A great cigar lover before the Eternal, Terry Pomerantz is also a fan of good cinema. Of course, the scenes where the hero smokes a cigar have often surprised him and have always interested him a little more than “ordinary” moviegoers like you and me, who will only see it as the simple attribute of a character.
Heroes and cigars
In general, in movies, only heroes smoke cigars. But they are particular heroes, with strong personalities, often rebellious but who, for the most part, will have adopted a noble cause. They are often Robin Wood types who restore the balance of society in favor of the freedom of a victim or an entire people. Like Che, Chaplin or Churchill, the cigar is a symbol of resistance, independence and leadership.
Here are some of the films where cigars are smoked. Terry will enjoy watching them again, while enjoying a good Churchill, why not?
City Lights
In addition to starring in it and composing the music, Charlie Chaplin wrote and directed City Lights. In it, Chaplin plays a vagrant who, in love, watches over a young blind florist, to the role of which Chaplin gave to Virginia Cherrill.
A famous scene in the film is the one in which Chaplin, in the company of the millionaire he saved from suicide, is partying in a nightclub. Chaplin, a little drunk, tries to light his cigar while waiting for his meal. After a series of visual misunderstandings, his finally lit cigar escapes him, flies away and ends up on a lady’s chair, just as she sits down! The fire ignites the lady’s dress exactly where you’d think and Chaplin, in all the candor he is capable of, desperately tries to extinguish it. This is probably the most hilarious cigar scene in world cinema!
Scarface
Released in 1983, Scarface is a film directed by Brian de Palma starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana, Steven Bauer as Manolo Ribera and Michelle Pfeiffer as Elvira Hancock.
Tony Montana, an insignificant Cuban smuggler, becomes one of the most influential criminals in America. During the sumptuous reception he gives for his wedding to Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer), with a cigar in his hand, he brings his wife in her wedding dress and her friends to see his young tiger caged in his garden.
Predator
Put on the screen in 1987, this sci-fi movie was directed by John McTieman. In addition to Arnold Schwarzenegger (Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer), the predator stars Elpida Carrillo (Anna Goncalves) and Bill Duke (Sergeant Marc Elliot).
Extraterrestrials kidnap and sequester the President of Guatemala. Just before disembarking from the helicopter that drops him off in the heart of the jungle, Major “Dutch” Schaefer (Arnold, future Republican Governor of California) quietly lights his cigar before leading his elite team of soldiers to find and free the president.
Cape Fear
It is in 1991 that Cape Fear invaded the screens of America. In this film by Martin Scorsese, Robert de Niro personifies Max Cady, Nick Nolte slips into the shoes of Sam Bowden and Jessica Lang plays the role of Leigh Bowden, Sam’s wife.
Max Cady is a drooling, tattooed thug who wants revenge on those who arranged for him to languish in prison. The cigar scene is particularly famous, even disturbing. In a movie theater, De Niro/Cady smokes so much cigar, while laughing out loud, that his former lawyer and his family, sitting right behind him, leave her, frightened by his arrogance.
Die Another Day
Released in 2002, this 20th Bond film is directed by Lee Tamahori. This James Bond is played by Pierce Brosnan. His multiple adventures in pursuit of Zao, the man with the diamond face, lead him to Havana. In Cuba, Bond visits a cigar factory where he buys a box of the best. Die Another Day is the last movie in which the famous MI-6 agent smokes.
Wolverine
In 2013, James Mangold signs the Wolverine production. This new episode of the X-men movie series stars Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Rila Fukushima as Yukio and Svetlana Khodchenkova as Dr. Green (Viper).
Wolverine sits at the bar. Quietly, he is sipping a whisky while smoking his cigar, lost in the bar mirror reflection. Two men come to serve him a kind of warning. Wolverine calmly spurns them out with, let’s say, most… savoury spicy words. The two men leave. Wolverine slowly exhales the smoke from his cigar and orders another whisky. Looking at Wolverine, one doesn’t doubt that the cigar is greatly relaxing!
Churchill
Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain is arguably the world’s best-known 20th Century head of state. He alone embodies the will of an entire people never to submit: “Hitler has lit a fire, the flames of which will drive him out of Europe. Our troops will continue to fight, and the Allies will continue to fight, and I will continue to fight, until we are free.”
As he makes this statement, Winston Churchill is smoking a cigar and looking directly into the whites of our eyes. “We will never give up. And I will never give up.” That’s what Terry tells himself when he thinks of the exceptional courage shown by all the children the Pomerantz Family Foundation helps.
Churchill was directed by Jonathan Teplitzky in 2017.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
This masterpiece is one of the many “spaghetti westerns” created by Sergio Leone, the inventor of the genre, the trendsetter, the creator of shots and silences whose articulation creates unbearable tensions at the heart of images of extraordinary grandeur!
Could one speak of “unbearable aesthetics”? Tension that Blondin’s cigar, the “good” (Clint Eastwood), alleviates at times, in very short moments. One of the most touching scenes in the film shows Blondin sharing his cigar with a young southern soldier dying after a battle. While smoking, the young soldier dies, with an almost relaxed smile on his face. Perhaps satisfied to have lived intensely until the end?
The other scene that Terry chose is less philosophical, but with a funny sarcastic tone. In the cemetery where the duel between the good, the bad and the ugly has just taken place, under the threat of the revolver of the good who is quietly smoking his cigarillo, the ugly digs to unearth the tomb that conceals the famous treasure that all these beautiful people have sought so avidly. If there is one quote to remember from the very short dialogues in the film, it is probably this one: “You see, the world is divided into two categories: those who have a loaded gun and those who dig. You dig.”
Cast: Clint Eastwood plays the good, Lee Van Clift is the bad and Ellie Wallach the ugly.
“It’s simple, I love all of Leone’s westerns”, Terry says with the same sense of wonder he had when he first saw them. Seeing him like this, it’s easy to see why Terry has kept his childlike heart intact. No wonder he understands them so well and has a special compassion for the less fortunate among them.
The Last Dance
This 2020 Netflix production tells the story of the Chicago Bulls basketball team and the most famous basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, during the 1980s and 1990s.
It tells the story of how Michael Jordan likes to smoke a good cigar after a win. This huge athlete who was literally flying to the basket says, “You have the right to defend what you have until you lose it!”, thus stressing the importance of team spirit and the cohesion of the efforts of all the players. Two values that make a champion team. Two values that are part of the DNA of the Pomerantz Family Foundation, which helps underprivileged children.
A cigar enthusiast, Terry Pomerantz shares his expert advice on the different brands, types of cigars, and essential accessories to have. Immerse yourself in his recommendations to magnify your experience with each cigar, which you can enjoy in good company, an invitation to take the time to live each moment to the full.