man, a memorable scene. 1. Spence is just a fraud, he should not start with his "plan" in the 1st place, but shut the f*** up, sit & learn from the others. 2. Sam is demonstrating Spence´s incapability on all levels, not only does he show the stupidity of his "ambush"; but literally destroys him. 3. at the same time, he negotiates sucessfully for more money. 4. the others just sit & watch, they learn about Sam & his abilities. 5. it´s the 1st confrontation in the group. it will not be the last.
"You don't need to be the smartest person in the room, but you need to be confident and able to detect bullshit." That is the lesson for young professionals in this scene.
I like the way Sam does business. If the client wants the deed done dirt cheap without disclosure of the risk, then they can go elsewhere. And he sure as hell doesn't want a poser in the foxhole with him!
Deidre: "Do I need to suggest you forget us? Because we will not forget." Spence is in for a world o' hurt... it's unlikey he'd have lived long enough to have spent that cash.
I'm talking about how in his American film work Sean Bean gets cast as either a villan (Patriot Games, Goldeneye, Ronin, The Hitcher) or a damaged good guy (Lord of the Rings), but in the U.K. where his career began, the character he's most associated with is the heroic leader Sharpe.
@metalmaniacmarkus i don´t think Sean Bean sucks. this scene works because ALL actors do a great job, even the ones who sit & watch. and Sean Bean plays very well, in fact it´s harder to play an insecure & weak character, than a tough guy who has total control over the situation from beginning to end. theortically, Sean Bean could have played DeNiro´s part, and DeNiro could have played Bean´s part, and it still would have been a great scene. don´t mx up the characters with the actors´ abilites
I like the small, almost overlooked thing Gregor does when Sam is about to go hands on Spence to disarm him. He is watching what's going on, then while everyone's attention are on those two, he stands, clears his jacket and starts to reach for his Glock...just as a pro in that situation would do.
Damn this scene packs a lot of great stuff. 0:17 dialog - "what's in the case" ... "if it's going to be amateur night..." And her look at 0:50 is deadly... then the whole bit with Sean Bean ... kickass clip, thanks for uploading it!
I never understood why he just didn't turn it around on DeNiro....something like, "Hey dickwad, they'd both be on rooftops shooting DOWN, so there is no way to hit each other!" When he drew the picture, I just assumed that. All that said, great scene, great movie!
They were showing a very specific street (as you could see later) and they needed to be able to run and pursue the cars (they knew there would be multiple cars, including a backup car). Nobody could be on the roof. If they could have, there would have been someone on the roof in the actual ambush.
Great Action film from the 90's. Robert De Niro's character was smart and so quick-witted. Loved him very much. Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone and others did a great job too. Car chase scene was brilliant. Our modern Actions are horrible. Even B-grade films & Made-For-TV movies in the 90's were 100x better than modern so-called "Blockbusters" from Hollywood.
Watch the movie. He may not be a phony SAS... But the caracter is completly over run by the freedom and secret policies plots that people work each others on their way. There is absolutly no structure to let that type of caracter grow in. Late in the movie, you will see that guy look to bully others but instead was off the track since the start.
Crombo Yeah, already watched this movie years ago. Normally, Sean Bean characters are awesome people but this is one of those rare moments where he's incompetent. ...and he didn't die at the end.
@FormulaKimball good point. i think his mission & cover are so important that he can´t use the usual resources. i think the entire mission was of the type: "try to get into that group, but once you´re in, you´re on your own". i think he´s using one of his resources for getting information. but after that shootout, when the group is virtually destroyed and he & Vincent are being hunted by the IRA, the Russian mafia, the KGB & others, he is lucky to get help from one of Vincent´s resources.
I love how De Niro pronounces Hereford, "what colour is the boathouse at hear-ford?" It's a bit of a small place so I don't blame him, though it's actually pronouced Hair-ref-ord ( hɛrɪfərd). The guy at the end get's it right!
No he knocked over the cup of hot coffee, which spilled down his leg and caught him totally by surprise as he was ready to fight, fully expecting de Niro to make the first move. At that, de Niro got him and took his gun. Hence the coffee being an ambush.
@Troublesome2008 I understand your view. But my point is, 1. Deniro doesn't care if he is or not. Deniro used a simple question to jam the assshole and put him out of self-control... What ever the answer was. 2. Ultimately to show that assshole is not ready to go foward with that team
Hereford is where the SAS (the unit Bean claimed to be formerly with) trains. He asked him because he'd figured out he wasn't actually a former SAS guy, and wanted to put him off balance to prove it to everyone else.
He’s doing what’s called “cognitive loading,” which is basically setting someone off balance and then stacking cognitive stress until the person breaks composure and reveals themselves. When he asks him to draw it again, he interrupts his flow and then makes him try to remember. Then he asks about his past and the boathouse, showing that his prepared answers and schtick that he probably saw in a movie is a facade, and he’s really just a hollow man and a faker.
I really thought when I first saw the movie that DeNiro and Bean were working together and Bean would show up late in the movie. It never occurred. He would have been an obvious one to have shot Seamus (not Vincent) prior to Seamus dispatching Sam.
It's unfortunate that in American features Sean Bean is relegated to playing flawed supporting characters. His "Sharp's" series is fantastic due to his phenominal ability at hero-play.
@DJSpinoza I think PenTheMighty was speaking about 'Special Forces' in either case Army Special Forces is a specific unit. Bravo Two Zero was about an SAS Operation in Iraq...SAS are not Army SF. Furthermore, 'Operator' is a specific moniker for a specific unit within Army SF...but I'm not harking on that specific too much as every Tom, Dick and Jerry can call themselves an 'Operator' now
I knew a lot of operators back in the day.Of course the worked for the phone company.But don't laugh....ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s2NNZdigSXg.html
@STATiSofVITALETHICS well i´m no soldier or agent but what Sam says in this scene totally makes sense: placing 2 shooters on opposite sites of a street who have to shoot at a target in-between them is a rather stupid plan: even if they hit the target, there´s always the risk of hitting each other, too.
@scirocco09 maybe there is one, maybe there is none. doesn´t really matter. the point is, DeNiro´s character just wanted to expose Bean´s character as a liar, i.e. that he´s not an SAS soldier & doesn´t know Hereford well. btw DeNiro also mispronounces "Here-ford" as in 2 seperate words, the correct pronunciation is: "Herryford". this might either be non-intentional (as DeNiro´s character is American), or very well intentional, i.e. an additional "testing" of Bean´s character.
@harpiyon well said ... favor indeed :) His training speaks for itself yet he also misdirects so the others are never entirely sure about him. The bullet removal scene is another example - why would he do that to himself if he's an agent with resources... but his cover is more important.
@Crombo He wasn't SAS. That's the reason Deniro asked him what the color was of the boathouse at Hereford. Do you think a real SAS member would draw up such a shitty ambush? The Boathouse at Hereford is constructed from red brick with wood panelling and blue painted doors, by the way :).
Deniro's character had worked out Bean's at the outset. He just got sick of his arrogance. Had he kept quite and remained cool he wouldn't have raised suspicion. What's interesting here is whether or not Deniro new the boathouse colour or chose not to tell the team, were left to wonder....
@tearsinrain86 Indeed. SF guys have that look in their eyes...They can be some of the nicest guys ever but if you piss them off it's like there are stormclouds brewing in those eyes. It's funny though, Sean Bean has played an SF operator in "Bravo Two Zero", lol.
If a Samurai becomes a Ronin he does not necessarily become a bandit or something like that...from 1868 on seppuku was forbidden..so many samurai couldn't follow their Daimyo into death...i believe most of the ronin kept their ideals and followed the path of a swordsman...
It's a place in Britain where the SAS (special forces) train, i think. The guy in the movie claimed he was part of them, but he lied :D. That''s how most liars get caught, they talk too much...
Ok, let me start again. 1. De Niro is an American 2. He's playing the role of an American 3. He pronounces "Hereford" as an American would Having familiarity doesn't mean he will automatically use the local pronunciation. If you watch the movie at all, you would have noticed that he purposely emphasized his American (New York) accent; most likely to contrast it against the French, British, Irish, German and Russian ways of speaking English.
oh yeah i knew about that bit, it was just the cofee cup bit i didnt understand....maybe it had something to do with the other guys reflexes when he catched it earlier.... but thanks for explaining =)
@harpiyon Depends on the height of the shooters' positions but the point isn't the semantics, it's that he's sick of hearing from the poser in the group, needed to cut him loose before he got one of them killed. "So what *is* the color of the boat house?" ... "How the f do I know" LOL
A classic trick questiion, Answer red........wrong. Answer green......wrong again.+ Answer dragon brown tying to be cute. You lose once more. There is only one answer. Tell the truth, and defend it to the end.
