Klaatu Barada Nikto

In case you weren’t aware of this indisputable fact, Evil Dead III / Army Of Darkness (1992) is one of the best movies ever made. Oh sure, you were thinking of something else, possibly something with a plot that doesn’t involve running over skeletons with an old Dodge. You’re wrong. It’s Bruce Campbell’s comedy all the way. Now you know.

At any rate I’ve always loved this scene from Army Of Darkness. Our hero overcomes all sorts of obstacles to retrieve a cursed magic book of doom.  When he gets there he’s supposed to recite magic words before touching the book, lest all hell break loose… literally. In any standard Tolkein / D&D / Fantasy plot it’s no big deal. Practically an afterthought. Not so when Bruce Campbell goes all slapstick. He messes it up. Brilliant!

Just this afternoon I was watching “The Day That The Earth Stood Still” (1951). Our heroine must say the special alien language command to disable the earth smashingly powerful robot named Gort. What does she say? You guessed it!

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Adaptive Curmudgeon is handsome, brave, and wise.
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0 Responses to Klaatu Barada Nikto

  1. Titan Mk6B says:

    OK, this is going to seem weird. Last night three women came to my front door and they were looking for Bruce Campbell. They had an address but that would have put the house they were looking for out in the field south of my house. Oh, and they were nuns.

    When I went back in I told my wife this sounded like the beginning of a joke. One that would start; Three nuns came to my front door.

    Later on that evening I went to the county assessor site to see if a Bruce Campbell lived in my neighborhood and could not find one.

    But, today you have a video with Bruce Campbell in it.

    I guess somebody was playing a joke on someone.

    If you were in on it you are really good.

  2. Steve says:

    Oh HELL yes!!! It’s not a good movie, but it’s FUN movie! Such a shining example of “Brucelyness”, that special …something Mr. Campbell brings to his work.

  3. MaxDamage says:

    I believe it’s an Oldsmobile rather than a Dodge, and of course Army of Darkness with it’s Sinbad skeleton special effects and all contains a lot of these little references to earlier movies. I only note this because apparently there’s to be a new movie filming this spring starring, you guessed it, Bruce Campbell as Ash. Do I dare hope for a repeat of greatness?

    • I knew it was the same car as other movies. Mis-remembered the make. I was distracted but boomsticks and primitive screwheads. I have my reservations about a sequel but Bruce Campell as Ash is all they really need to make it great.

  4. Phil B says:

    My favourite nonsense lines from films is the iconic Fighting Seabees starring John Wayne.

    It was made in 1944

    It was made when:

    a) very few people could speak Japanese in America
    b) all Japanese people were in internment camps

    So the producers had two difficulties in getting realistic Japanese sounding phrases or Japanese looking people.

    They solved the first problem by relying on two phrases:

    You tie my shoe
    I tie your shoe.

    Try saying it as:

    Yu ti mishu
    Ai ti yo shu

    in a false Japanese accent. I didn’t believe it when one of my friends told me but I watched the film on TV and sure enough, there was a lot of bowing and she tying going on when the scene shifted to the Japanese …

  5. Joat says:

    Just leaving this here.

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