A Few Silent Men

February 25, 2015 4:40 AM

A Few Silent Men. The courtroom scene from A Few Good Men, but without dialogue.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates (16 comments total)

I love the random Tom Cruise freakout in the middle.
posted by freshwater at 5:39 AM on February 25, 2015

Whenever I see a video like this where the dialogue has been edited out, I think of this passage from The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience:

[T]wo subjects, S-7 and S-8, were participants in a group session. Previous to the session these two men had only a nodding acquaintance. But during the session they sat across a table from one another and communicated "psychedelically," later feeling that many thousands of words had been interchanged (although aware that spoken words had been few). They considered this "conversation" the most meaningful, interesting and important of their lives. The interchange, although brief when written down, consumed one-half to three-quarters of an hour and went approximately as follows:

S-7: Smiles at S-8
S-8: Nods vigorously in response.
S-7: Slowly scratches his head.
S-8: Waves one finger before his nose.
S-7: "Tides."
S-8: "Of course."
S-7: Points a finger at S-8.
S-8: Touches a finger to his temple.
S-7: "And the way?"
S-8: "We try."
S-7: "Holy waters."
S-8: Makes some strange apparent sign of benediction over his own head and then makes the same sign toward S-7.
S-7: "Amen."
S-8: "Amen."

posted by aparrish at 5:40 AM on February 25, 2015 [26 favorites]

It's amazing how Tom Cruise can overact while standing perfectly still and not saying anything. Even Nicholson apparently has to do something to really crank it over the line.
posted by Etrigan at 5:45 AM on February 25, 2015 [4 favorites]

Fantastic.
posted by maggiemaggie at 6:14 AM on February 25, 2015

I love the sudden side-eye at 1:30.

But also - same courtroom scene with dialogue, but with dogs instead.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:26 AM on February 25, 2015 [4 favorites]

Haha, how great, aparrish. I wonder if I'm reaching too far to think I actually might understand the something like gist of what they were communicating (to the extent it means anything to say you can understand that kind of interaction in a sober state), having had some similar experiences myself.
posted by Drexen at 6:51 AM on February 25, 2015

Published on 23 Feb 2015

You want the dialogue? You can't handle the dialogue.

Nice one.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:21 AM on February 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

I did this with an NFL game once for an art installation. I removed all the parts where the ball was actually in play. It was still more than two hours long.
posted by goatdog at 7:52 AM on February 25, 2015 [4 favorites]

Seems like the perfect time to share Tywin Lannister's Dinner Party. I think this one really manages to capture a serious feeling of awkward discomfort.
posted by evilangela at 8:26 AM on February 25, 2015 [5 favorites]

 
posted by procrastination at 9:13 AM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

(I love Kevin Bacon's swaggery-sauntery strut up to the podium at the beginning of this clip. And I'd forgotten about Christopher Guest! (Noah Wyle with a buzzcut, too!))

I saw the movie for the first time on long flight, back when there was just one big screen at the front of each cabin and you had to pay $5 for the airline headphones if you wanted sound. This was surprisingly soon after the movie had come out, and easily the majority of the plane was watching. Right when Colonel Jessup yells "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRU-," our pilot took over the PA system -- leaving the video running -- and began to talk amiably about the pleasant altitude at which we were cruising, the current weather at our destination, etc..

There was practically a mutiny. If someone in first class had ordered a Code Red, any one of us might have done it. By the time the pilot finished his spiel, three of the flight attendants were working frantically to try to rewind the tape player back to this scene, but none of them could get it to work.

I, and 150 of my fellow passengers, will never forgive you, Captain William H. O'Butterschmidt of United flight 2373 from BOS to SFO on January 8, 1993. NEVER.
posted by argonauta at 10:27 AM on February 25, 2015 [10 favorites]

argonauta, the same thing happened to me but with Million Dollar Baby. Right at the emotionally climactic scene at the end, where Clint Eastwood finally tells Hilary Swank what Mo Chúisle means, just as he began to speak the pilot cut in and talked just long enough to destroy the film.
posted by Lokheed at 10:42 AM on February 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

The sound cut out while we were watching Snakes on a Plane in the theater. The audience was strangely okay with that. In fact a few enterprising people started making up dialog and filling in.
posted by Foosnark at 11:53 AM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

That was way more hilarious than I expected. Love the bits where someone looks like they are about to talk only to be ruthlessly side-eyed back into silence. Also Kevin Bacon has a champion smirk.
posted by arha at 1:35 PM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

This is basically how our government wishes we would perceive FISA proceedings, correct?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:50 PM on February 25, 2015

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE MUTE
posted by NedKoppel at 8:12 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]