Clint and the subliminal spider…

But first…
Dulltown, Europe: Today’s architectural term is ‘narthex’ – In a Byzantine church, the transverse vestibule either preceding nave and aisles as an inner narthex (esonarthex), or preceding the facade as an outer narthex (exonarthex).
Well, I’m glad that we’ve finally got that sorted out!
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Here is another recycled post from the dark days a couple of years ago when my blog was on Myspace.

Isn’t it funny how a scene from a film can spontaneously pop into one’s head? It was an hour ago, I was lying in bed, trying to get up, when suddenly, I was there with Clint Eastwood, who was playing somebody or other Coogan (I’m not sure if he actually had a first name, maybe he was just Coogan. A first name might take the flinty edge off the character and make him just a little too warm and likeable?) out of place in a night club full of hippy types in a scene from ‘Coogan’s Bluff’ (1968). This film, directed by Don Segal was the precursor to that series of mean spirited, ‘shoot ’em up’, Dirty Harry movies that were, I believe, to become quite popular.
Our Clint, wearing a very neat cowboy outfit and a big hat, was strolling stoney-faced through the crowd of merrymakers more or less saying, through his body language, ‘Hey riff-raff, I’m not like you…’ (He was right too!) I must admit that I do have a thing about not taking to people who wear hats indoors – John Lee Hooker excepted.
I think the reason that the scene sticks in my mind (I don’t remember much about the rest of the film) is that Mr Segal decided to have stab at subliminal messaging in it. There are lots of nightclub, disco-type, coloured flashing lights and random images flickering about the place – it is a wild hippy ‘happening’ after all!
Amongst all this, about two-thirds of the way through the scene, there is a shot of a couple of women kissing each other. This is immediately followed by a very quick shot of a skeletal corpse rising up from a coffin. Next comes a shot of a couple of blokes embracing, followed by a shot of a large creepy-crawly black spider rearing up. Be repulsed and scared you people!…
Hm… Do you think Mr Segal and Clint are trying to tell us something here? They weren’t really entering into the spirit of 1968 were they?