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Barry Lyndon (1975, UK)
In director Stanley Kubrick's three-hour visually-stunning
costume period-drama (with astonishing, gorgeous candlelit cinematography
by John Alcott, oil painting-like tableauxs, and superb costuming)
adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's 1844 novel with stately
voice-over narration by Michael Hordern - about the rise and fall
of an opportunistic rogue:
- the opening duel scene set in 1750s Ireland - with
the film's opening line: "Gentlemen, cock your pistols. Gentlemen.
Aim your pistols. One! Two! Three!" - resulting in the death
of 'Barry Lyndon's father Redmond Barry over a horse sale altercation:
(Narrator: "Barry's father had been bred, like many sons of
genteel families to the profession of the law. There is no doubt
he would've made an eminent figure in his profession had he not
been killed in a duel which arose over the purchase of some horses")
- the film's second fateful dueling scene of impetuous
and jealous young Irish rogue son Redmond Barry (Ryan O'Neal) competing
against suitor Captain John Quin (Leonard Rossiter) for the affection
of his pretty cousin Nora Brady (Gay Hamilton) - with Barry's stubborn
assertion: ("I'm not sorry and I'll not apologize")
- Barry's joining of the British Army, and his bare
fist-fight with a burly fellow soldier Poole (Pat Roach)
- the battle scene (of the Seven Years' War) of British
soldiers marching toward the French troops in rows and being mowed
down in the Battle of Minden - with the death of Barry's friend Captain
Grogan (Godfrey Quigley) in a muddy ditch
Barry In the British Army During Seven Years'
War
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- after deserting the Army, Barry's brief affair with
a young, pretty Prussian-German war bride and peasant mother Lieschen
(Diana Korner) whose husband was away at war; the lonely woman
served him a candlelight dinner while also feeding her one year-old
baby boy Peter, and asked him: "You are sometimes lonely?...Would
you like to stay with me?"; at their sad farewell the next
morning after they professed their love for each other, the sardonic
off-screen voice-over: "This heart of Lieschen's was like
many a neighboring town that had been stormed and occupied several
times before Barry came to invest it"
- Barry's admission of spying for Prussian Captain
Potzdorf (Hardy Krüger) to nobleman Chevalier de Balibari (Patrick
Magee): ("I have a confession to make to you. I'm an Irishman...")
- the scenes of Barry's noticing of Lady Lyndon (Marisa
Berenson), the Countess of Lyndon - married to aging and terminally-sick
Sir Charles Lyndon (Frank Middlemass) - and the seduction scene during
his first flirtatious meeting with her in a gamester session, lit
only with candlelight, casting a reddish glow, soon after followed
by his stately courtship and Barry's marriage into wealth - becoming
Barry Lyndon
Barry's Encounters and
Subsequent Romance & Marriage
With Countess of Lyndon (Marisa Berenson)
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- their ultimately unhappy marriage ("Lady Lyndon
tended to a melancholy and maudlin temper, and, left alone by her
husband, was rarely happy or in good humor. Now, she must add jealousy
to her other complaints and find rivals even among her maids"),
exemplified by the scene of Lady Lyndon witnessing Barry's unfaithfulness
in the garden with a maid, and his subsequent sincere apology to
her while she sat motionless and passive in her bath, but then
kissed him
- the scene of Barry's detestable teenaged step-son
Lord Bullingdon (Leon Vitali) accusing his father of years of physical
abuse toward him and the Lyndon family during an afternoon concert
in the drawing room: ("...his brutal and ungentlemen-like behavior,
his open infidelity, his shameless robberies and swindling of my
property, and yours") and Barry's brawling retaliation against
his step-son for defaming him in front of an audience
- the sad death scene of Barry's 9 year-old son Bryan
(David Morley) after being thrown from a horse (given as a birthday
present) and paralyzed three days earlier - with his parents at his
bedside when he expired
- the film's lengthy third duel scene of Barry vs.
his stepson Lord Bullingdon ("I have not received satisfaction")
with pistols in a barn - Lord Bullingdon fired first but misfired,
then Barry shot his pistol into the ground to avoid confrontation;
during the second round of firing, Barry was hit in the left leg
(that required amputation)
- the final shot of aging, sad and gray-haired Lady
Lyndon reacting sorrowfully and wistfully to Barry's name as she
signed his yearly annuity/bribe (to stay away from her and England)
of 500 guineas, to be sent to him in Ireland
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Dueling Death of Redmond Barry's Father
Second Duel Involving Son Redmond Barry
Deserter Barry's Brief Affair with German Peasant Woman
and Farewell
Melancholy Lady Lyndon in Bath and Barry's Apology
for Unfaithfulness
Barry's Step-Son Lord Bullingdon
Third Duel With Step-Son
Lady Lyndon Signing Barry's Yearly Annuity
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