High Fidelity revisited (deleted scene)

mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
edited April 2008 in Strut Central
I was talking about this with a friend earlier today. Forgot how funny (and how patently unrealsitic) a scene it was.b/wI want that 45 drawer.

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  • ostost Montreal 1,375 Posts
    The real question is who would have refused those records...

  • CousinLarryCousinLarry 4,618 Posts
    "Sure I'll give you $50 and I will throw in an extra $10 for the LP's"


    This could be a great direct marketing tag line.


    "Pissed at you no good husband, sell his records to me."

  • Options
    Beverly D'Angelo gets better with age.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    The real question is who would have refused those records...

    I'm saying! There's no "collector's code"! You Frickin' take the box and dance on your way out.

    And yeah, offer $10 for the LPs.

  • verb606verb606 2,518 Posts
    Beverly D'Angelo gets better with age.


    Sayin. I would hit that two times.



    You'd think he'd have a better poker face after his years in the game. He's doing the nervous look over and all that shit. If you can't hold it in make sure you're back is facing the seller. C'mon man, this is 101 level shit!



    I watched this scene on the DVD and was having deja vu. It took me like, 30 minutes to realize that this scene was in the book and that's where I had heard/read it before. That fucked with me for a minute.

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Did they leave it out because it was unrealistic?

    Always wondered why they cut it.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    If I recall from the commentary, they just thought it ran too long and didn't add to the overall narrative. In the movie though, he does get a phone call to go check out the collection but we never see that followed up.

  • corny

  • SelinaKyle83SelinaKyle83 1,042 Posts
    Wow!! I had never seen that scene before but i read it in the book and it always stuck out in my mind....was actually talking to my boy about it less than a month ago and asking as to whether there was any sort of code you guys adhere to!!

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Call it corny or whatever, but in the book it had a lot to do with his spiritual renewal and his' feeling good again about owning a record shop. That's why I always wondered why it was left out of the movie...

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Call it corny or whatever, but in the book it had a lot to do with his spiritual renewal and his' feeling good again about owning a record shop. That's why I always wondered why it was left out of the movie...

    Exactly. Dude was goin thru some shit and still didnt want too underpay for that stash.


    Dumbass.

  • troublemantroubleman 1,928 Posts
    I love that scene. I actually start the movie watching that scene first.
    It sets the mood

  • DjArcadianDjArcadian 3,630 Posts
    Does anyone else think John Cusack was completely wrong for this role?

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    No

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    Not to be uber-dorky but what version of "God Save the Queen" was that? The artwork is the same as this: http://www.popsike.com/php/detaildatar.php?itemnr=3840725434

    ...but it doesn't look like either the Virgin or A&M versions of the single.

  • SelinaKyle83SelinaKyle83 1,042 Posts
    Not completely wrong but i was definately feeling the English doode his was in the book more!!

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    No

    As far as the movie was concerned, naw, I think he was spot-on.

    I never read Hornby's OG so I can't say if the casting made sense with that.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    This is how that scene read in the original script. I think they improved on it for the actual shooting scene, especially the Sex Pistols bit at the end.


    EXT./INT. FANCY LINCOLN PARK TOWNHOUSE - DAY

    Rob mounts the stairs and rings the doorbell. The door
    opens, revealing a too-tan WOMAN in her late forties, in
    designer jeans and a T-shirt bearing a rhinestone peace sign.
    She says nothing.

    ROB
    Hi. You called about the records?

    She turns and walks into the house, leaving the door open
    for him. He follows her in and through a fabulous first
    floor, packed with big-bucks bourgeois: Rugs, art, and
    antiques:

    She ushers Rob into a large study, and turns the light on.
    He misses a breath. The walls are lined with mahogany cases
    custom-built for CDs, albums, epicurean stereo components, a
    couple priceless vintage guitars -- every one of the
    thousands of items bear a little numbered sticker, like a
    museum. She points to several boxes on the floor, full of
    hundreds of singles.

    WOMAN
    Those.

    Rob steps into the room like an Undeserving, and carefully
    drops to his knees to examine the singles, each pristine in
    a plastic sleeve: the original God Save the Queen by the Sex
    Pistols, original Otis Reddings, Elvis Presleys, James
    Browns, Jerry Lee Lewises, Beatles... on and on. The mother
    lode. Rob is doing the best to control the onset of
    hyperventilation. He dares a glance over his shoulder to
    her to see if this is a joke.

    WOMAN (CONT'D)
    What do you think?

    ROB
    It's the best collection I've ever
    seen.

    WOMAN
    Give me fifty bucks and they're all
    yours.

    Rob's face goes funny. He looks around for a hidden camera.

    ROB
    These are worth at least, I don't
    know --

    WOMAN
    I know what they're worth. Give me
    fifty and get them out.

    ROB
    But you must have --

    WOMAN
    I must have nothing. Their my
    husband's.

    ROB
    And you must not be getting along
    too well right now, huh?

    WOMAN
    He's in Jamaica with a twenty-
    three-year-old. A friend of my
    daughter's. He had the Frickin'
    nerve to call me and ask me to
    borrow some money and I told him to
    fuck off, so he asked me to sell
    his singles collection and send him
    a check for whatever I go, minus a
    ten percent commission. Which
    reminds me. Can you make sure you
    give me a five? I want to frame it
    and put it on the wall.

    ROB
    It must have taken him a long time
    to get them together.

    WOMAN
    Years. This collection is as close
    as he's ever come to an achievement.

    Rob looks back at the records but avoids the trance.

    ROB
    Look. Can I pay you properly? You
    don't have to tell him what you got.
    Send him forty-five bucks and blow
    the rest. Give it to charity. Or
    something.

    WOMAN
    That wasn't part of the deal. I
    want to be poisonous but fair.

    ROB
    (looking back at the records)
    Look... I... I'm sorry. I don't
    want to be any part of this.

    WOMAN
    Suit yourself. There are plenty of
    others who will.

    ROB
    That's why I'm trying to compromise.
    What about fifteen-hundred? They're
    worth five times that.

    WOMAN
    Sixty.

    ROB
    Thirteen hundred.

    WOMAN
    Seventy-five.

    ROB
    Eleven-hundred. That's my lowest
    offer.

    WOMAN
    And I won't take a penny over ninety.

    They start smiling at each other.

    WOMAN (CONT'D)
    With eleven hundred he could come
    home, and that's the last thing I
    want.

    ROB
    I'm sorry but I think you better
    talk to someone else.

    WOMAN
    Fine.

    Rob half stands, then drops again for one last lingering look.

    ROB
    Can I buy this Otis Redding single
    off you?

    WOMAN
    Sure. Ten cents.

    ROB
    Oh, come on! Let me give you ten
    dollars for this, and you can give
    the rest away for all I care.

    WOMAN
    Okay. Because you took the trouble
    to come up here. And because
    you've got principles. But that's
    it. I'm not selling them to you
    one by one.

    CUT TO:

    EXT. FANCY LINCOLN PARK TOWNHOUSE - DAY

    Rob comes down the stairs holding his single, and walks down
    the street talking to camera.

    ROB
    How come I end up siding with the
    bad guy, the man who ran off to
    Jamaica with some nymphette? I
    just got left for someone else, so
    why can't I bring myself to feel
    whatever it is his wife is feeling?
    All I can see is that guy's face
    when he gets that pathetic check in
    the mail for those records, and I
    can't help but feel desperately,
    painfully sorry for him.

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Here's the thing, I loved the book but I've never been to the UK so I have no idea how true it is in describing the record shop scene. I know from the time I've spent in record shops here stateside that the only other person that could've worked for the role is a fat, asscrack revealing, greasy face, chud under the fingernails, confederate flag sticker, cigar smoking, ill-shaven facial hair, halitosis stench quite-possibly-psychopathic-with-bodies-in-the-basement shop owner and that isn't exactly going to sell tickets. I thought they really nailed all three characters that work at the shop.

  • z_illaz_illa 867 Posts
    (and how patently unrealsitic)

    You haven't spent much time in Lincoln Park have you?



  • DjArcadianDjArcadian 3,630 Posts
    No

    As far as the movie was concerned, naw, I think he was spot-on.

    I never read Hornby's OG so I can't say if the casting made sense with that.

    I read the book first. It's been a while but when the film was announced I was shaking my head. I guess he works but he's not who I envisioned. And if you're wondering, no, I don't know who would be more fitting.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    (and how patently unrealsitic)

    You haven't spent much time in Lincoln Park have you?



    The patently unrealistic part is the idea that he would have left the singles behind. I mean, dude's a collector and runs a record store. He's going to pass up the motherlode? Yeah, I don't think so.

  • holmesholmes 3,532 Posts
    I read the book first & loved it, but I like the movie even better, The shift from UK to US works so much better & I think the casting was spot on. I can't enjoy the book as much anymore because shifting it back to th UK just seems wrong now.

  • Great book, awesome movie, radical scene (BROSEPH!). Maybe a reason why "Rob" was un-happy because he's a tight-ass.

  • holmesholmes 3,532 Posts
    (and how patently unrealsitic)

    You haven't spent much time in Lincoln Park have you?



    The patently unrealistic part is the idea that he would have left the singles behind. I mean, dude's a collector and runs a record store. He's going to pass up the motherlode? Yeah, I don't think so.
    Yeah, I was nearly screaming out loud when I read the book "this is your chance dude, don't be an idiot"!!!!

  • kwalitykwality 620 Posts
    Yeah, sorry, but that's bullshit. If he were any sort of man he'd scoop up the records, make a play for the LP's and try and hit the scorned wife (who does indeed get better with age!).

    Great book/film though.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Here's the thing, I loved the book but I've never been to the UK so I have no idea how true it is in describing the record shop scene. I know from the time I've spent in record shops here stateside that the only other person that could've worked for the role is a fat, asscrack revealing, greasy face, chud under the fingernails, confederate flag sticker, cigar smoking, ill-shaven facial hair, halitosis stench quite-possibly-psychopathic-with-bodies-in-the-basement shop owner and that isn't exactly going to sell tickets. I thought they really nailed all three characters that work at the shop.

    Yeah, they could have made the record store owner a stone-cold psychopath who is quite lacking in the looks department, but for obvious reasons they couldn't give him a girlfriend and make us believe it.

    As I've probably said before on the Strut, making Hi-Fi's lead character a reasonably decent-looking man with a love life was an encouraging sign. They could have done like Ghost World and made him King Of The Sexless Nerds like Seymour and his soul buddies, but they didn't go there.

    As far as Beverly D'Angelo...I was at an art show opening last night and the women definitely fit D'Angelo's profile, the older woman in her forties/fifties who still had almighty, unquestioned sex appeal. I just wish they had followed through with the original script idea and had her wear tighter clothing...

  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    Not to be uber-dorky but what version of "God Save the Queen" was that? The artwork is the same as this: http://www.popsike.com/php/detaildatar.php?itemnr=3840725434

    ...but it doesn't look like either the Virgin or A&M versions of the single.

    It had the boxed EMI logo on it. Looks like a reissue, because the OG EMI was tan & red.




    What Otis Redding single is worth $200?

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts

    What Otis Redding single is worth $200?

    Maybe one of his pre-Volt sides like "Shout Bamalama"?

  • deejdeej 5,125 Posts
    in the book i think its 'you left the water running' maybe? one of my favorite redding songs
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