Anaconda (1997)

Peruvian director Luis Llosa's horror-action and adventure thriller told about a National Geographic crew in the Amazon Rainforest jungle area, searching for a legendary lost native tribe (the Shirishama Indians - the "People of the Mists") in order to make a documentary. The expedition was led by:

• Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez), the film crew director

After rescuing a stranded, mysterious Paraguayan named Paul Serone (Jon Voight), he promised to lead them to the tribe. But then they found themselves kidnapped by the snake hunter - his secret objective was to track down and capture a monstrous and vicious giant 40-foot Anaconda.

In the film's exciting conclusion, Serone was ensnared by the fearsome giant anaconda after it bit him in the shoulder. After wrapping its coils around him, constricting itself and breaking some of his body's bones, it opened its massive jaws to swallow him whole. His head was seen - from inside the snake's mouth as he was eaten, head-first. The snake wriggled its body to slowly take him into its belly.

Swallowed Whole, Then Regurgitated

Afterwards, the snake pursued Terri, and then completely regurgitated Serone's half-digested, twitching body at her feet - he was covered with digestive juices and was still alive and conscious. Kneeling in front of Terri, Serone took time to wink with his left eye. The snake became trapped within a smoke stack which exploded from ignited fuel drums, catching it on fire. The snake chased Terri again as she struggled to swim away, but then sank and submerged into the water to douse its flaming body.

In the film's final scare moment, the anaconda made one final effort to eat Terri by bursting up through the dock, but she was rescued when cameraman Danny Rich (Ice Cube) struck the giant snake in the head with a pickaxe. As the snake dropped back into the water, Danny exclaimed: "Bitch!"

The Anaconda's Death

The Ice Storm (1997)

Director Ang Lee's dramatic ensemble film was about the troubled and dysfunctional lives of two wealthy New Caanan, Connecticut neighboring families, during a Thanksgiving weekend in 1973:

• the Carvers, Jim and Janey (Jamey Sheridan and Sigourney Weaver), with two children: Mikey (Elijah Wood) and shy younger son Sandy (Adam Hann-Byrd)
• the Hoods, Ben and Elena (Kevin Kline and Joan Allen), with two children: 16 year-old prep-school student Paul (Tobey Maguire) and cynical 14 year-old Wendy (Christina Ricci)

A treacherous freezing rain-storm outdoors mirrored the broken relationships of the two wealthy upper-class groups, who were engaged in excessive drug and alcohol use, and adulterous mate-swapping.

[Note: Symptomatic of the sexual revolution of the 1970s in both generations, Wendy's father Ben Hood was having an affair with Mikey's temptress mother Janey Carver, while the promiscuous teenaged Wendy was seeking out sex with Mikey ("I'll touch it, but that's as far as it goes"), and also playing "I'll show you mine" games with Sandy.]

Depressed, the morbid Mikey had said he wanted to be in the ice-cold outdoors because the frozen conditions made things inert and clean: "When it freezes, I guess that means the molecules are not moving. So when you breathe, there's nothing in the air, you know, to breathe into your body. The molecules have stopped. It's clean." He was tragically electrocuted in the devastating and dangerous ice-storm, while admiring the beautiful sight of ice-covered trees and fields, and was resting on a guard-rail.

It was a freak accident when a sparking and downed electrical power line, broken by a falling tree, came into contact with the rail.

When Mikey's body was brought back home after being discovered by the side of the road, Ben Hood simply explained:

"He was just up in Silver Lane. The power line."

Jack Frost (1997)

In this serial killer fantasy-horror comedy by writer/director Michael Clooney (not to be confused with the family comedy film Jack Frost (1998) with Michael Keaton), a serial killer (Scott MacDonald) about to be executed came back as a giant demented snowman (Jack Frost) with violent murderous tendencies, following a prison truck accident.

His body became fused with snow on the ground, as a result of a collision with a genetic research vehicle and a ruptured tank of acid. The vengeful, cold-blooded snowman went after victims in the fictional town of Snowmonton.

In a unique and repulsive misogynistic scene of extremely bad taste, the snowman melted itself into the hot bath of aspiring actress Jill Metzner (pre-American Pie Shannon Elizabeth (Fadal) in her feature film debut). Jill thought that boyfriend Tommy (Darren O. Campbell) had run her bath-water for her, and thanked him, not realizing that the "armed and dangerous" and self-professed "world's most pissed-off snow cone" Jack Frost had driven an icicle through Tommy's chest and forehead, and then melted himself down into the tub.

After stripping down, Jill entered the tub and began washing herself. The film hinted at the snowman's sexual intent with a quick glimpse of his phallic-shaped carrot nose popping up and floating in the bath-water. Jill complained and screamed about the water turning cold:

"Tommy, no. Don't put cold water in. Now it's freezing."

The snowman was reconstituted in the tub, then slowly stood up as it hugged, grabbed, and attack-raped Jill against the bathroom's shower wall.

Jill's Rape/Murder by Jack Frost

She screamed as he pounded her head and body against the wall behind her, pummeling her repeatedly. She collapsed dead on the floor with her eyes open (with blood oozing out of the left side of her mouth), as Jack Frost inappropriately joked:

Hmm, Looks like Christmas came a little early this year. Well, hope it was good for you, honey. (Jack Frost replaced the carrot into his face) Oh, I must remember to send flowers. (Laughter)

L.A. Confidential (1997)

In the surprising conclusion of this popular 1950s style, post-noir crime drama about police corruption, "Hollywood" vice cop/detective and Badge of Honor TV show technical advisor Sgt. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) was suddenly and shockingly killed at 1:00 am. Like others, he had been receiving kickbacks for aiding in the arrest of celebrities.

He was shot point-blank in the heart with a .32 slug by LAPD Capt. Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) in his kitchen for knowing too much. The murder revealed the film's ultimate bad guy and mastermind.

Vincennes' last words as he slumped to the floor were: "Rollo Tomasi" when Smith asked up-close: "Have you a valediction, boyo?" - after speaking the two words, the life went out of Vincennes' eyes.

[Note: The metaphoric term Rollo Tomasi was the imaginary name of a purse snatcher (and uncaught murderer) who had shot Preston Exley, the father of young, idealistic fellow cop Lieut. Ed Exley (Guy Pearce). The name denoted the corrupt police chief as the perfect example of a criminal who was able to escape punishment and literally get away with murder.]

Afterwards when held at gunpoint by Smith after a brutal shootout in the abandoned Victory Motel, Exley explained the meaning of the term 'Rollo Tomasi' to Smith. Realizing that the chief was a corrupt mastermind crime boss trying to take over the drug trade and rackets in LA, he told him:

"You're the guy who gets away with it. Jack knew it. So do I."

When the tables were turned, Exley shot Smith in the back as he walked away.

Life is Beautiful (1997, It.) (aka La Vita E Bella)

The Academy Award Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film was this Italian-language film - a "fable" about love and sacrifice.

It had two decidedly different acts (or halves). The first part of the film was a comedic romance between:

• Guido Orefice (Best Actor Oscar-winner Roberto Begnini), a clownish, madcap Jewish Italian waiter
• Dora (Begnini's real-life wife Nicoletta Braschi), a pretty schoolteacher

The second half of the film (told in flashback) displayed the horrors of a WWII concentration camp where the family was taken. To protect his young and innocent son Giosue/Joshua (Giorgio Cantarini) from the horrors of the Nazi death camp, Guido (through humor) convinced him that they were only involved in a role-playing game - to win an armored tank.

He offered his hidden son points if he would stay quiet and remain undetected. The first person to acquire 1,000 points would win a real battle tank.

In the film's sad conclusion, Guido had convinced his son to remain in a sweatbox (with a rectangular opening) in order to acquire the tank, while he went off to find Dora. When he was caught and seized by guards, he winked at his son, letting him know things were okay. After he was led away into a dark alleyway, he was shot (off-screen). There was just a small report of machine-gun fire when he was sacrificially killed.

The Armored Tank 'Prize'

The young boy thought he had won the game when the camp was liberated by the Americans riding in tanks (he cried out joyfully: "It's true!"), and he was reunited with his mother.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

This adventure-action film was a continuation of the first film, set four years later, with many of the same characters from the original 1993 film.

There were a number of dramatic deaths, including these three:

• Gadgets expert Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff) suffered a grisly demise after he was snatched from his jeep and bitten in the leg, flipped around, pulled in half and ripped apart like taffy, and then shared as a snack by two Tyrannosaurus Rexs.
  
  
• Sadistic dinosaur hunter Dieter Stark (Peter Stormare) also died when he became separated from his group and was swarmed repeatedly by a pack of small, carnivorous bipedal Compsognathus. A jungle stream turned red as he was consumed behind a giant tree log.
  
  
• Long-haired paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke (Thomas F. Duffy) died when he ran into the jaws of a pursuing Tyrannosaurus behind a waterfall when trying to avoid a poisonous coral snake that had crawled down his shirt.

Starship Troopers (1997)

Paul Verhoeven's military-related adventure-action film was a combination spoof of militarism and a violent science-fiction saga set in the 23rd century. Gung-ho college graduates who enlisted and trained in the futuristic Federal Service (military) based on Earth, explored other regions of the universe, including Klendathu. It was the homeworld of giant, intelligent, lethal pseudo-arachnid enemy of insect-inhabitants called "Bugs."

During a lethal attack of swarming green bugs, a few of the soldiers were decapitated when struck in the head. Another kneeling down was struck by a wounded and falling bug - and squashed.

One hapless soldier was sucked into a pit, and had half of his body chewed off - visible when he was pulled out. Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) obliged the lethally-wounded soldier ("Rico, you know what to do!...Do it, Rico!") by shooting him in the chest to put him out of his misery.

When the giant, fire-breathing super-insect Mother Bug attacked, its fiery blast incinerated the right arm of one of the infantry soldiers. Rico heroically jumped onto the back of the super bug to ride it, and to enable him to shoot a large hole into its shell with his machine gun. He held onto the bloody hole he had created and then dropped a grenade into it, causing a blast that exploded the creature to oblivion. As he watched from a close distance, he was showered with bug guts.

The Death of the Mother Bug

Titanic (1997)

There were heartbreaking moments after Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and the love of his life Rose DeWitt Butaker (Kate Winslet) had survived the luxury liner Titanic's sinking, and he helped her onto a large floating piece of debris in the icy cold North Atlantic waters. She complained of the intense cold and her frozen body, but he encouraged her to not give up:

Don't you do that, don't say your good-byes. Not yet, do you understand me?....Listen, Rose. You're gonna get out of here. You're gonna go on and you're gonna make lots of babies, and you're gonna watch 'em grow. You're gonna die an old... an old lady warm in her bed. Not here. Not this night. Not like this. Do you understand me?...Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me to you and I'm thankful for that, Rose. I'm thankful. You must, you must, you must do me this honor. You must promise me that you'll survive, that you won't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless. Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise.

She promised, and he replied: "Never let go." She shivered and responded: "I will never let go, Jack. I'll never let go."

He kissed her hand before his body froze of hypothermia in the cold Atlantic Ocean, although they maintained their hand-grip.

When she was about to be rescued by a boat by summoning it with a whistle, she let go of Jack's hand, although repeated the phrase: "I'll never let go. I promise" as he sank underwater into the frigid waters.

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

In the spectacular conclusion of this 18th James Bond film, 007 agent Bond (Pierce Brosnan) confronted the megalomaniac billionaire media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce).

Carver was onboard his Stealth ship, invisible to radar, with plans to instigate a war between China and the UK, by firing a missile at Beijing. He believed he would procure exclusive media broadcasting rights in China for 100 years as a result.

Now with only two minutes left in the countdown, Carver continued to express confidence about his escape aboard a news helicopter while the British fleet, advancing rapidly upon the ship, would destroy evidence of his wrong-doing.

Bond took charge as he activated the Sea Drill (behind Carver) and taunted his opponent:

I may have some breaking news for you, Elliot.

When Elliot turned around, Bond grabbed for Elliot's gun, subdued him, and then added:

You forgot the first rule of mass media, Elliot. Give the people what they want!

He positioned the villain in the path of the churning Sea Drill where he was chewed up in its mechanism - a victim of his own technology.

Later in London, M (Judi Dench) dictated a press release to secretary Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond): "Moneypenny, take this release. Elliot Carver is missing - presumed drowned while on a cruise aboard his luxury yacht in the South China Sea. At present, the local authorities believe the media mogul committed suicide."