July 23, 2019

"You'll be all right now, I know it w- AAAAAAAAAAAAA..."



"David Hedison, who starred in the original sci-fi classic 'The Fly' [1958] and appeared in two James Bond films, has died. He was 92" (Fox News).

ADDED: "Help me!" (Spoiler alert):

67 comments:

Fernandinande said...

I hate it when that happens.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

And "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" with Richard Basehart and David Hedison!

If I'm not mistaken it was on Sunday night along with "Land of the Giants" and I was laying on the shag carpet as close to the TV as my Mom would allow.

traditionalguy said...

First impressions are everything.

Darrell said...

You are correct, Annie C.

Rob said...

Until now I never realized how racist “The Fly” was. Look at me, Ma, I’m woke!

Lucid-Ideas said...

He's terrorizing angels now. God speed.

Darrell said...

The scene where Hedison is a fly in the garden with a fly-size human head pleading "Help me!" is more disturbing. It's cut short by Vincent Price's shoe, though.

Ann Althouse said...

"The scene where Hedison is a fly in the garden with a fly-size human head pleading "Help me!" is more disturbing. It's cut short by Vincent Price's shoe, though."

Yes, that's what I wanted before I got distracted by the "head scene."

Fernandinande said...

According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, his problem with the teleportation device was probably the result of a failure to reflect on his own identity, positions, and beliefs in regards to racist and sorting-based mechanisms.

Ann Althouse said...

"The scene where Hedison is a fly in the garden with a fly-size human head pleading "Help me!" is more disturbing. It's cut short by Vincent Price's shoe, though."

I added the scene. It's actually not Vincent Price and not a shoe. Price just looks on. It's very disturbing. After I watched it just now, I felt sick. The terror of that poor man's situation. It's not as thought the full-sized humans don't notice him anymore (as in "The Incredible Shrinking Man"). They see him clearly and empathize deeply. They crush him to spare him a more painful death.

narciso said...

Interesting the original film was set in france, yes the science was dubious.

Fernandinande said...

It's cut short by Vincent Price's shoe, though.

No, it was a rock and that other guy.

Wince said...

Here's an interview with Hedison where @1:19 he describes how he passionately pleaded for progressive make-up for the Fly rather than a mask.

Mr. Forward said...

Orange fly bad.

Wince said...

They see him clearly and empathize deeply. They crush him to spare him a more painful death.

Why didn't they just kill the spider? Burn it with a cigarette, they all smoked back then.

Ann Althouse said...

"Why didn't they just kill the spider? Burn it with a cigarette, they all smoked back then."

They could have grabbed the spider with their hand! What sissies!

jnseward said...

Scariest movie I ever saw.

madAsHell said...

Sunday night along with "Land of the Giants" and I was laying on the shag carpet as close to the TV as my Mom would allow.

On the west coast, "Voyage" came on at 7:30PM, and was followed by "Gaints" at 8:30PM. My bedtime was 9PM, and I always missed the second half of "Giants".

....and yes!! Don't sit too close to the TV! If you asked why, they always answered BECAUSE!!

Darrell said...

You are correct. I haven't seen the movie since I was a kid. And that was a loooong time ago. You jogged my memory.

bagoh20 said...

I loved that movie as a kid, but I think the newer version is more interesting with more side stories that still haunt me like: the broken arm wrestling, the sex, the baby maggot, and of course the dreaded penis in the medicine cabinet. The special effects in the new version are disappointing though. The overuse of silicone rubber at the end is distracting. Still, I enjoyed it more than most remakes.

Maillard Reactionary said...

I was taking a math course at night years ago, back when lecturers still used overhead projectors and transparency film. One night a small insect got underneath the film and was moving about while the instructor tried to continue going through the algebra on the film while trying to brush the critter away, not realizing the insect was not on the top.

While this was going on, the guy next to me started up with "Help meee, please hellllp meeeee..." I cracked up and starting laughing like I hadn't done during class since 7th grade, trying to stifle myself.

Good times.

richlb said...

The intent wasn't to kill the spider, but to kill the fly/human.

richlb said...

The Fly and The Thing were both horror remakes in the early 80s that transcended the originals.

Quaestor said...

Vincent Price says something (Zut!) which is totally obscured by the dummm! of the soundtrack. That always frustrates me when I view that famous clip.

One must assume that as the fly-headed man lost parts of its humanity the man-headed fly gained those same attributes leaving a hole in the plot. An interesting movie none the less.

I saw Hedison via Vudu streaming last week in The Enemy Below. Great flick. He was sometimes billed as Al Hedison, BTW.

'TreHammer said...

Scariest movie I ever saw? Ray Milan’s in “Man with the XRay Eyes”. To escape the anguish of always seeing light, Ray Miland’s character plucks out his own eyes. Rumor has it that the original ending has the actor screaming “I can still see!” after plucking out his eyes. The original was judged to be too disturbing so the final dialogue was dropped.😎

'TreHammer said...

What is the reference, above, of “Voyage to the bottom of the Sea”

Tom T. said...

I just looked it up, and the 1958 Fly movie is set in Canada. Perhaps the poor guy could have been saved if it hadn't taken so long to get in to see the doctor.

Quaestor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Quaestor said...

They could have grabbed the spider with their hand! What sissies!

The post-modern pronoun malfunction strikes! Forget Gojira and its city-stomping tootsies, a minor annoyance compared to that man-made monster.

(typos fixed)

Ann Althouse said...

"I loved that movie as a kid, but I think the newer version is more interesting with more side stories that still haunt me like: the broken arm wrestling, the sex, the baby maggot, and of course the dreaded penis in the medicine cabinet. The special effects in the new version are disappointing though. The overuse of silicone rubber at the end is distracting. Still, I enjoyed it more than most remakes."

The Jeff Goldblum "Fly" is one of my all-time favorite movies.

bagoh20 said...

The ending of the original is pure genius. It's leaves you deeply disturbed and makes the whole film unforgettable.

Ann Althouse said...

"The post-modern pronoun malfunction strikes! Forget Gojira and its city-stomping tootsies, a minor annoyance compared to that man-made monster."

No, I'm referring to 2 men, each of whom would have employed one hand if he'd undertaken to pick the spider out of the web.

It's like saying: The teacher told the students they needed to use their head.

"They" for the group, and "head" is properly singular.

I follow this rule, which I learned long ago, all the time on this blog. There are hundreds of examples. I know, because I'm often prodded to do a correction and have to say this is that rule I follow consistently. I learned the rule back when I was in junior high school.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

they should do another remake of the horror film "The Fly"

... but this time about Bill Clinton's pants.

desperate cries of "Help me!!" from Brodderick, Jones, Willey, Millwee

Yancey Ward said...

I loved the original "The Fly", and I loved the remake even more, which is almost a unique thing- though the commenter above is correct that "The Thing" remake is also superior to the original.

I didn't even know Hedison was still alive. When I think of him, though, it isn't "The Fly", it is "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." I saw it in the mid to late 70s when it was in syndication- it would run between 5 and 6 p.m.

robother said...

Obviously, the Doctor was one of those guys in Rock, Paper, Scissors who always plays rock.

Fernandinande said...

The teacher told the students to use their head.
The teacher told the students to shake their head.
The teacher told the students to raise their hand.

Those are all wrong.

richlb said...

Fun fact - the 80s remake was produced by Mel Brooks' company.

Yancey Ward said...

"Obviously, the Doctor was one of those guys in Rock, Paper, Scissors who always plays rock."

What beats Rock? Nothing beats Rock!

Quaestor said...

It's like saying: The teacher told the students they needed to use their head.

"They" for the group, and "head" is properly singular.


Which is entirely metaphorical, unless the students have appointed someone to be their head, as in leader or representative. Or some other usage of head that can be jointly possessed, as in toilet. However, Althouse's use was not metaphorical but literal — the men should use their hands to remove the spider and save the fly-guy. Hands, they don't jointly possess a hand.

Really, the counter to my critique reads like a verbal squirm. I'm always right and modern misusage is perfect. Althouse would have been a zealous editor of the Ingsoc official dictionary.

Yancey Ward said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yancey Ward said...

Ms. Althouse wins this debate. Let's just take the sentence about students quoted above:

"The teacher tells the students to raise their hand" vs "The teacher tells the students to raise their hands".

The second sentence makes it sound like the teacher is telling the students to raise both hands, and that isn't the general meaning.

Look, subject/object agreement is a tough nut to write a rule for, and those two examples are why it isn't nearly as cut and dried as subject/verb agreement.

Yancey Ward said...

The alternate example, is the opposite, though

"The teacher tells the students to shake their head" and "The teacher tells the students to shake their heads". There, since the students each have only one head, I would say "heads" is correct. However, if you go even deeper, it might matter what the head shaking is supposed to be in response to- are students responding as a group, or as individuals? The entire context is required to get it right.

cassandra lite said...

After seeing "The Fly" at a screening, Rod Serling, who was at the time furiously writing scripts for the Twilight Zone before production began on the first season, wrote to his older brother, Bob, that he "must, must, must see it."

effinayright said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
effinayright said...

It's cut short by Vincent Price's shoe, though.
**************

The Count on Sesame Street once referred to him as:

"Vincent Twice. Vincent Twice."

Quaestor said...

Ms. Althouse wins this debate. Let's just take the sentence about students quoted above...

No, she does not. The sentence in question was not "The teacher told the students they needed to use their head". It was "They could have grabbed the spider with their hand!"

The first is a clumsy metaphor for joint reasoning. The second is a conjectural statement of a possible literal action involving a literal appendage. A dicephalous set of conjoined twins like Abigail and Brittney Hensel can jointly possess a hand. (Though even this is debatable in light of the Hensel Twins anatomical realities) However, the characters in the scene under consideration do not.

Yancey Ward said...

She wins even then, Quaestor, and for the reason she described- the two men won't be grabbing the spider jointly, and neither will do it with two hands- only one of them would be acting, and only with a single hand. This is why there is no general rule in such situations- such a rule would make no sense in a lot of situations. This isn't subject/verb.

Quaestor said...

This isn't subject/verb.

Again you mistake the issue, it's modifier/noun.

Quaestor said...

Either the men jointly possess a hand or the sentence is grammatically flawed.

Quaestor said...

It's logically flawed as well. Two men witness the scene, but only one may complete the needed action. They don't need to cooperate.

Fernandinande said...

"Would all those in favour please raise their hands?"

English & Grammar, Grade 3
"Players can use their heads or their hands."

raise (one's) hand
"Literally, to hold one's hand in the air. This phrase is typically used in academic settings, as students raise their hands to indicate that they want to answer or ask a question."

Heh.

Rick.T. said...

Blogger Annie C. said...

And "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" with Richard Basehart and David Hedison!
______________________

My senior brain seems to remember my adolescent self pleading with my parents to switch over from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to one of the The Beatles appearances on Ed Sullivan.

Quaestor said...

The industrialist doesn't smash the fly-man with a boulder, the police inspector does that on his own with HIS hands, and that is vitally important to the plot. It is the inspector's sole responsibility for the death of the fly-man which saves the widowed mother from institutionalization as a one criminally insane.

Fernandinande said...

Either the men jointly possess a hand or the sentence is grammatically flawed.

We were correct, or at least, we agree with dictionaries, including Cambridge. But it's just words, so it's just a game.

Quaestor said...

And "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" with Richard Basehart and David Hedison!

A bit google exploration reveals that Mad magazine satirized that show as Voyage to See What's on the Bottom.

Quaestor said...

Fernandistein, I notice we both use the image of a well-known "problem child" as an avatar. I wonder if that's significant?

madAsHell said...

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to one of the The Beatles appearances on Ed Sullivan.

It all happened on a Sunday night!

Rabel said...

"Welcome to OED Online. If you or your library subscribes, dive straight in to the riches of the English language."

"subscribes" Right or wrong it's from the OED.

Quaestor said...

"subscribes" Right or wrong it's from the OED.

It's correct (but whoever wrote that doesn't consistently use Oxford commas). There are understood or implied words in English, such as Pay taxes, a sentence without an explicit subject, but nevertheless complete. In this case, there is an understood or implied verb matching the second person subordinate clause subject.

To test this let's reverse the order. If your library or you subscribe, dive straight into the riches of the English language. See? If the verb was formed to agree with the third person subject, which already has an implied verb, then the sentence would be ungrammatical.

Quaestor said...

Many people, myself included, have a tendency to make their verbs agree with the nearest preceding noun, which is often correct, but complex sentences can have the subject noun rather remotely situated from its verb. German is particularly sadistic in this regard. There's an anecdote about Otto von Bismarck sitting in the gallery of the Reichstag with an English journalist. A deputy is making a long statement containing some references to the Minister-President coupled with some unflattering adjectives. The journalist wonders why Bismarck shows little reaction to what is being said about him, to which the great politician says "I am waiting for the verb."

Anthony said...

Yeah, I knew him best from VTTBOTS. Great show when I was a kid. And a couple of Bond films. But mostly VTTBOTS.

He wasn't in the original movie, but Barbara Eden was and O.M.F.G.

madAsHell said...

The journalist wonders why Bismarck shows little reaction to what is being said about him, to which the great politician says "I am waiting for the verb."

What comes between fear, and sex??

Funf!!

bagoh20 said...

Speaking of incomplete human transformations, here is a quote from a trending story today. Notice the last two words.

"On the radio program Tuesday, Glenn Beck and producer Stu Burguiere talked about Jessica Yaniv, a transgender woman in Canada who has filed at least 16 human rights complaints against female salon workers for declining to wax her male genitals.

Over the past year, Yaniv has filed complaints with British Columbia's Human Rights Tribunal against several female aestheticians, many of whom are single mothers and immigrants, accusing them of discrimination against a transgender person because they would not wax her scrotum. ~ The Blaze

Quaestor said...

What comes between fear, and sex??

And another keyboard bites the dust.

Quaestor said...

And a couple of Bond films.

I remember one, Licence to Kill, but could think of another. Visited IMDB.com and didn't find another 007 acting credit.

Anthony said...

Live and Let Die.

Quaestor said...

And you are correct!