Today's selection is Speed with Keanu Reeves. My brother and I recently watched this one when he was visiting in February. We commented on the opening credits or titles, whatever they are called, and how WordArt cool they looked. It does not seem like that long ago that this movie was released but it came out in 1994! That is almost 20 years ago! Oh my goodness, my baby brother was also born in 1994. Facts like this contribute to my graying hair.
Speed remains timeless and part of my collection because of the action and twists in the story. Dennis Hopper is a great bad guy too. He has a maniacal laugh. Oh and who can forget the wonderful one liners from Mr. Reeves himself. "Shoot the hostage," "Mister, I'm already there," "Are you insured?" "I'm gonna rip your bleeping spine out." "Pop quiz ahole." "Yeah, well I'm taller."
I often quote the Sandra Bullock line when she is trying to get away from the tourist played by Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. "I got gum on my seat, gum." Just the way she says gum, it makes me smile. The way that Keanu just takes care of business makes it a great film too, he is a quick thinker. By now I know you are expecting me to tie this movie into the world of higher ed and residence life. Well here it is: I think Jack has a lot of the characteristics that a great RHD needs in times of crisis. He thinks on his feet, has to calm people who are freaking out in the bus, he has to deal with the blood, he has to also be constantly thinking of how to solve the bigger problem of the bomb, he is in contact with his backup hall director Harry in the office, he even gets pretty dirty while on duty.
Ok, well RHDs do not usually have to deal with bombs on buses or bus drivers who have been shot, but I really see the connection. Jack is a great mediator and finds time in crisis to be kind to Annie and help keep her calm too, I would hire him in a minute. I am even going to take this one step farther and and compare myself to Lt. McMahon, Jack's boss. Like when there is a gap in the freeway and Mac tells everyone they are fired, that they are all f***ing fired because of this unforeseen snafu. That sounds like something I would say! Nowadays even with that profanity, sorry Mom.
I love the part of this movie when Jack figures out that the bomber has a camera on the bus and can see them. You almost want to cheer out loud! But that is after your heart jumped out of your chest when he is stuck under the bus and before we get involved with the subway. The continued twists are just great. An RA could do some really fun things with a movie like this. We have this great team builder on campus that uses mouse traps to create an environment of anxiety and at the end of the activity you should learn something about how fear can affect your team. Maybe pairing that activity with this movie, to illustrate how cool and calm Jack is as the "leader" of the "team" in this movie could help an RA program about not letting fear and anxiety get in the way of your academic goals.
Another idea, you could place bets on how many times Jack uses the F word in this movie and the one closest could win a Thesaurus. You know, so they do not make the mistake of using the same word over and over again on a resume. You could have a handout of the most overused resume words for your residents to take with them. Just like that- two great RA programming ideas and a training video for RHD staffs to learn what to expect while on duty. Speed really goes above a beyond as a Hollywood classic.
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