Brianland

One Scene After Another

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“To make a film is easy.  To make a good film is war.  To make a great film is a miracle.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . Alejandro Iñárritu

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0:20 – Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) walking along overpass scouting the:

0:52 – “Otay Mesa Immigration Detention Center” (title card)
great piano —> orchestral score (by Jonny Greenwood) 

1:10 – “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) comes running up to join the group pulling a wagon of explosives

1:27 – “U.S. – Mexico Border” (title card) – French 75 seen gathered around two cars

1:39 – French 75 meeting, with Larado (Wood Harris), Deandra (Regina Hall), Junglepussy (Shayna McHayle, aka in her music career as Junglepussy, or JP for short), and Howard Sommerville (Paul Grimstad) gathered around

2:10 – Perfidia talks to Ghetto Pat – “I want you to create a show, Pat.  This is the announcement of the mutherfuckin’ revolution.  Make it good.  Make it bright.  Impress me.”

2:48 – Mae West (Alana Haim) gives Pat a walkie-talkie

2:55 – nighttime – Pat scrambling thru weeds at border wall – French 75, including Talleyrand (Dijon Duenas), sneaking across field
Talleyrand was the name of a French Revolution-era diplomat 

3:15 – revolutionaries sneak up on guard outside gate, subdue him

3:40 – they enter the detention center tent building

3:49 – semi trailer is backed up to fill with freed immigrants

3:55 – Talleyrand closeup as the armed revolutionaries wake up the sleeping soldiers

3:58 – Pat planting explosive in ground

4:26 – Perfidia enters Captain Steven J. Lockjaw’s room (Sean Penn) where he’s sleeping in a chair – she puts on his hat  🙂
16 years later in movie, Lockjaw has become a Colonel

4:34 – Perfidia wakes up Lockjaw – has gun on him

5:48 – Perfidia says to Lockjaw: “Since we playin’ – get it up.”

6:00 – immigrants start loading into the semi-trailer

7:08 – Pat is told “Snap, Crackle, Pop, baby” to set off explosives

7:15 – shot of Pat running next to fence in hoodie with fireworks-like explosions over his head that’s used in the trailers and such

7:22 – Perfidia walks Lockjaw to lockup area

7:38 – Lockjaw & Perfidia on either side of chainlink fence. Lockjaw: “I’ll be seeing you very soon.”
Perfidia: “Not if I see you first, fuckface.”

8:17 – Perfidia & Pat get in back of station wagon

8:25 – Pat & Perfidia on back seat, ecstatic over mission’s success

8:35 – Perfidia & Pat start sensuously kissing

9:00 – in their house – Pat showing Perfidia how to wire an explosive and make a safe shunt 

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10:00 – Perfidia sits on Pat’s lap and starts seducing him

10:14 – Perfidia on payphone calling in bomb warning to a Senator’s office over an abortion ban

10:30 – bomb blows up inside Senator’s re-election campaign office 

10:35 – Perfidia running fast – training for the revolution 

10:40 – Perfidia on payphone again – “Revolutionary violence is the only way.  . . .  Don’t even try bother looking for the French 75 – we’ll find you.”

10:50 – bomb blows up in bank building

10:53 – Bob & Perfidia moving wheelbarrow of explosives to power tower 

11:16 – Perfidia: “Babe, let’s fuck when the bomb goes off.”

11:35 – big bomb goes off at power tower and lights go out in the city

11:40 – Perfidia in tight clothes leading some operation with guns – Lockjaw watching her with binoculars

12:15 – Pat (Leo) grabs her ass – throws off Lockjaw
great piano–percussion score kicks in

12:26 – Mae West (Alana Haim) kisses boyfriend in car – signaling start of new bomb-planting operation in some government building

12:50 — film title card finally appears – “ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER”

13:02–13:20 – Pat voiceover of titular line: “From here on in, it’s one battle after another.”
which is taken from a Weather Underground manual

13:47 – Perfidia & Mae West planting bombs in ceiling vents in women’s bathrooms

14:10 – Lockjaw catches Perfidia in bathroom stall – tells her – “If you want to keep doing what you’re doing you’ll meet me at the Primrose Path at 23:00.”
‘primrose path’ was coined by Shakespeare in Hamlet and has come to mean “the pursuit of pleasure, especially when it is seen to bring disastrous consequences” 

15:31-16:35 – Perfidia & Lockjaw in motel room – perfect (and funny) Soldier Boy needle drop

16:36 – pregnant Perfidia shooting machine gun in field
“Bitch, I felt like Tony Montana!” (Al Pacino’s character in Scarface)
Pat and Talleyrand sitting next to each other 

16:55 – nighttime bonfire scene with Perfidia & Junglepussy – “This pussy is for war.  The guns is the fuckin’ fun.”

17:35 – Pat to Deandra: “It’s like she doesn’t even realize she’s pregnant.”

17:55 – Pat with Perfidia’s mother at the dining room table:
“You are so unsuitable for my daughter.  My child comes from a whole line of revolutionaries, and you look so lost.  She’s a runner and you’re a stump.”

18:30 – 3-shot of Perfidia, Pat & baby in bed

18:40 – Perfidia complaining about not being loved by Pat – postpartum depression
“Am I weird being jealous of my baby?”  “My nipples hurt.”

19:30 – Perfidia leaving Pat & baby
“I put myself first and I reject your lack of originality.”
“I’m not your udder buddy.”
Pat: “Do the revolution baby.”

21:00 – Perfidia walks out the door.

CHAPTER TWO – on Blu-ray

21:00 – Lockjaw & Pat meeting in grocery store.  Tense and spooky.
The only scene Leo & Sean share together.
“You like Black girls?  I love them.  I LOVE ’em!”

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21:50 – bank robbery – Junglepussy – ” This is what Black power looks like.“

22:40 – Perfidia fires shot – challenges security guard on the floor

22:55 – Perfidia reluctantly shoots guard on the floor when he keeps moving towards her then reaches for his gun

23:00 – chase begins – running from bank then jumping into van & car

      —> first wild car chase

24:15 – shocking POV crash into back of parked car 

24:20 – Perfidia, Junglepussy & company run on foot – helicopter shot of Perfidia running on street into parking garage

25:00 – Perfidia arrested on the ground

25:07 – Perfidia paraded thru police headquarters in wheelchair – gives the finger to those watching

25:20 – Perfidia in hospital bed with Lockjaw at her bedside
Lockjaw: “It’s too bad you don’t know anybody with sway.”

26:30 – Lockjaw: “I can give you the embrace of the federal government – but you’ve got to tell me where they are and name names.”

26:45 – Pat at his & Perfidia’s house – Deandra frantically packing up for Pat & baby to go on the run

26:50 – Sommerville gives Pat scanners (he calls them) – “This is a trust device” – we hear the signaling tune for the first time

27:22 – Sommerville – “Get analog phones – they don’t scan those frequencies anymore.”

27:50 – Sommerville – “You are Bob & Willa Ferguson.”

28:20 – beautiful score as Pat begins his escape journey

28:40 – Pat (Bob) gets in car with Deandra’s help

29:15 – Danvers & Perfidia in car driving to new safe house – “No more contact ever with Josie & the Pussycats.”

29:27 – first shot of Perfidia in her new suburban house.  “Welcome to mainstream America.”
beautiful piano score 

29:50 – Mae West in grocery store wearing black wig – sunglasses ICE type guy comes in – she rushes out the back – gets shot point-blank in the head (wig flies off)

30:15 – guy running down stairs – gets shot in the back

30:25 – Junglepussy arrested in parking garage

30:33 – Talleyrand watching shooting then running away down street

30:55 – Lockjaw receives the Bedford Forrest award – named for the first Grand Wizard of the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan

31:25 – Lockjaw arrives at Perfidia’s safe-house bringing flowers – no answer – breaks down door
finds note: “This Pussy Don’t Pop For You.” – a line PTA got from rapper Junglepussy

32:29 – Perfidia – goes in used clothing store – crosses border on foot into Mexico – great cinematic storytelling without a word spoken

33:15 – Pat/Bob driving in car at night with his baby girl in a bassinet beside him teething on the scanning device
Symphonic score climaxes

 

33:25 – opening prologue / act 1 ends

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33:25 – Willa Ferguson (Chase Infiniti) first seen in closeup in karate robe
Perfidia voiceover: “16 years later, the world had changed very little.”
Steely Dan’s Dirty Work needle drop
Willa doing karate moves

 

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33:50 – Sensei Sergio (Benicio del Toro) first seen – “You’re not breathing.”

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more Willa doing karate – actress Chase trained for months for these few brief scenes

34:25 — Bob in car getting high

35:10–37:15 – classroom scene – Bob & teacher – Leo improvised the lines about Teddy Roosevelt & Ben Franklin – riffing on posters the prop department had hung the room
the teacher is played by a theater actor (Tisha Sloan) – in her first film
the teacher praises Willa – Bob gets choked up

37:15 – immigrant detention encampment walk-thru

37:33 – Lockjaw given news of Christmas Adventurers Club meeting time

38:08 – Lockjaw’s car arrives at hotel’s underground parking – walk thru hotel
What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve instrumental / strings song
hilarious Lockjaw combing hair in elevator

CHAPTER THREE

39:00 –> 44:00 – Christmas Adventurers Club hotel room interview
Virgil Throckmorton (Tony Goldwyn is FANTASTIC!)

Sandy Irvine (Jim Downey – great unexpected casting!  SNL’s longest-serving writer – 30 years!)

discussion of “racial purification”

42:55 – Lockjaw agrees to submitting to “a double-Yankee white inquisitions completum” to see if he qualifies for membership

44:00 – meeting ends 

dramatic piano score —> symphonic crescendo

44:45 – Sommerville seen in restaurant – then being followed on bus, in immigrant center passing out cards – all while we hear him doing a voiceover of his shortwave radio broadcast 

45:43 – bag over head by Avanti as Sommerville is broadcasting from shortwave radio
(‘avanti’ means ‘forward’ or ‘ahead’ in Italian)

46:30 – 2 young boys at radio – “Billy Goat is in the wind.  Implement plan Snap Crackle Pop.”

47:20 – Danvers (James Raterman) interrogates Sommerville
At first defiant, when Danvers mentions going after Sommerville’s sister, he (off camera) flips and gives up Bob & Willa’s names and location.

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48:45 – Danvers delivers to Lockjaw Bob & Willa’s new names & location (Baktan Cross – a fictionally named town in Northern California)
Lockjaw:  “Make me a reason to deploy in that town – drugs and tacos.  [code for illegal Mexican immigrants]   And get all the intel on the gathering spots – the hotspots for teenyboppers.”

49:14 – Bob & Willa – first cabin scene – starts with Willa in back yard.
This is a real cabin/house they found in the redwoods after an extensive search.  Most of the houses up there were fixed up and heavily landscaped.  This was still thick with trees and decidedly not upscale – as befitting an ex-revolutionary in hiding.
beautiful score – acoustic guitar

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49:45 – Lockjaw instructing staff about assault on Baktan Cross.
A.O. means Area of Operations.
“We bag and tag the male.  We apprehend the female.”
grabs DNA kit
helicopters over forest

51:02 – army planning meeting — “Special Agent Toejam” 🙂  – plan to hit Chicken Lickin’

51:48 – Bob & Willa – Bob hungover at kitchen table  – Willa challenged Bob

53:55 – Bluto, Bobo & friends arrive in driveway – as The Big Picture duo (Sean Fennessey & Amanda Dobbins) say – this is when the movie really kicks off – “The best acting I ever saw” (line from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

55:07 – Bob & Bluto scene on doorstep 

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56:08 – Willa & friends drive off in car – going to the high school dance together – “Your dad’s agro, bro.” 🙂

56: 20 – Willa & friends on bleachers at dance – Sheck Wes’s Mo Bamba playing

CHAPTER FOUR

* 56:35 – classic bathroom scene – Willa’s tracking device goes off – enter Deandra – fantastic mirror 2-shot of their first meeting – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised lyric code exchange

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PTA said in an interview when they shot this scene early on he realized he was gonna have NO problem with  young Chase Infiniti carrying the load.  The way she nailed this scene convinced him he could go anywhere with the character.

58:40 – Willa & Deandra run from gym and jump in van

58:45 – army comes into gym during dance, have the lights turned on and music stopped

59:05 – Bob in cabin getting high watching The Battle of Algers – reciting the movie’s dialog

59:33 – phone rings with news of raid –”We have trouble ahead and the road isn’t clear.”
Funny Bob stoner scene 🙂
“The rendezvous points are the same as they’ve ever been.” 

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1:02:27 – cabin door blown open – troops arrive to an empty cabin

1:03:25 – Lockjaw takes photo of young Willa (his daughter) from bulletin board 

1:03:40 – soldiers discover tunnel  

1:03:50 – the tapestry on the ceiling looking up from the tunnel was found in a thrift shop in the Eureka area, as were most of the furnishings in their cabin house.  They wanted to get authentic stuff that was of the area.

1:04:05  – Lockjaw: “What do you think?”
Soldier: “He’s a bomber.”
Lockjaw: “Gas.” – then throws gas canister into tunnel and covers the top

1:04:23 – Bob crawling thru tunnel escaping the gas – climbs out in redwood tree stump

great grand piano & percussion score kicks in as the movie kicks into high gear

1:05:15 – soldier finds Willa’s (April 2024) karate calendar on wall filled with scheduled classes and Sergio St. Carlos’ address

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1:05:46 – Bob arrives at grocery store – goes in bathroom – washes gas smoke out of eyes – tries to plug in phone 

* 1:06:35 – Bob on payphone to rebellion hotline – classic scene – he doesn’t remember the password

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CHAPTER FIVE

1:08:15 – army raids into Chicken Lickin’ and gas station – Bob running along overhead roadway

1:08:45 — Sergio in his dojo – amazing production design (set) – Bob arrives at door – tells Sergio about army coming after him.
Sergio: “That’s heavy metal, bro.” 🙂
Sergio: “Bob, cool out.  Ocean waves.  Ocean waves.” 🙂

1:11:00 – Sergio & Bob in car driving to Sergio’s home
Sergio: “We got a little Latino Harriet Tubman situation going on at my place, all legit, from the heart, no cash.”
Bob tells Sergio his French 75 history.
Sergio: “You’re a bad hombre, Bob.”

* 1:11:42 – Danvers (Raterman) high school interrogation of students – incredible editing!
“cinematic storytelling!” — the buzz phrase for this whole movie
beautiful driving piano score

1:12:50 – army arrives at Sergio’s dojo door – calls in for his home address

1:13:05 – Bob & Sergio in car – talking about the tracking device – Bob finds out Willa has a phone.
These two are a Newman & Redford-level duo!

1:13:50 – Deandra & Willa in car in dark – “Are you scared?  Well, you should be.  Did your dad ever mention Steve Lockjaw?” – GREAT piano/drum score!

1:14:20 – Lockjaw arrives at protest in the streets

1:14:50 – Lockjaw:  “Let’s fight fire with fire.”
Soldier:  “Send in Eddie van Halen” – undercover agent throws Molotov cocktail towards officers.

CHAPTER SIX

1:15:43 – skateboarders at car – BeeGee (Gilberto Martinez – local guy casting found) – talks to Sergio
“It’s fuckin’ World War Three out there!”

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1:16:08 – Sergio & Bob arrive at Sergio’s store / home
The woman store owner & kid are the real staff at a real store in El Paso which is largely unchanged for the movie.
Sergio: “We got 20 minutes to get everybody to the church.”

1:16:42 – funny moment where Sergio yells at the kid to get off his phone and Bob thinks he’s yelling at him.  🙂
Beautiful beat-perfect piano score kicks in.

1:16:55 – store owner woman & Sergio start to evacuate immigrants they’re hiding.

1:17:45 – Bob & Sergio arrive at Sergio’s 2nd floor apt.
Sergio: “Bob, we’re back on defense.”

This entire set was built on location above the store in a couple of days (!) when PTA took Benicio’s advice to change this entire section of the script — the only set built for the movie!  Everything else is real location shooting.

1:18:00 — Sergio introduces Bob to the multiple families living in his apt.
Looney Tunes’ Foghorn Leghorn cartoon playing on the TV.  🙂

The writing and Leo’s performance in this whole upcoming sequence is one of the highlights of a movie full of them!

1:18:35 – Bob plugs in phone next to the couch.
The classic tiger painting above it was found in a thrift shop in El Paso where all this was shot.  In pre-production, when PTA was talking to Benicio about his character, rather than explain it in words, he simply sent him a picture of a tiger in a kimono.   🙂 

1:18:45 – funny – Bob knocking down curtain rod – not in the script, it just happened during a take, and PTA put it in the movie.
Great continuing dramatic driving piano score

1:19:17 – Bob reconnects on phone with French 75 headquarters.
Helpline guy on phone being a jerk – hilarious conversation! – “Noise triggers.” – shot live with both actors on the phone.

1:19:56 – Sergio gets gun from under bed – note how this isn’t simple like it would be in a movie but rather like we’ve all experienced – when something stashed away is just a little too far to reach.  Think about all the shots & set-ups that all had to be done to add this funny detail of the object being slightly out of reach. 

1:20:10 – Bob confesses to abusing his brain with drugs & alcohol & how he can’t remember anything.  Hilarious conflict conversation over the phone.  🙂

1:21:10 – Bob: “I wanna know one thing – what’s your name?”
“My name is Comrade Josh.”
“Comrade Josh?  Well, get a better name Comrade Josh, because that’s a fucking ridiculous name for a revolutionary.”  🙂

1:21:45 – the beers Sergio brings in were just in the fridge on the set, and this was completely improvised by Benicio.

1:21:55 – Bob:  “I’m calling in a Greyhawk Ten.”
“Please hold.”  🙂

1:22:45 – Bob – “Life, man.  . . .  LIFE!”  🙂   CLASSIC cinema moment!
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1:23:08 – tunnel trap door opened to evacuate immigrants.

1:23:21 – Gil Scott-Heron’s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised playing as the on-hold music on the phone while Bob’s waiting – cool little PTA detail! 

1:23:37 – army bangs on locked-up store door.
The store kid who wouldn’t get off his phone earlier is still on his phone and not watching the door.  🙂
Soldier at door – “I’ve got a squirter internal to the target building – follow-on for Sergio St. Carlos.  I need to go kinetic.’

* 1:23:58 — Tally (Talleyrand) on phone – (Dijon Duenas, known simply as Dijon – R&B singer-songwriter – who we met in the prologue as part of the detention center raid, and then was seen escaping running down a street)

One of my favorite sequences in the movie.  I replay it over & over when watching at home because of Tally/Dijon’s calm Zen-like coolness — and the conversation like two real old friends would talk.  Brilliantly written and performed – including how calm Tally is contrasted to Bob (Leo’s) frantic freaking out – both in closeup.  Spectacular acting on both ends of the phone.
I love that Tally calls him ‘Pat’ – cool smart detail, as that’s the name Tally would remember him by.
Tally:  “What’s my favorite kind of pussy?”
Bob:  “Mexican hairless.” . . . the one answer Bob knows!  😀
Tally: “You muthrfucker!  This is a god-damn war hero!” . . . “The rendezvous is Sisters of the Brave Beaver.” . . . “Tell him how to get there.  Apologize.  Mean it.”
(funny fact — young Chase Infiniti had never heard the colloquialism ‘beaver’ before – and asked PTA why the place was called that.)  😀

fyi  – all the phone conversations in the movie are shot with both actors on set on the phone talking to each other.  You can see the red power light on on the old phone Bob is using – because he’s really talking to the other actors over the phone.
Oh, and there’s no ADR/looping on PTA films.  Everything you hear is recorded live on set or location.

1:25:09 – gate ripped off storefront – soldiers enter building – great piano score

1:25:16 – immigrants seen evacuating under Sergio’s supervision

1:25:30 – soldiers go up stairs guns drawn

1:25:40 – Bob & Josh wrapping up on the phone – we find out the answer to the password question “What time is it?”  — Time doesn’t exist yet it controls us anyway.  

1:26:05 – Sergio: “Time to go, Bob.  Look out the window.”

1:26:30 – Sergio calls over BeeGee the skateboarder to take Bob to safety.

1:26:45 – Sergio send-off moment outside apartment door:
“Courage, Bob.”

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1:27:00 – funny moment used in trailers – Bob’s “Viva la revolution!” fist pump, and Sergio disappearing into trap-door tunnel with the Wes Anderson homage of rug rolling over trap door.

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1:27:23 – Bob climbs ladder out of Sergio’s house to roof – the only way to escape with soldiers coming in below.

1:27:30–1:28:05 – Danvers interrogates Willa’s friends in high school
again — fantastic editing — cinematic storytelling 

1:28:00 – all Willa’s friends protect her and are put in handcuffs . . . then finally Bobo, the lipstick guy (maybe scared what would happen to him in custody), gives up her phone number – “It’s under Hello Kitty.”

1:28:05 — Deandra & Willa in van – Willa’s cell phone vibrates.
Deandra – “I asked you if you had a phone.  You looked me in my face … and you lied.  I’m here to save your fuckin’ life, do you understand?” and she throws the phone out the van window.

CHAPTER SEVEN

1:29:05 – beautiful cinematic foot escape across rooftops – with driving rhythmic piano score

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1:29:50 – Bob falls off roof through tree – then promptly gets tasered and collapses

1:30:20 – Sergio gets call that Bob fell off roof & got arrested

1:31:00 – Willa arrives at the Sisters of the Brave Beaver compound rendezvous point – beautiful Spanish guitar score accenting the Spanish mission.  

* 1:31:56 – amazing Willa & Sister Rochelle (April Grace) 2-shot closeup
Sister Rochelle: “The daughter of a rat is a baby rat.”

1:33:02 – Willa shown to her spartan room – “And don’t ask for the fuckin wifi cuz we ain’t got none.  Make yourself at home, Goldilocks.”  (there were other scenes with this cantankerous ‘sister’ but were cut)

1:33:27 – Deandra to Sister Rochelle – “She thinks her mom was a hero & I didn’t have the guts to tell her the truth.”

* 1:34:12–1:35:55 – Ella Fitzgerald’s Hark The Herald Angels Sing – a masterpiece of choral music!
Tim, the soon-to-be-hired assassin, arrives at the Christmas Adventurers’ house driving a blue Shelby GT – (the house was Ronald Reagan’s Mansion when he was Governor of California!)
Alice who greets him at the door is played by Patricia Ridgely Storm, Robert Ridgely’s widow, in her only film appearance ever – then she died of cancer in Dec 2025 shortly after the film was released.  PTA had known the Ridgelys since he was a kid because they were friends of his father’s.  Paul gave Robert a great role in Boogie Nights shortly before he passed, then gave his widow this nice payday and cinematic send-off.

1:35:34 – Tim walking thru curved underground tunnel – such an interesting/cool choice by the director to have this long walk-up scene all set to Ella’s music.

1:36:00 – the pattern of the secret knock on door is Jingle Bells  🙂 

* 1:36:10–1:41:44 – Christmas Adventurers underground meeting
Jim Downey’s character does the introductions

1:36:25 – “Virgil’s down from Cleansing & Distortion.”  🙂

1:36:31 – “And of course you know Roy More — Fifth Fleet Field General from the Southwest.”  [played by 81-yr-old Kevin Tighe in a wheelchair, his first screen appearance in nearly 20 years.  Like every role in the movie, perfect casting, but also gracious, thoughtful & kind.  This woulda been a nice payday for a long out-of-work actor, and residuals for as long as he lives.]  

They tell him about Lockjaw’s mixed-race child, and instruct him to go and “make it clean” re: Lockjaw and Willa.

I know this is a room full of white supremacists — but I love how comically this scene is written & played! 

1:41:44 – meeting ends

1:41:46 – Willa machine gun shooting – echoing her mother’s scene early in movie

1:42:03 – Willa training – punching & kicking gym weight bag

1:42:10 – Willa asks Deandra about her mother – “Was she a rat?”
Deandra: (pause) “Yeah, she was.”
Willa: “My dad told me she was a hero.”

1:42:30 – Bob banging head in back of police car.  Gives his name as Batman, then Peter Parker, then Jim Parker.

1:43:10 – Bob asleep on jail floor – kicked awake

These two short nurse scenes —> the hospital escape —> the Bob & Sergio reunion — climaxing with the Jackson 5 needle drop — is one of my favorite sequences in the movie!
Two real nurses  —>  two Oscar-winning actors!  🙂 

*  1:43:20–1:44:09 – jail nurse intake scene – played by a real nurse, not an actor.
Dig the tight closeup focus on the faces interacting  – then how it’s beat–beat–beat edited together.

1:43:40 – She calls him “Bob” to cue him that she knows who he is.  (because she’s part of Sergio’s network woven into the town)
She asks – “Are you diabetic?” and subtly nods her head Yes to him.  As a (real) nurse in a jail she knows there’s cameras everywhere and she has to be imperceptibly discreet.
“Did you take your insulin yesterday?” and subtly nods her head no.
“Officer, we’re not going to be able to take this one.  He needs to go out to the E.R.”

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*  1:44:10 – second nurse in hospital room – who is also a real nurse in real life.
GREAT 23-second scene!

Nurse: “You are going to go through the bathroom, straight down the hall to the right to the fire escape – right now.”
Bob: “Right now?”
Nurse: “Right now.”

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*  1:44:30 – Jackson 5 Ready Or Not Here I Come – killer needle drop

1:44:50 – Bob bursts out the hospital door onto the fire escape

1:45:00 – Sergio’s waiting for him in his car – great reunion moment

1:45:15 – Sergio – “Let’s do a selfie!”   🙂
which was later released by Warner Brothers . . . 

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1:45:20 – Sergio – “Let’s play offense,” as they drive off in car.
Sergio – “Not every day you get to rescue a 75er – twice in the same day.” with a big smile.
Watch for the amazing pull focus between the two – from an old VistaVision camera mounted on a car!  How do they do that?! 

1:45:37 – Lockjaw, Danvers & soldiers arrive at roadside store, talk to TACOS t-shirt guy – another authentic local they cast who’s never been in a film.  He tells them about the compound with the nuns who grow weed which is based on the real Sisters of the Valley weed growers in Northern Cali.  The production actually put in a crop of 300 hemp plants around the mission they used but they didn’t end up in the final cut.
Lockjaw: “Weapons?”
Tacos guy: “I think they’re vegetarian.”  😀
Lockjaw: “Men, let’s do what we do.” as they head off to the convent.

CHAPTER EIGHT

1:46:50 – Deandra hears approaching soldiers

1:47:30 – soldiers burst into Willa’s room and capture her

1:47:47 — Willa marched into chapel room – killer solo piano  —>  symphonic score begins

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1:48:15 – Willa’s dramatic determined slow walk to Lockjaw — their first meeting 

1:48:37 – Lockjaw & Willa tight 2-shot on faces in profile staring down each other

1:48:50 – DNA test kit opened – Willa handcuffed in chair – Lockjaw administers test

1:50:35 – Lockjaw: “How old are you now?” She doesn’t answer. “You’re 16 or 17, it’s either one of those.”

1:51:02–1:51:44 – Danvers interrogating Deandra who was also captured in the convent raid – give her the ultimatum to her to give up Bob’s whereabouts, but she doesn’t know.  Deandra in tears.

1:51:45 – Willa to Lockjaw: “Did you rape her?” their verbal confrontation.

1:52:28 – back to Danvers & Deandra – “You’re in a lose-lose, maybe save your life position.”

1:53:15 – Lockjaw to Willa: “You should put on more makeup to make yourself look better.”

1:53:30 – Willa to Lockjaw: “Why is your shirt so tight?”  🙂

1:54:10 – Willa to Lockjaw: “Are you having trouble remembering what you just read?”  🙂

1:54:35 – DNA shows she is his daughter.  Lockjaw: “Oh-oh.”

*  1:54:47 – note the subtly incredible facial reaction by Chase Infiniti

1:55:10 – chapel DNA test scene ends
Lockjaw: “Get my vehicle.  Put my kid in the car.”

CHAPTER NINE

The Buddy Road Trip movie part of this movie  🙂
One of PTA’s inspirations for this movie was the road trip movie Midnight Run with De Niro and Charles Grodin

1:55:10 – Bob & Sergio in car driving to the Sisters of the Brave Beaver compound

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1:55:50 – Bob: “I can’t do her hair, man.”

1:56:20 – Bob drinks beer as they pass a cop car.

1:56:25 – cop chase begins – great piano / strings score!

1:57:20 – Sergio: “You know what freedom is?  No fear.”  (a Nina Simone line she said in an interview)
“Just like Tom fuckin Cruise.” 🙂

1:57:53 – Bob jumps from car – “Tuck and roll.”

1:58:10 – Bob hot-wires a 1993 Nissan Sentra – very similar shot to the prologue where he was showing Perfidia how to connect the wires of a bomb 

Fantastic panicky chaotic piano-based score!

Bob takes off down the road with a comically bad sounding engine & cheap shitty car — yet more perfect ‘casting’ in this movie.  🙂

1:58:33 – Bob drives up the dusty back road to the hill overlooking the Brave Beaver compound.
Great driving piano score.

1:59:18 – Lockjaw returns to the chapel room to take Willa — she tries to run away.
Great scuffle showdown fighting scene by both Sean & Chase.

1:59:45 – Lockjaw: “I am a Christmas Adventurer.  You know what that is?  I have a higher calling.  It is a higher honor than having you.”

2:00:02 – Bob clears away shooting spot on top of hill – points rifle at compound.

2:00:13 – Bob sees Willa being taken by Lockjaw from the building to a car.

2:00:35 – hapless Bob shoots at Lockjaw and misses – the whole army shoots back at Bob and he scampers away.

2:01:25 – Lockjaw driving Willa – “I loved her, in case you were wondering.”
Lockjaw: “She was a warrior!  a righteous warrior of freedom!”

2:02:05 – Bob in crummy Missan chasing after Lockjaw & Willa.
Great piano score. 

2:02:25 – desert landscape meeting (in the beautiful Ocotillo Wells State Park) – Lockjaw meets with bounty hunter Avanti to hand off Willa.

2:03:07–2:03:28 – the classic long-lens vista shot of Avanti & Lockjaw against the majestic cliffs – WHO comes up with this?!?!  What director says, Yes – THIS is how to shoot this scene?!

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2:03:20 – Lockjaw: “If it’s not one thing, it’s fuckin another.” – an allusion to the title

2:03:28 – Lockjaw: “I need to dispose of this one.”

2:03:40 – Avanti: “That’s a kid.  I don’t do kids.”

2:03:55 – Lockjaw asks Avanti to take her to the ‘1776’ compound – he agrees.

2:04:30 – Lockjaw starts to take Willa to Avanti’s car – she fights back, tries to run away.

2:04:45 – Classic cutaway to Avanti looking at them askance — always evokes laughs in the theaters.  😀

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2:05:10 – Willa forced into backseat of Avanti’s car kicking & screaming.

CHAPTER TEN

2:05:30 – Avanti drives off with Willa in the back seat.

2:05:40 – beautiful symphonic score as Willa kicks at the back of Avanti’s seat

2:05:53 – Avanti: “Is someone gonna come by looking for you?”
He’s asking to find out if she has family who loves her. 

2:06:18 – Bob arrives at a desolate crossroads trying to catch up to Lockjaw’s car with Willa in it – asks Mexican fruit stand guys what they saw – speaks Spanish and gives the natural whistle that people of that culture understand & use.
Hilarious sound of the crappy Nissan ‘speeding’ away.  🙂

2:06:55 – sad scene of Deandra being put in the back of a car to go to prison

* 2:07:04–2:07:41 – the classic Sergio arrested scene – dancing for the officers (who are both real LAPD officers)

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2:07:37 – Sergio:  “A few small beers.”  🙂  improvised by Benicio.
Beautiful piano score

2:07:41 – Bob’s car pursuit of Lockjaw & Willa resumes

2:07:50 – Bob sees Avanti’s white Charger with Willa in go past him in the other direction but doesn’t know it’s her.

The way this movie builds to its climax is just mind-blowingly beautiful & skillful.

2:08:07 – Bob spots Lockjaw’s black Tahoe driving on the highway ahead.
Funny crappy car sounds from Bob’s Nissan that won’t go fast 🙂

2:08:29 – Tim the assassin in his roaring Shelby catches up with Lockjaw who’s now driving solo sans Willa.

2:08:42 – Lockjaw gets shot – FANTASTIC car crash sequence!  Five different camera angles, great editing!  THIS is one of the hundred reasons this film deserves the Oscar for Best Editing!

2:09:10 – Avanti with Willa arrives at the 1776 compound [filmed at Walter’s Camp on the Lower Colorado River just south of Palo Verde near the Arizona border]

2:09:30 – Avanti drops off Willa to racist guy with “RELENTLESS” tattooed on his forehead – another guy who’d never been on screen before – again, great casting.
“Thanks, wagon-burner,” says the racist to Avanti – adding to his dislike of taking this kid to this place to be killed.

2:10:20 – Tim in the Shelby drives off from the Lockjaw crash site.

2:10:26 – Bob in Nissan – Tim in Shelby drives past him going in other direction.

2:10:46 – Bob sees Lockjaw’s crashed Tahoe – fears Willa is in it.

2:11:00 – Willa handcuffed and chained to a bench at the ‘1776’ compound

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2:11:15 – Willa sees guy arrive and put gas in boat engine (like they’re going to take her out on the river to kill her).

2:11:22 – Avanti, still in his car, also sees this – and knows he’s brought a kid to be killed maybe an awful death.

2:12:22 – Avanti gets out of his car – walks with gun to Willa on porch.

2:12:45 – Avanti picks up handcuff keys from table.
‘RELENTLESS’ guy – “Hey fuckstick, what are you doin’?  Hey red, I know you hear me.  [Avanti unlocks Willa from the bench]  That firewater’s got you fuckin’ retarded.”

2:13:00 – Avanti shoots Relentless point-blank – then immediately turns and starts shooting the men in the building.
Willa runs (with white plastic handcuffs still on behind her back) to Avanti’s car and hides in the back of it as many gunshots are heard behind her.

2:13:15 – Willa lays on ground and pulls the handcuffs down the back of her legs & pulls her legs thru to make the handcuffs be in the front.

2:13:30 – Willa gets into Avanti’s Charger & tries to start the car but can’t.

2:13:52 – Bob slides down embankment to Lockjaw’s overturned Tahoe.

2:14:05 – Bob sees Lockjaw hanging upside down, held in by seatbelt – pokes him with his gun, he’s unresponsive – looks in car for Willa.

2:14:15 – Bob walks around crash site holding up the tracking device – calling for Willa and yelling the code – “Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies and Hooterville Junction” . . . to silence in the desolate desert.

2:14:45 – Willa in Avanti’s car

2:14:57 – Willa exits Avanti’s car with his pistol pointed at the compound house where she’d been held on the porch – approaches the quiet building with gun held high.

2:15:23 – Willa at building door, Avanti laying dead over door threshold, no other sign of life.  Willa searches his pockets for his car keys, finds them.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

2:15:51 – Willa roars off in Avanti’s Charger – and the final heart-pounding climax is on!

* killer drum / percussion / strings climactic score begins!  Crank the volume!  🙂 

2:16:05 – Bob standing alone on empty quiet highway at crash site – then runs back to the Nissan.

2:16:13 – Willa driving Charger fast down highway.

* 2:16:16 – first view (POV) of  “the river of hills”  (as the crew took to calling this stretch of highway)

* 2:16:16–2:19:45 – The INCREDIBLE low-angle POV rollercoaster road shots of the climactic car chase begins!  and plays for the next 3½ minutes.

This will forever be included in every conversation & list of greatest car chases in film history.

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2:16:25 – Willa’s looking in the rearview mirror because she’s scared somebody’s coming after her from the 1776 compound where she just escaped and stole the car.  You hear a dinging in her car because she can’t put on her seatbelt because she’s still handcuffed.

Note how this whole sequence is a masterful shot blend of rearview mirrors, driver closeups, follow shots, landscape wide shots, and POV driver views — all counterpointing off each other to cinematically tell the story — one reason the film’s already won 18 Best Editing awards including the BAFTA and is nominated for the Oscar.
Add to that, this is a busy well-travelled road, and the production could only shut it down for ten minutes at a time!

2:16:40 – second car following Willa is spotted in rearview mirror.

PTA cites in interviews the good fortune of the chasing car’s windshield catching the sun and reflecting.  He says the movie gods were watching over them to give the pursuing car the resonance & visibility because of the lucky sun catch.  It just happened to be the right time of day & angle when they were shooting.

2:16:51 – we see the pursuing car is assassin Tim’s blue Shelby – then a closeup of him driving with focused intent – the guy we just saw shoot Colonel Lockjaw.
He’s a professional killer who knows how to track down his prey.

The shaky camera is intentional to reflect the action.  D.P. Michael Bauman loosened the screws ever so slightly on the camera mounts.
Note the meticulous sound editing of how each car has its own distinctive engine sound, and we hear them roar in & out as they appear on screen.

2:17:50 – fantastic drum score kick-up as Tim’s car is seen in the rearview mirror cresting a hill catching up to Willa.

2:18:18 – Bob’s car appears for the first time in the distance trying to catch up.

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2:19:23 – Willa slams on the breaks just over the top of a hill – the crest of  ‘The Texas Dip’ –
then runs to lay down with the pistol next to a sign (which is a real sign along that roadside).

2:19:45 – Tim’s car crashes into the back of Willa’s.

2:20:10 – Tim crawls out of car.
Willa yells out the code phrase to see if he’s on her side — “Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies and Hooterville Junction”
Tim says, “What?”
Willa repeats it.
Tim says, “I don’t know . . .” and Willa shoots him.
Wounded, Tim reaches for his gun, and she shoots him 3 more times . . . then lets out a horrific guttural scream . . . of an innocent 16-yr-old who just had to shoot & kill someone.

2:20:38 – Bob’s crappy Nissan is heard driving up.

2:20:50 – Bob gets out of car, rifle to shoulder, tracking scanner held up and playing its tune.

When I first saw the movie I was worried – “Oh no – she’s going to shoot him by mistake.”

2:21:39 – Bob spots and says, “Willa?” most tenderly.  Beautiful smile on dad’s face.

2:21:43 – Willa calls out code phrase.  Bob drops his gun on the road.  “It’s your dad, Willa.”  And he recites the response line, “Will no longer be so goddamn relevant.” 

2:22:05 – Willa screams, “Who are you?!?!” after everything that’s happened and she’s learned.

2:22:20 – Willa runs into her dad’s arms and they hug.

2:22:40 – Bob & Willa drive off in Nissan, dad hugging his daughter, she leaning into him.  Tender loving moment.

2:22:50 – the song Perfidia begins to play – a Mexican song from 1939, as recorded by Los Panchos in 1947.

2:23:05 – Lockjaw appears walking wounded & blood-covered on highway – always gets a big laugh in theaters.
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EPILOGUE part 1:

2:23:43 – Christmas Adventurers meeting with Lockjaw in a high-rise conference room – with Virgil (Tony Goldwyn) and Sandy (Jim Downey)

Hilarious scene!

2:24:10 – Lockjaw’s deformed face revealed – what a job by the makeup department!  They actually won the Make-Up Artists Guild award for Best Contemporary Make-up in a Motion Picture!

2:24:30 – Lockjaw: “I was once raped in reverse.” — always gets a big laugh in theaters  🙂
as does this whole sequence

2:25:20 – Sandy/Downey’s wonderfully serious:  “A semen demon.” – also always gets a huge laugh  🙂

CHAPTER TWELVE

2:25:40 – Lockjaw accepted into club.  His reaction: “Oh, Mommy!”  What a great / funny line PTA wrote!  🙂

2:25:55–2:26:37 – Sandy/Downey escorts him to his new office.  Great long Steadicam shot capturing the two as they walk.  And I love Downey’s natural persona.

2:26:40 – Sandy slides closed the glass door to Lockjaw’s new office (and seals it air-tight).
Leo’s spoken of his admiration for how Sean played the joy of finally being in his triumphant office.

2:27:40 – gas turned on in office – Lockjaw gassed to death – like how that other white supremacist group got rid of people they didn’t like.
Cool drum / percussion score begins . . . with voiceover of upcoming Bob & Willa moment.

 

EPILOGUE part 2:

2:28:20 – Willa & Bob back at the kitchen table in their cabin home … where we first met them SO long ago – Willa looking 16 again!  Cute, innocent & young.  

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2:28:41 – Lockjaw’s dead body wheeled out of office on chair and shoved into an incinerator – all with Bob’s voiceover talking to Willa – great editing and cinematic storytelling. 

2:29:15 – Bob at kitchen table telling Willa about the letter he had from her mom.  Chase Infiniti’s performance here is so childlike and beautiful.
This is such a tender, loving, pitch-perfect scene to sum up & wrap up the movie.

2:29:45 – Willa on the gift he’s offering, smiling: “I don’t know what it is, dad.”
“Is it for me, or for you?”  SO beautifully delivered, and again – PTA’s script to write this line! 

* 2:30:30–2:32:06 – mom Perfidia (Teyana Taylor) voiceover reading her letter to her daughter.  Such soulful scripting by PTA. 

This was recorded in one take with only Teyana, PTA and the sound guy in the room.  The film’s guiding light, Adam Somner, had just died (of thyroid cancer at age 57) and they were all distraught.  They only did the one take and shut everything down because they just didn’t want go to this place at that time.  A while later, Teyana said she wanted to try it again, so they did a few more takes in a recording studio . . . then all agreed the first one was the best with Adam aching in Teyana’s voice & head.

2:32:15 – Willa hugs her dad long & hard at the kitchen table.

2:32:35 – cool quick comic transition to Bob on the couch trying to work his phone camera – old guy trying to understand phones, and his teenage daughter trying to explain them.  🙂

2:33:03 – shortwave radio reports a protest in Oakland – “All hands on deck.”

Transformation – from Willa rejecting Bob’s revolution when we first met them – to her monitoring the underground radio and jumping into action.

2:33:20 – Bob:  “You know Oakland’s a 3½ hour drive from here?” another line that always gets laughs in theaters  🙂

2:33:25 – cue Tom Petty’s perfect American Girl needle-drop

2:33:30 – Bob: “Hey — be careful.”

Willa:  “I won’t,” . . .  as she’s out the door and on the road to the next battle.
The final exchange of the movie – the baton passed from one generation to the next . . .
and it’s still going to be one battle after another. 

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2:33:40 – final shot of Bob on the couch smoking a joint . . . as his daughter jumps in her car to drive to a protest in Oakland in the rain.
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2:34:00 – title appears on screen and credits roll (for 7:43) – in at least half the 8 theater screenings I was at, applause broke out at this point.

2:36:52 – Gil Scott-Heron’s classic The Revolution Will Not Be Televised­ – a wonderful easter egg sprinkled throughout the movie.

2:38:15 – Ella Fitzgerald’s God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – refraining the Hark! The Herald Angels Sing earlier.

2:41:10–2:41:40: – tribute to Adam Somner with audio of him directing a shot.  “Roll sound – roll – roll, please.  ‘Kay, quiet please – here we go.  Shooting.  Shhhh . . . shut the fuck up, we’re rolling.”  🙂

2:41:43 – END

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For some bonus fun — I LOVE Taylor Swift’s reaction when Jimmy Fallon asks what was the last movie she watched — and then the way she explodes and gushes about One Battle After Another . . .
“We’re so lucky to be alive at the same time as Paul Thomas Anderson.  He’s just existing on this higher level that we all get to watch.”
A smart woman rooted in the arts and passionate about masterpieces when she experiences them — 

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And I loved SNL’s recent One Battle After Another action figures ad . . .  😂

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Here’s my initial review after seeing it on opening night in an IMAX.  All of those observations sure held up over the next seven times I saw it in various theaters. 

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” film review — Do Yourself A Favor

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Here’s some cool background the script and the incredible casting proving how it really deserves the inaugural Best Casting Oscar . . . 

One Battle After Another – How It Was Made – Script and Casting

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Here’s the best movies I watched in 2025 – both old and new . . .

Best Movies Watched in 2025

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Here’s the scene-by-scene breakdown I did for A Complete Unknown including identifying all the obscure songs heard and every person portrayed in the movie . . . 

“A Complete Unknown” Scene Breakdown – Time Codes, Song Titles, Quotes & Context

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And here’s the first scene-by-scene breakdown I created — for The Beatles: Get Back — which is still being read every single day and has prompted both college professors and high school teachers in both the U.S. and the U.K. to contact me and thank me for making it . . . 

The Beatles: Get Back — Time-Coded and Annotated

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And here’s my main movie page listing/reviewing over 900 films — cued to the auteurs section with 78 different filmmakers accounted for . . .

Brian’s “Hot 300” movie list

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by Brian Hassett

karmacoupon@gmail.com   —  BrianHassett.com

Or here’s my Facebook page if you wanna join in there —

https://www.facebook.com/Brian.Hassett.Canada