Montages

Straight off a painful Celtics loss in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals, I was ready for bed, but it turns out that Grey’s Anatomy is running a 2 hour spectacular tonight. So instead I blog…

Anyways, in the brief experiences I have had with Grey’s Anatomy, I have come to the conclusion that the entire show is just a prelude for the last 5 minutes, which is invariably a montage with some breathy song (breathy means it sounds like the singer is always out of breath). This is not a knock on Grey’s Anatomy, I have actually noticed that a lot of successful dramas have exploited this in the past decade or so. Two that come to the top of my head are Rescue Me and The Sopranos (which probably popularized the idea in TV shows).

I thought I would contribute my top 5 list of my favorite montages. Here, montage is defined in the truest sense of the word, as a series of scenes stiched together with one overarching song (which is somewhat different than the Grey’s Anatomy usage). Anyways, I created a more extensive list a while back when I was in college, so hopefully I can remember most of them:

Honorable Mention: Predator

Scene: When Arnold is preparing to fight the Predator.

Song: Unknown

Comment: This isn’t really a true montage, which is why it isn’t on the list (it is set to the movie score, not the movie soundtrack). But I couldn’t leave it off, because it is just so awesome. They play this one at Celtics games on the Jumbotron when the Celts need a big comeback, and it always gets the crowd fired up. True story: one time I was at a Lakers game with my buddy Mike, and The Governator was actually in the house. To their credit, they broke out the Predator montage and then quickly cut to Arnold sitting stone faced courtside with his wife after it was over. The place went completely ballistic, but Arnold just sat there. I guess he realizes he’s a bad-ass. To be honest, he was more interested in the cheerleaders at halftime and the antics of Celtics erstwhile mascot Lucky and his silly-string.

5. Revenge of the Nerds.

Scene:  The scene when they clean up their house.

Song: ”One Foot In Front Of The Other” by Bone Symphony.

Comment: I always enjoyed infomercials for products like Armor All where you take a wipe and convert a junkmobile into a brand new Trans Am or something. This is like that, only with a house and Bone Symphony.

4.  (tie) Karate Kid.

Scene: All Valley Karate Championship

Song: You’re the Best Around, by Joe Esposito

Comment: Classic. Gotta have it.  Bonus points for Daniel-san fighting Lamar from No. 5 on this list.

4. (tie) Teen Wolf

Scene: Beavers vs. Wolves

Song: Win in the End, by Mark Safan

Comment: I have Wolf Fever, and the only prescription is more fat guys shooting baby hooks.

3.  Tecmo Super Bowl

Scene: Opening montage

Song: Unknown.

Comment: Enjoyable at the very least because it clearly re-enacts LT destroying Joe Theisman’s knees.

2. Scarface
Scene: Push it to the Limit

Song: Push it to the Limit, by Corbin Bleu

Comment: A drug trafficking training montage. I like it when Tony shows the people his tiger. I think upon doing a similar thing to guests with my cat when they come over.

1. Rocky III

Scene: Apollo and Rocky training montage

Song: Eye of the Tiger, by Survivor.

Comment: The montage against which all other montages are judged. Everything that needs to be said about this montage – the song, the scenes, the homo-eroticism – has already been said many times so I won’t rehash. But know that Grey’s Anatomy owes a debt of gratitude to the visonaries who forged this montage over 25 years ago.