Originally Posted by hal9000i
(Post 3133267)
In keeping with my earlier post about an EUF commercial involving laundry detergent, here is 1978's "Halloween".
John Carpenter's excellent film about an evil (and possibly supernatural) killer/mental patient who escapes an asylum after many years and returns to his hometown on Halloween night. As almost everyone knows, this is the film the launched the career of star Jamie Lee Curtis (whose mother, Janet Leigh, herself had a star making turn in the classic 1960 film "Psycho". Ms. Leigh played a character who often seemed to be reduced to her underwear and dies violently in a famous shower stabbing).
Anyway, in one memorable scene, a young babysitter is making popcorn for her young charge and spills butter on her clothes. Faster than you can say "fan service" (man I loved the old days) the babysitter strips down to her panties, finds a man's dress shirt, and then goes out to the laundry room to wash her clothes. After accidentally locking herself in, she gets stuck in a window with her underpants on full display. Her embarrassment and humiliation are palpable.
This scene has always stood out to me on several levels and to my way of thinking qualifies as EUF. Pretty, perky Nancy Keyes (or Nancy Loomis as she went by then) plays Annie the babysitter. She is one of a trio of young women in the film. Her character is the strongest of the three-- confident, sexually aggressive, intelligent and sarcastic, Annie is usually in command of all situations. She's not a "queen bee" type but is def. the leader of her group of friends.
Which is why it's so delicious that on Halloween night as Annie babysits little girl Lindsey she winds up losing her clothes, reduced to running around in a shirt with her panties showing, and going from one misadventure to the other before getting stuck in a window in a humiliating position.
To me, it's almost a case of classic role reversal. Annie starts off as the adult, babysitting Lindsey and in full charge. In such a situation, you might expect little Lindsey to be in her PJ's while Annie the grown up is fully dressed. However, Annie makes a mess of her self and ends up out her clothes. Now it's ANNIE in her "jammies" while little Lindsey is fully dressed.
Next Annie goes out to the laundry room to wash her clothes and accidentally locks herself in. The phone rings inside the house, and Lindsey answers it calmly and composed. She goes to get Annie and finds her stuck in a window, underpants on full display, just like a helpless little girl. Helping her get unstuck, Annie is mortified and humiliated and makes Lindsey promise not to tell anyone about her predicament. Lindsey is rather smug, and with a grin that broadcasts "no promises" turns and leads the way out of the room.
What has happened here is a subtle role reversal. Annie and Lindsey have essentially changed places, with the formerly confident and sarcastic Annie getting herself in to increasingly humiliating situations. She obviously can't be left alone. Lindsey has to take charge so to speak to salvage the situation. Just who is babysitting who here? and why are Annie's underpants peeping out?
For me, this scene stands out on multiple levels, both blatant and subtle in the realm of EUF.
Incidentally, for those of you wondering, having a laundry room in a separate shed or small outside room is a feature usually found in older homes out west where the climate is warm. "Halloween" of course was filmed in Los Angeles despite being set in the midwest.
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