Tag: People

Akira Kurosawa and Seven Samurai

KIRK: But as much as the mail letter delivered and the DSL line installed and the latest J. Lo flick rented fills me with a deep sense of pride, in my soul I am Akira Kurosawa.

LORELAI: Seven Samurai, great movie.

Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), Japanese filmmaker who directed thirty films in a career spanning five decades. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in history. In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Seven Samurai, a 1950 epic samurai drama film, co-written and directed by Kurosawa. Taking place in 1586, it follows the story of a village of farmers who hire seven rōnin (samurai without masters) to fight off bandits who are stealing their crops after the harvest. At the time, it was the most expensive film ever made in Japan, and was the #2 domestic film in Japan in 1950. It is consistently rated as one of the greatest films ever made, and remains highly influential, one of the most referenced films in cinema.

Pauline Kael

[there’s a knock at the front door]

LORELAI: Oh, that must be Pauline Kael rising from the dead.

Pauline Kael (1919-2001), film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. One of the most influential film critics of her era, she was known for her witty, biting, opinionated reviews which often ran counter to those of her contemporaries, and were highly personal.

Pauline Kael had only died the previous year to this episode, so Lorelai is saying that Pauline Kael must be rising from the dead to sharply critique the films that Taylor has offered her.

Einstein

LUKE: Believe me, I’m the Einstein of the clan.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory of relativity, but he also made important contributions to the development of the theory of quantum mechanics – relativity and quantum mechanics are the two pillars of modern physics.

His intellectual achievements and originality resulted in the name “Einstein” becoming synonymous with the word “genius”, so that Luke is saying that he is the genius of his family. In fact, Jess looks to be the genius of the family we know so far, and in a future season, Luke will meet a previously unknown relative who appears to be the real family genius.

Angie Dickinson

RORY: What about, my mother is two?
LORELAI: Never saw it – Angie Dickinson?

RORY: You’re impossible.

LORELAI: You’re right. You’re Impossible was the one with Angie Dickinson.

Angeline “Angie” Dickinson (born Angeline Brown in 1931), actress who began her career on television in the 1950s before making her breakthrough in Western films Gun the Man Down (1956) and Rio Bravo (1959).

In her six-decade career, Dickinson has appeared in more than fifty films, including Ocean’s 11 (1960), Point Blank (1967), and Big Bad Mama (1974). From 1974 to 1978 she starred in the crime series Police Woman, for which she won a Golden Globe and three Emmy Awards. In 1980, she starred in Brian de Palma’s erotic crime thriller Dressed to Kill, for which she received a Best Actress Saturn Award. In her later career, she starred in several TV movies and miniseries, and played supporting roles in films such as Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994) and Big Bad Love (2001).

Dickinson often played sultry femmes fatale and provocative roles, becoming known as a sex symbol. She is regarded as one of the sexiest television stars of the twentieth century.

Lon Chaney Junior

LORELAI: Just as Marty, aka Eve Harrington, shows up trying to take Dean’s job, Taylor’s ladder mysteriously disappears, suddenly making Dean invaluable no matter what fancy tricks Lon Chaney Junior over there pulls.

Lon Chaney Jr., stage name of Creighton Chaney (1906-1973), actor best known for playing the title character in the 1941 horror film, The Wolf Man. He was the son of Leonidas “Lon” Chaney (1883-1930), a star of silent film and one of the most versatile actors of all time. He was known as “The Man with a Thousand Faces”, due to his ability to completely transform his appearance with make-up.

Creighton Chaney felt overshadowed by his famous father, and Lon Chaney discouraged him from following him into show business. It was only after his father’s death that Creighton began acting in films, often in uncredited roles, or doing stunt work. By 1934 he had a leading role, and the next year was billed as Lon Chaney Jr; by 1942, Universal Studios usually insisted on him being credited as Lon Chaney.

Lorelai is suggesting that now Dean has gone, Marty will be slowly replacing him, just as Creighton Chaney gradually took over his father’s name. Of course, Lorelai isn’t really worried about Marty – all this talk is a replacement for her real fear, that Jess will replace Dean while he’s out of town. She seems to be trying to suggest to Rory that Dean in invaluable and irreplaceable.

Elvis Costello

RORY: I’m hanging out with Lane tonight … Yeah, we have some serious CD listening to do. We’re way behind on all the Elvis Costello reissues coming out.

Elvis Costello, professional name of Declan MacManus (born 1954), Grammy Award-winning English singer-songwriter and record producer, previously mentioned.

Beginning his career in the pub rock scene of 1970s London, and later associated with punk and new wave, Costello’s critically-acclaimed debut album My Aim is True was released in 1977. His first three albums are listed on Rolling Stone’s Greatest of All Time; Armed Forces (1979) contains his highest-charting single, “Oliver’s Army”, which went to #2 in the UK. Elvis Costello is known for his clever lyrics, and music drawing on a diverse range of genres. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

In real life, only Elvis Costello’s first album, My Aim is True, was re-released in 2001. The next big re-issue of his eleven albums to that point didn’t occur until 2006. Unless Rory is simply lying to Lorelai, she and Lane are listening to all Elvis Costello’s albums thus far in preparation for the major re-issue they assume, or have heard, is coming soon.

Buster Keaton

PARIS: Did you see the brilliant hose hook idea over at table five? A hook on your belt for your garden hose. There’s a Buster Keaton routine waiting to happen.

Joseph “Buster” Keaton (1895-1966), actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films of the 1920s, in which his trademark was performing comedy stunts with a stoic, deadpan expression – his stunts were so physical he once broke his neck without noticing. The General (1926) is regarded as his masterpiece [pictured]. Keaton received an Academy Honorary Award in 1959.

Posh Spice and David Beckham

MICHEL: We talk about clothes and food and Posh Spice and David Beckham and that is all.

Victoria Beckham (born Victoria Adams in 1974) was one of the Spice Girls, previously discussed, where her stage name was “Posh Spice”. After the Spice Girls split up in 2001, she began an unsuccessful solo recording career, and even before that had made her debut as a fashion model. She has gone on to become a recognised style icon.

She married English football star David Beckham (born 1975) in 1999 – he retired from sport in 2016. They have four children, and together are worth an estimated ₤355 million. At this period, their image, lives and marriage were under intense media scrutiny and a constant source of gossip. They are still married.

Ivan Boesky

RICHARD: Welcome, everyone, to the first official board meeting of the StyleAid Corporation. Will everyone please take a seat?

CHIP: I feel like Ivan Boesky.

Ivan Boesky (born 1937), former stock trader who became infamous for his prominent role in an insider trading scandal that occurred in the United States during the mid-1980s. He was charged and pleaded guilty to insider trading, was fined a record $100 million, served three years in prison and became an informant. The character of Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film Wall Street is partly based on Boesky.