Patterico's Pontifications

7/14/2009

Happy Bastille Day

Filed under: General — Jack Dunphy @ 4:54 pm



[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

In honor of the occasion, a great scene from a great movie.

37 Responses to “Happy Bastille Day”

  1. Jack – That was a great movie, but when did this site start honoring the French. Carla Bruni, maybe, but the French in general?

    daleyrocks (718861) — 7/14/2009 @ 5:02 pm

  2. It’s in honor of when the French had the stones to stand up to tyranny. Today, they’d probably sing along with the Nazis and then pick up their dinner and bar tab.

    Jack Dunphy (38fbdf) — 7/14/2009 @ 5:07 pm

  3. The food and wine is fantastic.

    Techie (482700) — 7/14/2009 @ 5:17 pm

  4. Bastille Day sounds vaguely French. I am against it, on basic principles. Who did they surrender to on this day in history? Cote d’azur?

    Jack – The French are too rude to buy drinks, pick up a tab, or shower 😉

    JD (8bf800) — 7/14/2009 @ 5:19 pm

  5. Gentlemen,
    I believe that y’all are giving the french short shrift. While their political beliefs and interactions with us here in America have left something to be desired from time to time, and their cultural affectations different, they did help us out during the American Revolution when we really needed it…

    Many of the wealthy French folks vacationing in America seem rude, that ‘s mostly true; but that’s often how rich folks traveling appear everywhere. And as one who has traveled extensively in western Europe I csn attest to the “90210” crowd of wealthy brats behaving boorishly when riding Daddy’s credit cards on their 20th century “grand journees”…

    The folks in large cities, like Paris, can come off as rude; but so can New Yorkers to other Americans!

    It’s been my experience that if you speak their language a bit, and spend more time in the countyside and smaller towns, that the French can be as accomodating as anyone…

    Of course, that doesn’t change the bathing, shaving, or surrender habits…

    But, you know, c’est la vie!

    Best Wishes

    Bob (99fc1b) — 7/14/2009 @ 5:37 pm

  6. VIVA LA CHEESE-EATING SURRENDER MONKEYS !!!

    JD (8bf800) — 7/14/2009 @ 5:38 pm

  7. Regarding some movie trivia, Claude Raines had been severely injured and almost completely blinded in one eye during a gas attack in WWI, when he was serving on the front lines for the London Scottish regiment. Paul Henreid had left Austria right ahead of the Nazis, and subsequently helped thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe with monetary aid and also finding work in Hollywood. Many of the other peripheral actors were also recent refugees from Europe – much of the movie’s true backstory is as compelling as the plotline.

    Dmac (e6d1c2) — 7/14/2009 @ 6:09 pm

  8. France is for girls.

    nk (47858f) — 7/14/2009 @ 6:13 pm

  9. Dmac, great trivia – makes me like the movie even more! My husband and I watched it last weekend for the umpteenth time and still found it just as enjoyable and compelling as ever.

    I love France and it’s people. They’re quite remarkable in that it takes some serious moxie to be so dismissively aloof 24/7, in spite of a collapsing economy, 9% unemployment rate, and those god-awful garbage workers’ strikes. 🙂

    Dana (57e332) — 7/14/2009 @ 6:17 pm

  10. France is for girls.

    LOL!

    Dana (57e332) — 7/14/2009 @ 6:18 pm

  11. Dana, what’s even more interesting is that the evil Major Strasser was played by one of the biggest stars in Germany during the Weimer Republic (other than Dietrich), and he barely escaped ahead of the Nazis as well. Heinreid was a friend from those days, and put him up at his home until he got settled – Heinreid also helped him get the part in the film.

    Who among the Hollywood elite would even do such a selfless act these days? Not too many, I would imagine.

    Dmac (e6d1c2) — 7/14/2009 @ 6:50 pm

  12. Well, at least since January 20th, their President seems better than our President! This may be the first time a Frenchman has been better than someone who spoke English since Henry Plantagenet cuckolded Louis VII. 🙂

    The English-speaking Dana (474dfc) — 7/14/2009 @ 6:53 pm

  13. Casablanca était un grand film, la seconde seulement à Smokey et le Bandit! Le plus grand problème pour la France est que c’est d’à côté en Allemagne.

    Dana parlant français (474dfc) — 7/14/2009 @ 6:58 pm

  14. Pristine French Infantry Rifle for Sale on EBay — twice dropped, never fired!

    HeavenSent (641cde) — 7/14/2009 @ 6:58 pm

  15. Sorry to hijack, but this is just a hilarious vid-teh One gets booed during the All Star Game in St. Louis!

    http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/07/obama-booed-in-st-louis.html

    Listen to the crowd when he runs out to the pitcher’s mound – priceless, and this in only 5 months on the job.

    Dmac (e6d1c2) — 7/14/2009 @ 6:59 pm

  16. Не позволяйте ему дурак Вы! Он использовал программу перевода.

    Дана, кто говорит на русском языке (474dfc) — 7/14/2009 @ 7:03 pm

  17. In light of Sarkozy banning the burqa, I have hope they can and will regain their dignity.

    Dana (57e332) — 7/14/2009 @ 7:07 pm

  18. Sad to see male throw a baseball like a Bruno from Austrian. Makes me ill.

    HeavenSent (641cde) — 7/14/2009 @ 7:07 pm

  19. You do have to question the sanity of any country whose favorite movie star is Jerry Lewis.

    daleyrocks (718861) — 7/14/2009 @ 7:20 pm

  20. And, Dmac, he threw out a sissy pitch! 🙂

    Дана говорит на русском языке (474dfc) — 7/14/2009 @ 7:25 pm

  21. Conrad Veigt, who played Major Strasser, was a Jew like nearly all the actors playing German villains during WWII. He dropped dead playing golf at Bel Air Country Club not long after the movie was made.

    Paul Henreid hated the movie and blamed it for damaging his career because the role he played was such a stiff. He had just made Now Voyager which was a bit hit and had made him a male star.

    The clip ended just before the most famous line in the movie: “I’m shocked, shocked to learn that gambling is going on here !” That’s his justification for closing Rick’s down.

    Mike K (2cf494) — 7/14/2009 @ 7:45 pm

  22. I can throw a baseball left handed better than President Obama — and to quote Inigo Montoya, “I am not left handed.”

    THe Dana who isn't a southpaw (474dfc) — 7/14/2009 @ 7:46 pm

  23. Teh One throws like a flaming poofter.

    To be fair, Dmac, he likely got booed because he wore a Sox jacket in Busch Stadium. He is a bit tone deaf.

    JD (355e34) — 7/14/2009 @ 8:01 pm

  24. Barcky is lucky that he was throwing to the best player in baseball, otherwise that “throw” would have bounced well short of home plate.

    JD (355e34) — 7/14/2009 @ 8:23 pm

  25. I’m a super-macho, male type of guy. That scene brings me to tears every time. My favorite scene of my favorite movie. Good stuff.

    I thought that Obama did OK on the pitch, and was happy to see him in a Sox jacket.

    carlitos (024936) — 7/14/2009 @ 8:27 pm

  26. I will always have soft spot in my heart for the French because of their help in the Revolution.

    Of, course, that help only happened because of their on-going wars with the British.

    Of the few French people I’ve known, they were selfish, arrogant, intelligent and very good friends.

    In my admittedly limited experience, the French don’t hate Americans, they simply hate the idea of Americans. Not because we are a loathsome people, but because we replaced them as the arbiters of culture. Ours is vulgar while their culture is nuanced.

    They may have a point. But I still like them in the same way I like my crazy uncle who hates that new rock ‘n’ roll music.

    Ag80 (a5a12b) — 7/14/2009 @ 8:28 pm

  27. It is hard to believe but is is true that the French government today is to the right of the USA government.

    Viva la hope and change.

    Alta Bob (ffeddb) — 7/14/2009 @ 9:15 pm

  28. The clip precedes the best line in the movie: “I’m shocked; there’s gambling going on here.”

    Alta Bob (ffeddb) — 7/14/2009 @ 9:16 pm

  29. Yeah, I tear up at that scene as well, I’m a sentimentalist that way. I guess that’s why I so cheered on the Iranian protesters, despite some of the company they might be allied with.

    narciso (4e0dda) — 7/14/2009 @ 9:18 pm

  30. From Wikapedia:

    Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
    Captain Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
    [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
    Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
    Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.
    [aloud]
    Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!

    Alta Bob (ffeddb) — 7/14/2009 @ 9:20 pm

  31. I don’t see where we have much to complain about France given our Ear Leader’s support of every fascist tyranny, or would-be tyranny, in the world right now. Our government is an embarrassment. I wish I was confident that our leftist indoctrinated population was wise enough to see the folly.

    Mike K (2cf494) — 7/14/2009 @ 9:23 pm

  32. Mike K – Folly? To them, it is a feature, not a bug.

    JD (4ca6eb) — 7/14/2009 @ 9:24 pm

  33. Re: carlitos and narciso – that scene’s always caused me to get a little misty, too, especially the close-up shot when pretty Yvonne comes to her senses.

    Dagwood (3b3ce5) — 7/14/2009 @ 9:30 pm

  34. We’re living at one of those unusual moments in world history — at least over the past several decades — when the leader of the United States is actually more leftwing and clueless (and amoral) than the president of France. If current political trends continue, we’ll end up as full of the socialist anomie or lethargy as France has been suffering from for quite awhile now—a condition its president is trying to combat, but like an ant attempting to roll a boulder up a hill.

    Mark (411533) — 7/14/2009 @ 9:44 pm

  35. Ah, how can you not love Inspector Renault – “I am shocked, Shocked!, to find gambling going on here!” Better naked cynicism than BS faux moralizing.

    P.S. Honduras did not have a coup.

    Californio (f32f25) — 7/15/2009 @ 1:11 am

  36. To be fair, Dmac, he likely got booed because he wore a Sox jacket in Busch Stadium.

    Good point – I missed that obvious clue. Still funny to watch, though – and man, what a big girl that throw was – pathetic.

    Dmac (e6d1c2) — 7/15/2009 @ 7:25 am

  37. It was idiotic that he wound up — and then “pitched” worse* than a girl so that Pujols had to dive for it. There’s of video of Bush 43 who just threw, no fancy leg-work, like a fielder, and put it right into the glove.

    *We have a very good Little League here and all the girls know how to throw and catch just fine.

    nk (5b6872) — 7/15/2009 @ 7:38 am


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