Devastating Deliveries (unpacked) in anticlimatic

Thanks for always being there, Doc.

This is not a reference to Doc Brown, although the scene where Marty thanks Doc and they hug at the end of the first one, outside the clock tower, is one of my favorite moments of their friendship.

This line verbatim is from Tombstone, as the last words of Wyatt Earp to Doc Holiday, after Doc forces him to leave so he can die in peace, alone. A constant theme in what chokes me up, due to what matters to me in my own life, is gestures of male friendship. Brotherliness- familial, or just very close friendship. Gestures of loyalty, consistency, commitment- from men, also get me going.

This line in particular. What else does one say, to a best friend, in the last moment you have to say something to them? It’s that. Because that’s what friendship is, really. Showing up. Consistently. That’s the value of real friends. And that’s the level of absolute loss in their passing.

My friends, you bow to no one.

Return Of The King, the very end where Aragorn pauses in his tour of letting everyone bow to him, to bow down to the hobbits and force everyone else to follow suit. What gets me about this one, aside from the sweeping music and the looks of timid pride on the faces of the Hobbits who have just saved the world with their pluck and goodness, is how appropriate a gesture Aragorn The Perfect bestowed on them.

There is just something about healthy masculinity, when it defies conventional stereotypes, that is just so beautiful and meaningful that it is worth some tears. To hold superior strength and superior cunning, and subjugate it to the smallest, kindest, and most vulnerable creatures around them, is healthy masculinity to a T. And Aragorn, as we all know, is a veritable fountain of this.

I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Del’s tear-jerker inducing retort to Steve Martin absolutely laying waste to John Candy’s more aggravating personality traits, that he happened to be sensitive about.

I find myself relating to both of these men in this scene, in both the good and the bad, and I find it surprisingly representative of a very large portion of how I see myself, how I see others, and how I see others seeing myself.

By the end of the scene I empathize with John for the realization that people don’t like you necessarily, in fact maybe you’re downright annoying to them. I empathize with feeling judged. But then I also empathize with Steve, with judging people harshly- with lashing out like an absolute Jerk, hurting their feelings, and feeling terrible about it. It’s a devastation from both ends.

But then I also feel the humility on the heels of that guilt and the warmth of heart that comes with it, and I also feel the confidant disregard of other people’s negative opinions. Because I do have compassion for people, actually. I’m not a jerk. I like me, in fact. And it concludes itself, in some way, healed.

Look at him! That’s my brother goddamnit!

This one really kills me, as the oldest of 4 siblings- 2 of them brothers. This is a line from the end of Backdraft. Kurt Russel, who is dying from a mortal wound in a burning chemical plant, is watching his little brother go to work as a fireman. After doing nothing but challenge him, ride him, mock him, discourage him his entire life- as an older brother will tend to do out of some combination of brotherly playfulness and competition- his last living gesture is to finally be honest. Look at him! That’s my brother goddamnit! But what he is actually saying, of course, as the last thing he will have an opportunity to say, is Look at my little brother. I’m so proud of him.

I’m the bad guy? I did everything they told me to do.

Falling Down. Kurt Douglas says this at the very end, once Robert Duvall has his gun trained on him. This one is just incredibly sad. I don’t feel compelled to weep in the face of some deep unashamed Truth, but rather mourn a certain spirit of American faith in institutions. It’s just an awful reminder that even if you do the right thing, do what they tell you to do, there’s no guarantee to life, liberty, and happiness. In fact, it’s often only the worst and most vile people that manage to take those things- often away from others.