Favourite lines from High Fidelity?

[HEyHEY]

I love when Rob is walking past the theatre....

"John Dillinger was shot dead behind that theatre in a hail of FBI gunfire. You know who tipped them off? His FUCKING girlfriend.... And he just wanted to go to the movies."

[fizzgig]

1. damn, i love that movie

the morning after he sleeps with marie desalle

"how does an average guy like me become the number one lover-man in his particular postal district? he's grumpy, he's broke, he hangs out with the musical moron twins..."

and when he realizes who ray is: "Mr. I Raymond. "Ray" to his friends, and, more importantly, to his neighbors. The guy who up until about six weeks ago lived upstairs. I knew it was him the moment I saw the letter. I start to remember things now: His stupid clothing, his music -- Latin, Bulgarian, whatever fucking world music was trendy that week--stupid laugh, awful cooking smells. I can't remember anything good about him at all. I never liked him much then, and I fucking hate him now... I manage to block out the worst, most painful, most disturbing memory of him until I go to bed."

but nothing beats the scene with tim robbins in the record store :rofl:

[billyskank]

2. I refuse flat out to see it

It's a British book, set in London, and I thought it was an enjoyable read. But they have to set the film in New York. And that's not the only time they've done that to Nick Hornby. They made a film of his book Fever Pitch too, but it was about football, so naturally they had to make it about baseball instead. Fucking cultural imperialism. Really, I like Americans more than most of my compatriots, but this sort of shit really takes the piss.

[HEyHEY]

3. It was set in Chicago.

I, personally, would have liked to see it set in London myself. But, hey, we Canadians deal with the same Bullshit... remember the English patient? Well, the book happens to be about a Canadian.

[billyskank]

4. Does it?

Crap. We're just as bad, then.

[PassingFair]

5. It is redeemed by the indefinable perfection of John Cusack in his prime.

There are moments in the movie when you DO wish you
were seeing it set in the milieu in which it was originally
written though.

Cusack is not afraid to make him unlikeable. I think
it is his best role, with the Grifters coming in a close
second.

Coincidence that I just re-watched it this weekend!

Jack Black was amazing in his role, too.

[billyskank]

9. It isn't about how good it is

Even if it were the best film ever made, I wouldn't see it on principle. It's the same with The Italian Job. As far as I'm concerned, The Italian Job stars Michael Caine, has the line "you're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" and is set in Turin. The other version of that film does not exist.

[RetroLounge]

6. It's a great book.

and Cusack was perfect for the part. and he is from Chicago, still has a home there. He brings his movies there, and his money.

and I thought he did it up right. Love that movie!

RL

p.s. The Cusacks went to high school with my ex-wife and her siblings. I met Joan Cusack at her 10 yr reunion. She is very nice...

[Arugula Latte]

11. Think of all the movies made where, say, ancient Greeks or Romans have British accents

:rofl:

[mitchum]

12. The film is MUCH better than the book...

Hornsby's novel was just another slight offering of "Cool Britannia" (Are they still usinging that marketing phrase?)
The film is much better at getting across just how much the character is a self-absorbed prick

[XNASA]

7. The Wax Trax! store was originally 2 doors down........

....from the Biograph Theater where Dillinger was shot.

So there is some sense of reality to the whole 'cool Chicago record store near the Biograph thing'.

I used to spend a lot of time at Wax Trax! so the whole movie, and that scene in particular, really rings my memory bell.

[asthmaticeog]

8. "I've been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old...

...and frankly speaking, I've come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains."

I LOOOOOVE that movie. I lent it to my cousin when she expressed some bafflement at how I live my life, saying "this is pretty much all you'd probably care to know." Hornby/Cusack dead on fucking NAILED the entire record-boy steez - the constant obsessive list-making, the obsolete-media grail quests (the scene with Al Johnson unsuccessfully negotiating a Captain Beefheart vinyl purchase with Jack Black was highly amusing for its familiarity), the record store as social hub, the totally unjustified elitism, the shitty love life that record-boydom seems to necessarily entail, all of it. A flawless creation.

[HEyHEY]

10. I thought that was a great line

[Mr. Blonde]

13. Pretty much every one of Jack Black's lines

especially,
"Let 'em riot. We're Sonic-fuckin'-Death Monkey."
and
"Rob, I'm telling you this for your own good, that's the worst fuckin' sweater I've ever seen, that's a Cosby sweater. A Cosssby sweater."

And I love when Springsteen shows up, and says "They'd feel better maybe. But you'll feel better."

[bertha katzenengel]

14. not a line, exactly, and not mine but

my sister's:

i can't remember the line, but when jack black and the skinny guy whose name i can't remember are arguing over the mitch ryder and the detroit wheels song... or when they're all listening to lisa bonet doing the frampton song "baby i love your way," and john cusack said "i always hated this song... until now" or something like that. i can't remember any actual lines at the moment. but of course the best part is jack black's band doing "let's get it on" at the end.