100 Memorable Moments in Chicken Run

 
On second viewing, CHICKEN RUN remains utterly delightful.  Or, if 
you prefer pun-based descriptors, the year's best movie says me is 
still egg-citing, yoke-filled, wonderfully fowl, expertly penned, 
hardly feather-light, and everything it's cracked up to be.  As an 
added bonus, attending again allows for the equally memorably ex-
perience of watching someone *else* watch the movie.  That is, if 
they haven't... clucked any hours with it.  (Sorry.)  Yup, go see 
this one and then take someone else and, after either the first or 
second sampling, enjoy the quick list of one-hundred memorable mo-
ments.  Says me.


WARNING:  This is a movie with *many* surprises.  Read this list
          ahead of time at your own risk...


  1. The rousing opening fanfare.
  2. Barbed wire in close-up.
  3. Muddy boots.
  4. Chicken foot stepping out of shadows.
  5. Spoon used as shovel.
  6. Low shot of large hens running toward camera.
  7. Dog, troll, chomp.
  8. "No chicken escapes from *Tweddy's* farm!"
  9. Ginger thrown into "the box."
 10. Ginger's squinty eyes after "the box" is opened.
 11. Hut 17.
 12. Spoon clanging on roller-skate.
 13. Egg-beater turned tunneling device.
 14. Coke-bottle glasses worn by buck-toothed Scottish chicken.
 15. Rubber (jack?) boots filling the screen.
 16. "I've laid five eggs this morning.  Five!"
 17. Babs: "Is Edwina off on holiday?"
 18. Door opens to reveal... axe and chopping block.
 19. Thunk.
 20. Chicken tears.
 21. Purple knitted "stealth" cap.
 22. Zipper tie on rat.
 23. "Voila!" "That's French."
 24. Then they exclaim: "You call this pay?" "It's chicken feed."
 25. Mr. T's comb-over.
 26. Sick and Tired of Making Miniscule Profits?
 27. Milk-bottle lantern.
 28. Mrs. Tweedy's gritting, rectangular teeth.
 29. Pipe gavel.
 30. Ginger: "This is our way out."  Babs: "We'll make posters!"
 31. Rocky Rhodes.
 32. Aside: "Hi, how are ya?"
 33. The Lone Free Ranger.
 34. Chicken aerobics.
 35. And one-armed push-ups.
 36. Tire pump-powered hot tug.
 37. Rat pun: "It's raining hen!"
 38. Babs: "We're flying!"
 39. "Wanna watch?" "Yeah, alright."
 40. Rodent spectators "ooohing" and "aaahing."
 41. Rat pun: "Poultry in motion!"
 42. Mrs. Tweedy's reflection in a shiny, spinning sawblade.
 43. Beak warmer.
 44. "Thhhhhhhrust."
 45. Knitted aviators helmet (with goggles).
 46. Rat pun: "The tension's killing me."
 47. Shot of big chicken's backside dropping out of sky.
 48. Bab's eyelids squeezed tightly together.
 49. Chicken sweat.
 50. Flip, Flop, and Fly.
 51. "I'm going with it!"
 52. Chickens catching the jitter-bug.
 53. While the rodents disco-dance above.
 54. Mr. T: "What kind of pies?"
 55. Yellow stains on guard dog's teeth.
 56. Panicking poultry.
 57. "Chickens go in; pies go out."
 58. Rocky: "Chute!"
 59. Overhead shot of oven-baking pies with brown rooster imprints.
 60. Ginger grabbing cap like Indiana Jones.
 61. Rocky grabbing rope (chain?) like Luke Skywalker.
 62. Babs: "I don't want to be a pie.  I don't like gravy."
 63. Awkward moments between a hen and a rooster under a starry
     sky.
 64. The distant sound of circus music during Ginger's discover of 
     "the truth."
 65. And then it rains.
 66. Close-up of chicken's foot stomping knitting needles into 
     ground.
 67. Live poultry mud wrestling.
 68. Rat to rat, on the facts of life: "Ask your mum."
 69. "Gnomes now."
 70. Synchronized stitching.
 71. "Eggs from heaven!" "No, from her bum!"
 72. The Wanderer.
 73. Shoe print on arse.
 74. Mr. Tweedy's covered in chickens.
 75. "The chickens are revolting!"
 76. Ping-pong paddle semaphores.
 77. Christmas light runway lights.
 78. "In the quite likely event of an emergency..."
 79. Colonel Fowler's realty check: "Good heavens no, I'm a 
     chicken!"
 80. Bab's knitting while pedaling.
 81. Choco chocks.
 82. "Put. The ramp. Down."
 83. Lean close for kiss, slap face.
 84. "That's for leaving"
 85. Lean close again, but interrupted by...
 86. "A cling-on Cap'n!"
 87. Said in Scottish accent, of course.
 88. Mrs. Tweedy rips the face off her face.
 89. Escalating arms race:  safety scissors, knife, egg gun, axe.
 90. Safety valve / Do not block.
 91. Max level.
 92. Gravy pressure.
 93. Mushroom cloud of thick black/brown liquid.
 94. Aerial view of destroyed barn.
 95. And the rodents hug.
 96. Sunlight.
 97. Grass.
 98. Babs swinging in jockey shorts.
 99. Rats in Hawaiian shirts.
100. Post-credits continuation of chicken and egg discussion.

Copyright 2000 by Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros