People underestimate the acting chops required for Christopher Lloyd to convey so much while saying so little. From facial expressions to miscellaneous actions, he really made this character.
Christoper Lloyd mentioned after filming this scene that the actor playing Gunther became so terrified of him that he wouldnt even approach him on set and would hide from him
+Kyle Kraus yeah he was even so frightened even when he was out of make up i mean i too if i was young id be scared too because i used to get easily scared of unexpected things.
Christopher Lloyd is an amazing actor and he scared the hell outta me when i saw this movie on VHS his character Switchblade Sam is a frightening character. And thats the beauty of acting you can explore the inner dark side of you and think how would your antagonist behave and how would he treat people think of motivations on why he is bad individual what made him a villain. Christopher Lloyd really brought it all the way with this character.
Perfect introduction of a bad guy with the crushing of the flowers under the leather boots and the way Christopher’s movements contrast the suburban atmosphere really perfect visual communication introducing this character in a minute and a half we know everything we need to know about this guy including the fact that he is willing to steal from a kid. Movies today fail to take advantage of these artistic opportunities to make a character memorable in films these days. The 90’s really where a gold age for motion picture
Films were great from the mid and late 1800s when the concept of film started appearing, though in very limited fashion. End of the century started exploring it properly, and by the start of the 1900s we actually had cinemas, though small ones. Everything from 2000 and til today has rapidly been killed off in terms of people remembering it. Films, series, comics, games.... it's either loaded with politics and stuff telling US viewers/gamers/customers we're shit, or it's just so bland it's just painful to see. It's become stagnant and boring. It's so depressing.
As a kid, he was the creepiest, most disgusting guy I'd ever seen! I'm 18 now and I still haven't come across anyone worse than him, even in other movies! Whoever did his makeup did one hell of a job, I'll tell ya.
What I especially love about this movie's "Kid vs Bad-Guy" dynamic is how, despite this trope being so shamelessly derivative of Home Alone - ESPECIALLY between '90 and '95 or so! (Not to mention both this film and Home Alone being written by John Hughes), there's more than enough different with how it's handled in Dennis the Menace to make it feel unique. The most important change, as far as I'm concerned, was that, unlike Harry and Marv, THIS guy is made to feel like a LEGIT potential threat. He's filthy and grimy, unscrupulous and undiscerning of how he picks his targets - he's a pure opportunist, which makes him come off as unpredictable and perhaps capable of almost anything. (again, this is in contrast to Harry and Marv who, by the time the movie begins, have already been casing the McCalisters' entire block for several days, or maybe even weeks. Harry has have even gone to the trouble and considerable risk of getting a HIGHLY realistic cop uniform so Harry can wander in the open totally unquestioned while he learned and memorized all the houses and their features.). And add to that the fact that he openly carries a switchknife around with the blade exposed seemingly all the time, and his absurdly high confidence in strutting about in an area where his sheer visual contrast clashes SO MUCH with literally EVERY SINGLE aspect of Dennis' neighborhood, that he looks EXTREMELY conspicuous just going for a quick exploratory walk around town. And EVEN WHEN TALKING TO A COP, who can already see right through him, he STILL has the balls to surreptitiously make off with some woman's purse that'd caught his eye before the cop showed up. Altogether, these traits add up to Lloyd's character being surprisingly VERY unnerving! Finally, has anyone else ever noticed this character never EVER reveals his name??
I always thought he was teasing the poor kid cause that’s what my family used to do to me occasionally. They’d steal my favourite food and go “mmmm, this is so good!” and smack their lips in front of my face, and hold the food out of my reach. The angrier I got, the more they laughed! 😡
+slowfaller Yes, Mr. Wilson was right. Disappointment will be a big part of his life where first he was tricked by Mr. Wilson that his father was going to treat him for ice cream, then probably his dad said that he never said he would take him for ice cream which probably disappointed him, and now he got robbed from his apple while giving a surprised disappointed face, especially after Switchblade Sam walked away, Gunther's face was like "that's not fair, he stole my apple."
Everything about this scene is so good. The way Christopher Lloyd walks down the alley, the way he speaks to Gunther, how shiny and red the apple is, Gunther's acting. Just so on point, I need to watch this movie again ASAP.
When I first saw this movie as a kid thought Christopher Lloyd kind of scared me as a kid in this movie but not anymore. He should have won an Oscar for his part.
I don't think I've been able to see an apple without picking it up and holding in someones face and going "uuhh apple" since the first time I've watched this lol.
This is my favorite Christopher Lloyd role. A lot of movies try getting away with leaving impressions on you by using scare tactics but watching a hardened criminal stab an apple out of the hand of an innocent child is entertaining in its own horrific way.
And he enjoys the apple with such relish, as if the kid had offered it willingly. Lesser actors might have "torn" at the apple like a murder scene. It makes him such a great villain. Lloyd acts like this neighborhood is his own personal candy store.
Fun fact: The director of this movie, Nick Castle, played Michael Myers in the original Halloween. How fitting that switchblade Sam wears Freddy Krueger's shirt.
This really wasn't as bad of a movie as critics and most moviegoers made it out to be. I'll admit the story wasn't necessarily as good as it could of been but the chemistry that the cast had in this was truly amazing and the two main characters of Mr. Wilson and Dennis were perfectly portrayed.
As a little kid, this man was the shining epitome of everything I thought all bad people looked and acted like. But now I know some of the worst people look/act normal and hide in plain sight. EDIT: Also, I didn't realize it before as a kid, but obvious thief opportunity here: 0:25
So true, and was raised in a household where we were taught most ppl in the world are good and have good intentions. Everyone goes out to eat at nice restaurants every weekend and go to Disney/Universal at least once every year smh. I’m grateful for my parents but I was too naive when i left for college.lol I’m going to teach my kids life from different point of views and make sure they know how to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s fake. Also keeping God at the center of our lives just like my parents showed us. Allowing God to order our steps and to have faith that He will prepare us for whatever is coming.
This part was always kind of scary to me seeing that the children in the neighborhood aren't safe even playing outside in their backyards because of the thief dropping by and intimidating them.
+freddyfan951 Haha, when I first read your comment, I read it with the melody of "Santa Claus is coming to town" in my mind... Hide yo jewelry hide yo dolls hide yo apples hide yo kids cuz switchblade sam is comiiing to town
+Alicia Coburg Hopefully kids watching this movie learn to stay away from creeps like him, Christopher Lloyd's character scared me as a kid, and that's how i pictured kidnappers xD
christopher lloyd goes full out as villains in kids movies. he scared the shit out of me as a kid in "who framed roger rabbit" as judge doom. and he was even kinda scary as uncle fester in addams family.
God, I miss 20th century kids movies. Even the most lighthearted ones could get sooooo fuckin dark at the drop of a hat. They weren't afraid to treat children like what they are....future adults.
When I was a kid I cried when he stole the little boys apple. But i also cried everytime a Disney movie was on because the first thing shown was the animation of cinderella’s castle while the Disney theme song would play. Even today it reminds me of the shows at Disney parks and would pull at my heartstrings because i would get a moment of the same bliss i felt while at the parks and it was so beautiful.
When I was a kid I would bite straight into a apple like a fool. Then I saw this movie and now I always eat a apple with a knife. Thank you Switchblade Sam for teaching me to eat a apple with style.
+Eric Slutsky Hopefully he cleans the knife every time he uses it since I have seen on the movie that he's been touching that knife with a lot of things in the neighborhood (including Mr. Wilson's safe).
@@Living_the_Highlight That's true since he touches that knife on a lot of dirty metal things and the blade of the knife is metal and COVID lives well on metal. However, COVID doesn't live well on food, especially hot foods and even if there was COVID on that knife (even though COVID wasn't around back then when this movie came out), when eating pieces of the apple off of it, his stomach acids will kill the COVID inside him.
my sister and I always laughed at this guy. we loved it when he said, "What ya eatin there, sport?" "uh apple." still funny. I do think it kind of crazy they let the guy just take the apple from him with a knife like that. I just texted the video to my sister. she's going to love the nostalgia.
This movie is EXTREMELY underrated. Really funny all the way through, mainly because of the fantastic grump character actor Walter Matthau. It's also got Christopher Llyod in a hilarious villainous slapstick role. Plus it was directed by MICHAEL MYERS from the original Halloween 😂
I'm sure from 1:02-1:03, 1:13, and 1:20-1:21, Gunther was probably thinking "first I was tricked, now robbed." Unfortunately as Mr. Wilson says that disappointment will be a big part of his life if he doesn't get used to it.
I bought this movies as soon as it came out(VHS) In 1996 I had a daughter who is twelve now. I knew she would love it and it is still her favorite movie. Now we watch it on DVD and love every minute of it.
I guess as soon as Gunther got home realizing Mr. Wilson tricked him about his father treating him for ice cream, his father must have told him something like "no son, eating ice cream is fattening but, here's an apple you can eat as a snack which is healthier."
Movie Fact: The actor who played Gunther (the little boy) after filming the apple scene, he was terrified of Christopher Lloyd (Switchblade Sam) and won't come near him during the set of the movie.
That little boy looked like he wanted to cry when he took his Apple😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😯😰😯😰😰😰😰😯😯😯👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽
No kidding, I went to elementary school with him; I sat next ti him on the bus. Nice to know he's playing football, he was a beast at Soccer back in the day.
I watched this as a kid when it came to the theaters, and this guy and that music on the background (this whole specific scene) are so characteristic that stayed in my mind until now. On the other hand, Back To the Future films are some of my all time favorite movies... But damn, i never knew that Christopher Lloyd (Doc from Back To The Future) is the same person, and I just found it!
Now that. Look back on this movie. Christopher Lloyds character reminds me a lot of Trevor from GTA5. Or i should say Trevor reminds me of Christopher Lloyd.
But as you seen in the movie he gets pretty messed up by Dennis, gets a few ribs broken by a train, gets his hand broken in a door, and then gets arrested.
