious traitors are hanged and

burned at the stake. Like the true imperialist, he sympathizes

with yet refuses to acknowledge Indian values; the Indian

servant Utapan (BERCELIO MOYA) accuses him quite

rightly at one point of neglecting to learn the local language.

Like Nick Conklin in Black Rain, Columbus refuses to

embrace the values of the Other. The novelization sums up

this moment succinctly: “In an automatic response, Colum-

bus was going to ask Utapan to translate, but the Indian

stepped backward into the shadows and seemed to vanish.”

The word “vanish” is significant here; it appears that Utapan

does not exist in Columbus’s mind as a living human being,

but solely as a presence, a servant to carry out his wishes.

When the Indian refuses to serve him, he is mentally

expunged from Columbus’s mind.

By contrast the women are depicted as largely passive.

Columbus’s partner Beatrix has a largely thankless role as

the woman staying at home while the man she loves

embarks on his travels. Her stoicism (as well as her modesty

in refusing the advances of other men) is presented as some-

thing admirable: Columbus realizes only that such qualities

are far more important than riches, titles, or social influence.

He tells Beatrix: “Do you think I care? I’m a free man again.

Riches don’t make a man rich, they only make him busier

...God,how much I’ve missed you.” While Queen Isabella

possesses the power to sanction Columbus’s voyages and

secure his release from prison later on, she is never seen as

an active presence in the film. She either sits on her throne

or moves within the confines of a darkened room. In the

novelization of the film Sanchez (FRANK LANGELLA) at

one point concludes that “Isabel romping seemed a remote

possibility.” The fact that she is played by Sigourney

Weaver—whose role as an active female in Alien remains

fresh in the mind—reveals how differently Scott approaches

the issue of femaleness in 1492.

Scott’s film is shot through with COLONIALISM and

colonialist imagery. While the Indians are presented as

pacific, respectful of their environment and balanced in their

economic practices, they are also objectified; the camera

lingers lovingly over shots of naked women and men as they

gather to welcome the Spanish. In a later sequence, an

unnamed female servant moves in between Moxica and Pin-

zon (TCHÉKY KARYO), her breasts glistening in the sun-

light. The camera cuts to close-ups of the two Spaniards

eyeing her lustfully; Moxica says to Pinzon that he can have

her whenever he wants. While the sequence is obviously

designed to show the Spaniards’ bestial nature, the fact that

the camera tracks from one man’s face to the other, while

1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE

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