Don't you find that old lady that gets run over by a car very funny? She screams, and no one listens to her. And she has a caricatural way of saying: "Szell.....could it be.......Szell?". Every time I see her in the movie, I smile. I know her fate is tragic, but I think it is also comic.
shareIt seemed predictable that she would get run over
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she was barely hit by the car. she just collapsed from shock when the cab braked. afterwards you would see her standing up surrounded by people and she's crying our Szell's name.
shareShe did get hit but not that hard, I don't think it was comedic, OP but one of the best scenes in the film where the two older people recognized Szell from the camps.
"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna `*beep*` wit me!"- Hudson in Aliens.
It was a great scene and I did not find it comic at all.
Szell has taken the great risk of venturing by himself to a diamond expert who is located in the Jewish sector. Here, in the midst of probably the most heavily Jewish populated part of the city and on a street teeming with people of Jewish origin, this woman almost alone is the one who recognizes that this, the most reviled man in her race's history, is alive and walking in plain sight!
Yet enough time has passed since the horrors of the concentration camps that apparently no one in the immediate crowd understands the reason for this woman's sudden angst and horror, and if they look up from their affairs at all they perceive her as nothing but a crazy old lady ranting about something or other.
What memories of atrocities does this woman harbor? What did she survive and who did she lose? And after years of dealing with her own, her families, and her people's tragic history, suddenly there appears the greatest of the perpetrators of that terrible time, and no one recognises, no one sees, no one hears her pleas!
Yes she is knocked down by a vehicle and her personal pursuit cut short, and yes she survives it though it doesn't take a great hit to injure a slight old lady, the incedent gives Szell time to make his way out of range of this potential danger, as had she caught up with Szell and continued her harangue surely others would recognize him or address seriously what she was saying.
Yes, "He gets away!"
But there is nothing comic about it. I see no humour.
I don't know if people are aware of this, but this scene is parodied in the Seinfeld episode where Frank and Kramer are designing the bro/manzier.
I don't know if people are aware of this, but this scene is parodied in the Seinfeld episode where Frank and Kramer are designing the bro/manzier.
She nearly ruined the film with her *beep* accent and terrible acting.
"Listen, do you smell something? -Ray Stantz"
"Gee Wally, why is everyone hollering about Aunt Martha, especially after she got clobbered by that car?"
"Walked five miles to school and back, uphill both ways. No, really, I have pictures." MC Escher
I was really hoping he'd get his comeuppance by the Jews during that scene. What was the point of having him being recognized by the elderly survivors of Auschwitz if there was no payoff?
shareHow realistic is it for Szell to get noticed many years later, even after shaving his head?
shareFirst, I didn't think the scene was funny at all.
I think it's very tragic, strong and key to the film.
I thought about its function in the film, and here's my two cents:
- First of all, it gives a fresh start to the story, Hoffman's character's escaped so he (and we) gets to have some rest
-We know that Szell is a war criminal, but as he's recognized by two people, we get a sense of how infamous he must have been. Also they don't call you 'der weisse Engel' for nothing.
- It gives Szell's victims a face, which is not unimportant, his crimes are still in the minds of some people who live to this day.
- It creates suspense... oddly we feel his discomfort in that scene as we can relate to the fear of being discovered.
On the other hand, suspense comes from wanting to see justice being done. Szell's past is catching up with him. Ghosts of the past seek revenge. As the crowds gather in the street, we are mislead to think we'll have our poetic justice, so when he escapes it's all the more frustrating.
In fact, we have this twice because when the old man who was set up earlier and we kind of forget about (when the old woman comes into the picture) returns, we feel that he'll justify the situation, but again we are deceived as he's mercilessly killed.
- The fact he slices the old man's throat, shows he's still as cold as ice, has no remorse whatsoever, is lethal as ever, plus it sets up the fact he carries a dagger in his sleeve. Which will create some suspense in the climax (he literally has a trick up his sleeve which Hoffman doesn't know about)
Thing that struck me was why the hell the old lady didn't simply say "STOP THAT MAN, HE IS A NAZI WAR CRIMINAL FROM AUSCHWITZ!" I think that would have been more effective, as you know, the average New Yorker knows the names of all the Nazi employees at Auschwitz, from like 30 years ago.. It made no sense, and was frustratingly dumb on her part..
shareWhile you are perfectly reasonable being rational about warning people on the street you take into consideration that old lady was at least in her 60-70s so I guess she was not thinking that clearly how to warn bywalkers in the most efficient way, especially being hysterical woman who survived concetration camp. So it made perfect sense for me that someone in her condition reacted this way and was considered crazy by other people and nazi got away (at least for while).
Peter Markoff
The best - Fight Club, American Beauty & Falling Down.
She was very annoying, and acted stupidly.
shareOf course it’s comic. (And the scene wasn’t tragic – the old lady was just knocked over.) A friend of mine and I once walked across that same street, each wagging his finger like the old lady did, and yelling, “Szell! Szell!”
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