MovieChat Forums > Twelve O'Clock High (1950) Discussion > Savage stops for a smoke

Savage stops for a smoke

posted 13 years ago by tedschellenberg
3 replies | jump to latest

I haven't seen it mentioned here, but one of the nice touches in the movie was when Savage/Peck is about to take over the airbase. He has his driver stop the car outside the gate and they both light up a smoke. The General looks around, seems to stiffen his backbone, throws down his cigarette and gets back in the car.
To me, it indicates he was about to adopt his tough-love character and begin a hellish task. He had to leave his real self at the gate and start kicking butt. Not a necessary scene at all, but very well done.

[–] kbarada 12 years ago

I agree. Great scene and I think it was somewhat necessary to what followed. This scene spoke volumns without a lot of dialog.

[–] jpowell180 12 years ago

I also appreciated the part where he first arrives at Keith's old office, ready to take over; he munches on some chocolates, then begins to open a can of Spam.
This showed that he was in for a busy day and would have no time to stop for chow, so he'd better scarf down what's at hand!

[–] TorontoJediMaster 12 years ago

In the first scene mentioned, it was also done to allow him to switch places in the car.

For most of the way, he'd been riding in the front seat, next to the driver and he addresses his driver by his first name.

Afterwards, he gets in the back seat and says "Let's go...Sergeant."

It was establishing that, he's a friendly person who gets on well with his subordinates and treats them like real people.

However, when he got back into the car, he got into the back seat -where a general usually sits- and addresses his driver by rank rather than first name, it was his way of signalling that it was time for him to go to work and he'd put his game face on. (i.e. When it was just the two of them, he would sit in the front seat, call his driver by his first name, likely engage in casual conversation, etc. However, when he was going to his duty station he was all business.)