Foamy Showdown
High Plains Drifter, Clint Eastwood, 1973
Clint Eastwood as the mysterious stranger is anything but helpless, even in a barber’s chair with foam all over his face. The minute he walks into the shop, curtly ordering a “shave and a hot bath”, the viewer knows what’s coming. Without batting an eyelid, he guns down the three gunfighters who intruded on his shave, wipes the foam off his face, gets up and leaves – unshaven.
James Bond: Skyfall, Sam Mendes, 2012
It may well be the most intimate shaving scene in cinematic history—and certainly one of the most stylish. James Bond (Daniel Craig) fully places himself into the hands of Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) when he hands her his cut-throat razor, allowing her to shave him gently yet confidently. As she smoothly glides the blade over Bond’s skin, she whispers: “Sometimes the old ways are the best.” The scene sparked a genuine shaving craze: according to the British online retailer “The Shaving Shack,” sales of cut-throat razors surged by an incredible 405 percent after the film’s release. Internet searches for “cut throat razor” and “straight razor” even soared by a staggering 735 percent. The classic ritual quickly turned into a popular lifestyle trend—perfectly aligned with Bond’s legendary sense of style.
The Royal Tenenbaums, Wes Anderson, 2001
We see Richie Tenenbaum (Luke Wilson), first carefully trimming his hair and beard in front of the mirror to Elliot Smith’s “Needle in the Hay”, shaving, then slashing his wrists. The shaving ritual here symbolises a melancholic farewell to the world and its many daily routines.
Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, Carl Reiner, 1982
In what is probably the most absurd shaving scene in the history of film, private investigator Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin), in this homage to and parody of films noirs, shaves his tongue in anticipation of a date with the epic quote, “Come on, let’s go out dancing! You put on your little black dress, and I’ll go shave my tongue.”
The Untouchables, Brian de Palma, 1987
Even with a cloth over his eyes and a razor to his neck, there is absolutely no doubt that this is the most dangerous man in the room. Al Capone, excellently portrayed by Robert de Niro, is giving an interview to journalists while getting a shave. When the barber accidentally cuts him, the whole room freezes in fearful anticipation and de Niro utters the famous line: “You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.”
Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton, 2007
When things get bloody, a razor blade is never far away. And things do indeed get bloody in this eccentric gory musical in which Johnny Depp, the “Demon Barber” of Fleet Street, exacts revenge for life’s injustices by slaughtering his customers in droves before turning them into pies.
The Color Purple, Steven Spielberg, 1985
This film tells the story of Celia (Whoopie Goldberg), a young African-American woman who is sold to a brutally abusive husband by her father. The scene in which she has to give her “Mister” a shave is symbolic of her personal development. During the procedure, her self-confidence increases and her resolve to take her life into her own hands seems to form.
Tootsie, Sydney Pollack, 1982
Dustin Hoffman plays an unsuccessful actor called Michael Dorsay seeking to improve his chances of landing a part by dressing up as a woman. His disguise gets him the part. Needless to say, a good, neat shave was essential to this plot. In 1967, Hoffmann acted in another remarkable shaving scene in “The Graduate”as young Benjamin Braddock, who has an affair with Mrs. Robinson, a friend of his parents. The bathroom scene in which his mother walks in on him shaving and asks him where he goes at night encapsulates his situation in life: at the threshold between boyhood and manhood.
This story has first been published in the printed edition of 30 Grad in spring 2017. You can subscribe here for free.