nokori3byo
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- Joined
- Dec 27, 2006
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While playing through "Dark Energy" the other day, I was struck by the resmblance between the escaping Breen's smug wave to Gordon and Alyx and a famous scene in William Friedkin's "The French Connection":
On the surface, the connection is pretty thin. There's nothing very remarkable about two bearded guys waving from behind transparent doors. But. on closer inspection, the two scenes are quite similar.
Compare:
1. The scene in the French Connection in which the French drug kingpin eludes his pursuer (Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle) by pretending to step out of a subway car only to step back in a split second before the door closes and the train departs, stranding Doyle on the outside. "Frog One" taunts the detectice with a wave and a smug grin. The gesture is a significant one and will be echoed later in the film when Doyle, having cornered his quarry at a road block, mockingly greets him with the same wave.
--and--
2. The scene in HL2 in which Breen, having narrowly escaped Gordon and Alyx, smugly waves to them from behind the glass door of his elevator.
I think it's about as likely as not that the reference was intentional, though it may be necessary to see the original scene to appreciate the similarity of the two.
Of course, I've been wrong before. I used to have a pet theory that the "No man" mentioned by the Nihilanth was in fact the Nihilanth himself, since his name could be read as a combination of the Latin "nihil" (nothing) and the Greek "anthropos" (man/mankind). Then, I got "Raising the Bar" and discovered it was something completely different.
On the surface, the connection is pretty thin. There's nothing very remarkable about two bearded guys waving from behind transparent doors. But. on closer inspection, the two scenes are quite similar.
Compare:
1. The scene in the French Connection in which the French drug kingpin eludes his pursuer (Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle) by pretending to step out of a subway car only to step back in a split second before the door closes and the train departs, stranding Doyle on the outside. "Frog One" taunts the detectice with a wave and a smug grin. The gesture is a significant one and will be echoed later in the film when Doyle, having cornered his quarry at a road block, mockingly greets him with the same wave.
--and--
2. The scene in HL2 in which Breen, having narrowly escaped Gordon and Alyx, smugly waves to them from behind the glass door of his elevator.
I think it's about as likely as not that the reference was intentional, though it may be necessary to see the original scene to appreciate the similarity of the two.
Of course, I've been wrong before. I used to have a pet theory that the "No man" mentioned by the Nihilanth was in fact the Nihilanth himself, since his name could be read as a combination of the Latin "nihil" (nothing) and the Greek "anthropos" (man/mankind). Then, I got "Raising the Bar" and discovered it was something completely different.
