Anybody like Dennis Hopper's glorious death scene with Christopher Walken in True Romance? Hopper is a real treat to watch as he goes from desperation to resignation before he gets in one glorious (albeit really really racist) shot before he makes his exit. Great writing (courtesy of Tarantino) but even better acting from two incredible supporting actors. And the Hans Zimmer score really adds to the moment. That's my idea of a great scene -- a little piece of a movie that can stand all on its own.
Great scenes? There are so many...
1. Spencer Tracy in Fritz Lang's FURY, come back from the dead, saying "I could smell my flesh burning"
2. the lovers separated by the crowd on the boulevard at the end of CHILDREN OF PARADISE
3. Madame De and her lover dancing, dancing through a montage of ballroom scenes in THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE...
4. the final confrontation between the two friends in SHOESHINE
5. Anthony Quinn weeping on the midnight beach at the end of LA STRADA
6. any moment from 8 1/2
7. the helicopter battle from APOCALYPSE NOW--"Charlie don't surf!"
8. Diane Keaton andAlbert Finney, separated but in bed again in SHOOT THE MOON
9. Peter O' Toole telling Omar Sharif "Nothing is written" in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
10. Toshiro Mifune's heroic death scene from THE SEVEN SAMURAI
11. Orson Welles strangling Akim Tamiroff in TOUCH OF EVIL
12. Julie Christie smoking opium at the end of McCABE AND MRS MILLER
13. Susan Sarandon telling Sean Penn "Let me be the face of love" in DEAD MAN WALKING--a moment that always makes me cry
There are so many more, I'd better stop here or I'll be typing all day!!!
Horror films usually have very little effect on me, but.....
The Shining - The young boy is driving his pedal car along the corridors of the hotel. The sound changing as the wheels go along wooden floors and carpet. He turns a corner, and stops. He is confronted by two little girls, standing perfectly still, side by side. The little girls that were murdered by their father, several years earlier.
Every time I watch this scene, I'm hooked. A perfect example of how a film can be chilling, without the need for a high body count.
Or how about the closing scene in Casablanca. The plane takes off, then Bogart and Claude Rains walk off into the night....the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Or....Bogie in the Maltese Falcon. Again at the end, holding the Falcon....'Its the stuff that dreams are made of.'
I've been reading the latest collection of great scenes. Just reading the above comments, is like pressing the 'play' button in my mental projection room. They also trigger other memories of scenes, from the same films. It's worrying that so much of my memory is taken up by films!!
Orsen Welles seems to be a regular visitor to this thread! I can see a pattern developing here.
I just have to reply to Tim here. Just because that Dennis Hopper scene in True Romance is a hard one to forget. (fingers broken, ugh) and in the background that glorious duet from Lakme. I taped the movie, but when I listen to the duet during that scene, I close my eyes. I loved the score and the song that Chris Isaak sang, too.
How about Picnic ,when Kim Novak walks up to William Holden, swaying to the music, and Holden breaks away from Susan Strassburg to dance with Kim to the Moonglow/Picnic theme. (sigh).
The Negotiator has many good scenes but my favorite is when Kevin Spacey explains to Samuel F. Jackson that he shot him as a bluff, Jackson's farcical expression is priceless and then Spacey's droll, "well it worked".
Every scene in Big with Tom Hanks is special to me.
Some of the great scenes are pretty esoteric - not widely heard of.
One memorable scene is the opening scene of Leni Riefenstal's propaganda film "Triumph of the Will." Bright, sunny clouds are shown for quite a while and we hear an approaching airplane which begins to appear in brief glances. The plane is really from the heavens and is bringing sometihing great and important. It finally lands and Adolf Hitler emerges from the plane.
The Seven Year Itch - Marilyn Monroe standing in a street, trying to stop her dress blowing up around her head! Iconic Image?
http://www.atthemoviesltd.com/big/sevenyritchgermanlc.jpg
Marilyn had many scenes to be seen. When she sings in "Niagra", wearing that little hot pink number, for one.
One of my favorites is Elizabeth Taylor/Cleopatra's entrance into Rome. The movie isn't that great but that one scene, for me, is incredible. What an entrance!
In the Ten Commandments after it is discovered that Moses is an Israelite and Princess Nefretiri has a moment alone with Moses and she says to him passionately:
Oh, Moses! Moses! You stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!
(oh, to be her)
Avalon<
Welcome to A2k.
I have to add a classic scene, one that everybody remembers. That is the exit line of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind.
"I'll think about that tomorrow," she cried. "After all, tomorrow is another day!"
I forgot to mention one of the greatest of all dialogue scenes (written by Graham Greene with an assist by Orson Welles)...in THE THIRD MAN, when Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles finally meet and talk on the ferris wheel. It's a remarkable scene because they go through so many changes of emotion so swiftly.
The golf scene in Goldfinger is always lovely to watch.Has there been a quieter Bond moment before or after I wonder?
It´s all SMASH TITS BANG now,which of course pleases many many people.
