Thread: The Straight Razor in Film

Originally Posted by hloyallen

Driver, which is a newer movies, has a seen were a straight razor is used to cut a guys arm open, killing him.

i seen that movie. and i must say i cringed when he stuck his hand out and the other guy sliced it that bad and then the blood started flowing and my aunt looked at me and said (and you say those things are safe.)

not sure if this has been mentioned yet but I had to watch the movie chocolat last night and there was a straight scene in that one

The newest "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark". IIRC, there's a shaving scene once before the little buggers steal the razor to use for nefarious purposes.
I also noticed a commercial featuring Adrien Brody, and two other famous guys, for a new facial hair remover that showed a picture of a straight, signifying that this new piece of equipment could do the detail work that only a straight razor was able to do before it's invention. :P
Another horror movie with Mila Jovovich features a straight razor as the murderers weapon of choice. "Faces in the Crowd" is the name.

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

This is not exactly a straight scene, but in Pitch Black, Riddick shaves his head with some Gucci knife. And in the Chronicles or Riddick he is supposed to be shaving 5 years of hair and beard off with a knife again, though the shots don't show you anything.

He uses axle grease instead of soap.

I just saw the new John Carter movie.

When John escapes from the stockade the officer in charge (Bryan Cranston) is just starting to take a straight to a heavy beard. When a guard bursts in to tell him the news, he jumps and slashes his own face. Two movies in a row where he is cut with a straight.

In The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Tuco carries a straight on a string around his neck.

Of course there is John Cleese in Monte Python's "The Meaning of War" casually shaving during a Zulu attack. Nonchalantly finishes it after a spear breaks his shaving mirror.

Thou must forgive me, but on TV series Alcatraz (not a movie) they like show a lot of str8 shaving'. Some with the razor perpendicular to face! Now that's good! Or u know.

There's an old "spaghetti western" starring Terrence Hill & Peter Fonda entitled My Name is Nobody (1973). There are two great straight scenes where a barber is giving a straight shave. It's a "fun" movie and I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen the movie. It is worth "Netflicking."

The fascination of how a straight razor shave looked in movies, coupled with difficulties with the equipment contemporary to my day is what led me to take up straight shaving and stick with it until I got it down.

I don't think, however, I ever saw anybody shave himself (or didn't notice). I only saw barbers shave customers. YouTube videos were the first time I saw somebody shave himself.

Movies where the straight razor was used to have himself (rather than a barber shaving him):
They Walked By Night (1948)
African Queen (1951)

There are others, but I can't think of them at the moment.

I've seen much more safety razor use in movies through the years.

I have to mention an Alfred Hitchcock Hour starring Peter Fonda where his dad was killed by this guy who "owned" the town. Peter went off to barber school and had an occasion to give this guy a shave before he realized this was the son after revenge. Peter locked the door and held the blade under the villain's throat while talking to him, and the villain's heart stopped from the stress of what might happen.

Once Upon a Time in the West.

I believe Jason Robards was shaving himself while Bronson and Fonda were outside in a duel. I think he nicked himself when the shots went off.

I'm getting a copy of the movie to check. Been a long time since I've seen it.