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.
