Know Your Own Bone

Summer 2010 has begun and an interesting pastime has suddenly hit my weekday life: themed movie marathons with friends. (Is this an L.A. thing?) Though we rent a good amount of movies for each marathon, we often only get through 2-3. I’ve noticed that each friend pushes a theme related to his/her area of interest. For instance, Ian Sefferman (our computer programmer) pushes computer-themed movies like Antitrust (2001), Hackers (1995) and WarGames (1983).

I push for movies with great museum scenes. It’s hard to find a good list of these online, so I want to share some of my obvious and not-so-obvious museum-scene favorites (in descending order from release date):

1) Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) – Intent-to-Touch (I.T.T.) scene. Museum security (Jonah Hill) gives Larry (Ben Stiller) a hilariously hard time when Larry looks like he is about to touch an exhibit. “It’s the United States of Don’t-Touch-That-Thing-Right-In-Front-Of-You!”

2) Hitch (2005) – The First Date scene. Alex Hitchens (Will Smith) surprises Sara Melas (Eva Mendes) with a sweet first date tour of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum (with a silly twist at the end of the clip). “You can’t really know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.” “…Kinda deep for a first date, don’t you think?”

3) The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) - Returning the Painting scene. Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan) returns a stolen Monet to the museum in a slick method inspired by Magritte’s famous paining, The Son of Man. This famous scene is awesome– but it’s also a spoiler, so don’t watch it if you intend to see the movie (which I recommend).

4. Ghostbusters 2 (1989) – Visiting Vigo scene. The Ghostbusters surprise museum staff members when they visit under the suspicion that the place is haunted, and Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) conducts an animated photo-shoot with Vigo the Cruel/Torturer/Despised/Unholy.

5. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) - The Art Institute of Chicago scene. Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane (Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, and Mia Sara) visit The Art Institute of Chicago during their famous day off. The shots feature some of John Hughes favorite pieces in the museum.

6. Manhattan (1979) – The Art Museum scene. Isaac (Woody Allen) just cannot get it right in this classic film.

7. Play it Again, Sam (1972) - Depressed Museum-Girl scene. Woody Allen does it again! After meeting several silly women, Allan (Woody Allen) decides to visit the art museum in hopes of meeting a more ‘intellectual’ girl to date. It isn’t quite the romantic connection he’d hoped for.“…What about Friday night?”

8. Vertigo (1958) – Madelein in The Painting scene. In this haunting Alfred Hitchcock film, John “Scottie” Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart) is asked to investigate Madeleine (Kim Novak), who believes herself to be the reincarnation of a deceased woman. When seen in the context of the film, this scene in incredibly eerie and haunting.

For more famous movie scenes featuring museums, check out these films:

• When in Rome (2010)
• The International (2009)
• The DaVinci Code (2006)
• National Treasure (2004)
• Batman (1989)
• Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Dressed to Kill (1980)
• The Hot Rock (1972)
• How to Steal a Million (1966)
• Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Please comment below to add movies to this list!