Favorite ad libs

[Ghost]

The times they did it wrong but got it right.

I'll take Raiders of the Lost Ark. Harrison Ford pulling the gun on the swordsman. Originally Indiana Jones was supposed to do some fancy whip trick and wrestle the sword away. Ford was sick that day and suggested the idea of simply shooting the guy. A classic film moment was born, one of the few bits of dark humor in any Spielberg film.

Anyways, movies, television, music, whatever ...

[amerifolklegend]

That's an ad lib?

Sounds more like a script change.

[bungadiri]

His Girl Friday: Rosalind Russell throws her purse at the back of Cary Grant's head, Grant, smirking, ducks under it.

[Dr.Phil]

The times they did it wrong but got it right.

I'll take Raiders of the Lost Ark. Harrison Ford pulling the gun on the swordsman. Originally Indiana Jones was supposed to do some fancy whip trick and wrestle the sword away. Ford was sick that day and suggested the idea of simply shooting the guy. A classic film moment was born, one of the few bits of dark humor in any Spielberg film.

Anyways, movies, television, music, whatever ...



I love that scene

[Ghost]

That's an ad lib?

Sounds more like a script change.

I thought about that after posting and technically, you may well be right, since it was previously contemplated. It's not like everyone thought he was going to do the whip trick and he pulled the gun out instead. We'll retitle the thread "ad libs and pretty darn close to ad libs" or "ad libs and really cool things that actors/musicians thought up on the set/in the studio to improve their product" if that will make you happier.
And I would hate for you to become the TaosJohn of the favorite ad lib thread. :)

[Coach_McGuirk]

I thought about that after posting and technically, you may well be right, since it was previously contemplated. It's not like everyone thought he was going to do the whip trick and he pulled the gun out instead. We'll retitle the thread "ad libs and pretty darn close to ad libs" or "ad libs and really cool things that actors/musicians thought up on the set/in the studio to improve their product" if that will make you happier.
And I would hate for you to become the TaosJohn of the favorite ad lib thread. :)
Sam Malone turning and straightening the picture of Sitting Bull in the final episode of "Cheers". It was completely unscripted, something Ted Danson just did as a tribute to Nick Colsanto, "Coach" from the series early years...

[Dan Loney]

"Lady, I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while."

[bojendyk]

In The Godfather, after James Caan shoves a nosy reporter and breaks his camera, he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a roll of cash, and throws some money on the ground.

Apparently, the camera was a pretty valuable real camera, and Caan didn't intend for it to get broken.

[bojendyk]

For music, the last song on the new Sleater-Kinney (which rocks, by the way) was totally improvised on that take.

I've always loved the way the huge crack in Paul Westerberg's voice toward the end of "We'll Inherit the Earth" ("We can't hold our tongues / at the top of our lungs").

[Claymore]

Basically any Christopher Guest movie (Best In Show, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind, Spinal Tap...). The actors are given the basic construct of the scene and they improvise from there.

[Matt in the Hat]

Martin Sheen freaking out on acid in the beginning of Apocalypse Now, whiping into his kung fu and kicking that full length mirror's ass.

[Crimen y Castigo]

"Lady, I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while."

Winner.

[Stogey23]

"Lady, I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while."
Snopes take is interesting:
http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/groucho.htm

[WingsFan]

How about just about anything out of the mouth of Carl Spackler in Caddyshack?

[Pints]

Another one for music would be the guitar solo in "Hardcore UFO's" 1st track of BEE Thousand by Guided By Voices. The guitar comes unplugged and someone plugs it back in mid solo. They kept it because well that's just GBV for you.

[Ghost]

The story I heard once on the Rolling Stones track "We Love You" is that they recorded the sound of police knocking on the door to arrest one of the members on drug charges and put it in the song.

By the way, there's actually another Harrison Ford ad lib (although probably more in the "on-set script change" category) in maybe his most famous onscreen moment. I'll leave that one alone for awhile and see if anyone else knows it.

[Pints]

The story I heard once on the Rolling Stones track "We Love You" is that they recorded the sound of police knocking on the door to arrest one of the members on drug charges and put it in the song.

By the way, there's actually another Harrison Ford ad lib (although probably more in the "on-set script change" category) in maybe his most famous onscreen moment. I'll leave that one alone for awhile and see if anyone else knows it.

[geek hat on}
Would that be when he tells Princess Leia "I Know" after she tells him that she loves him prior to being lowered into that carbon frezzing thingamagiggy in The Empire Strikes Back?
[geek hat off]

[JBigjake]

Supposed ad lib in On the Waterfront: when Eva Marie Saint drops her glove, director Elia Kazan lets camera continue to roll as Marlon Brando picks it up, tries it on.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047296/trivia
The scene where Eva Marie Saint drops her glove and Marlon Brando picks it up and puts it on his hand was unplanned. Saint dropped her glove accidentally and Brando improvised the rest.

[PoshSpur]

That's an ad lib?

Sounds more like a script change.



...what's an ad lib?

[Dyvel]

From Midnight Cowboy, "I'm walking here! I'm walking here!"

Dustin Hoffman ad-libbed the famous line, "I'm walking here! I'm walking here!" as the cab driver almost hit him when he was walking across the street. The cab was a real one, not part of the production (the scene was filmed in actual city crowds). Hoffman improvised the line because he didn't want to ruin a difficult take.