MovieChat Forums > Guilty as Sin (1993) Discussion > What do you think of Don Johnson's sandw...

What do you think of Don Johnson's sandwich-making scene?

posted 19 years ago by J. Spurlin
19 replies | jump to latest

[Don Johnson] exudes self-confidence, but threaten him and he gets hysterically flustered; he has a scene here that casts him in such an unfavorable light that it must have taken him some determination to go through with it.

That's Roger Ebert talking about the sandwich-making scene in a fairly positive review.

In case you don't remember, it's the scene where Johnson makes a turkey sandwich with a long kitchen knife. As he uses it to spread the mayonnaise, he tells Rebecca De Mornay how his lady friend betrayed him, cuts himself and becomes hysterical, winding up waving the knife in De Mornay's face.

What do you think of this scene?

... Justin

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[–] Rika750 18 years ago

Well, first of all, I was wondering why would he use a long kitchen knife to spread the mayo on his sandwich which to me looked awkward, when he should have used a smaller knife. Also, I thought he absolutely lost it which was why he cut his thumb cutting the sandwich and waving that knife in Rebecca De Mornay's face. DJ went completely nuts in that scene.

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[–] J. Spurlin 16 years ago

Don't we all use long, sharp knives to spread mayo?

... Justin

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[–] BoSoxRule 16 years ago

I thought it was pretty laughable, as did Gene Siskel.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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[–] J. Spurlin 16 years ago

I'm glad Siskel thought so. I was surprised Roger Ebert praised it.

... Justin

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[–] BoSoxRule 16 years ago

Yeah, you can actually watch their review of it if you go to the Ebert & Roeper website. They show and discuss that particular scene.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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[–] J. Spurlin 16 years ago

I found it:

http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/index2.html ?sec=1&subsec=920

Siskel is right about the whole movie.

... Justin

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[–] BoSoxRule 16 years ago

So what compelled you to check this thread after 3 years?

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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[–] J. Spurlin 16 years ago

I have email notifications. Any time someone replies to one of my posts, I get an email. Otherwise, I'd never bother to post on these obscure boards. I had forgotten about this thread, for instance.

... Justin

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[–] WarpedRecord 16 years ago

Well, now this thread is almost 3 1/2 years old, and I'll add my two cents about that scene: Hold the mayo!

That scene could have been creepier, or it could have be subtler, but instead it was just very strange. I guess the point was to show us that Don Johnson's character was unhinged, but we already knew that.

I find Roger Ebert's defense of this film most puzzling. Gene Siskel was right: Don Johnson was too sweet to play the villain, and Rebecca De Mornay wasn't gritty enough to play the lawyer.

I didn't hate this film because it was reasonably well acted and had some decent dialogue. But the leads were miscast, and the "action" scenes, such as this one, fell flat.

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[–] J. Spurlin 16 years ago

Rare moments here and there are so good that one wishes the whole movie could have been like them.

If more scenes had been like the sandwich-making one, though, we could have had a good unintentional comedy.

... Justin

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[–] WarpedRecord 16 years ago

That's very true. Unfortunately, this was a B-movie with A-movie pretensions, so it didn't quite cut it in either category. It was hard to take seriously, but also hard to enjoy for the cheese factor.

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[–] Wakery 16 years ago

i found the sandwiched poorly made. tomatoes were cut too thick and way to much mayo. i would of folded the turkey and cheese slices as they where miles too big for the bread role and added some pepper!

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[–] jackson-219 15 years ago

I think the sandwich scene was ok before Don slammed his hands on the table and started overacting. The slamming of the hands was fine but the close up of Johnson almost crying was honestly laughtable. Johnson's best scene is the one where a woman tries to hit on him and he responds coldly by telling the bartender to put his drink on her. That was a good little small scene. Johnson can really play the smug arrogant a$$holes very well. It's when he starts overacting wildly is when Johnson always loses me. He did some overacting from time to time on Vice but overall not a bad actor just makes bad choices sometimes in his acting.

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[–] mecahill 14 years ago

Don Johnson was overacting big time in this. He's not a very good actor. However, even though this movie isn't really good, I DO enjoy it and I even bought it. It's engrossing and I think for a crime/courtroom/thriller flick, it's not bad. Actually, I still enjoyed Johnson's contrived performance because he was quite amusing. Johnson kept me entertained and I couldn't think of another actor at that time (1993), who would have played that totally obnoxious yet fascinating sociopath better. I thought he played the role to B-movie standards but I wouldn't change a thing about it.

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[–] lgforce 13 years ago

Indeed, the sandwich was poorly made.

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[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jlam888 13 years ago

Come on, scenes such as this one were common in the old movies now regarded as classics, slightly overacted nonetheless. Take for example Robert Walker's strangulation scene where he freaks out in Strangers on a train.(Note that veteran director Sidney Lumet directed Guilty As Sin) Has this movie been made in 1960 I am certain it would have been a classic by now. It is really underrated.

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[–] erikriveros 13 years ago

i think he used far too much mayo.

it is better to have a gun and not need it, than to need a gun and not have it

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[–] Stratego (29327) 2 years ago

I thought it was ridiculous. Johnson was just making crazy eyes and almost cried at one point. And that knife was way too big to make a sandwich.

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