MoeFOH's Movie of the Week... Week #35

[MoeFOH]

MoeFOH's Movie of the Week 🎥

Each week we're going to spotlight a movie... be it a classic, new release, hidden gem, or outright turd... and open it for discussion: i.e. post up your favourite quotes, clips, memories... or dive deeper and give us a critique on why you think it's great, overrated, or a complete train wreck... And finally score it for us...  

All contributors go into a monthly prize draw for a 3-cigar sampler! 

PM me with suggestions if there's a movie you want to nominate for next week's discussion. 

 

Week #35: Predator (1987)

Moe says: If it bleeds, we can kill it.

Wiki says:

Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan and written by brothers Jim and John Thomas. It is the first installment in the Predator franchise. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the leader of an elite paramilitary rescue team on a mission to save hostages in guerrilla-held territory in a Central American rainforest, who encounter the deadly Predator (Kevin Peter Hall), a skilled, technologically advanced alien who stalks and hunts them down.

Predator was written in 1984 under the working title of Hunter. Filming ran from March to June 1986 with creature effects devised by Stan Winston; the budget was around $15 million. 20th Century Fox released the film on June 12, 1987, in the United States, and it grossed $98 million worldwide. Initial reviews were mixed, but the film has since been considered a classic of the action and science fiction genres and one of the best films of the 1980s.

The success of Predator launched a media franchise of films, novels, comic books, video games, and toys. It spawned four sequels: Predator 2 (1990), Predators (2010), The Predator (2018), and Prey (2022). A crossover with the Alien franchise produced the Alien vs. Predator films, which include Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007).

Over to you...

How do you rate it? Favourite scenes?

Best moments?... etc, and so on... post 'em up!!

Give us your score out of 10!

[MoeFOH]

 

[Ken Gargett]

one of the best of those 80/90s arnie type movies. great fun and well done. 

i think it was around this film that arnie became the biggest star on the planet being paid an unheard of $3 million for the film. when asked if that would change him, i can still remember arnie giving a big smile, taking a puff on the cigar and stating categorically that no, it would not change him. "i will be the same person i was when i was making two million a film". 

[Low]

I just re-watched this a few weeks ago and I made a simple connection that had escaped me for many years. When Arnie and his squad are mowing down the rebel forces in the jungle, it resembles the exact same thing that happens to their group. Frightened soldiers who are outclassed in tech and tactics.

Definitely a highlight of 80's action movies, and my 2nd favorite Predator film, as I genuinely think Pred 2 is a better film than 1, even if that's a pretty hot take. 

[Ford2112]

It is the greatest action film ever made. The handshake between Dutch and Dillon. The Blaine tobacco chopper scene. The one liners. Billy and the jokes. And Bill Duke who steals every scene he's in. I'd give this movie 11 stars if I could. I can't listen to Long Tall Sally without saying "Bunch of slack jawed faggots around here.. this stuff will make you a god damned sexual tyrannosaurus. Just like me."

R.I.P. Blaine.

[5thStarChicago]

<whispered voice> "Anytime...."

It's a solid 8.  Such a great mix of ridiculous and fun.  

[bishop532]

51 minutes ago, Low said:

I just re-watched this a few weeks ago and I made a simple connection that had escaped me for many years. When Arnie and his squad are mowing down the rebel forces in the jungle, it resembles the exact same thing that happens to their group. Frightened soldiers who are outclassed in tech and tactics.

Really interesting quote from the director about the scene where they all shoot at the predator for like 90 seconds: and can’t touch him:

 “I had the feeling that people had a sort of perverse fascination with pictures of guns firing, literally an almost pornographic desire. And I said to myself, okay if you want pictures of guns firing, I’ll give you pictures of guns firing, so I created this sequence where they take all of their guns and they blaze away continually. And what I was really doing was sort of, in the Australian phrase, taking the piss out of [war too], to quietly ridicule the desire to see pictures of guns firing. All of this is the moral separate piece where I said in no circumstance were there to be human beings in front of the guns firing. In fact, the point of all the firing was, as the man says as soon as they stop shooting, we hit nothing. The whole point is the impotence of all the guns, which is exactly the opposite of what I believed I was being hired to sell.”

Edit: It’s a 9 for me, I love this movie. 

[Puros Y Vino]

1 minute ago, bishop532 said:

Really interesting quote from the director about the scene where they all shoot at the predator for like 90 seconds: and can’t touch him:

 “I had the feeling that people had a sort of perverse fascination with pictures of guns firing, literally an almost pornographic desire. And I said to myself, okay if you want pictures of guns firing, I’ll give you pictures of guns firing, so I created this sequence where they take all of their guns and they blaze away continually. And what I was really doing was sort of, in the Australian phrase, taking the piss out of [war too], to quietly ridicule the desire to see pictures of guns firing. All of this is the moral separate piece where I said in no circumstance were there to be human beings in front of the guns firing. In fact, the point of all the firing was, as the man says as soon as they stop shooting, we hit nothing. The whole point is the impotence of all the guns, which is exactly the opposite of what I believed I was being hired to sell.”

I remember that after that scene everyone in the theatre was "wooo'ing" and laughing at the sheer absurdity of it.   This is one of my favourite all time movies. Love Arnie.  Great cast, great dialogue, great monster.  FYI. Early on in production. Jean Claude Van Damme did some shoots as the Predator with a different design.  He was deemed "too short" and his scenes were scrapped and the creature was re-designed. The DVD/BD has some of the footage in the "extras" section.

[Chibearsv]

Get to the choppa!!!  Arnold at his best. Solid 9, pure fun. Love the scene at the end when he basically walks out of a mushroom cloud. Oscar worthy 😁

 

[riderpride]

I didn't... it was the echo

🤣

[M1B]

My favorite Arnold movie - 10/10

[Chas.Alpha]

Two U.S. State Governors in the same movie. That normally didn't happen, although I have a feeling it will become much more common...

[Edicion]

The definition of an 80s action movie. 10/10

[TeeSkee]

Fantastic movie, a clear 10/10.
Love the action, sci-fi, and horror blend with a star-studded lineup of classic 80s macho men.
So many great scenes and lines, but my favorite has to be the handshake at the beginning to really set the tone of all the characters.

[JohnS]

Arnie sure made some memorable movies in the 80s! 10 out of 10 for me because I will always watch this film when it comes around on free-to-air.

[SonGoku]

Probably the best action movie ever made. It embodies all the best of action movies from that era. I remember riding my bicycle to school one morning and seeing a commercial, behind a bus that passed me, of this movie when it was released. I was sitting in school all day exited about getting home after school and telling all my friends about it and make plans with them to go see it in the local movie theatre.

Later in life when I meet one of my best friends, who is not among us anymore, we would watch this many times after going to the gym and sharing a protein rich meal afterwards. He was a great fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger and because of that he decided that we should start smoking cigars like Arnold. This is the direct reason I started smoking cigars. He died 14 years ago due to a roadside bomb. His huge physique was thought to believe to have saved the life of the youngster driving the vehicle. To this date whenever I smoke a Montecristo No. 2 (his favourite cigar) or an ERDM Choix Supreme (we would buy cabinets of 50 of these and share them, smoked a ton of these together) I think of him. Especially the ERDM as the taste just reminds me of him and the vacation we did together in the south of Spain in the summer of 2006. Hunting cigars at the local estancos during the day and pumping iron at the local gym at night.

So if ever I would rate a movie with a perfect score this is it. A clear 10 from me.

[Bill Hayes]

Good to see Apollo Creed being put in his place. "I'll bleed you real slow". And, "What is it Billy"? "There's something in those trees". Ok, yeah, I'm a Billy too but the cutting of the pecs on the log.? Hell, yeah! 

[Doctorossi]

Does what it says on the tin. Good fun, front to back. 8/10.

[Ites]

Haven't seen it in 20ish years but I remember my favorite scene. Arnold kicking down a thin wall of some kind of hut and then just saying "knock knock". As far as I remember it's a great combination of hilarious and action. May have to rewatch it soon. 8/10

[Ford2112]

For the time the special effects were great and it still holds up. The infrared perspective of the predator was awesome. I saw this as a kid in the theater. When Billy says " I wouldn't wish that on a broke dick dog" and Blaine says " this stuff makes Cambodia look like Kansas "!! Great stuff. 

[Cazador]

Arnold lying in the mud is iconic to me. 
 

Check out ‘Prey’ on Hulu for a fun reimagining.

[Chibearsv]

22 hours ago, Chas.Alpha said:

Two U.S. State Governors in the same movie. That normally didn't happen, although I have a feeling it will become much more common...

I don’t envision Pritzger in an action movie anytime soon 😂

Best Jesse line, “I ain’t got time to bleed”

[Chas.Alpha]

3 minutes ago, Chibearsv said:

I don’t envision Pritzger in an action movie anytime soon 😂

Best Jesse line, “I ain’t got time to bleed”

"Got time to duck?..."