MovieChat Forums > Last Action Hero (1993) Discussion > What young kid at his age would watch Am...

What young kid at his age would watch Amadeus???

posted 10 years ago by Roadwarrior85846
49 replies | jump to latest

The scene that always bugged me was when Danny knows that Practice shouldn't be trusted because, "He killed Mozart," and explains to Slater that the actor was from Amadeus and the film won 8 Oscars.

Why would a kid at his age even watch Amadeus?!?! We're talking about the same kid that watched Hamlet and day-dreamed that Schwarzenegger was in it. Do you really think he would sit through Amadeus in a serious manner?!?!?

I shouldn't judge Amadeus. I never saw the movie and probably never will. it's got a score of 8.4 on IMDB so it's a no-brainer it deserves 8 Oscars. But when I was a kid, the movies I concentrated more on were Disney cartoons, action movies, and Sci-Fi and could care less how many awards they won. Amadeus does not land in any of those categories.

"Hail to the King, Baby!"

[–] virgiltx 10 years ago

True that, and he would have been too young when Amadeus (1984) was released, and even the next spring when F. Murray Abraham won an Oscar for it.

The only possible justification for Danny's knowing about the Salieri character derives from the scene where his mother's radio is tuned to a classical music station. She would have had the interest to watch, even own the Amadeus VHS. Then, when she watched it, she tried to educate or interest Danny in it.

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The story is king.

[–] Roadwarrior85846 10 years ago

That might be the only possibility.

Hail to the King, Baby!

[–] virgiltx 10 years ago

It is interesting that they included the Mozart music appreciation scene. Was it just a tie-in to the several references to Mozart earlier, or were they clever enough to cover the Amadeus connection with a vague justification for Danny's awareness?

____________________
The story is king.

[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 10 years ago

That isn't the case since the robber that comes into the apartment says he has no VCR and a crappy TV that will only get him $20. So yeah.

"You want me to roll 6,000 of these!? What? Should I quit my job!?"George Costanza, Seinfeld

[–] virgiltx 10 years ago

Amadeus might have been broadcast on TV.

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The story is king.

[–] Jenocalypse 10 years ago

Danny watches movies in Nick's movie theater and is clearly obsessive about film. Doesn't that answer the question, or are we assuming for some reason that Nick only lets him watch Jack Slater movies?

[–] virgiltx 10 years ago

You must consider the time frames. How old was Danny when Amadeus (1984) would have been playing in the theaters?

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The story is king.[royal]

[–] Jenocalypse 10 years ago

If Nick still has the film reels for Amadeus (1984), it doesn't matter how old Danny is.

[–] virgiltx 10 years ago

Film prints don't usually come to rest at theaters, although it's possible. I think it's more unlikely it's been on TV.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s28oldprints.html
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The story is king.[royal]

[–] Lootrock 10 years ago

I saw Amadeus when I was very very young and loved it so there's that answer. Also, they had the damned Seventh Seal playing which is from like 1957 so I presume there are always viewings to see older movies. I agree with the assumption that Daniel just loves movies. I think it is far more plausible for him to have seen Amadeus versus the Seventh Seal(which he exhibited knowledge of). I just watched the Seventh Seal for the first time last month and I can tell you that if Danny wasn't a cinephile or the most precocious kid on the planet earth then he would never have seen that movie.

[–] magolding 9 years ago

I might not have been a typical kid, but I can remember reading books that were aimed at very different age groups at about the same time. For example, I remember the summer vacation when I was twelve when I read The Wonderful Wizard of OZ and a book of American short stories which included "The great Stone Face" and "Murders in the Rue Morge".

I remember being given Bent's Fort by David Sievert Lavender and The Emerald City of OZ as presents - and reading them both - when I was about the same age.

So I guess that a kid might have a favorite type of movie but watch a lot of movies of many different types anyway.

[–] Vashramana 9 years ago

He was a movie buff. He didn't even need to see the movie to be aware that F. Murray Abraham was in it and that it was critically acclaimed.

[–] MaximRecoil (4059) 7 years ago

That isn't the case since the robber that comes into the apartment says he has no VCR and a crappy TV that will only get him $20. So yeah.

That doesn't mean they never had a VCR. His mother was recently widowed, and may have sold some stuff to help make ends meet. Also, VCRs were available to rent from the same places that rented out movies on video tape. In my area, they cost $5 to rent for a day, and movies were $2 each. $10 could get you a VCR, 2 movies, and a soda or bag of chips.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] smoko 8 years ago

@virgiltx ...he would have been too young when Amadeus (1984) was released...
Who says that Danny watched Amadeus when it was released? He could've watched it a few months ago when it was on TV or whatever.

[–] virgiltx 8 years ago

That's what I've said in the past, it might have been on TV, as above from one year ago.:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107362/board/nest/234508504?d=234817294#234817294

____________________
The story is king.

[–] stevgriffin 9 years ago

One thing to consider is that Danny saw it in school. His teacher was showing him Shakespeare, where he was passionately imaginative about it.

Granted that was more than likely an English class, but it's a fairly safe assumption that he saw Amadeus in one of his classes.

[–] Lootrock 9 years ago

I know I just mentioned it, but do you guys know what the Seventh Seal is? First off, this is an Ingmar Bergmann film, in Swedish, came out in 1957, about a knight and his squire who comes back from the Crusades to Sweden during the time the bubonic plague was killing everyone off. The knight plays a game of chess with Death. This movie is a very existential film that even some adults can't grasp so given the fact that this kid knew this movie, it would make having seen Amadeus like seeing Shrek.

[–] KingCobra686 8 years ago

Danny never gave indication that he had seen The Seventh Seal, as far as I can recall. The ticket brought him out of the movie, he wandered around for a bit, and then he ran into Danny. He recognized him as death, but so did I the first time that I saw Last Action Hero, and that was way before I ever saw Seventh Seal.

[–] Sif_Niflheim 9 years ago

Granted that was more than likely an English class, but it's a fairly safe assumption that he saw Amadeus in one of his classes.

I agree with this since his teacher was having the class watch that Laurence Olivier film.

He looks really really fierce though, like a proper don't give a frakk elf

[–] smoko 8 years ago

@Sif_Niflheim Fun fact: his teacher was played by Joan Plowright, Laurence Olivier's wife.

[–] lisardo79 9 years ago

It's not that crazy. I watched it as a kid too and enjoyed it. I think it was on tv or something.

[–] patrik_ch7 9 years ago

There's a theatre that I go to and every sunday they show a vintage classic. It's not unheard of for a theatre to screen old movies..

My eyes have seen the glory..

[–] themill 9 years ago

I saw it in school when I was eight or nine & loved it.

[–] brifitz1980 9 years ago

The original line was something about practice having caused problems for Bruce Willis and Bill Murry. The role was originally intended for William Atherton and that would have been references to McTiernan's own "Die Hard" and "Ghostbusters" respectively. Those probably would have made more sense for Danny to know.

When F. Murry Abraham was cast they changed it to a joke about some famous role of his.

[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 8 years ago

The original line was something about practice having caused problems for Bruce Willis and Bill Murray. The role was originally intended for William Atherton and that would have been references to McTiernan's own "Die Hard" and "Ghostbusters" respectively. Those probably would have made more sense for Danny to know.

That doesn't sound as good! LOL!
Jack: Danny told me not to trust you! He said you caused problems for Bill Murray and Bruce Willis!
Practice: Who?
Jack: Bill Murray and Bruce Willis.
Practice: I've caused problems for a lot of people! I can't remember half of them!

Green Goblin is great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L4ZuaVvaw

[–] me-1523 8 years ago

His mom made him watch it. She being a big fan of Mozart (she plays it during breakfast and she introduced it to Jack for the first time).

[–] KingCobra686 8 years ago

Amadeus wasnt a Jack Slater kind of movie, but I think Danny could have handled watching it without much difficulty.

We know that Danny is really into movies. He skips school regularly to hang out at a movie theater. We only see him watching cartoons and generic action movies and zoning out during a more serious movie, but we can't rule out that he is only interested in those genres. It seems feasible to me that even if he didn't watch Amadeus, he might have followed the Oscars and specific actors easily enough to know that information.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (49761343) 8 years ago

This joke is one of the best examples of how inept the comedy in Last Action Hero was. Of course a kid Danny's age wouldn't have seen Amadeus. Not only was it an artsy-fartsy Oscar bait period picture catering to adults, kids at the time were into stuff like ET, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, The Goonies and The Lost Boys. They wouldn't have wanted seen that movie even if someone had paid them.

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Emojis=💩 Emoticons=

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

First, Amadeus is like, what?, two days long? How many English classes would it take to screen the whole thing? Not a realistic option, not that reality was ever of much concern on the IMDb boards.

Second, my then-girlfriend made me watch this turd with her, whereas I wanted to see The Terminator. I want that day of my life back. The Terminator has passed the test of time. Whatever happen to Tom Hulce? Freaking Slamdance?!

LAH is enjoyable as camp, and 'way better than Amadeus. Put Arnold and Charles Dance in the same movie, it's going to be at least as good as a rare prime sirloin cheeseburger with bacon.