FILM: Superman IV
YEAR: 1987
DIRECTOR: Sidney J. Furie
PINBALL MODEL(S): Black Knight (1980, Williams), Vector (1981, Bally)
GAME LOCATION(S): penthouse apartment
NOTES: As mentioned in our previous discussion of Penny Marshall's Big, 1980s America was marked by an imperative to acquire wealth and goods; especially those related to leisure and entertainment. In this way, items such as pin-tables become part of the iconography of the rich, while somewhat paradoxically communicating a notion of the idleness of wealthy youth. The passive leisure enabled by the ownership of such devices stands in direct opposition to the degree of ambition needed to acquire them, and thus imparts a degree of irony to pinball-ownership as a token of economic status.
FILM: Deprisa, Deprisa
YEAR: 1981
DIRECTOR: Carlos Saura
PINBALL MODEL(S): Black & Reed (1975, Industria de Recreativos S.A. of Madrid)
GAME LOCATION(S): Cafe
NOTES: Here we have another instance of a pinball machine installed at an establishment frequented by young people, though this one is somewhat different in that the pin manufacturer is European, thus giving us a chance to briefly discuss pinball and economics.
Of course, the "big 3" pin makers (Bally, Gottlieb, & Williams) maintained sizeable market prevalence throughout Europe, especially in the countries that experienced the swiftest economic recovery after WWII. Countries that were receptive to American cultural influence and/or were engaged in a stable relationship of commodity exchange with the United States tend to feature American-made pins in their films; revealing something of the reality of the market dominance of these stateside pinball manufacturers.
However, pin-tables were being manufactured by non-North American companies as well (most notably in Italy, Germany, and Spain). Much like the national cinema industries that resisted the cultural and industry pressures emitted by Hollywood, these non-American pinball makers were caught up in a similar battle of market penetration.
FILM: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
YEAR: 1988
DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis
PINBALL MODEL(S): The model nearest the exit on the right is a Hurdy Gurdy machine (1966, Gottlieb). I am still working on identifying the other two pins in the scene.
GAME LOCATION(S): Bar
NOTES: In this still-satisfying pastiche of classical Hollywood noir and investigative films, America's cultural history is visually resurrected via mise-en-scene; including the ever-familiar pairing of pinball and the tavern. Though the historicity of the film's visual elements and street-car sub-plot becomes a bit muddled, it is nonetheless successful in its ambitions as a period piece (albeit an inexact one).
The set design discloses a historical context by appealing to our familiarity with the images it projects. In this way, it hardly matters that the Hurdy Gurdy pin was manufactured after the time period in which the film's events are likely taking place. What is more important is the presence of the pin within the specific environment of the tavern—alongside other genre tropes such as fedoras and trench-coats—which ultimately informs the viewer as to how to make sense of the imagined time and space of the film.
FILM: Elevator to the Gallows
YEAR: 1958
DIRECTOR: Louis Malle
PINBALL MODEL(S): Flag-Ship (1958, Gottlieb), Shindig (1953, Gottlieb), Cover Girl (1947, J.H. Keeney & Co.)
GAME LOCATION(S): Cafe-bar
NOTES: Though Malle himself decried the critical chatter that sought to place him among the ranks of the nouvelle vague corps of filmmakers, his choice to jettison the camera from the confines of the studio did open the way for certain congruities to arise between his early work and the then-forthcoming films of his peers.
If a kind of "realism" is the result of this anti-studio strategy, then these shots of bustling cafe-bars—all aglow in fluorescent and neon, and each marked by the presence of a pin-table—speak to the cultural landscape of Paris at the time. In this way, pinball is modernity itself, and its filmic presence can be interpreted as being emblematic of the anti-classical ethos of France's young post-war filmmakers.
FILM: Bolivia
YEAR: 2001
DIRECTOR: Adrian Caetano
PINBALL MODEL(S): The Addams Family (1992, Midway)
GAME LOCATION(S): Cafe
NOTES: For most people, playing pinball is an exercise in futility. Efforts to control the game are always—sometimes quite swiftly—negated by the countervailing forces of chance and gravity. And then there are those occasions when even the coin slot seems bent on asserting the dominance of the machine over its operator.
The righteous frustration we feel at such moments usually fades quickly, but for the hero of Bolivia, it's a poignant iteration of the harsh difficulties faced by the immigrant class. His daily wage of 15 pesos makes this a relatively costly reminder; one which ultimately tips the narrative toward its tragic conclusion.
FILM: La Balance
YEAR: 1982
DIRECTOR: Bob Swaim
PINBALL MODEL(S): Devil's Dare (1982, Gottlieb),
Black Hole (1981, Gottlieb),
Mars: God of War (1981, Gottlieb),
Spectrum (1981, Bally),
Rocky (1982, Gottlieb),
Haunted House (1982, Gottlieb)
GAME LOCATION(S): Cafe-bar (1st screencap), Arcade
NOTES: Despite critical acclaim, an American director, and its role in revitalizing the legitimacy of the French "policier," La Balance is a truly wonderful film that (sadly) continues to fly under the radar of a wider international audience.
The 'Devil's Dare' pin shows up twice in the film (in two separate Parisian locations), which might be interpreted as merely incidental if the machine's name wasn't such an appropriate descriptor of the hero's dilemma. As such, I'd be shocked if this repetition wasn't on purpose.
Much like the scene in the Jean-Jacques Beineix thriller Diva (released just a year prior to La Balance) the pinball arcade is framed as an environment of audio-visual pandemonium in which anomalous behavior might go unnoticed. Here, the police engage in the forceful intimidation of a would-be informant and are finally successful in breaking him after previous efforts throughout the film have failed. The overwhelming aural din of the arcade serves to pressurize not only the filmic space, but the psychic resolve of the hero as well; ultimately resulting in a breakdown of his will.
FILM: Harold and Maude
YEAR: 1971
DIRECTOR: Hal Ashby
PINBALL MODEL(S): The backglass of the foremost machine in shot 2 indicates that this is an 'Official Baseball' or 'Deluxe Official Baseball' model (Williams, 1960), but I can find no record of Williams releasing this model with this cabinet art. The other pin (behind Maude) is another baseball-themed machine: Short-Stop (1958, Williams).
GAME LOCATION: Arcade
NOTES: Today I'm taking a different approach to our discussion of pinball in cinema. Though neither of the titular characters actually plays pinball in this scene, the location of the green-sided pin exposes a continuity error in the film's editing.
SHOT 1: Harold plays a penny slot with a row of pin-tables to his right (note the green sided pin to the far right of the frame). The girl playing the pin walks away.
SHOT 2: Harold looks to his left, implying that he is watching the Maude and the group of people play a table game in that direction. However, the same green-sided pin can be seen in this shot as well. Are we to assume that this arcade has two instances of the same pin? Doubtful.
SHOT 3: Another shot of Harold playing the slot and collecting his winnings. The girl who previously walked away from the green-sided pin is back again.
FILM: Big
YEAR: 1988
DIRECTOR: Penny Marshall
PINBALL MODEL(S): Pin·Bot (1986, Williams)
GAME LOCATION: Loft apartment
NOTES: In this urban fantasy, set in the waning years of Reagan's presidency, Tom Hanks plays a boy living the life of an adult. Upon taking a loft-style apartment in NY, he proceeds to fill it with the paraphernalia of youth; none of which was available to him during his modest suburban upbringing.
The pinball machine is, of course, framed as an object of youthful lust, but more intriguingly it takes on a slightly political tone when one considers the consumption-drunk spirit of Reagan-era America. The acquisition of goods—especially those related to entertainment and lifestyle—is one of the defining attributes of this era, and its not surprising that the first impulse of Hanks' character is to (literally) fill the space of his empty new loft/life with material goods. It's an interesting, if not light-hearted, articulation of the prevailing cultural logic of 1980's America.
FILM: 36 Fillette
YEAR: 1988
DIRECTOR: Catherine Breillat
PINBALL MODEL(S): From what I can see of the cabinet art, this looks to be a 'Jacks to Open' model from Gottlieb (1984).
GAME LOCATION: Cafe/Bar
NOTES: Cafes and pinball have been bound up with cinematic representations of youth culture in France since the early stages of the Nouvelle Vague. Given the sexually-charged nature of these places (filmic or otherwise), the nearly ubiquitous presence of pin-tables within them marks the game as an experientially unifying component of the social maturation and sexual awakening that unfolds there.
FILM: Bad Day at Black RockYEAR: 1955DIRECTOR: John SturgesPINBALL MODEL(S): 'Follies of 1940' (1939, Genco)GAME LOCATION: SaloonNOTES: Once again we have a Robert Ryan/Pinball connection in a film! This Sturges classic is essential viewing for any fan of investigative cinema, but the presence of this pin-table makes it essential viewing for the pinball junkie as well.
In this film, Black Rock is a town torn between two eras: one marked by the self-policing, pre-war, pre-modern anonymity afforded by living in the American west, and a new era in which the encroachment of modernity is unavoidable. Here, the personal and cultural scars of United States involvement in WWII are hiding in plain sight (vertical surfaces are adorned by remembrances of wartime), and even the pin-table model name serves to call-to-attention the world events that derailed America's isolationist mentality.
FILM: AugustYEAR: 2008DIRECTOR: Austin ChickPINBALL MODEL(S): High Roller Casino (2001, Stern)GAME LOCATION: Bar/TavernNOTES: Going beyond the familiar visual presence of a "pinball table at the pub," production designers occasionally take care in aligning the theme of the pin model to the central theme of the film itself. This movie—which deals with the the uncertain and fleeting nature of success within the internet startup industry—finds an ideal thematic parallel in this casino-themed pin. If pinball and gambling are matters governed more by chance than by control, then the appearance of this particular pin can be read as a passive, non-verbal manifestation of the film's attitudes toward the nature of the startup industry.
FILM: Winter's BoneYEAR: 2010DIRECTOR: Debra GranikPINBALL MODEL(S): unknownGAME LOCATION: Bar/TavernNOTES: Winter's Bone offers a (fictionalized) glimpse into an otherwise impermeable subculture; one marked by its fierce defense of the liberties of isolation. If home and family provide the framework for this ideal, then this tavern setting is a more neutrally coded (certainly non-domestic) space. As part of the mise-en-scene, the pinball machine we see here acts as visual cue in establishing the setting, but it is also a culturally-charged object; never fully disengaged from its historical role as an object of both vice and criminality.
FILM: A Woman Under the InfluenceYEAR: 1974DIRECTOR: John CassavetesPINBALL MODEL(S): It is difficult to know for sure, but it is likely a Williams 'Lucky Strike' or 'Bowl a Strike' model.GAME LOCATION: Bar/TavernNOTES: Cassavetes' films rarely stray far from the "familiar," but part of his great genius as a filmmaker is his ability to nudge the familiar into the social margins. In this story of a woman succumbing to the traumas of a mental breakdown, the local pub becomes an environment of vulnerability. The pinball machine itself has nothing to do with the story, but does achieve a spatially locative effect (along with the cigarette machine). The pin also serves to increase the density of the filmic space by saturating the frame with more of the red/blue accents of the scene's color palate.
FILM: Carnival of Souls
YEAR: 1962
DIRECTOR: Herk Harvey
PINBALL MODEL(S): The backglass cannot be seen, but the cabinet art suggests that this is a 1958 'Double Action' model from Gottlieb.
GAME LOCATION: Diner/Bar
NOTES: Though this scene is not necessarily metaphorically loaded in terms of its inclusion of a pin within the frame, it was an interesting choice of the director to use the cross-angle of both the table and the pin to create a symmetric division between the two sides of the shot. This implied division between the man and woman subtly reinforces their inability to connect.
It should also be noted that the man playing the pinball machine eventually makes an attempt to meet and proposition the film's heroine (on the right), but is dissuaded from doing so and returns to playing the game alone. In a room full of social interaction, the use of the pin is seen as anti-social, as opposed to the more common strategy of filmmakers (Godard, for example) to employ pinball as a conduit for social interaction.
FILM: Diva
YEAR: 1981
DIRECTOR: Jean-Jacques Beineix
PINBALL MODEL(S): Space Mission (Williams, 1976), Buck Rogers (Gottlieb, 1980), Genie (Gottlieb, 1979), Panthera (1980, Gottlieb), The Amazing Spider-Man (1980, Gottlieb), Counterforce (1980, Gottlieb)
GAME LOCATION: Bowling Alley
NOTES: Once again we find the youth/pinball connection in a film, but this time the recreation space is configured as a place of vulnerability and disconnection. The arcade in this underground bowling alley is saturated with audio-visual energy, imparting an almost psychedelic atmosphere to the scene; effectively mirroring the fading consciousness of the film's bullet-wounded hero (whose physical condition is mistaken for drunkenness by the arcade's patrons). When we consider pinball as a game of collisions between opposing forces, settings such as this provide an ideal metaphorical environment for violent human conflicts to unfold.
FILM: Salem's Lot
YEAR: 1979
DIRECTOR: Tobe Hooper
PINBALL MODEL(S): Jacks Open (1977, Gottlieb) & Big Brave (1974, Gottlieb)
GAME LOCATION: Diner
NOTES: The three consecutive shots that feature pinball in this (still ridiculously terrifying) Stephen King adaptation are not merely incidental, but actually serve a pair of useful functions. The first shot (not pictured) is of a hand releasing the plunger on the Big Brave pin, cutting to the table action on the Jacks Open playfield, and lastly to a follow shot that surveys the space of the diner. When paired with the preceding shot of the hero staring at the haunted mansion on the hill from the diner window, we realize that the plunger shot launches us (pun intended) into a new act of the story; presumably following a commercial break.
The playfield shot—as with many such shots in cinema—is coded to promote a sense of seemingly chaotic action, with a player doing their best to manipulate this action in their favor. So too does the film's hero effort to resist the negative forces at work within the narrative.
Lastly, the presence of pinball within the diner serves to imbue a sense of the cultural normalcy of this space. The central conflict of the film involves an invading (foreign) evil—one that seeks to destroy an otherwise idyllic New England town; thus alluding to a broader cultural vulnerability and the disruption of small-town America's tendency toward isolationism.
FILM: 25 Watts
YEAR: 2001
DIRECTORS: Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll
PINBALL MODEL(S): Dr. Dude (1990, Midway Mfg.)
GAME LOCATION: Youth recreation center
NOTES: While yesterday's post dealt with the presence of pinball machines in celluloid taverns, today's post concerns the relationship between pinball and youth. Post-war French youth culture and the champions of the nouvelle vague are due a great deal of credit for concretizing the pinball/youth relationship as an immediately readable filmic prop (though, US and Italian filmmakers were known to deploy this pairing as well).
Modern cinema finds this pairing to be no less useful when rendering a space as being devoid of adult authority (such as this youth-center scene in 25 Watts).
FILM: The Hunter
YEAR: 1980
DIRECTOR: Buzz Kulik
PINBALL MODEL(S): 1st pic: Strange World (Gottlieb, 1978), 2nd pic:Toledo (Williams, 1975) & Royal Flush (Gottlieb, 1976)
GAME LOCATION: Tavern/bar
NOTES: It's no secret that pinball machines are often the denizens of marginally reputable locales; especially when the game is represented in cinema. The inclusion of a pin in a film can immediately attune our sense of the scene with the tonal intentions of the filmmaker. In other words, including pinball as an element of mise-en-scene is an efficient visual strategy by which certain locations are characterized as shady, or downright dangerous.
Despite the fact that this scene is set in a tavern—thus aligning pinball with gambling and somewhat offsetting the levity of the sequence—the ability of Tommy (always a significant pinball name!) to confidently troubleshoot the machine's enigmatic inner-workings characterizes him as likable and intelligent. This characterization serves to further resist the notion of pinball as a solely illegitimate activity.
FILM: Dying Room Only
YEAR: 1973
DIRECTOR: Philip Leacock
PINBALL MODEL(S): Queen of Diamonds (1959, Gottlieb)
GAME LOCATION: Roadside diner
NOTES: The setting for this (sadly) overlooked, made-for-TV feature is a roadside diner located on a desolate stretch of American highway. Most of the film's action takes place in a single room, in which this pin-table is the least visually banal aspect of the space's mise-en-scene. The pin can be seen in dozens of shots throughout the film.
In what begins as a fairly run-of-the-mill "vulnerable strangers in an unfamiliar location" setup, the story becomes quite terrifying when the locals begin to overtly hinder the attempts of the outsiders to leave. The spatial promise represented by the American road is inverted by the film and reduced to a claustrophobic and inescapable stage of terror. The closed-boundary space of the pinball playfield serves as a pertinent metaphor for the plight of the woman and her husband, and as the film progresses, we get the sense that they are being "played," much in the way that a player manipulates the action of a pinball table.
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