Hey everyone. I came across this interview with Michelle Joyner ua-cam.com/video/FUkBMKSjehU/v-deo.html talking about filming this scene. It's really interesting. Thanks for watching my video! Dave
I love Cliffhanger, but I will admit, there's a bit in a later scene where Jesse describes Sarah as someone who could barely climb - and I remember thinking, even as a teen "if she could barely climb, then there's no way she could have climbed that mountain".
This was such an iconic opening, that I am constantly reminded of its parody in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. In one of the funniest sight gags in cinema history, Steve Oedekerk gives us an impossible wide shot of our hero on the wire with neither cliff in the shot. This gives the illusion that the chasm is the size of a small country, and the shot got belly laughs in the theater I saw it in. The film Cliffhanger is a popcorn movie, and serves its purpose with some tense scenes, cat and mouse tropes and action beats with the utter destruction of the villain in the third act. It ain't Kubrick, but is an entertaining entry in the Stallone filmography nonetheless.
Maybe(?) that fall to a green screen looked better in the theater somehow? I remember being entertained by the movie as a whole, and John Lithgow chewing the scenery was enjoyable.
Silly or not I really enjoy this movie. As a kid I also wondered about Frank's grin, but I accepted when my mom said it was propably a stress smile. I really have to watch your video about Killing Eve, only seen the first season so far but I loved it.
As a kid this opening sequence really shocked me and I've remembered it ever since. So best opening ever for me after Die Hard 3 :p That it makes no sense.. I didn't care lol
Totally agree. Is the opening very flawed? Sure. But worst opening ever? No. I barely remember anything about that movie -- but the opening is memorable. And as a lover of movies, more so than be logically flawless (almost no movie is) I want you to be cinematically memorable.
Omg, I had to stop the video because I couldnt stop laughing at the, "...who would tether a helicopter to a mountain...esp in high winds?" That was funny af!
Can’t think of a worse one. It was impossible to suspend disbelief given the ludicrous circumstances of the characters and the incredulous technical scenarios.
This is a great video. The smoke trail does not indicate high winds and you seem to miss the fact that the tent-peg anchor Sly taps into the rock with no effort - like it’s sandstone. And for experienced rock climbers and rescue professionals there is no way that wouldn’t be backed up with another stake or even a loop of wire, rope or webbing going around some solid part of the pinnacle. Now on the other hand, the opening scene of Vertical Limit is a masterpiece!
I forgot to mention in my previous comment. Something that was common knowledge here in Finland to those who saw Renny Harlin movies, is that he liked to hide the Finnish flag somewhere in his movies. Like in this one when the other young guy escapes from the robbers, his parachute has the colors of the flag. You can even see it anachronistically in the background during the carriage chase scene in Cutthroat Island. Too early to even be the similar flag of Neva Yacht Club.
I love your videos, your analysis is usually spot on. But this one just doesn't sit well somehow. Nitpicking a bunch of technical aspects in the intro seems to miss the point. Which was to draw the audiences emotional investment into the main character(s) through crisis. What was great about this was the way they reversed expectation. I mean, it's a Stallone movie, there's a pretty girl in danger and a physical threat to overcome. The rescue seems like a given. All the stupid jokes at the beginning, the ease with which the hero casually free solo's the mountain, and the way these kinds of stories usually unfold tricks the audience into thinking he will save the day and everything will be fine. But he doesn't. And it isn't. The actress they used was perfect. She really sold her terror. Her fall and his failure results in a crushing emotional blow that was supposed to leave the viewer on edge for the rest of the film, wondering what will happen. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is a cookie cutter 90's action movie. Basically 2 hrs of your life wasted. But aside from a few lapses in logical set up, I thought the intro was great.
Seems like that makes the intro a little worse, if it's not even an accurate introduction to the themes or characters of the story. It can be an interesting short film, given the right context, but as an intro for a 2 hour film that has to work with what it sets up? The intro for Die Hard isn't about Mcclane realizing his human limitations and giving the audience an emotional blow; what the intro sets up is what gets worked with the rest of the runtime.
Dear Lord... A couple of years back i rewatched many movies i loved as a dumb kid/teen (10 to ~16). And while i still can enjoy a mindless action movie, especially from the 80s and 90s, internal logic, or any logic at all, seems completely non existent in the majority of these movies. I guess "Turn your brain off and enjoy it" was the get go for the script as well...
I always thought that Hal said "I'm going to sit on my harness." meaning he was going to drop his weight below the doorway of the helicopter, and lower the line at his end, making Sara slide down the line toward him.
they'd just disconnect the wire from the helecopter and leave it in the rock when they left. sending out the harness would presumably just be sliding it down the wire. your arm is in a stretched position, no matter how jacked you are, effectively doing a dumbbell preacher curl with 130lbs like that is not anywhere near as easy as climbing. complaining about 90s cgi is silly. this sets the stakes for it being dangerous, for the conflict with the two good climbers, payoff for forgiveness, creating a reason for the highly competent lead to doubt himself and then overcome that. Cliffhanger was decent, and this is kinda nitpicky. The one legitimate criticism is how did she get up there in the first place.
Do Ghostbusters. Bill Murray shocking the kid. In and of itself, it's not a bad scene. it's like an SNL skit, but he's not a mean person in the movie. It didn't fit. I love a good, out of place, character introduction, and I loved the movie Ghostbusters - a light hearted, entertaining romp with bad CGI, but not bad for the time. It holds up today, but that opening scene. We forgive it, because it's Bill Murray but it's not a good introduction.
Professionel female climber who can manage a peak mountain with the help of a guy but helpless girl if she is on her own. Make sense. Love it. -.- I can't believe how many stupid movies got filmed because of a guy with a name in the buisness.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 - I remember watching this with my parents in the 90's when I was a kid, and I distinctly remember my mother sitting there watching this scene rolling her eyes, saying "Oh brother, this is awful!" and laughing at the absolute stupidity. She left the room and stopped watching after that scene; deciding not to waste any more time. I foolishly kept watching. 🤣
If you cut out the opening sequence entirely, the idea you get about Gabe is that he's a daredevil and a hard case, from that exchange with Hal. Also, we'd get less "happy go-lucky insane free soloing for fun", which should increase the tension of what Gabe does. I think you have a "winner", in that there's a high likelihood the movie would be just plain better without it. Perhaps intersperse parts of it as "flashbacks" in key moments, but don't use the whole thing, and don't lead with it.
Rocky, First Blood, & Copland are'nt just vastly superior movies to ones like Demolition Man, Cliffhanger, and Judge Dredd, But they're great movies when compared to something other than just Stallone's filmography. There is even an interview from when Copland came out where Stallone didn't realize he'd become a meme until he started work on it.
disagree. the opening is perfect for the type of movie this is. after watching almost all your videos i can confidently say you are the type of person who should watch movies alone. a killjoy. you suck the happiness and fun out of a room lolll.
Hey everyone. I came across this interview with Michelle Joyner ua-cam.com/video/FUkBMKSjehU/v-deo.html
talking about filming this scene. It's really interesting.
Thanks for watching my video!
Dave
I love Cliffhanger, but I will admit, there's a bit in a later scene where Jesse describes Sarah as someone who could barely climb - and I remember thinking, even as a teen "if she could barely climb, then there's no way she could have climbed that mountain".
That is why "Nobody's dropping anyone!!!"
Is my go to Stallone impression😂
This was such an iconic opening, that I am constantly reminded of its parody in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. In one of the funniest sight gags in cinema history, Steve Oedekerk gives us an impossible wide shot of our hero on the wire with neither cliff in the shot. This gives the illusion that the chasm is the size of a small country, and the shot got belly laughs in the theater I saw it in. The film Cliffhanger is a popcorn movie, and serves its purpose with some tense scenes, cat and mouse tropes and action beats with the utter destruction of the villain in the third act. It ain't Kubrick, but is an entertaining entry in the Stallone filmography nonetheless.
Sorry to defuse your end gag, Stylone also wrote Rocky
He did indeed. Gotta give credit where credit is due.
This movie was fun entertainment. The opening was great, loved it, I really did and whole bunch of my friends as well.
That grinning fool is too good 😂.
Sarah is 120, tops. Which makes it even more curious that her harness broke. Maybe creepy Frank sabotaged it.
So that's why he was so happy! Mystery solved after all these years!
YES THANK YOU Frank's grin always bugged the hell out of me and no one ever talks about it. Even when Sarah falls he's still grinning
This opening sequence literally traumatized me as a kid. It was effective in a way just not in the way it needed to be.
6:00 You can also CLEARLY see that the wind is perfectly calm due to the smoke gently blowing away.
Maybe(?) that fall to a green screen looked better in the theater somehow? I remember being entertained by the movie as a whole, and John Lithgow chewing the scenery was enjoyable.
Silly or not I really enjoy this movie. As a kid I also wondered about Frank's grin, but I accepted when my mom said it was propably a stress smile.
I really have to watch your video about Killing Eve, only seen the first season so far but I loved it.
13:08 Dude, Frank is still smiling as she's falling to her death
As a kid this opening sequence really shocked me and I've remembered it ever since. So best opening ever for me after Die Hard 3 :p
That it makes no sense.. I didn't care lol
Totally agree. Is the opening very flawed? Sure. But worst opening ever? No. I barely remember anything about that movie -- but the opening is memorable. And as a lover of movies, more so than be logically flawless (almost no movie is) I want you to be cinematically memorable.
You have to suspend belief in order to enjoy these 90’s action movies but boy does this video shred this apart 😂.
@@mattsolik The Room = better movie than Night Swim
Omg, I had to stop the video because I couldnt stop laughing at the, "...who would tether a helicopter to a mountain...esp in high winds?" That was funny af!
He could have injured his knee as soon as he began the climb down. That would make sense given he's just let it cool down at the top.
Frank 😬
Can’t think of a worse one. It was impossible to suspend disbelief given the ludicrous circumstances of the characters and the incredulous technical scenarios.
I'm sure there's worse...this is just in the front of your mind bc you watched a long breakdown.
Heh “suspend” disbelief in Cliffhanger
I think Frank is grimacing rather than smiling? 😬
It's a bit sloppy but gets the job done for a set-up.
This is a great video. The smoke trail does not indicate high winds and you seem to miss the fact that the tent-peg anchor Sly taps into the rock with no effort - like it’s sandstone. And for experienced rock climbers and rescue professionals there is no way that wouldn’t be backed up with another stake or even a loop of wire, rope or webbing going around some solid part of the pinnacle.
Now on the other hand, the opening scene of Vertical Limit is a masterpiece!
I forgot to mention in my previous comment. Something that was common knowledge here in Finland to those who saw Renny Harlin movies, is that he liked to hide the Finnish flag somewhere in his movies. Like in this one when the other young guy escapes from the robbers, his parachute has the colors of the flag. You can even see it anachronistically in the background during the carriage chase scene in Cutthroat Island. Too early to even be the similar flag of Neva Yacht Club.
I totally missed that. And I'm actually like a quarter Finnish!
The original Money Plane. If only Lithgow went by The Rumble.
I love your videos, your analysis is usually spot on. But this one just doesn't sit well somehow. Nitpicking a bunch of technical aspects in the intro seems to miss the point. Which was to draw the audiences emotional investment into the main character(s) through crisis. What was great about this was the way they reversed expectation. I mean, it's a Stallone movie, there's a pretty girl in danger and a physical threat to overcome. The rescue seems like a given. All the stupid jokes at the beginning, the ease with which the hero casually free solo's the mountain, and the way these kinds of stories usually unfold tricks the audience into thinking he will save the day and everything will be fine. But he doesn't. And it isn't. The actress they used was perfect. She really sold her terror. Her fall and his failure results in a crushing emotional blow that was supposed to leave the viewer on edge for the rest of the film, wondering what will happen. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is a cookie cutter 90's action movie. Basically 2 hrs of your life wasted. But aside from a few lapses in logical set up, I thought the intro was great.
Seems like that makes the intro a little worse, if it's not even an accurate introduction to the themes or characters of the story. It can be an interesting short film, given the right context, but as an intro for a 2 hour film that has to work with what it sets up? The intro for Die Hard isn't about Mcclane realizing his human limitations and giving the audience an emotional blow; what the intro sets up is what gets worked with the rest of the runtime.
I agree. If this intro doesn't serve the rest of the movie, that's a failure of the rest of the movie. Not of this intro.
The intro itself misses the point. How does a woman who is so nervous climb that high to begin with?
Dear Lord... A couple of years back i rewatched many movies i loved as a dumb kid/teen (10 to ~16). And while i still can enjoy a mindless action movie, especially from the 80s and 90s, internal logic, or any logic at all, seems completely non existent in the majority of these movies.
I guess "Turn your brain off and enjoy it" was the get go for the script as well...
It's a fun popcorn movie, cheap entertainment. I like it.
Enjoy a movie without being defensive when someone criticizes it, difficulty level "UA-cam Comments"
You should compare this scene to the spoof of it in Ace Ventura 2.
LOL How did I fail to mention that here? Total face palm
This was on TV1 in Australia every 3-6 months and It's a great mid day TV movie I love it
I always thought that Hal said "I'm going to sit on my harness." meaning he was going to drop his weight below the doorway of the helicopter, and lower the line at his end, making Sara slide down the line toward him.
...That would make sense, actually.
they'd just disconnect the wire from the helecopter and leave it in the rock when they left. sending out the harness would presumably just be sliding it down the wire. your arm is in a stretched position, no matter how jacked you are, effectively doing a dumbbell preacher curl with 130lbs like that is not anywhere near as easy as climbing. complaining about 90s cgi is silly. this sets the stakes for it being dangerous, for the conflict with the two good climbers, payoff for forgiveness, creating a reason for the highly competent lead to doubt himself and then overcome that. Cliffhanger was decent, and this is kinda nitpicky. The one legitimate criticism is how did she get up there in the first place.
Do Ghostbusters. Bill Murray shocking the kid. In and of itself, it's not a bad scene. it's like an SNL skit, but he's not a mean person in the movie. It didn't fit. I love a good, out of place, character introduction, and I loved the movie Ghostbusters - a light hearted, entertaining romp with bad CGI, but not bad for the time. It holds up today, but that opening scene. We forgive it, because it's Bill Murray but it's not a good introduction.
Meryl Dixon's leg is fine! His hand however... :(
I thought the intro from the original script (which I read when working at Orion in the early 90s) was pretty good.
Cliffhanger is the most 80s movie... and it didn't even come out in the 80s
So many ridiculous climbing scenes in this movie.
Professionel female climber who can manage a peak mountain with the help of a guy but helpless girl if she is on her own. Make sense. Love it. -.-
I can't believe how many stupid movies got filmed because of a guy with a name in the buisness.
she wasn't a professional female climber, they make reference to her being a complete novice later in the movie.
Just discovered this channel and love it,keep up the great work!
🙏😃
How did you not mention the Ace Ventura parody?
lol massive blunder on my part
As much as I love them, a lot of 90s action sequences did require a lot of suspension of belief.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 - I remember watching this with my parents in the 90's when I was a kid, and I distinctly remember my mother sitting there watching this scene rolling her eyes, saying "Oh brother, this is awful!" and laughing at the absolute stupidity. She left the room and stopped watching after that scene; deciding not to waste any more time. I foolishly kept watching. 🤣
You're taking a 90's action movie way too seriously 😂
If you cut out the opening sequence entirely, the idea you get about Gabe is that he's a daredevil and a hard case, from that exchange with Hal. Also, we'd get less "happy go-lucky insane free soloing for fun", which should increase the tension of what Gabe does. I think you have a "winner", in that there's a high likelihood the movie would be just plain better without it. Perhaps intersperse parts of it as "flashbacks" in key moments, but don't use the whole thing, and don't lead with it.
Cliffhanger is silly but fun, but the opening sequence was always terrible, even without analyzing it as deeply as you did.
Never saw this film and now I never will.
Got to be one of the most memorable opening sequences, if that counts for anything.
ρгό𝔪σŞｍ
Well that's like your opinion
How much has Schwarzenegger paid you to do this video? Cliffhanger is a cult movie, you can nitpick all you want
My man, you're overthinking too much. It's stallone movie, lean back and enjoy.
Rocky, First Blood, & Copland are'nt just vastly superior movies to ones like Demolition Man, Cliffhanger, and Judge Dredd, But they're great movies when compared to something other than just Stallone's filmography. There is even an interview from when Copland came out where Stallone didn't realize he'd become a meme until he started work on it.
@@a6am3mn0nCopland is excellent. Reptile with Benicio Del Toro tackles a similar subject enjoyably.
disagree. the opening is perfect for the type of movie this is. after watching almost all your videos i can confidently say you are the type of person who should watch movies alone. a killjoy. you suck the happiness and fun out of a room lolll.
why so triggered?
never saw killing eve don't plan on it. I disagree with your hatred of Cliffhanger