Corkscrews in the Movies

ABOVE: A scene from the movie TRUE ROMANCE starring Patricia Arquette, Christian Slater and James Gandolfini. In an earlier scene in the movie, Christian Slater opens a bottle of wine with a Swiss Army knife corkscrew. It gets left on the floor and is later used as a weapon by Patricia Arquette (above scene). James Gandolfini really gets screwed.

In the 1991 movie OUT FOR JUSTICE Gino Felino(played by Steven Seagal) kills crack dealer Richie Madano (William Forsythe) with a double lever corkscrew to the forehead.

In the 1992 movie SLEEPWALKERS Tanya Robertson ( played by Madchen Amick) stabs Charles Brady (Brian Krause) with a corkscrew.

In the 1998 movie VERY BAD THINGS Christian Slater stabs a guy in the heart with a corkscrew. Also starring Cameron Diaz, Daniel Stern, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Jon Favreau, Jeremy Piven and Leland Orser.

HALLOWEEN: H20 stars Jamie Lee Curtis. A kid drops a corkscrew down a garbage disposal. The camera goes inside the garbage disposal to watch while he fishes around for it. Next we see the camera cut to the electric switch on the wall making us wonder if someone will turn it on.

In 1940 movie MY LITTLE CHICKADEE W. C. Fields, playing the role of Cuthbert H. Twillie, says "Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."

January 7, 1999: Jentry Mitchell writes "In STEPMOM in theaters now, Juilia Roberts uses a corkscrew to open two bottles of an Italian red wine.

In the 1989 Disney animated production of THE LITTLE MERMAID, there is an underwater solo by the little mermaid. During the song she sings "Treasures, I've Got Twenty" while she is opening a wooden box displaying twenty corkscrews. These were all treasures she rescued from shipwrecks for her collection.

JUST BETWEEN FRIENDS stars Mary Tyler Moore and Ted Danson. In this 1986 film, Ted rifles through a kitchen drawer while Mary cooks. Frustrated in his search, he asks "Where's the damn corkscrew." Mary points out that it is on the counter in front of him. He then takes the T-handle corkscrew and works hard to screw in the worm. When he tries to extract the cork, it breaks leaving half in the bottle. He then takes an icepick in hand to work at the cork. He plunge the cork into the bottle and gets sprayed with wine. This is one of the longest wine opening scenes I have seen.

In YEAR OF THE COMET (1984), the star takes a corkscrew with a tusk handle and bangs on the top of an old bottle of wine with the silver end cap to loosen old dirt. Ach! Damage?! Then he proceeds to do a very unprofessional job of removing the cork.

In BRAINSUCKER (1988) a psycho killer uses a corkscrew to stick into the brains of his victims.

Albert Finney uncorks a bottle of wine THE GREEN MAN (1991)

Frank Ellis from England reports: The lovely 1945 romantic film, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, with Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, features a Rotary Eclipse in the foreground of all of the scenes in the Railway Station Buffet Bar. Sadly it is not used. The film was made at a real station which is now closed.

Alf Erickson from Florida reports: The 1993 English movie DAMAGE stars Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson and Ruppert Graves. Irons (in the background) uses a bar Screwpull to extract a cork.

Pat Cunningham from Georgia write: I was watching the SEVEN YEAR ITCH this weekend and saw a corkscrew! Early in the Movie, Tom Ewell gets home from a vegetarian restaurant and opens a bottle of pop on the refrigerator door. An the side of the fridge is a T-shaped wooden handle corskcrew with bell.

In Part 4 of FRIDAY THE 13TH, Jimmy gets a corkscrew through the hand and a cleaver in the face.

In Murder Under Glass (one episode in the Colombo series) the murder weapon was a black Sparklets cork ejector.

In the Simpsons "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish", Bart calls Moe's and the conversation goes:
"Hey, is there a Butz here? Seymour Butz?"
"Hey, everybody, I wanna Seymour Butz! Oh, wait a minute...Listen, you little scum-sucking pus-bucket! When I get myhands on you, I'm gonna put out your eyeballs with a corkscrew!"

August 30, 1994. Don Bull interviewed at home by John Burke on PERSONAL F/X.

July 24, 1994. ROBIN LEACH'S TALKING FOOD live from New York with Don Bull.

In 1995 St. Louis collector Art Santen appeared on PERSONAL F/X. Art, otherwise known as Captain Corkscrew, got the award for Most Passionate Collector. Art even has a cape covered with corkscrews.

November 21, 1996. AMERICAN COLLECTOR hosted by Ron Mirabile with guest Don Bull.