The Tootsie Shot
Decoder Ring
Slate Podcasts
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 20 July 2021
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You know the Tootsie Shot. It’s that shot from the movies: a really busy midtown street, protagonist smack in the middle of it all, everyone going somewhere. It’s one of the most recognizable shots in film. It can be found in Working Girl, Midnight Cowboy, Wall Street, Heartburn, Elf, Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Devil Wears Prada, The Wolf of Wall Street, and so many more. This is a short, transitional moment that often comes in the middle of a montage and takes up 30 seconds max, and sometimes just two or three. It’s just someone walking down a crowded street. So why is it so sticky?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's a shot you've probably seen in a lot of movies. |
| 0:09.6 | It's of the film's protagonist, but it takes a second to spot her because she's smack in the middle of a crowd. |
| 0:17.0 | It's a dense rush hour crowd. Everybody headed somewhere, and she's headed somewhere, too. |
| 0:23.4 | There's usually a rousing song playing on the soundtrack, |
| 0:26.1 | and the camera keeps her in focus as she walks down the street, |
| 0:30.1 | even as everyone around her is a little fuzzy. |
| 0:33.5 | She's one of many, but she has our attention. |
| 0:37.2 | Do you have a favorite version of it? |
| 0:39.0 | Oh, yeah. I mean, I would... |
| 0:40.2 | Anna Wenger is an executive producer for film and television. |
| 0:43.8 | Her favorite version is from the movie Working Girl. |
| 0:46.4 | Melanie Griffith and Joan Cusack are getting off the Staten Island Ferry. |
| 0:50.6 | You know, workers, they're doing their commute. |
| 0:53.4 | Their 80s hair just fully blazing. |
| 0:57.2 | No lunch. |
| 0:57.9 | I got speech class. |
| 0:59.7 | What do you need speech class for? |
| 1:01.3 | You talk fine. |
| 1:02.5 | The shot just shows you these masses of people and everyone's trying to make it. |
| 1:07.2 | But there's your star. |
| 1:08.8 | She's special. |
| 1:09.9 | You don't think she is because look at her in this |
... |
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