MovieChat Forums > Alive (1993) Discussion > unintentionally comedic delivery of seri...

unintentionally comedic delivery of serious lines

posted 14 years ago by frankduxvandamme
24 replies | jump to latest

i know they put in some light humor into the movie, but did anyone else sort of laugh at the delivery of some unintentionally funny lines?

maybe it was the sub-par acting by some of the actors, or the sub-par dialogue, but there were some moments where i couldn't help but laugh.

like when two of them are discussing going to the tail, and one guy standing at least 5 feet behind them butts in: "the batteries are in the tail, then you can work the transmitter. call for help" and the other two just stare for a moment. it felt like one of those awkward larry david moments or something. was this supposed to be awkward, or was it just a poorly written scene?

[–] greatwareagle 14 years ago

Intentionally awkward I think.

I know what you mean. There are moments like this throughout the film.

One part that I always notice is how Josh Hamilton says, "No it's not ready!" - referring to the sleeping bag. There is something comical about it, not just his speech bu gestures as well - but I always interpret it as a reflection of their slowly deteriorating their state of mind.

Some of them are beginning to experience delirium. Clearly the airplane mechanic became unhinged from the start. I think little by little, some of the team began losing their hope and then their sanity. But it never got too serious. Just enough for some of their conversations and speech to be a bit odd from time to time.

[–] ross52066 14 years ago

"Are we supposed to fly this close to the mountains?"

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[–] herbsuperb 14 years ago

When the captain of the team was screaming at everybody about the food being gone one of the guys says "I stole food too..." and it always makes me chuckle a little.

[–] hibban45 14 years ago

I thought the vast majority of the movie was this way. I mean, the story is great... but the script and delivery were pretty damn poor in my opinion. What the accomplished was pretty amazing, and the book was great... but I could not take the movie seriously at all.

[–] LaneMarie88 14 years ago

How about Suzanna telling her mother not to worry because "We'll be on the ground soon."

How true THAT was...

A Marine's Daughter! USA!!
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((¸¸.•´ .•´ -:¦:-
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[–] daamskippy 13 years ago

not serious lines because the mechanic was unhinged .. but the exchange when Antonio opens the door to the cockpit and he asks the mechanic, "what's the story here?" mechanic responds "they're both dead" and then the batteries line had me cracking up .. "how about the radio .. can we get the radio to work?" mechanic: "not without the batteries .. batteries are in the tail .. and the tail is gone hahahahahahahah"

by the way ..why the heck are the batteries in the freakin' tail when the radio is up front .. doesn't make sense at all

[–] palisade-1 13 years ago

The batteries were not for the radio, so they did not need to be up front. The radio ran off the engine and would not work without it The mechanic apparently did not know this. Other systems were powered by the batteries, but not the radio. So all the time spent trying to hook up the batteries to the radio was wasted.

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[–] SeanJoyce 13 years ago

There is some sub-par acting and risible dialogue on display here, no question.

The most egregious moment comes after the plane is buffeted by several strong gusts of wind and Nando's mom voices her fear. Suzanna grabs holds of her hands and says "I'm scared too mama." Just awful.

The other is when the guy goes berserk on Canessa (I believe?) after he informs him that they weren't getting out of there. Amateurism at its most unrefined.

"...if that was off, I'd be whoopin' your ass up and down this street." ~ an irate Tarantino

[–] Fatal_When_Swallowed 13 years ago

Somebody (either Ethan Hawke or the kid who plays Canessa) actually says, "I love you, man!" He sounds exactly like a drunk college kid at his first triple-kegger.

I don't think that line is quoted in any source related to the disaster.

[–] archer1267 11 years ago

Yes!

Actually, some of the dialogue comes from the book, at least the spirit of it, although it's pretty clunky.

[–] Jose_Accent_On_E 10 years ago

Yes, much of the awkward nature of the dialogue is due to it being lifted (in places) nearly verbatim from Read's book, which apparently contained direct English translations from Spanish interviews/conversations.

For example, when Canessa says, "Either we're saved, or we're dead", this seems like a direct translation, otherwise Canessa is displaying a firm grasp of the obvious. What Canessa actually said would more likely translate to, "Either rescuers save us, or we're dead".

[–] stephen_falken 11 years ago

When they talk to the mechanic in the cockpit and notice how strange he is acting:

Roy to Antonio: Whats wrong with him
Mechanic quickly fires back: Whats wrong with you?!

Hey, what the fùck happened?
I guess he didn't appreciate the use of language.
*beep* him!