In this scene, each of the main characters were forced to let go of that which they valued most in order to escape; Evie had to leave potential knowledge, Jonathan had to leave riches, and Rick had to leave a comrade.
Well, Beni didn't prove to be much of a comrade. He was a very conniving, evil little toad that would do anything to save his own life... even if it meant turning on the others, in order to save his own skin! He wanted gold and treasures, and he died with them! I can only imagine the sheer terror that he must've felt, when the light faded to total blackness...and he knew that death, The King of Terrors, was going to take him out, in a way that he never even imagined...by thousands upon thousands of Scarab Beetles, crawling up on him, and eating him alive!
Beni’s death was foreshadowed at the beginning of the movie, when he abandoned his post and ran into the temple and shut the door on rick as he was rushing to get in
and the thing is he did it all without anything in front of him; the beetles were, of course, special effects, so he had to invent it all up in his mind.
I appreciate O’Connell actually TRYING to save him at 1:39! Like after all the betrayal he STILL put his arm out. It was to Beni’s unfortunate greed that slowed him down carrying the valued gold, and he would’ve made those last several seconds. Truly, tragic.
@@Genius_at_Work the funny part about Rick trying to help him was that if you look really close, you can see the door slows down so that Rick can pull his hand back through so it doesn't get crushed
Kudos to Kevin J O'Connor's acting for actually making me feel sorry and upset that Beni had to die so horribly like that even though Beni was a greedy bastard who sided with Imhotep for his own self-survival.
@@masterexploder9668 I always got the feeling Beni did deep down genuinely like Rick and relied on him. When Rick meets Evie and Jonathan, Beni has no place with him and soon joins lmhotep. With lmhotep all Beni has left is Rick to look out for him but it’s too late.
This scene was written with the intent of making it 'really' horrific. They targeted the odd paranoia of being stuck in a grave but alive. The room of treasure being the grave. And it's just frightening to end up like that. Props to the team.
This is what makes Rick O’Connell perhaps one of the best heroes in an adventure movie I’ve seen. Even after the misdeeds that people committed against him, even after being betrayed, even after every horrible thing, he still tried to save him. And if you read the movie novelization, you’ll see that Beni’s misdeeds far transcend simply leaving behind his only ally in the French foreign legion to be killed. The reasons that both men ended up in the foreign legion were different: O’Connell did it because he was in Paris in the springtime, drunk, and looking for a way to impress a young lady. Beni did it to evade justice, since he robbed a synagogue in Budapest.
This film has an excellent dose of foreshadowing that isn't brought up again until this very moment. Early in the film, it's stated that Hamunaptra was designed to sink into the desert at the flick of a switch. Beni just happens to put his bag down on that very same literal switch.
I loved how Rick tried to save him even after all he had done. Rick was a good guy and despite Benny betraying him they were still life long friends. Ironic too bc he says goodbye Benny three times in the movie. Once when throwing him overboard, once throwing him off camel and last when Rick knew it was permanent.
The irony is that Jonathan almost suffered the same fate. They both saw all those riches with their own eyes and got greedy, but only Jonathan was spared with his life. Beni, on the other hand, paid with his. He was a fool for being so greedy, because he was already a rich man many times over from the bags of gold on the camels. He died a wealthy man, just not the way he expected. LOL
+stocky steel84 he was bothered with helping him. if you look Benni was weighed down with the items in the bags so was slower if he left them then Rick would have been able to grab his hand much earlier
+Adam Zupancic you're correct, except, if he were smart, he would've run from Imhotep and his lackeys and gone straight to the airport on his first flight home... Instead, he betrays the trust of his blind friend into a cruel trap, that would end up with his complete devouring by the mummy. That may as well be as unforgivable as going through with the murder of a blind man after he loses his guide dog, guiding him, when he trusts you into an abyss, simply because you were too cowardly and didn't even take the opportunity to run before.
I like the way that each of the heroes stop while the temple collapses: Evie for the priceless historical artefact; John for his own greed; Rick for the sake of a fellow human being.
Fun fact: actor Kevin J O'Connor also played Igor in Van Helsing, Stephen Sommers' next movie. Stephen thought Kevin was so good as Beni that he requested he be cast in Van Helsing.
Looks like Evy's prediction about guys like Beni getting what they deserve in the end was right. And there are three instances of major irony here. 1. Beni's greed triggers his downfall, due to him going back for more gold even though he already had more than he could carry, him placing his gains on that lever and unknowingly triggering the destruction of Hamunaptra, and then when he dragged the sack of gold behind him while trying to escape, trying to have both wealth and life. By the time he chose the latter over the former, he'd already delayed himself so much time from escaping that he wound up getting trapped and left behind. 2. He dies in the city's treasure chamber, surrounded by the desires he had dreamed of plundering for so long. 3. Rick, Evy, and Jonathan, the ones he betrayed and left for dead by Imhotep's hands, end up riding off into the sunset with the gold he had managed to take, allowing them to become the wealthy individuals he had desired to be.
What makes this scene even more powerful is the foreshadowing of his fate with Eve after he pushed her she said to him : -you know nasty little fellows such as yourself always get their comeuppance. Beni: hehehe oh really? They do? Eve : Oh, yes. Always And the second she walks after saying that you can hear a scarab hissing at him from behind in the dark and then him turning around all worried because of it. Little details like that is what makes these movies great unlike the new ones they don't even come close to this masterpieces
well, yeah, I agree with Adam, but he was panicking pretty badly, and there's a high chance that you'll forget you have something, or something you could've thought of, but yeah, if I were him I would just shoot myself instead of getting eaten alive by a bunch of bugs.
say what you want about beni, I say he was secretly a genius. the guy knew the prayers and carried the symbols of as many different religions as he could. he's probably pretty set for the afterlife.
Hardly. He brandished a cross as a Christian but then pledged himself to other faiths. It says in the Bible that man cannot serve two masters, if you follow it.
OG Romeo I do. And yes, in a manner of speaking, it does. Usually in the traditions of such religions, deities of different belief systems don’t take kindly to you pledging your loyalty to them and to others. So if Beni here really claimed to be a Christian, Jew, Buddhist, and the others, then he’s screwed either way.
Rick to Beni: "YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURS BENI! YOU HEAR ME? YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURS!" Evelyn to Beni: "You know nasty fellows such as yourself always get their comeuppance." Scarabs: Payback's a B$&ch!
Why didn't Beni just set the sack of treasure down on the ground RIGHT NEXT TO HIM, instead of walking a full 6 more feet to set it on some trick lever?! He would've been able to get some rest, and wouldn't have put himself (and everyone else in the catacombs) in danger. Jeez, Beni...
57santiago Maybe so, but still, he could've just set the treasure down at his side on the ground. He walked extra distance to set it down on the lever, when he could've gotten relief sooner by just setting it down next to him. If I was lugging a heavy sack of treasure around and I was getting tired, I'd want to rid myself of the sack ASAP to take a break.
bobby burchenal That's the whole point he didn't know that was a lever so in a way he was wise to sit the gold down on something that was waist level instead of on the ground because it would have been harder picking it back up from the ground at the cost of injuring himself.
I would agree with those who say that Beni was a treacherous coward who was killed by his own greed. But, how many of us have ever been faced with the possibility of such EASY wealth (like a mountain of gold just sitting there "begging" you to take as much of it as you can)? In this scene, even Jonathan (one of the "good guys") was tempted to slow down in order pick up some treasure for himself instead of focusing on successfully escaping. Jonathan would have fallen for the same mental trap Beni fell into if Rick hadn't aggressively pulled him along on the way out of the tomb. In this film, both Rick and Beni were former members of the French Foreign Legion. Pretty much the only reason anyone would even think about being a foot soldier the Legion in the 1920s was because he had nothing else going for him in life.
but then you ask your self would u rather Live On and become Wealthy off of writing about what you experienced or Die holding a bag of gold from flesh eating beetles
Yes , if he in that first min of everything getting closed left all of that gold he would survive but he left it like 200 meters after he pulled the lever and he got gold before but came back for more EHHHH.... THE MAN WITH NO LUCK
Beni's death is very poetic here. He's trapped with all the riches he's always desired but now has to suffer a very slow and painful death. Let this be a lesson; When one seeks only riches, your greed will lead you to a place of a promised fortune, but it will end up being your tomb.
I remember watching this for the first time years ago. Beni got what he deserved after everything he did. Rick proved he was the bigger man; despite what Beni did, Rick still tried to save him.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'd be crawling/running a hell lot faster then Beni if the place was closing in on me. Just saying, I'm getting out alive!
Beni did make it out of there in time. He left with a bag of jewels and gold that he put on a camel, but then he went back in to get even more. Greed is what did him in. He was out and he even had a large bag of loot to take home with him, but he just had to have more. Now Beni has nothing and the O'connells took the camel to which Beni attached his bag of loot. He ended up making his enemies rich and himself killed.
Adrenaline is a make or break/go big or go home system. It either gives you mildly superhuman strength, speed, endurance and reaction times or it makes all your muscles turn to lead and renders you almost paralysed
He was too greedy. Dam, bad way to go. Getting crushed would have probably been a little more merciful. Anyway, he had a whole bunch there was a time where he could have left, but noooo. Too greedy, this is what he gets. Dam, really bad way to go. Under your skin. I think i would have rather gotten crushed than that. "Shivers"
2:25 Beetles: “Hello! We’ll be your comeuppance for the evening!” Beni: “At least you’ll *very slowly* eat me...” Beetles: “What dumbass told ya that?”
I don't know whats worse, being eaten by thousands of scarabs in the dark, or being crushed alive by an ancient stone slab. Maybe I would've taken my chances in the Pyramid, there could've been a back door? But then again the entire thing collapsed anyway.
To me being eaten by the scarabs would be a worse death, because the stone slab would've crushed Beni like a pancake and death probably would have been instant...but being eaten alive by scarabs in the dark? O_O *shudders*
mellowandjello eaten by those scarabs is more painful, it's stated in the movie, in a enclosed environment, those scarabs would eat their prey slowly to survive, but the thought of getting crushed wouldn't fair much better although it'd be less painful
@@mistylover2082 True but think about this Imotep was also eaten alive by scarabs...I think that was worse for him because they had to eat through the bandages first.
I think that in my opinion, the way Rick said "Goodbye, Beni" sounded like he hated Beni anyway because even though they were friends, Beni did put Rick and his friends in a lot of danger and even got all of the Americans (including Burns, Henderson, and Daniels) killed by Imhotep due to Beni helping Imhotep, since he would reward Beni with gold and treasures he could have and even because of Beni's cowardice, he basically left Rick to die in Hamunaptra when they were in the French Foreign Legion 3 years ago.
It's like one comment said above, the actual book states that both Beni and Rick were in the french foreign legion for different reasons - Rick wanted to impress women (which is probably how he met Izzy and ended up causing Izzy to get shot and have his spleen hanging out) whereas Beni was on the run as he had just robbed a religious place.
Sonic2Me - Yeah I never understood why he held on to the torch while running out... like, it wasn't dark enough to need one, O'Connell and the others didn't have one and they all ran out with zero visibility issues.
+Jedinaut Looking at the fact that Rick tried to save him, I have a feeling if they ever made it out, it would have likely ended with Rick just beating the shit out of Benny.
When I watched this movie in my childhood I thought this evil guy would be crushed under those stone gates But director gave him a ‘more’ evil ending for this evil guy 🤣, I liked that twist 🙌🏽!
Here are two ways Beni could have been saved. The first way is Beni letting go of the back about 7 or 8 seconds earlier. That back was slowing him down becuase it was so heavy and full so if he let go of the bag 7 or 8 seconds earlier he would have survived. Another way is Rick reaching his hand out. Instead of doing that, eh just said come. Had he reached his hand out then beni probably would have survived. I am actually bummed that Beni died becuase he was a great villain and pretty funny. I wish he was in the 2nd movie.
lol I love beni too. I have a feling that the writers regret killing him off. did you know that adus the meji was orginally going to die in this flim to but for some reason they changed it. I wonder if the sequel was already planned.
@@ShadowDeist I wonder how they would have gotten Beni into the second movie. The second movie could have been Beni s chance at Redemption. Plus yea Ardeth surviving after running headfirst into a horde of mummies and somehow got out alive without explanation was just stupid.
@@Lvl1.Sentry Bendi likely would of been friends with Izzy from the second movie the black guy with the blimp, he kind of reminded me of beni a little bit, and ardeth surviving was stupid but im glad he did.
You know, in hindsight, Rick was being INCREDIBLY generous in this scene by even offering to help Beni. The same Beni who crossed and betrayed him and his friends at every possible turn and is one of the most traitorous characters in the mummy franchise. If it were me, i wouldn't have even bothered. Dude's a traitor through and through, let him die like one.
Scarabs in the dark is bad enough, but that ceiling closing in overhead is what really triggers the nightmare parts of my brain. Probably the childhood origin of my (and alot of others) claustrophobia.
Everyone has already mentioned this but it's still amazing to see that Rick was still trying to save beni even though beni already deserted him once.. Rick is the man you wish was leading your battalion.
+Shadow Dragon Gamer Yeah it could have been cool if he came back as one of the good guys, but I guess they wanted him to have an ironic death: Finally has has all the treasure to himself but it's no use because he's stuck there left to die
He was a treacherous man. But his death isn't due to his sins of betrayal, but rather his sins of greed; He could have made it out if he dropped the treasure and just ran for it. By the time he dropped the treasure, it was too late as he was so far behind.
a lot of people are saying rick tried to save him but to me it definitely looked like he was trolling him especially with the snarky good bye at the end there
Actually I just noticed something, if he would've just moved out of the way for Beni and let him dive into the opening, he actually would've made it. He was skinny enough to fit