The Policeman scene
Does anyone have opinions about the policeman getting gobbled up by the title?
shareT'was funny.
shareHuh? How come?
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What's funny, as I recall, is that the cop empties his revolver up at the giant dinosaur to no effect at all -- and then stands there looking down and concentrating on his gun while he takes his time to reload all the bullets. The monster then gobbles the fellow up.
Funny:
1. Stopping to reload his gun.
2. Looking down to load his gun, with no real concern, as if a giant dinosaur wasn't five feet away from him.
3. Thinking, even after six rounds did nothing to harm the dinosaur, that another six rounds might have better results.
Just saw the film at a theatre the other night, and there was nothing funny about the scene - or at least, it didn't reach that critical mass of goofiness that inspires the audience to laugh.
As for your specific points:
1. Nothing funny about reloading the gun. At least it's not like many Hollywood movies, where the guns fire an unlimited number of bullets.
2. I guess this could be considered funny - the actor's performance being too blase, not conveying the danger. But the scene goes by so fast, it doesn't have time to register, unless you go into thinking, "Oh look, this is funn."
3. Well yeah, I suppose it wasn't too bright thinking that the next six bullets would be any nore efficacious than the first six.
Actually, the scene is well edited. It's not obvious to the audience that the beast is within striking distance of the cop, so we don't see his actions as funny, and when the beast grabs and eats him, it's a bit of a shock. So in retrospect (or when seeing the film again) I guess you could say it's funny, because now we know the film is having the cop do something that will get him eaten.
Boy, are you right! Like a pistol would have stopped the Beast! That poor cop was lunch meat for our Beast friend but I wonder why he didn't gobble up that lady who screamed when she witnessed the whole thing??
shareI think it was a shock at the time. You didn't see things like that in the movies 50 years ago. The scream of the cop was blood curdling. The woman's follow up scream (which sounds a lot like Phyllis Kirk's scream from House of Wax) was also effective.
Harryhausen had done several dinosaur devouring man scenes in test and this one was the first to reach the screen. Pretty effective, even today.
"3. Thinking, even after six rounds did nothing to harm the dinosaur, that another six rounds might have better results."
We don't know, the first six rounds might have cause some damage. Enough that it got the Rhedosaurus' attention. I think the cop was thinking if he shot it some more he might be able to bring it down. I was a child when I first saw this movie on TV in early 60s. My father was watching it with me. He told me the beast ate the cop because the cop shot it. When the four policemen show up with shotguns my Dad said "they're just going to make it mad."
I think ecarle nailed it. That cop certainly had a stride and unflinching affect about him. Like he was thinking, "What's wrong with all these cowards, all you gotta do is zap this monster in the head with a few bullets. I'll finish this ugly off and be back at the station in time for shift change."
share1. Stopping to reload his gun.
2. Looking down to load his gun, with no real concern, as if a giant dinosaur wasn't five feet away from him.
3. Thinking, even after six rounds did nothing to harm the dinosaur, that another six rounds might have better results.
I hesitate to describe anyone's death - real or fictional - as "funny", but I agree that the guy deserved a Darwin Award for provoking a huge rampaging dinosaur with his puny revolver. There's a thin line between being brave and being gung ho, and that cop crossed it. At least the riot squad which showed up later had shotguns, plus strength in numbers (eight men firing 12-gauge slugs might not bring down a giant animal, but they'll definitely cause a lot more damage than a single guy with a .38).
If you look closely, I don't believe the policeman was actually reloading his gun. I think he was writing the Beast a ticket.
I can't remember ever laughing so hard at a post on an IMDB message board for a monster movie. Provided the guy who wrote this post hasn't passed on since 2006, he deserves to win at the Internet. share