The Daily Think

“The night was humid” starts a film from 1987 with Danny Devito and Billy Crystal. A writing teacher and a student of his explore writing and eventually find out they have a shared enemy: The female.

BASIC STATS
Throw Momma From the Train was released in 1987 by Orion Pictures starring Danny Devito, Billy Crystal, Anne Ramsey with appearances by Rob Reiner, Oprah Winfrey and Branford Marsalis. Also, the directorial debut of Danny Devito. And with a budget of $14M, it turned into a box office of $57M making it one of the bigger successes in 1987. Only 1 Oscar nomination and mixed reviews by critics but leave it to the general public to get it right and make it a success.

SPOILERS AHEAD – PLOT SUMMATIONS
LARRY DONNER – BILLY CRYSTAL
Professor Larry Donner blames his wife for stealing his manuscript and has incredible hate and anger for her. She also divorced him. Now, what we do know is we see Larry struggling to spit out his first sentence and can barely come up with anything. What we also see is he is a teacher, and as the saying goes, “those who can’t do, teach.” As opposed to his ex-wife who has the published the book in her name and then went on Oprah to discuss it.

OWEN LIFT – DANNY DEVITO
Let’s shift over to Owen Lift, student and caretaker living with his mother. As he attempts to become a writer plugging away at his typewriter, his mother continues to painfully abuse him into his 40’s. He struggles with the craft of writing, but he certainly has the energy and ideas flowing through him. However, his mother continues to block him from writing, which seems to be Owen’s dream.

CRISS CROSS

Both men come together to discuss their female troubles (a good John Waters film btw.) They come to discuss the anatomy of successful murder: Eliminate the motive and establish the alibi. Larry tells Owen that if he watches the film “Strangers on a Train” (a good Alfred Hitchcock film btw) he will understand what he is talking about. Unfortunately for Larry, Owen takes the initiative and misunderstands the point of the film as he takes it upon himself to “criss cross.” Also of note is the heavy Hitchcockian vibe and similarity, as Danny Devito stalks his conspirator similar to Robert Walker’s character Bruno stalking Farley Granger’s tennis playing character.

MOMMA LIFT – ANNE RAMSEY

Let’s talk about Owen’s Mother Mrs. Lift. Played by Anne Ramsey who was Oscar Nominated for this role but lost to Olympia Dukakis. Momma Lift was quite mean indeed, and abusive to her adult son, as she takes out the fear of being committed, or abandoned by her son. With only 10 minutes of actual screen time, Mrs. Lift does indeed steal the scenes all the time, and is one of the most memorable mother figures in history. With that said, her Danny Devito slaps were fantastic, her mocking dialogue of Owen “Owen loves his mama”, and her interactions with the stranger in her house Larry, were some of the most and still the funniest scenes from an AARP qualified actress.

BACK TO THE PLOT

As the hijinks continue with Larry attempting to kill Owen’s mother, we finally end up on a train where in a scene between Larry, Owen and his momma, she emasculates both men with a more perfect word (sultry) for the end of the line “The night was…” She has shown both of them that she could probably be a better writer than both men! Which is the last straw for Professor Donner as he chases her down to finally kill her. After the unsuccessful attempt Owen comes to the realization that he shouldn’t kill his mother and goes on to rescue her from the clutches of the woman hating Larry.

SO HOW IS THIS A COMMENTARY ON MEN ANGRY AT WOMEN?
At this point you are saying to yourself, what is the tie in here to incels or men who blame women and the world and society? Where is the lesson learned from all this for the men in the movie?

The lesson is that a man should use his anger and passion to fuel their creativity instead of using their anger and passion to harm the perceived source of their plight.

Larry goes on to write a best-selling novel about moving forward and being at peace with the woman who wronged him, and Owen gets published with his Children’s book that praises his mother “a writer writes, always.” Coming to terms and finding peace with women and being less angry and murderous toward the female allows the men to move forward and become successful in their chosen endeavors. How many men could benefit the world and themselves by coming to terms with their past and releasing the anger and pain over an ex-wife/girlfriend, mother who passed away, or female who might have wronged them once in their past?

Also, for unique read and take on Throw Momma From the Train for UX Designers: We are not just designers, we are storytellers