When you think of nail-biting action scenes, ladders probably aren’t the first things that spring to mind! Yet in the world of film, these seemingly unremarkable objects can become the centre of some truly thrilling scenes. In this blog, we will look at 5 iconic movie scenes where ladders take the spotlight – who knows, maybe you will appreciate ladders just as much as we do at LaddersUKDirect by the time you’re done!
Scream VI (2023)
The most recent of our ladder features comes from Scream VI, released in 2023. In this scene, Sam Carpenter and the other girls are trying to escape Ghostface by getting to their neighbour’s apartment. With no other option, Sam’s neighbour uses a telescopic ladder as a bridge between the two apartment windows and tells the girls to climb.
Two of the girls cross with no issues but when it comes to Anika (who is already heavily bleeding), she is slower than the rest and Ghostface is able to break the barricade to the room and get to the window she is climbing out from. With Anika only a few rungs into her treacherous climb, Ghostface begins shaking the ladder with her still clutching it, and Anika falls several stories to her death.
Charlie Chaplin’s The Pawnshop (1916)
In this silent short film, Charlie Chaplin plays the role of a pawnshop assistant, going about his job in the usual comic Chaplin manner. Chaplin soon begins quarrelling with his fellow pawnshop assistant over a metal step ladder and what follows is a 2 minute slapstick battle between the men featuring some very unsafe ladder use!
First Strike (1996)
In this scene, Jackie Chan has been framed for the murder of Uncle 7 and in an attempt to clear his name, he visits Annie at the memorial hall but runs into trouble with her brother Allen Tsui. A fight scene breaks out where Jackie takes on the brother and the family’s bodyguards using a variety of objects found in the hall, including tables and chairs - even utilising a scaffold tower at one point!
In a tense moment as Chan is finally cornered, he uses a metal step ladder to defend himself from their blows and fight back. When he is eventually outnumbered by his attackers, Jackie slows down, spinning the ladder on its side and using it as a chair in an iconic act of defiance.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 comedy film following a group of colourful strangers as they pursue a suitcase full of stolen cash. The ladders scene comes towards the end of the film as Santa Rosita Police Captain T.G. Culpeper attempts to steal the suitcase full of money for himself. The group chases him into an abandoned building and onto a rickety fire escape, which collapses under them.
The fire department send one of their comically large ladders to rescue the men; however, they all climb aboard the ladder at once and their combined weight causes it to spin uncontrollably and fling them all off, with men landing on the laps of statues, in rivers, through windows and even onto trampolines!
Fall (2022)
Unlike the other films in this list, there isn’t just one ladder scene in Fall, instead almost the entire movie takes place on a 2,000 -foot-tall television broadcasting tower that the two main characters Becky and Hunter have climbed. The ladder they use to climb the broadcasting tower is severely corroded and weak and as the girls make their descent, it breaks, leaving both girls stranded almost 2,000 feet above the ground…
Maybe that will teach them to always thoroughly inspect their ladder before use!
