Birthday parties at the movies
Thursday, June 6, 2013 at 9:05PM Hi everyone, it’s Tim. Our host and founder might be gone for a little while, but with a little bit of luck, the rest of Team Film Experience will be around to keep the lights on, even without Nathaniel’s guiding hand to keep things on track. For example, you can expect to see my four-part series, "Michelle Pfeiffer: Decent, But She’s Sure No Renée Zellweger", beginning next week.
Kidding! Happy Birthday, Nathaniel, here's Michelle being all smoldering.
Anyway, as Nathaniel mentioned, it’s also his birthday, and in his honor, I’d like to go on a little tour of some of the all-time best cinematic birthdays.
Sixteen Candles (1984)
An unimaginative shoo-in for a list like this one, but that’s because the great chronicler of teen angst in America, John Hughes – making his directorial debut here – so perfectly captured the sense of wary hope and the expectation of disappointment that characterize every teenager’s inner monologue, especially those living in Hughes Land. The film expertly makes the small-scale crises that make up its largely observational, low-conflict plot seem every bit as massive and desperate to us as they do to Molly Ringwald’s Samantha Baker, whose desires after all really aren’t that daunting: she just wants to have her friends and family acknowledge what a big deal a sixteenth birthday is. The fact that even this little dream proves to be thwarted until the film’s terrific final moments makes Sixteen Candles one of the very best movies about the outsized drama of teen life, and the joy of having a birthday, ever made.
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
To be sure, an “unbirthday”; but the Mad Hatter and the March Hare rather have it right, don’t you think? The best part of a birthday is gorging yourself on cake and partying with your friends and making fun of your drunk friends, even if they come in mouse form, and maybe singing a ridiculous song or two. That’s all too much fun to limit it to once a year, and plus, the beauty of an unbirthday is that it doesn’t double as a mile marker for getting older. Besides, it’s the reason we have Ed Wynn’s Hatter, one of the very best vocal performances in Disney’s entire 1950s output.
Friday the 13th (1980)
“You see, Jason was my son, and today is his birthday”, announces axe-crazy Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) near the end of this seminal slasher movie. And just like that, a tawdry, shabbily-made thriller about a psychopath carving horny teenagers apart, turns into a tawdry, shabbily-made thriller about a mother who is very, very anxious to make sure that her dead son isn’t forgotten on his birthday. It’s a weirdly lopsided moment of tenderness that lends this particular psycho killer out of all psycho killers a humane core, while also giving the film a kind of warped justification that gives it a smidgen more dramatic heft than the average slasher flick. Just a smidgen, but it’s there.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
I have absolutely no theoretical framework for including this scene. It doesn’t say anything about birthdays or the way people celebrate them; I’m just endlessly delighted by the comic absurdity of replacing the stripper in a big novelty cake with a machine gun-toting Mafioso.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Serious again now, and this scene is quite possibly my all-time favorite birthday in a movie. It’s such a bittersweet little thing, capturing the saddest and sweetest of all birthdays: the kind celebrated by dirt-poor family where the presents are homemade, or tiny little notions that people had to save up good money for. Coming right at the start of a movie that has as much to do with financial wish-fulfillment as a fantasy world of amazing candy, the scene is a little bit heartbreaking, by contrasting the ridiculous extravagance of literally every other character in the movie besides the heroically impoverished Bucket family, the film quickly makes us feel awful for the hero, but by showing how clearly the family remains happy, even in the face of setbacks and adversity – I am primarily thinking of the sad but sweet way that Charlie has to cheer up the adults when he ends up being disappointed – the film keeps them from seeming too desperately pathetic. It is a birthday about being happy with family and comfort, and that is maybe the nicest kind.
And now, I’ll turn it over to you, readers: What’s your favorite birthday scene in a movie?
Birthday
Reader Comments (21)
Margo Tenenbaum's. The play. The death glare towards her father. Man, I love it! :)
I know it's silly but... can I say Harry Potter's 11th birthday in Sorcecer's Stone, when Hagrid destroys the house and gives him his letter inviting him to attend Hogwarts?
How many kids have dreamt of that moment happening to them? (myself included :P)
Speaking of Harry Potter reminds me of another movie released in the same year. How about Bilbo's 111th birthday in LOTR: The Fellowships of the Ring? That birthday celebration is epic, with the birthday boy (man?) disappear in the midst of his speech. Classic!
LOL can you please do one edition of "Michelle Pfeiffer: Decent, But She’s Sure No Renée Zellweger", just for fun??
Joe -- I second that!
Third that!
Totally agree-it would be so fetch!
My first thought was of "The Boys in the Band" ("Today's Harold's birthday...this is his present"). My second was Maude celebrating her 80th birthday in "Harold and Maude." A recent favorite is the gift exchange (though it ties in with Christmas secret Santa) in "The Perks of Being A Wallflower," which is simply lovely.
My favorite is the birthday in McCabe & mrs miller. Also is the birthday in Tangled and Good will hunting
lyrics:
"I swear she's destined for the screen,
Closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you've ever seen, oh"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ_1HMAGb4k
Dback, I'd forgotten about The Boys in the Band, but you're right!
I also have a soft spot for Jörgen's birthday party in After the Wedding, when he almost tells everyone that he's dying, but stops at the last minute to be his old self for one last time.
Everybody loves throwing shade at Renee. Try to remember her before Cold Mountain! I do, and I feel so much better about it.
You guys are killing me! LOL
Tim, love Sixteen Candles. Not a big fan of Hughes, but this is one of his very best. Much better than Ferris.
In honor of Nathaniel's birthday, I also would like to suggest another follow-up post called "Nicole Kidman, eh, she's no Zee either." Or maybe just "Actresses, what's the big deal?"
Also, the way Charlie opens the chocolate bar, slowly, hopefully, and then has to choke down his disappointment and put on a brave front has got to be one of my top ten movie memories. So heartbreaking.
For some reason I keep on thinking there was a birthday party moment in Edward Yang's Yi Yi but cannot seem to find the definitive proof.
David Fincher's The Game is pretty much a whole big birthday party movie, so that's my choice.
What an amazing pic of Michelle Pfeiffer. She is still one of the finest women walking on Earth. No kidding. And I´ll never lose hope about her getting an Oscar. Call me a dreamer.
As far as cinematic birthdays go I can't help but to remember Laura Brown baking a blue cake (well... two, actually) for her husband's birthday with little Richie watching as she sieves the flour. Not that that's a celebration though: most-depressing-birthday-ever!
The "Blue Jasmine" trailer is OUT, how about a YES, NO, MAYBE SO? :) Thanks in advance.
This is a great post! You could add the film 'Project X'. The whole film is about a birthday party thrown at one of the students parents house.