THE SHINING (1980) | FIRST TIME WATCHING | MOVIE REACTION 

Lit cigarette and a child? This man wasn't alive for the 70's or 80's clearly.

The 70’s. We did not wear seatbelts. Everybody smoked. Everywhere.

It was the 70s, hardly anyone wore a seatbelt. I’m actually surprised that Jack was wearing his. I remember being small enough to stand in the front seat next to my dad as he drove.

Wait, you haven't seen Kubrick's "2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY" (1968)? Add that to the list RIGHT NOW!!!! It's SO up your alley!

NGL, I am sometimes amazed how MRLBOYD is so knowledgeable on film, cinematography, plot/story and yet is foreign to SO many classics.

Definitely Scatman Crothers was a musician. Born in 1910 so his musical career was probably started around 1930. This is now his most famous part but he was in a lot of stuff, like Chico and the Man.

It's true what Dick said, normally the things in the hotel were like pictures in a book and couldn't hurt anyone. But Danny's shine was so powerful it started bringing the hotel to life, like replacing a dead battery in a toy. The hotel took over Jack in order to kill Danny, which would have made him a part of the hotel and let it come to life on it's own.

With peace and love, can we start a petition to change the channel name from "Logical Movie Reviews" to "Random Nitpicks Made Too Early Into The Movie And Also Based On An Unfamiliarity With The Time Period Or Film Tropes And Also Weird Familiar Anecdotes That Last Too Long"? Just putting that idea out there.

"Why is this kid alone all the time?" *Nods in Gen-X*

Most cars had only lap seatbelts, shoulder ones were after this was filmed. Snow drifts, especially above the tree line. It’s not unusual for even in the lowlands snow will be blown into drifts several times higher than the rest. You may get two inches of snow, yet a drift of six inches may be blown against a wall. Here’s Johnny was Johnny Carson of The Tonight Show, probably the most beloved talk show host of all time.

Asking if Kubrick was a Film Nerd is like asking if Picasso was an Art Nerd :D

@11:45 "He sounds like a 1930's singer". New theory on interpreting The Shining just created. On calling people "doc"- as a white kid growing up in the South in the 80s, I had a black science teacher that was quite rare for the time (at least for our district). He used to call me "doc" all the time and no one else in class and told me it was because he thought I was very smart. At the time I was going through a very difficult time (bad grades, parent's divorce, etc.) and that helped my self-confidence immensely. He remained one of my all-time favorite teachers.

You focus on the weirdest things. I’m less than 10 minutes in and you’ve questioned the volume of blood in Danny’s vision, and the “selfishness of Jack” based on Wendy/Danny not having their seatbelts on. Like…what?

I didn't think you were connecting with this film at all, but your analysis was really good. Don't spend too much time worrying about what The Shining is literally about. The literal story makes no sense - it's not supposed to make sense. But thematically the film makes perfect sense. It's exploring exactly the themes you identify - the trauma that characterised the founding of America. In addition it's a critique of capitalism (The Overlook encapsulates the all-you-can-eat abundance of late capitalism that keeps people either contendedly happy or pathetically passive, depending on your point of view). It all adds up to Jack - this racist, misogynist remnant of the past, unable to find his role in 1980s America. He's destroyed by his own past, and it's up to the audience to decide if they feel sorry for him or if he ends up exactly where he belongs - in the deep freeze.

Please watch the sequel Doctor Sleep!!!! Besides it being an amazing movie, I think you will appreciate the cinematography! Then, I was also thinking of the 2018 Suspiria. It is beautiful to look at, too!

In the novel, Jack is a talented writer, but a weak man who struggles with alcohol and anger issues. He recently lost his teaching job after beating a student and broke his son’s arm (possibly on accident, possibly due to anger). He takes the job out of desperation, to keep his family together, and in hopes of finishing a play to get his career back on track. The hotel basically recognizes Jack’s weaknesses and preys upon them to convince him to kill Danny (so the hotel can get the power of his “shining”).

In the beginning, when he is telling him about the axe murderer, it's not just to tell him something that happened long ago. He is saying it happened BECAUSE of cabin fever, and solitude can make people snap. He's probing his potential hire, to see if he will be able to handle the solitude.... or if he too, might snap. (he failed at this judgement)

I've watched a good bit of film throughout my 37 years and Stanley Kubrick is my personal goat director. gotta add Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange to the letterboxd

The modern thought process of not smoking in front of your kids, putting on a seatbelt in the car, not calling Native Americans Indians, all those things. You were thinking in a 2020s sensibility you gotta put yourself back in the mindset of the 1970s and 80s.

the only reactor on youtube who'd pause a kubric film - _twice_ - to object to a child's ice cream preference this is what i tune in for

Also, seat belt laws weren’t a thing back then. And if they were, they weren’t strictly enforced. I’m an early 70’s baby, and I don’t remember anyone telling me I had to wear a seatbelt until I was a teenager 🤣 We rode in the back of my uncles pick up whenever we left the city to visit them on Long Island. He’d drive fast over hills and have us bouncing so high our butts flew off the seat and into the air. Hold on or die, I guess🤷🏻‍♀️ But we LOVED it 🤣

Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice sucks... if it's cheap. Good vanilla, good chocolate and good strawberry is amazing -- you should try a better quality of ice cream, my friend.

13:35 Oh my... your privilege and youth are showing. When this came out... Baskin Robbins didn't have 33 flavors yet. Getting ice cream at all was a rare treat... and we made it at home as often as we bought it. Dairy Queen still hadn't invented the Blizzard. Your generation tends to fall into the trap of thinking things were ALWAYS this way, and completely dismissing the efforts our generation took to make it happen. The number of modern conveniences that are taken totally for granted as common place and ordinary astounds me. Can you even imagine a world where your phone only makes phone calls and is connected to the wall by a cord?

Watching you commenting with your usual rational, critical demeanor and suddenly recoiling in horror at the 237 scene was hilarious.

1980 oldest movie youve seen. Lord i feel old. I was in college then and saw this on its opening weekend

I'm a distinctly "naive" viewer; I respond to films on a purely emotional level. You, on the other hand, are a staggeringly observant AND profoundly analytical viewer. I know you have a career as a commercial photographer, so it's no surprise you have a purely visual perspective; yet, your observational capacity is TRULY insane! E.g., no one in history has ever noticed the empty toilet roll in Room 237's bathroom! Moreover, you intuitively parsed three add'l visual tropes w/ ease! The ubiquity of native American tapestries (and the burial grounds) is a relatively transparent one. Yet, the mirror motif is less obvious... and the bear motifs? Forget about it! Yet, you F'ING nailed it! As you noted, no film in history rewards persistent viewing like "The Shining." The documentary "Room 237" is a great watch as are Rob Ager's video essays ("Collative Learning" channel) here on YT. (See his "Strange Illuminations" for more on mirrors). As you pointed out re: "white man's burden" and Delbert Grady's bathroom dialogue w/ Jack, Kubrick draws a distinct line btwn imperialism, i.e., westward expansion, and murder - on a genocidal level, and a familial one. Delbert Grady embodies "whiteness" and the way racial hierarchies support it - his use of the N-word is evidence of his worldview. Kubrick seems to suggest - correctly, IMO - that the logical outcome of such an ideology is murder. Also, I LOVE how you nailed the bear motif. One thing to note is the child psychiatrist scene. As the doctor interviews Danny, we see him lying on a bear pillow prominently aligned w/ his face in the shot. As you rightfully note, the most perplexing shot in the film is the scene feat. the man in a bear suit and the other one on a bed. You're the first person I've ever observed who discerned the true meaning of that shot. Your point about mirrors revealing the truth of a scene is brilliant - clearly, they illuminate hidden themes for Wendy and for the viewer (e.g., "redrum"). Yet, although, Wendy sees the man in the bear suit w/o a mirror, the effect is the same: she's observing a symbolic representation of Danny (in the bear suit) and Jack (on the bed) that her conscious mind has repressed. I'll leave you to explore the rest on your own ; LOVE LOVE LOVE your analysis!

When speaking of 'Indians' he is referring to Native Americans.

Clockwork Orange

No, they would not allow the temperatures inside to stay terribly cold. That would damage furnishings, woodwork, etc.

As someone born in the 80s , car seats and seat belts werent really as enforced and people werent as informed on safety as they are now. My parents, grandparents, no one had us in belts (or themselves) in the car until like around 1991 when they enacted the law and people knew they would get a ticket if out of seatbelt. Alsooooo Ice cream in the 80s you had 2 maybe 3 choices most places. Vanilla Choc and Strawberry. There wasn't as much variety. (which is why rocky road and tin roof sundae were like amazing lol)

Kubrick is your favorite directors, favorite director. Revolutionized film, in many ways.

The ghosts are metaphoric representations of Jack’s abuse. The old hag scene is a mirror version of the earlier scene where Jack abuses Danny. The man in the bear costume is a representation of the bear pillow in Danny’s room at home. Notice Wendy only starts seeing ghosts after she sees “murder” in the mirror. Rob Agar at Collative Learning has the best analyses of the Shining.

There's a channel on here called Collative Learning that has like a dozen documentary analysis videos on The Shining you might find interesting. Including ones on things you noticed, like the recurring Native American designs and imagery, use of mirrors, etc. I find the ones on the spatial impossibilities of the hotel to be the most interesting, like all the doors to no where, or that the Gold Room wouldn't fit inside the exterior.

Wendy actually had better power with that grip on the bat. You typically choke up on the bat if its too heavy for you, so that you have better control and swing speed at the cost of reach.

Kubrick was the King of retakes. In the scene with Shelly Duvall with the bat, he had her do so many takes, she was leaking literal exhaustion and fear and desperation throughout. Kubrick was a bit sadistic to particular actors.

I think the land was haunted, if anyone dies there they join the house and exist there in like a purgatory type place. They exist there for all time. The house ghosts wanted him to join and bring his family, they probably wanted a ghost that could shine. If he could kill his family and himself they would all be ghosts there. The kid and his mother got away but the house did end up getting a ghost that could shine.

Yes. Kubrick is an absolute genius filmmaker. He was so meticulous and such a perfectionist that he was extremely difficult to work with. However, the final product was absolutely world class. This is in my top 3 favorite movies of all time.

Danny got the 'shine' from Jack. Jack's ability was less than Danny's but his drinking was probably partly to try and subconsciously suppress it. When he stopped drinking it made it easier to overtake him. Mr. Grady mostly had a lesser version of it as well. Many other caretakers never had an issue while taking care of the hotel. It was only these two men. Grady's daughter probably had it too. Wendy only could see the ghosts at the end when the energy surged after feeding off of Jack and Danny. Danny is older than three years old. I think was supposed to be six years old. The hotel was warm enough that the pipes wouldn't burst. Part of the caretaker's job was to make sure the furnace was working safely. In the novel, that character doesn't die. He helps Danny and Wendy get away.

Stanley Kubrick was a film nerd on steroids. A Clockwork Orange was a very twisted film. The dude that played Delbert Grady was also in that film. 2001 A Space Odyssey was an amazing film that had almost no dialogue. Paths of Glory was also amazing some scenes that may have been pretty shocking in 1954. And of course, Lolita was very counterseal for its time. Kubrick always painted at least one scene in his movies and many scenes in most that leave an impression on your brain that will stay with you forever.

You’re so right. There are so many deep subtle intentional meanings throughout the movie. I know there’s channels dedicated to explaining them. The only thing I remember was when you were asking about the bear costume…at the beginning of the movie for some reason after the boy had the back out he was lying on a blanket with a bear and that was extremely intentional.

The most hilarious part of the reaction is MrBoyd acting like he wouldn't treat anyone interrupting him in his work like Jack treated Wendy.

I think the point of Grady using the n word is to show the deep hostility and vileness that is contained in that hotel. He is referring to Hallorann, how else would someone who is a true ahole refer to him? He even calls him a cook rather than chef, his contempt knows no bounds. Keep in mind that Grady's ghost is speaking for the hotel. This might also be why he doesn't remember killing his family. The hotel didn't kill his family, so the hotel doesn't remember it. I think the 'corrected' part is to tell Jack what the hotel wants him to do. I think at this point the hotel doesn't care about contradicting itself. It just wants him to start killing them. When you watch it again pay particular attention to the conversation between Hallorann and Danny. When Hallorann spells out how the shining works, it explains a lot about what's going on. But there is a lot to dig into in this movie. One important thing, the shining powers the ghosts. If you go in there and have no shining, you won't see ghosts. This is why the hotel can continue to operate, most people have no shining. Danny has an extremely powerful shining. So you can imagine how much the hotel feeds off it.

This was c. 1980. Seatbelt usage was far less ubiquitous, esp in the backseat.

Stop putting 2024 standards, sensibilities, techniques and technology to a 1980 film. And the story of the caretaker killing his family has everything to do with Jack's character.

The bathroom scene traumatized me so hard it took me YEARS to NOT look behind a closed shower curtain 😅😂

Just a side note, In the photo Jack is standing in the position of Baphomet

I have a serious issue with this reaction! Chocolate ice cream is NOT nasty! Its delicious. Simple yes, but still delicious. 😁

13:56 Ghost Ship... There's a movie with that name, you might enjoy it, please check it out 🤘😎

Kubrick is a master of cinema. There are literally multiple series of film classes in film schools dedicated to analysis of the technical, cinematic, and story telling of his work. His name will be heralded among with the names of Spielberg, Scorsese, Hitchcock, Allen, and Coppola for all time. You sir need to go through his filmography as soon as possible. "He sounds like a 1930's Singer" -- That sir was Benjamin "Scatman" Crothers. Who sang and played Jazz music and was known for his Scatting throughout the 1930's and 40's. He made his way to Hollywood and was a regular performer along side Mr Bob Hope and Mr Red Foxx. Did radio, TV, and movies until his death in the 1986.

You MUST be joking about 'The Shine' working like bluetooth or wifi???? It's called a 'sixth sense.' Many people have it or are tapped into it. It's 'human' nature. Wow, this younger generation is so disconnected.

Kubrick was an INCREDIBLE film maker. He had a tendency to push his actors and actresses to a breaking point, as if forcing them to truly experience their roles instead of acting. What he did to Shelley Duvall was… something else. Malcolm McDowell was also put under a lot of strain, to say the least.

Kubrick is a top 3 US director of all time, a contender for No1. Paths of Glory, Barry Lyndon, 2001: A space Odyssey, Dr Strangelove.

The fact that you don't know who Stanley Kubrick is blows my mind. The ignorance of certain generations is truly astounding & painful.

THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST DIRECTORS OF ALL TIME, A GENIUS (AND MY FAVORITE BUT NO BIAS), NOT EVEN JOKING. yes, i used the caps to emphasize he was really amazing, and answering you, he was a nerd, fr.

As a hotel manager myself, it's best to be fully transparent with a new employee. How would you feel if you got hired at the hotel in Corpus Christi where the singer Selena was shot, and you didn't find out about it until you already started working?

Brilliant classic. It's incredible to me how much MRLBOYD pics up on the small tiny details in an iconic movie like this he is watching for the first time and by a famous director he knows next to nothing about. Not at all the first time this has happened in one of his commentaries.

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson actually used that clip for an anniversary show. Usually it was Ed McMahon saying it.

Bourbon is always whiskey but whiskey isn't always bourbon. Also, whisky is always whiskey but whiskey isn't always whisky. In Scotland and Canada, it's whisky by law. Glad I could clear nothing up.

The chef actor did have an album, several actually. That's Scatman Crothers, a singer dating back to the 1930s. His acting career started in the 50s. He was still acting the year he died in 1986. This was his second film with Jack Nicholson

It was the 80s. Everyone smoked in front of their kids and nobody wore seatbelts. Next.

When he says Indians,he's referring to American Indians. Like for example, I'm part Cherokee. There are many different tribes.

Never heard anyone diss the Shining for sound quality. I guess I never realized how superior today's stuff is compared to the older films. I think films made then are 10X better than the tripe they call film now, but that's just me.

Stanley was actually certified genius. Very high Iq and always had hidden meanings in his movies. It is said that they were the very cause of his own demise. There’s a Documentary called Room 237 I recommend it for personal viewing.

02:45 Sir... the height of technology at the time was an 8-Track Tape Player.

This is a straight-up ghost story. This younger generation did not grow up with the classic ghost story. They have NO clue.

First steadycam as far as I know. Kubrick got an incredibly expensive lens from NASA to shoot the candlelit scenes in Barry Lyndon, It played into the conspiracy that he shot the moon landing. At that time there was Kubrick, Andrei Tarkovsky and Akira Kurosawa who was a generation ahead.

People don't notice it the first time watching but the dimensions of the hotel don't make any sense at all.The natural reaction would be "oh it's just the limitations of a set." No. It was intentional.

The director Stanly was strict on certain things in the movie. Especially sceneries & the part where (wendy) came downstairs (swinging the bat at jack). He re-shot that scene a bunch. Outstanding movie

Fun fact Jack Nicholson was a fire fighter in his early life. He went through the door with the axe so fast they had to build a reinforced one for the scene, lol.

If no one has mentioned it already, please check out the documentary, "Room 237" - people discuss all kinds of theories and point out obscure details throughout this movie.

I believe Lloyd was portrayed as the Devil dressed in red. That is what I gather from it..

Everything Kubrick did was solid gold

Kubrick was a Cinematographer / Photographer who became a movie director. I think you'd really enjoy watching his movies. They are all visually stunning and will appear to your photographer side.

Stanley Kubrick is definitely a film nerd's director. For example, the typed variations of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" wasn't just a few dozen pages, it was an entire ream! (500) Instead of subtitles for the scene, it was filmed with different typed phrases in Italian, German, Spanish, and French: Italian: Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca (The morning has gold in its mouth) German: Was du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen (Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today) Spanish: No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano (No matter how early you get up, you can’t make the sun rise any sooner) French: Un Tiens vaut mieux que deux Tu l’auras (What you have is worth much more than what you will have)

In those days a seatbelt wasn't standard in the passenger seat or back seats. I remember my father's vehicles not having any seatbelts.

There's a sequel to this movie just released a few years ago called Doctor Sleep definitely check it out.

Years later, Stephen King wrote a sequel called “Dr. Sleep”. It’s about Danny after he grows up 30 years later. They turned it into a movie starring Ewen McGregor, and it is definitely worth checking out. 👍

I love it how you try to analyse the situation with logic in the beginning. :D

I love your logical take about the interviewer telling the story about the previous caretaker's breakdown. Nearly every other reactor says they wouldn't take the job based on that story 🙄

No seat belts were ever used in the 70's. Seat belt laws didn't happen until the 80's for most states. Also choked on cigarette smoke with rolled up windows in the winter. 😢

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but there is a film called Room 237 that breaks down The Shining. Lots of shot details and different theories about what the film is trying to say. Kubrick was a master and every film is steeped with subtext and metaphor and symbolism. And beautiful. Pause any film at any time and you practically have a post card. Highly recommend you check out more of his films.

Nobody wore seatbelts, kids were always on their own and if you brought a note from home you could smoke at school!! Best time to be alive!

1) Seatbelt proliferation was roughly less than 10 years old at time of filming. It’s reasonable no one is in the habit. 2) Native Americans were commonly called Indians at the time. Political correctness was about 10 years out.

This is one of my favorite movies and yes, it takes multiple watches to come up with a meaning for it. I have my own theory about the meaning. It certainly is not Kubrick’s idea and definitely not King’s idea but I think it is explained in the first few minutes. Jack has a long drive to the hotel for the interview scene. When he gets there, he says he is working on a writing project. I believe that he started thinking about the characters and, seeing the huge and impressive hotel, he started to include it in the project. He hears the story from Mr. Ullman begins to weave together the plot. Jack’s story stars to grow and we are moving from the real world into his project. When we get to the end, we are 100% in Jack’s tale. No ghost, no Indian attacks, no murders, just Jack’s own self-declared project. Occam’s razor explains it all.

This doesn't happen in the real life..." I mean, you do realize that this is a horror movie about the haunting place, right?

Scatman Crothers was a stalwart of the 70's variety show/talk show circuit. He was in the business for decades, def since at least the 50s. An icon.

In the scene where Danny is eating ice-cream seated across from Halloronn, notice the knives behind Danny on the column. They're almost right above his head with the points facing him as if to suggest that something is going to try to murder him. Every detail of the shot composition mattered to Kubrick - he was meticulous about it.

Incredibly weird? In a Kubrick movie based on a King book? Doesnt seem likely

well, I don't know.. the purpose of telling jack that story could just be to you know, test his reaction to what happened, and see if he shares the same psychological traits as mr grady. Some people just don't take isolation well.

The book and the movie have decidedly different flavors, especially on a thematic level, which was a huge point of contention between King and Kubrick. I enjoy both, but the sequel "Doctor Sleep" is one of my favorite movies. Thanks for reacting!❤

This was the 1980s, this was definitely not green-screened, and the lit cigarette with the child was the 'norm'. Dude I didn't even know what a seatbelt was until later on. It was a free for all back there. Unless you had a baby and they were definitely strapped in. Soooo yeah.

The premise of a place having apparently bad Ju ju is long standing and well storied. You can see this visited again in Pulvergeist, The Amityville Horror, 1907, and Ravenous.

The scariest part was the bathtub lady. The saddest was Hallorann's death. That hit pretty hard since he survived in the novel along with Wendy and Danny.

This is the type of movie that you still notice or figure out details the 20th time you've watched it

"REDRUM" IS MURDER spelled backwards. Fyi. It symbolizes folks were deleted in that hotel. 🤷🏻‍♀️😬🥴

My cinema teacher in high school had us watch this during the horror unit if only because of how many layers it's unsettling. From the layers you pick up on consciously like the bear at the end and the way Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance to the subconscious things like the physically impossible hotel layout and Wendy's cigarette ash in the initial interview. Every aspect of the film is meant to throw you off and manipulate you into being as unsure as Wendy

Kubrick considered one of the top ten directors internationally. He is known for doing everything intentionally. On the other hand, there are so many theories about this film there's a pretty good documentary about that too.

Was filmed in Canada but the story takes place in Colorado and the hotel design is based off of an actual hotel in Colorado but the movie hotel is in Canada and added stuff to it to make it look like the book hotel. I've actually been to the hotel the story is based on the real haunted location that Stephen King based the story on is called the Stanley Hotel and he was actually staying in the Stanley Hotel as he was writing it and a lot of what's in the book is some of the stuff he saw while staying there

That conversation is based on legal disclosure laws in Real Estate, you have to inform someone if anyone died in a location they’re buying. I don’t think it’s necessary in living/working somewhere or renting a place, but I do know for sure it’s required information for real estate sales. Thats why the man disclosed the murders that happened there, but it also serves the purpose to add a contextual layer to the story…

Absolutely love how much you picked up on your first watch. Though not surprised. The number of times I've seen you figure something out just to second guess yourself and backtrack. Or gotta sooo close to the answer. Probably why I love your movie analysis. Seeing your mind working is pretty cool. And very fucking relatable lol