More on Movie Night

I've talked about movie night in here for awhile now, and in two different contexts: a solo experience, initially an alternative to beer-drinking of a weekday evening; and a shared experience of a weekend evening, watching the show from the cozy confines of a couch barely big enough for one person let alone two.

The coziness is of course very much a part of movie night for both of us, but still the movie has to be right. We each have our tastes in films, which we've brought into alignment at least thusfar: she likes Vampire films and horror in general; I am amenable to these but am more of a dark comedy and/or drama kinda guy. And, being a guy(and a typical one in this sense)I also favor adventure movies. We watch all of the above fare in the course of movie night.

One of the things about converting movie night from a solo to a duo experience is that you want to share movies you've enjoyed by yourself. And one of the movies I shared on this past occasion was the old James Bond film From Russia with Love.

I like all the old Sean Connery Bond films, but this one is my favorite. I first saw it as a little kid, maybe 10 years old(1964)in the theater, and have loved it ever since. I know every bit of action, and every bit of dialogue, but still watch it over and over all the same.

One of my favorite scenes is where Bond and Tanya are aboard the ferry boat outside Istanbul, and he's recording information from her on a little reel-to-reel tape recorder about the Lector Decoding Machine:

BOND: How large is the machine?
TANYA: Like a typewriter. In a brown carrying case. Brown, like your eyes..
BOND(sternly): Keep it technical!

When viewing this film in the privacy of my movie room, I say this last line along with Sean Connery. It got a startled laugh from the person sharing the couch with me. I guess I've seen this movie so many times, it's turning into a Rocky Horror Picture Show kinda thing with audience participation on certain lines..

One other thing I was able to share with her is a detail from the scene where Kronsteen and Klebb are standing before Number One(whom you never really see, just hands petting that white cat)--these are probably my favorite scenes in the old Bond movies--getting their comeuppance for Bond getting away. Always the old switcheroo as far as who gets it- in this case a poison boot right in the shins. The henchman pivots from Klebb, Kronsteen gets kicked, goes down to his death. Kronsteen obviously makes some kind of face from the floor up at the SPECTRE henchman who's just kicked him, as you see him stifle a laugh. It's very quick, but it's there.

Movie night is one aspect of my life these days that makes it worthwhile.