Prosthetic penises and milkshakes: Paul Thomas Anderson’s five best scenes
Making his first short film at eight years old, Paul Thomas Anderson always knew he wanted to be a director. He released his first feature-length film to critical praise at only 26 years old and has gone on to be considered a visionary who has left an indelible mark on contemporary cinema.
Despite beginning young, Anderson has an almost flawless track record when it comes to his films, with each being meticulously crafted and artistically innovative. His commitment to portraying the complexities of human experience has led him to make films about everything from the 1970s porn industry to 19th-century oil prospecting and contemporary Los Angeles.
The master of seamlessly weaving together multiple storylines and incredible ensemble casts as in Magnolia – frequently collaborating with Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore and Daniel Day-Lewis – he has crafted some of the most iconic scenes in cinematic history. So much so that it was incredibly hard to narrow the list down to just five of his best.
Limiting an entire career to just five scenes is difficult for most directors, but it appeared to be near impossible for Anderson’s wide-ranging career. Every movie in his filmography is stacked with career-defining performances, beautiful cinematography, and distinctive dialogue.
But, here is a non-exhaustive list of five of Paul Thomas Anderson’s greatest scenes that demonstrate his auteurship and unique eye.
The five best Paul Thomas Anderson scenes:
5. Magnolia (1999) – How to Fake Like You Are Nice And Caring
Anderson’s 1999 epic Magnolia follows an ensemble cast featuring Tom Cruise, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore and John C Reilly through the trials and tribulations of life in LA. It mixes heartbreaking family dynamics, life-changing love, child geniuses and frogs to create a realistic and mythical look at ’90s life.
As usual, the characters are somehow all three-dimensional despite their numbers, and they’re all a little bit odd and complex. The actual best scene in this movie is one of those dazzling surprises that is so much better for being unexpected that it would feel wrong to even risk the chance of spoiling it for someone who hasn’t watched the masterpiece.
Instead, here is the second-best scene from the film, which depicts Frank TJ Mackey, the egotistical, misogynistic motivational speaker riling up his army of wannabe alpha males. Featuring Tom Cruise in a career-defining performance as Mackey, the scene perfectly captures the ways in which men use a mask of confidence and machismo to cover up their fears of abandonment and self-loathing. Cruise’s Mackey is so outrageous and repulsive that it’s almost funny, especially with the little Britney Spears’ microphone. “It’s whaaaa, it’s whoppaaaaaah…”
4. Boogie Nights (1998) – “I am a big bright shining star”
Another Anderson film set in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, Boogie Nights explores the life of a popular porn star Dirk Diggler and his rise to fame in the 1970s ‘Golden Age of Porn’. It features Mark ‘Marky Mark’ Wahlberg as Dirk, who has been so well endowed that he knows he will be a star. It is considered by many to be Wahlberg’s best performance, with an infamous ending scene that still shocks to this day.
The movie spends two and a half hours building up the audience’s expectations of Dirk Diggler’s biggest asset. Many might spend that time believing that Anderson is going to leave it to their imaginations. But, after practising his upcoming lines intensely and seriously in the mirror, Dirk stands up, unzips his quintessentially 1980s high-waisted trousers and pulls out an inconceivably large prosthetic. He whispers a pep talk to himself while it just hangs there, jiggling.
In a film with Anderson’s usual sophisticated camera movements, raucous party scenes, and glamorous period nods, it says something about the filmmaker’s confidence in his final scene that it is created with a static camera in an empty room.
3. Punch-Drunk Love (2002) – “Are you threatening me?”
Punch-Drunk Love might not be Anderson’s most critically acclaimed or ambitious film, but what it lacks in spectacle, it makes up for with a quirky, heart-wrenching romance and phenomenal performances, especially from Adam Sandler. Forget Uncut Gems. This is his best role. It follows Sandler as Barry Egan, an entrepreneur with severe social anxiety, bottled-up rage, and 150 cups of pudding, as he falls in love for the first time.
This scene is essentially just Adam Sandler and Phillip Seymour Hoffman screaming down the phone at each other. It is so simple yet so effective at demonstrating Anderson’s storytelling capabilities. Crescendoing cymbals play while the camera zooms in on Hoffman’s character from one side and then the other. From there, it follows both men as they pace back and forth angrily.
The physicality that both actors bring to their parts, mixed with the claustrophobic camera angles and hints of light leaks that feel like the descending of a red mist, make for an unforgettable scene. It’s even better when you remember that Hoffman and Sandler would have been delivering the lines down what one can presume is a dead telephone. Comedic gold.
2. There Will Be Blood (2008) – “I drink your milkshake. I drink it up.”
A poetic meditation on savagery, greed and obsession in America, There Will Be Blood is such a masterpiece that it can somehow make the line “I drink your milkshake. I drink it up.” haunting instead of laughable. Winning two Academy Awards, it will surely be considered by many to be Anderson’s magnum opus, but it is also criticised for its huge performances from both Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano.
However, its final confrontation between their characters, Eli and Daniel, is in many ways a demonstration of how subtlety can be overrated. The film follows Daniel Plainview, a ruthless oil prospector so hellbent on his pursuit to become the most powerful oil tycoon that he exploits his deaf adopted son.
In this explosive scene, Daniel finally avenges the preacher who humiliated him years before, growing larger and more unhinged as Eli shrinks in terror. A scene that could have easily veered into camp given its ludicrous iconic line, it manages to blend an eerie atmosphere with career-defining performances to create a cinematic statement on the manic greed of capitalism.
1. Phantom Thread (2018) – “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”
Where There Will Be Blood is a study on the effectiveness of overstatement. Phantom Thread is the perfect example of the benefits of subtlety. While Daniel Day-Lewis once again delivers a powerful performance alongside an outstanding Vicky Krieps, everything about the film is subtle – except for perhaps the stunning costume and set design. It hides its main conceit until the very end and offers a haunting study of its main characters.
It follows a 1950s haute couture dressmaker, Reynolds Woodcock, and a young waitress turned muse, Alma. The scene depicts a confrontation between the two when Alma surprises Reynolds with a romantic dinner.
It is a quietly searing look at their fraught relationship and the neurosis of both characters. The script is such that it allows for the trip-ups and stutters and catches of a real argument. Its clever realism and the simmering performances work together to create absolute cinematic perfection.
