Recently Cinematical started a series called “Scenes That We Love,” and of course it wasn’t long before someone introduced “Scenes That We Hate.”  I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t part of the inspiration for this post, but the real reason I felt compelled to write it is that the other day on the radio I heard a song that used a little bit of “Heart & Soul,” and my mind immediately went to the scene in Big where Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia play the giant toy piano together.

There’s probably another post out there, or rather a whole series of posts, about how certain songs become tied to certain films and television shows in your mind.  But right now I’m not concerned with that.  Instead I want to talk about the fact that despite re-watching this scene multiple times in preparation for this post, it still managed to make me smile each time.

One great thing about it is that it feels natural, both as a plot point and as something that both of these characters would do.  Josh (Tom Hanks) is just a kid, so clearly he’d love to hang out in a toy store all day.  And MacMillan (Robert Loggia) likes to check out what sort of competition is out there.  The two characters needed to bond, and this was the perfect location for it.  And the piano was the perfect set-up.

Initially, MacMillan watches, amused, as Josh has fun with it.  Then, as any rational adult would, he suggests they move onto something else.  But Josh, big kid that he is, can’t stop playing.

MacMillan attributes it to piano lessons, which he also took as a child.  Of course, he doesn’t realize that Josh just recently took them.  So in actuality, it’s not having taken piano lessons that bonds them, but remembering their childhood.  For MacMillan, it’s looking back on a fond part of his life from many years ago.  For Josh, it’s remembering what things were like before he got stuck as an adult, undoubtedly bringing up memories of his mother.

Only after watching the scene again so many years later do I now realize that it’s MacMillan, not Josh, who’s the crucial component of this scene.  Sure, watching Hanks traipse around on a giant piano is fun, but not nearly as much fun as watching an old man give in to his desire to be like a kid again.  We’re watching them both embrace their inner child, so to speak.

This scene shows us that MacMillan is a good man, and the perfect guy to be running a toy business.  He’s not in it just for the profits.  He’s in it for the joy.  At this point in the film, we’ve long since been on Josh’s side, but it only takes a minute on a toy piano for MacMillan to win us over as well.

I could go on, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must be worth a billion:

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