Movie Excerpts
The Door (German: “Die Tür”) (2009)
Leonie (Valeria Eisenbart) is walking near their pool with her shoelaces hanging loose.
She trips, hits her head and falls into the pool, where one shoelace gets tangled in a metal cage.
Her father, David (Mads Mikkelsen) dives in, but fails to free her in time.
Later, after passing through a mysterious door, David finds himself back at that same moment in time – and thus with a second chance to save his daughter's life.
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DAVID: (on the street outside their home, suddenly recognises this pivotal moment) Leonie!
...DAVID: (turns to run home – straight into the path of a truck, which knocks him to the ground)
TRUCK DRIVER: (gets out and approaches David) Are you hurt?
DAVID: (gets up, runs through gate into yard, strips off overcoat and dives into pool)
...DAVID: (deep underwater, he immediately reaches Leonie and quickly frees her snared shoelace)
DAVID + LEONIE: (both rise to the surface and gasp for breath, then head to safety at the edge of the pool)
LEONIE: Don't tell Mummy. She told me always to tie my laces.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009)
Ginny (Bonnie Wright), who has always had feelings for Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), meets him on the stairs and, noticing that one of his shoelaces is untied,
bends down and re-ties it, bringing them intimately close together both physically and emotionally.
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GINNY: Has Ron gone to bed?
HARRY: Um – not yet, no.
GINNY: (glancing down briefly) Shoelace.
GINNY: (kneels down and proceeds to re-tie Harry's shoelace, then rises, her face tantalizingly close to Harry's)
Merry Christmas, Harry.
HARRY: Merry Christmas.
Flightplan (2005)
A seemingly unstable woman, Kyle (Jodie Foster), is onboard an airplane and is being monitored by a sky marshall, Gene (Peter Sarsgaard) and a therapist, Lisa (Greta Scacchi).
After agreeing to allow Kyle to go to the restroom, the question is raised as to whether her shoelaces should be confiscated (implying that Kyle may be suicidal).
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KYLE: I'd like to go to the restroom. I know, I just need to be alone – I don't – I don't know where else to go.
LISA: This is a very good idea. (turns to Gene) She needs a moment on her own.
GENE: Is she – any kind of threat to herself?
LISA: No, no, no, no-no, of course not.
GENE: Do we take her belt and shoelaces or something?
LISA: No, she's going to be fine. (turns to Kyle) She's going to be fine. (extends hand to Kyle) Won't you? (helps her up) You're going to be fine.
Spiderman 2 (2004)
Peter (Tobey Maguire) has arrived a little late to the theater and the doors are already closed.
The usher (Bruce Campbell), citing the posted house rules, refuses Peter entry – but not before humiliating Peter by having him firstly retie his shoelace and adjust his necktie.
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PETER: (enters theater lobby)
DOORMAN: (points to Peter's shoe) Uh – shoelace.
PETER: (bends down and quickly re-ties left shoe, then rises and steps forward)
DOORMAN: (points to his own bow tie) And you might wanna...
PETER: (tightens his own loose necktie, then steps forward again)
DOORMAN: (motions Peter to stop once more) Can I help you?
Raising Helen (2004)
Helen (Kate Hudson) ties the shoelaces of her five-year-old niece Sarah (Abigail Breslin), using the
“Bunny Ears” technique that Sarah's mother was in the process of teaching just before she passed away.
By the end of the film, Sarah finally ties her own shoelaces.
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SARAH: (in the bathroom, struggling to tie her shoe) Can't do it, I don't remember how.
HELEN: (enters bathroom) Sweetie?!
SARAH: I don't remember how!
HELEN: Matter? Your shoes? Here, let me help you.
SARAH: No! No!
HELEN: Sarah, sweetheart, we have to go to school. Okay, let me help you.
SARAH: No no, that's not how, you don't know how!
HELEN: Sweetheart, are you nervous about today? It's a big day at school.
HENRY: (enters bathroom) Mom was teaching her how to tie her shoelaces just before.
HELEN: Ohh. Right. And I guess she had a special way of tying them?
SARAH: (nods)
HELEN: Well your Mom and I were probably taught the same way. (sighs) Let me think. Something about...
SARAH: Bunnies.
HELEN: Bunnies. Right. Bunny EARS! You make two bunny ears... bunny goes around the tree... into the burrow... pull tight.
SARAH: Yeah. Yeah!
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2001)
Maria (Lainie Kazan) is trying to convince her husband Gus (Michael Constantine) to allow their daughter to attend night school.
When Gus implies that women aren't as clever as men, Maria sarcastically retorts that Gus is clever enough to tie her shoes for her.
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GUS: I know she's smart, so what for she needs more school? She's smart enough for a girl.
MARIA: Oh! You think you're smarter than me, ah?
GUS: No, I – I mean, you – you know –
MARIA: What? What you mean? I run the restaurant. I cook. I clean. I wash for you. And I raised three kids – AND I teach Sunday school.
You know, it's lucky for me I have YOU to tie my shoes.
GUS: Maria... (plants his forehead into his palm)
Big Daddy (1999)
Sonny (Adam Sandler) offers to take Julian (Cole/Dylan Sprouse) to McDonald's for breakfast. Julian struggles to tie his shoelaces, so Sonny demonstrates how to
“Loop it, swoop it and pull”. Later in the movie, the
“Bunny Ears” method also makes an appearance.
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SONNY: Tie your shoes, we'll go. Hurry though.
JULIAN: (sits on stairs)
SONNY: It's like 12 blocks from here, so tie quickly.
JULIAN: (struggles with his shoelaces)
SONNY: Need any help with that?
JULIAN: I can do it. (continues to struggle)
SONNY: Let me do it! (starts to tie Julian's shoe) You loop it, you swoop it and you pull. (starts other shoe) You loop it, you swoop it, you pull. Good. Let's go.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Andy (Tim Robbins), who is in Shawshank prison, is negotiating with Red (Morgan Freeman) about getting hold of a small gem-hound's rock hammer.
Red warns that if it is found and he is revealed as the source that they will never do business again – not even for a shoelace.
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RED: Waste of money if you ask me.
ANDY: Why's that?
RED: Folks around this joint love surprise inspections. They find it, you're gonna lose it. If they do catch you with it, you don't know me.
You mention my name, we never do business again. Not for shoelaces nor a stick of gum, now you got that?
ANDY: I understand.
Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Jack (Harrison Ford) confronts Ritter (Henry Czerny) about the covert war that he has uncovered.
When he suggests that Cutter, the National Security Adviser, might be responsible, Ritter retorts that Cutter seeks permission for everything – even shoe tying.
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JACK: Who authorized this?
RITTER: I have no recollection – Senator.
JACK: I did not sign up for this. This is somebody's bulls##t political agenda. Who authorized this? Cutter?
RITTER: Cutter couldn't tie his shoes without permission.
Grumpy Old Men (1993)
Max (Walter Matthau) catches John (Jack Lemmon) hastily exiting the house next door to dodge an IRS debt collector.
These neighbours regularly trade insults, so John's untied shoelace is cheap fodder for yet another insult.
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MAX: What are you...?
JOHN: (stumbling through snow with one shoelace hanging loose) Never mind. Just forget it.
MAX: Who's the guy yakking?
JOHN: (bends down to attend to shoelace) Mind your own business.
MAX: Mind your own business. Tie your shoe. You'll fall on your stupid head.
Army of Darkness (1992)
Ash (Bruce Campbell), surrounded by medieval villagers and confronted by Lord Arthur (Marcus Gilbert), uses the old “Your shoelace is untied” trick to regain the offense.
(I guess it wasn't yet an old trick in the middle ages!)
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ASH: You know your shoelace is untied?
ARTHUR: (looks unsure, then glances down briefly, allowing Ash to land a punch that knocks him out)
ASH: (panting) All right. Who wants some? Who's next? Huh?
Doc Hollywood (1991)
Mayor Nick Nicholson (David Ogden Stiers) and other prominent town members try to convince Dr Ben Stone (Michael J Fox) to stay on in their small town as their local doctor.
One of them has even noticed that Ben
double-knots his shoelaces, which is seen as something positive.
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NICK: Ben Stone, we are prepared to offer you a permanent position as medical practitioner supreme here in the greater Grady metropolitan area and squash capital of the South.
The salary's twenty-seven thousand dollars per annum – and plus housing.
BEN: Twenty-seven thousand?
JOHN: There, you see, Nick, I told you...
NICK: Hold on, ho – thirty thousand.
BEN: Look, you people don't even know me.
MORTIMER: Well, I noticed right off that he double-knots his shoelaces.
AUBREY: Oh, excellent credentials.
LILLIAN: Shows he's careful.
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Marty (Michael J. Fox) is given a pair of Nike sneakers with self-tightening laces. Although futuristic at the time the film was made,
decades later Nike made self-tightening shoes a reality, barely in time to coincide with the future date (21-Oct-2015) depicted in the movie.
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MARTY: (drops heel into shoe, which self-tightens) Power laces! Alright!
Coming to America (1988)
Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy), who has just turned 21, is arguing with his father, King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones),
that he should now be allowed to do things for himself, including toileting, tying his own shoes, and in particular, choosing a wife.
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KING JAFFE JOFFER: You see, my son, there's a fine line between love and nausea.
PRINCE AKEEM: I understand, but when I marry, I want the woman to love me for who I am, not because of what I am.
KING JAFFE JOFFER: And who are you?
PRINCE AKEEM: I am a man who has never tied his own shoes before!
KING JAFFE JOFFER: Wrong! You are a PRINCE who has never tied his shoes. Believe me. I tied my own shoes once. It is an overrated experience.
Cocktail (1988)
Flanagan (Tom Cruise) and Jordan (Elisabeth Shue) are sitting at a tropical cocktail bar discussing ordinary objects that have likely turned their inventors into millionaires.
Flanagan contemplates the plastic ends of shoelaces
(aglets), which Jordan suggests are probably called something weird like “flugelbinders”.
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FLANAGAN: (holding up a cocktail drink umbrella) You know there's a guy who makes these?
JORDAN: One guy? He must be exhausted.
FLANAGAN: Yes, he is. But still he gets up in the morning and he kisses his wife and he goes to his drink umbrella factory where he rips off ten billion of these a year.
Guy's a millionaire.
JORDAN: (picks up an ashtray) How about the guy who makes these?
FLANAGAN: How about that guy? Not to mention the – (picks up a packet of sugar) guy who makes these.
JORDAN: And those little wrappers (takes packet of sugar) are made by another guy.
FLANAGAN: (touches his shoelaces) What about these plastic things at the end of these laces.
JORDAN: Hmmm. It's probably got one of those weird names too like – aahh, “flugelbinder”.
FLANAGAN: “Flugelbinder”, right. (chuckles) We sit here, and we're surrounded by millionaires.
And you rack your brains day and night to try to come up with a money-making scheme, and some guy corners the flugelbinder market.
Short Circuit (1986)
Newton (Steve Guttenberg) is trying to figure out how Number Five (a robot) has re-wired its own circuits.
When Newton gets up to walk off, he trips and falls over because Number Five has tied his shoelaces together.
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NEWTON: (examining mess of wires) Now, why'd you do THIS? Why'd you DO this – this – you shouldn't even be operating if this goes into...
...NEWTON: (putting down manual) Let me get my other tor...
...NEWTON: (gets up, tries to take one step)...OH!
...NEWTON: (trips and falls forwards, landing heavily; examines his sneakers and discovers that the shoelaces have been knotted together)
NUMBER FIVE: (with mock-innocence) Hmmm hmmm hmmm, hm-hmm. Hmmm, hmmm!
Back to the Future (1985)
Biff (Thomas F. Wilson) uses the old “Your shoe's untied” trick to whack George (Crispin Glover) under the chin.
This occurs twice in the movie – once with Biff and George as teenagers and once with them as adults, indicating that this bullying has been long standing.
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BIFF: (pointing downwards) Oh, hey, McFly – your shoe's untied.
GEORGE: (looks downwards) Huh?
BIFF: (whacks George under his chin) Don't be so gullible, McFly!
Fletch (1985)
Fletch (Chevy Chase) is searching a house when he is bailed up by a watchman with a gun (Joe Praml).
He uses the old trick of pretending that the watchman's shoelaces are untied to distract him in order to make his escape.
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WATCHMAN: (cocks gun) I'm callin' the cops. This is for the cops.
FLETCH: Come on man, will ya? I'm her cousin.
WATCHMAN: Tell the cops.
FLETCH: Okay. You want to call the cops – call the cops. (glances down) You better tie your shoelaces first.
WATCHMAN: (looks down)
FLETCH: (kicks watchman between legs and escapes while he is down)
Ren (Kevin Bacon) is challenged to a game of “chicken” against Chuck (Jim Youngs), the two going head-to-head in a couple of tractors.
Although Ren is actually the first to chicken out, he is held back by a tangled shoelace, making him the eventual winner. Ironically, his “foot” didn't come “loose”!
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REN: (tries to jump free, but can't)
CHUCK: That's it! Jump, you chicken!
REN: (jumps up and sits down again)
CHUCK: Sit down!
REN: (still trying to jump free, but can't)
CHUCK: What are you doing? Trying to kill me?
REN: (we see Ren's shoelace tangled around a pedal)
CHUCK: You stupid idiot! Get off! Turn out! Oh sh*t! (jumps from tractor, which rolls into a ditch)
Les Compères (French) (1983)
Tristan (Stephane Bierry), a troubled teenager, who is wearing a cast on his broken arm, announces that he is heading off.
Jean Lucas (Gérard Depardieu) – who thinks he is the boy's father and has become attached to him – ties one of Tristan's shoelaces, which was hanging loose.
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TRISTAN: I have to get out. I'm suffocating here.
JEAN LUCAS: (approaches Tristan, bends down and ties his right shoelace, then rises again) It's hard with one hand. (returns to his desk) Do what you want to do.
I'll see you later.
TRISTAN: (sits down, crosses his leg and looks at his left shoelace)
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Agent 007 (Roger Moore) is suspended from a cliff on a climbing rope. He removes his shoelaces and fashions them into Prusik Knots –
multiple friction-wraps around the climbing rope plus a long loop forming a stirrup for the foot – which allow him to climb to safety and kill the bad guy.
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(No dialogue during this scene)
Stripes (1981)
Captain Stillman (John Larroquette) wants to keep it under wraps that some of his men were captured in enemy territory with their top secret “Urban Assault Vehicle”,
so opts to send the rest of his men to rescue them. Sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates) disagrees, arguing that the men aren't even capable of tying their own shoelaces.
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HULKA: Sir, if you'll take my advice, there's a crack squadron of 42nd that can link up with the air recon, we'd have that EM-50 back here inside of 24 hours.
STILLMAN: Nothing doing! If we went to outside units we'd be the laughing stock of the entire armed forces. We will do this ourselves.
HULKA: Sir, those numb-nuts can't even tie their own shoelaces!
STILLMAN: I don't care, sergeant, just load the truck up and let's move out!
Dirty Harry (1971)
Scorpio (Andy Robinson), a psychopathic killer, is standing on a rooftop looking for a potential target.
As he rubs the toe of one boot against his other trouser leg, we briefly see that they are black Corcoran jump boots with white
Ladder Lacing, indicative of either military or white supremacist leanings.
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(No dialogue during this scene)
The Odd Couple (1968)
Felix (Jack Lemmon) arrives at the guys' card game feeling suicidal. As the guys leave, they each whisper advice to Oscar (Walter Matthau).
Murray (Herb Edelman) suggests confiscating Felix's belt and shoelaces. A delightful scene – and movie – in spite of the grim overtones.
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FELIX: I'm not going to try anything again, I'm very tired.
OSCAR: You hear? He's very tired. He's had a busy night. Good night, fellas.
(The guys start to leave, each offering advice on the way out)
ROY: If anything happens, Oscar, just call me.
SPEED: I'm three blocks away. I can be here in five minutes.
VINNIE: If you need me, I'll be at the Meridian Motel in Miami Beach.
OSCAR: You'll be the first one I call, Vinnie.
MURRAY: Oscar.
OSCAR: Yeah?
MURRAY: Are you sure?
OSCAR: I'm sure.
MURRAY: (to Felix) Good night, Felix. Get a good night's sleep. I guarantee you things are gonna look a lot brighter in the morning.
...MURRAY: (to Oscar) Take away his belt and his shoelaces.
The Gold Rush (1925)
The Lone Prospector (Charlie Chaplin) and Big Jim (Mack Swain) are stuck in a cabin during a blizzard.
Desperate and out of food, Chaplin cooks and dishes up an old leather boot, separating the shoelaces and eating them like spaghetti.
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NARRATOR: Desperate with hunger, and here it was, Thanksgiving Day. Nevertheless, there was something to be thankful for.
CHAPLIN: (lifts boot from pot, prods it with his fork, shakes his head)
NARRATOR: “Not quite done yet”, says the little fellow; “give it two more minutes.”
BIG JIM: (signalling his impatience)
NARRATOR: “Come on, come on!”, said Big Jim.
CHAPLIN: (fishes out the boot, separates the shoelaces, then serves the sole to Big Jim and leaves himself the upper)
BIG JIM: (unimpressed, swaps plates so that HE gets the upper)
CHAPLIN: (commences eating the boot, at one stage twirling the shoelaces onto his fork and eating them like spaghetti)
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