I thought Wilford Brimley absolutely stole the scene he was in. So cue all the Brimley haters out there.
shareWon't get an argument from me. The scene with Brimley rates as one of my all-time favorites. If I'd known having that kind of job would give me the freedom to act like that and use dialogue like his I would've gone to law school.
"I'm not reckless . . . I'm skillful!"
I'm a Wilford lover, not a hater. Any film he makes is worthwhile just to see him. He's particularly good in "Act of Vengeance" and "Coccoon," but he's also terrific here.
It's too bad he's been reduced to selling diabetes testing supplies. But he's so convincing in those commercials, I ordered a kit from Liberty Mutual, plus an extra just to have on hand.
Wilford helps us live a better life.
Personally I am not a big fan of this movie but I think the scene with Brimley is the best scene in the film. "You two ought to me married." He is great and brings the film to life albeit briefly.
share He didn't just steal the scene. He stole the movie. And it was a good movie.
Absolutely. I think this is a very good movie but when I think of it, I always remember Brimley's scenes. He had all the best lines in the movie. You always like to see the "bad guy" get it, but I've never seen it done so well with just 4 words:
"Ya' got 30 days."
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In the director's cut, after Brimley says "Ya got 30 days," Balaban says, "So that's the thanks I get for letting you fist me during my job interview? You can go sh/t in your Quaker Oatmeal and eat it. I hope you get diabetes."
Unfortunately, the "suits" had Balaban's last line cut from the movie.
Picasner said: "You always like to see the "bad guy" get it, but I've never seen it done so well with just 4 words:
'Ya' got 30 days.' "
Yes, those four words were quite succinct and perfect for film dialog. However, I would have preferred to hear him say something along the lines of, "Don't even bother going back to your office. A marshal will escort you out of the building, and your effects and final pay will be sent to you. And don't bother trying to get another job in law enforcement."
He definitely stole the movie, and it was one of the greatest extended cameos in film history, along with Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross and Ned Beatty in Network and Donald Sutherland in JFK.
shareAlthough I agree with you that Wilford Brimley's part really woke the movie up and clarified so many matters, one thing annoyed me. His use of slang improper English was so constant and irritating it just swallowed up his demeanor and made a caricature out of his "intelligence despite the backwoods slang" and improper grammar that he uses as his means of communicating. It's not just the unending use of the word ain't whenever isn't is the correct grammar, but the emphasis on its impropriety since it's so obviously incorrect English is as annoying as lawyers wearing cowboy hats and ponytails in court. His backwoods character for a southern boy in Dade County Miami Florida is fine, it just should have mitigated the caricature stereotype a scosh bit. Of course, that stereotype is handled masterfully by Brimley, but it wasn't necessary to make him that provincial.
shareI thought that was one of the best scenes of the whole movie. I agree that Brimley was great.
"A leak? You call this a leak? Last time there was a leak like this, Noah built hisself a boat!"
The scene with Wilford Brimley was the only part of this otherwise lackluster film that I found entertaining and memorable. The rest seemed like movie of the week fare.
Brimley was a good character actor before becoming a full-time shill for Quaker Oats and Liberty Mutual. He gave the best performance in John Carpenter's The Thing, for instance, and had several other good roles in the 80's.
This is one of my top fifty favorite movies and even though the newspaper angle is a bit dated today, it's message is till extremely relevant.
And Wilford Brimley's scene is the best thing in the movie, to this day I can't look at the man (including his current commercials) without thinking of this scene.
The only minor nit pick I have with it is that I would have loved to have seen that sleezy investigators face when he was told he "had thirty days" and he realized that it was his ass that Brimley had in his briefcase. That would have just been the icing on the cake.
^^Agree with this. Brimley brought some life to a fairly dull film with lame a plot. The attorney for the newspaper was a caricature and Megan would not have gone on the boat with a suspected organized crime figure. Nor would the Dade County police quickly send out a chopper to see if she was okay.
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