Tag: Film

“Sing out, Louise”

RORY: I pledge myself to the Puffs, loyal I’ll always be …
FRANCIE: Sing out, Louise.

Francie is quoting from the 1962 musical comedy-drama film Gypsy, based on the 1959 stage musical, Gypsy: A Musical Fable, adapted from the 1957 autobiography Gypsy: A Memoir by burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee.

The film is about a domineering stage mother named Rose Hovick (Rosalind Russell), who drags her beautiful, gifted daughter June, and June’s shy, less-talented older sister Louise (Natalie Wood) around the country in her efforts to get them noticed. When June rebels and elopes, all of Rose’s efforts are poured into the seemingly impossible task of making Louise a star.

In the film (or the musical, originally starring Ethel Merman as Mama Rose), Rose makes her entrance by shouting, “Sing out, Louise!”, during her daughter’s audition. Francie is likewise encouraging the mumbling Rory to speak up while she recites her pledge.

In the film, the awkward Louise unexpectedly finds success as a burlesque star under the name Gypsy Rose Lee, which is what allows her freedom from her mother at last – a hint that shy Rory will find her own way to escape Francie’s clutches.

“Drop a box of matches”

RORY: You know, Paris, while yes, a little intense, is also very smart.
FRANCIE: So I drop a box of matches on the floor, she can tell me how many there are?

Francie refers to the 1988 drama film Rain Man, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. It’s about a selfish, unscrupulous dealer named Charlie who discovers he has a brother Raymond who is an autistic savant. Charlie removes Raymond from the institution where he has lived most of his life, and they travel across country together.

In one scene of the film, a waitress accidentally spills a packet of toothpicks on the floor, and Raymond instantly calculates that there are 246 toothpicks.

The character of Raymond was partially based on Kim Peek, a real life savant, and partly on Bill Sackter, a man with intellectual disabilities who was a friend of one of the screenwriters. In real life, neither of them were able to perform this feat, although some savants can.

Rain Man was a critical and commercial success, becoming the #1 film of 1988, and won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Hoffman), and Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards. As of this moment, it was the last drama that both topped the box office and won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Leonardo DiCaprio

LORELAI: Ugh, they totally just snuck that modelling thing in.
RORY: Hmm, my mom’s a model. Maybe you’ll get to date Leonardo DiCaprio now.

Leonardo DiCaprio (born 1974), award-winning actor, producer, and environmentalist, known for taking unusual roles, especially in biopics and period pieces. At this stage, DiCaprio had won critical acclaim for his role in the 1993 quirky coming of age film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and become an international star after playing the male lead in the 1997 epic romance, Titanic, which became the highest-grossing film to that point.

In 1999, he began dating Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen (born 1980), a relationship which lasted until 2005; this is what Rory is thinking of [pictured]. It’s another of those celebrity references which have had real staying power, because DiCaprio went on to date a number of other models, and since 2017 has been in a relationship with Argentine-American model Camila Morrone (born 1997).

“Everyone else in your family can pull their face off”

RORY: It’s just so weird that the one table I sit down at is home to the secret society.
LORELAI: I know. It’s like waking up one day and realising that everyone else in your family can pull their face off.

Lorelai references the 1989 horror film Society, directed by Brian Yuzna and starring Billy Warlock. The film is about a teenage boy who lives in a Beverly Hills mansion, but doesn’t trust his high society family. After a series of disturbing and gruesome events, it is revealed that the boy’s family and their high society friends are from a different species. They pull their faces off and begin melding together to begin feeding from a human.

The film was a success in Europe, but wasn’t released in the US until 1992. The film is considered a brilliant satire in the UK, but pretentious and obnoxious in the US. The ending is unforgettable, whichever your opinion, and it is now a cult classic.

Note the tagline of the film, a comment on the theme of this episode.

Cosa Nostra

RORY: I don’t know, I just sat down.
PARIS: Nobody just sits down with them, you have to be invited.
RORY: Paris, it’s not the Cosa Nostra.

Cosa Nostra is the name for the Sicilian Mafia. It literally means “our thing”. Rory would be familiar with it from the Godfather films. One of the “rules” of the Cosa Nostra is that you can never approach it without invitation; you must be introduced by a trusted member.

Coming Home

FRANCIE: We were just discussing Homecoming. Thoughts?
RORY: Great movie. Oh wait, that was Coming Home. Sorry.

The tradition of Homecoming, previously discussed.

Coming Home is a 1978 romantic drama war film starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voigt, in a love triangle story between Sally, the wife of a Marine Corps Captain deployed in Vietnam (played by Bruce Dern), and Luke, a young man who has returned from the war a paraplegic. He and Sally meet at the veteran’s hospital where Sally is volunteering. It has an excellent soundtrack of late 1960s songs.

The film received good reviews, and was popular with audiences. It is still regarded as one of the best dramatic films ever made.

“Toto, we’re not in Kansas any more”

RORY: There’s a bad draft over there where I usually sit. It’s kind of like a big downward gust. It’s not exactly ‘Toto, we’re not in Kansas any more’, but it’s still pretty darn uncomfortable, especially when you’re just gotten your hair to behave. So can I sit here?

A reference to The Wizard of Oz, previously discussed.

In the film, Dorothy and her dog Toto are taken to the Land of Oz by a violent cyclone, and when they arrive, Dorothy says, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re in not in Kansas any more” – a movie quote nearly everyone gets wrong, just like Rory does.

Rory is saying the draft isn’t exactly a cyclone, but she’d still prefer not to sit in it.

The Matrix

LORELAI: I told him that he was completely out of line with this treatment of you, that you are not a loner freak, you have plenty of friends, and you don’t own a long black leather Matrix coat, and they should fall down on their kneesocks everyday that you deign to show up at that loser school.

The Matrix, previously discussed. The hero Neo wears a long black leather trench coat.

Also, how does Rory have “plenty of friends”? She has one friend, Lane! Getting along well with your mother’s social circle doesn’t make them your friends, as Lorelai seems to think. Lorelai has trouble accepting that she and Rory aren’t one person, but two.