My favorite scenes invariably have to do with dialogue.

The first one that came to mind when I read this was a scene in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".

Jimmy Stewart, having been beaten to near death by Liberty is talking about justice and that Liberty needs to pay for his crimes.

Wayne says something to the effect of... "Liberty Valance is the toughest man south of the picket wire", starts to turn away then turns back, "next to me".

Loved that. Also amongst my favorites is the many many great lines delivered by Humphrey Bogart. Too many to mention. But just check out Casablanca, The Big Sleep, and To Have and Have Not for some great examples.

Buffalo '66

Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) has just kidnapped Leyla (Christina Ricci) and has dragged her to her car. He repeatedly tells her to shut up and pushes her into the car. He tells her "Give me something to wipe the window with. (pause) GIMME SOMETHING THE WIPE THE WINDOW WITH!" He then forcibly makes her wipe the windshield and angrily says "you see how nice it is when the window is clean? is this how your house is? dirty?"

What comes next is the best. He's trying to shift the car into "Drive" and asks her to "point to the thing" to put it in gear. She shows him the manual shifting "thing". he says in an appalled way:

"what is this? is this a shifter car? I cannot drive a shifter car, all right. so we got a little situation here. I can't drive these kinds of car. you think that's funny? you wanna know why, smartass? you wanna know why I can't drive this kind of car? I'll tell you why. I'm used to luxury cars. have you ever heard of a luxury car? you know what luxury means? You ever heard of cadillac? cadillac el dorado? That's what I drive. I drive cars that shift themselves. my cars shift themselves They're luxury cars. They shift themselves."

some context:

Billy would have never driven a cadillac el dorado. he was in jail for five years, and was dirt poor before he went to jail.

Several come to mind
- Diner scene in Heat
- Quint's tale in jaws
- Col. Kurtz' monologue in Apocalypse Now
- Terry Malloy's car scene in On the Waterfront

My personal favorite is seeing Dennis Hopper insult Christopher Walken in True Romance. He knows he is dead, so why not go out with a bang?

Been a while since I've been back here, but I thought this was a cool thread.

Some of my favorite scenes:

1. At the end of Unforgiven when Clint Eastwood walks into the saloon to kill Gene Hackman. The line "that's right, I've killed women and children, I've killed everything that's walked or crawled at one point or another, and I'm here to kill you Little Bill, for what you did to Ned" The whole sequence is awesome, but that particular exchange between Hackman and Eastwood is amazing.

2. The end of the Usual Suspects with the bulletin board. Those of you who have seen the film know what I mean, those of you who haven't seen the film, I won't spoil it for you.

3. The end of Fight Club when all the building are blowing up and the song "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies is playing.

4. the scene in the Big Lebowski after The Dude and Walter failed to make the drop, they're at the bowling alley and the Dude's mobile phone keeps ringing and ringing while everyone is ignoring it. It is almost a five minute sequence I think and at the end of it when the Dude's car is stolen and he begins to walk home, Donnie just says "phone's ringing Dude". God that scene kills me.


As far as pure cheese factor, I always liked the scene in Rocky where Adrian just comes out of the coma and tells Rocky to "win".

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I totally dig that scene in Unforgiven, great choice! Some more of my favorite scenes...

Conan the Barbarian-When asked at the pit fighters table "Conan, what is best in life?" and he responds "Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women!" (and the scene where Conan punches out the camel!)

The Big Lebowski-the fighting the nihilists scene

The Big Sleep-When Bogie says "It's too early to break out my slapping hand" (or something to that effect)

They Live-the fight in the alley, also the beautiful "I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum" line!

2001:A Space Odyssey-the ending scenes, still trips me out, even though I've seen the film a billion times and actually watched those final scenes in slow motion once!

Full Metal Jacket-all of the training scenes with Gunnery Sergeant Hartman

Evil Dead 2-the scene with Ash laughing along with the Deer's head on the wall and various other household items, also the scene with him fighting his possessed hand

Citizen Kane-the opening sequence

Big Trouble in Little China-when Jack is acting tough with lipstick smeared on his face

Requiem For A Dream-mom battles the evil fridge

Monty Python and the Holy Grail-fighting the black knight, also the knights of the round table song

so many more that are coming to my mind suddenly, but I will leave it like this for now.

quote:

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Originally posted by jakal40:

My personal favorite is seeing Dennis Hopper insult Christopher Walken in True Romance. He knows he is dead, so why not go out with a bang?

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Jakal -- I was thinking about favorites after my first post on here, and that very scene from
True Romance came to mind next. The whole thing...Christopher Walken's icy formality, Dennis Hopper's sudden realization of what's going to happen, the little story about Sicily... it's so brutal but so amazingly brilliant. Actually, True Romance has some of best dialogue ever; I still like the "white boy day" scene with Gary Oldman, too. And your other choices (Apocalypse Now and On the Waterfront), if I may say, are golden as well.

Blazing Saddles - There was a problem with the railroad that was being built so one of the white cowboy-officers suggests sending a couple of horses to check it out. The senior officer responds with: "Horses? We can't afford to lose no horses! Send a couple of them n**gers."

Big Lebowski - Jesus (John Tuturro) licking his bowling ball and then doing his victory dance. "Jesus." "You said it man! No one f*cks with the Jesus!"

The Truman Show - Truman sails into the end of the "dome" in which he lives.

Pulp Fiction - The whole rape scene. It's sick, but cracks me up every time. The guy who watches is hilarious! His face is so sweaty! HAHA! "Which one of 'em you wanna do first?"

Jackie Brown - "Is that what I think it is?" "What DO you think it is?" "A gun pressed up against my nuts."

Something About Mary - Ben Stiller gets his balls caught in the zipper.

Office Space - When they play the song "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta"

Dogma - Affleck and Damon walk around the conferance room revealing the executives' sins. "But you didn't say 'God bless you' when I sneezed!"

K-Dog

I'm gonna have to go with the "Pair of pliars and a blow torch" scene near the end of Pulp Fiction, as well as the climactic ending of Seven that Member 27 mentioned. Other favorites are the scene from Killing Fields where Dith Pran is crawling through the "fields of bones" and the "Brass Balls" scene near the beginning of Glengarry Glen Ross (as well as many others from that film). I also have to mention the poker in the boxing ring scene from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, mainly for the "sorry, I didn't know your father" line and the cinematography.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by K-Dog:


Big Lebowski - Jesus (John Tuturro) licking his bowling ball and then doing his victory dance. "Jesus." "You said it man! No one f*cks with the Jesus!"
Yes! But that part continues brilliantly when, in a "flashback," you see him approaching a house to report on being a sex offender -- a BIG guy opens the door-- and they cut away from the scene!


Office Space - When they play the song "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta"

That movie just so perfectly nailed so many things in the middle class office milieu and related lifestyles, I think.

But here's the problem with picking favorite scenes. I've already put up two notes....and then I think about other people's faves and think about more movies myself. It's kind of like how you just can't have a TOP 10 list; you just can't do it. Anyway....just one more movie (I promise)..... Do the Right Thing. The first jaw-dropping scene was the close up of people from the various races and groups making racist comments about the other races and groups (thereby making everyone equal). Then, of course, there was the instant where Mars/Spike Lee throws the garbage can through the window.

Carol and everyone else, I said when I started this thread that you might change your mind and add more. So I say keep it going; add as many as you want. I plan on doing that too. Let's not kill a good thing.

How about the scene in the Prohibition-era "Elmer Gantry" where title character Burt Lancaster tells a captivated outdoor crowd how he'll fight booze. For everyone unfamiliar, Gantry is a hard-drinking, skirt-chasing, traveling salesman who becomes a preacher at a revival to try to get into the pants of the hot, but virginal, lady revivalist. Showman Gantry says, "As long as I have a foot, I'll kick booze! As long as I have a fist, I'll punch it! As long as I have a tooth, I'll bite it! And when, I'm OLD and GREY and TOOTHLESS and BOOTLESS, I'll GUM it, until I go to heaven and BOOZE goes to hell!!" The crowd, led by Gantry, then proceeds to bust up all the speakeasies and brothels in town, but it dearly costs Gantry in the long run when his past catches up to him. Let's see, I could name 20 more scenes just from "Elmer Gantry"....

In lieu of that, how about I mention the opening monologue in "Patton" where General Patton (the incredible George C. Scott) gives his men a pep talk in front of the American flag. Also, another from 1970, Jack Nicholson's "chicken salad" scene in "Five Easy Pieces." You KNOW you like that scene, if you've seen it.

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I too think Quint's speech in Jaws was mesmerising. It is true he contributed to the dialogue, but only after the previous drafts had been discarded. He obviously just took command of the scene, made it his own, and it became one of the highlights of the film - a film with numerous great scenes. Who can forget the now immortal quip "You're gonna need a bigger boat"! Actually I'm sure that was a personal touch also, by Scheider this time.

Another favourite movie of mine is Rocky, and there are two distinct scenes that come to mind. The first is the love scene between Rocky and Adrian, where they kiss for the first time. Talia Shire is so appealing in that scene it is overwhelming! The other scene is the one where Rocky really serves it up to Mickey in his apartment, forcing him to leave. The little touches by the actors in that scene really make it powerful viewing.

And on a lighter touch, one of the biggest, instant, gut-busting laughs I have ever had while watching a film is when I first heard that line from American Pie, "...and this one time, at Band Camp, I stuck a flute in..." I nearly wet myself!!!

I have to add another one. One I can't believe I forgot because, although absurd, this scene is wildly fantastic and a thrill to watch.
"The Misbehavors" from Four Rooms.
This movie is nothing more than an adventure in filmmaking with four directors; three who are very good at what they do, and one who is probably good at what she does, but just didn't have the right feel for this film. I don't want to say any more about this movie in case you haven't seen it, but it is definately worth a watch for the last two rooms if nothing else. Be prepared to laugh hysterically at things no normal person should ever laugh at.

There are a couple more I left out.

That incredible scene in The Two Towers where the riders of Rohan are charging down the hill at Helm's Deep. Incredible cinematography and music.

I also love the gunfight in Heat. Michael Mann is known to be a perfectionist, and I think he reached perfection here. It is some of the best sound design I have ever seen.

I alos love the scene in The Untouchables where Deniro gives his baseball speech at the round table, and proceeds to bash one of his own goon's heads in.

Great Topic

Out of Africa when Meryl is saying goodbye to Africa, and talking about how the lions stand on Redfords grave.

Waiting for Guffman when the cast members go to Corky's house to try and convince him to come back as director.

Mulholland Drive in the theater when the woman singing on the stage and then faints.

The Hours when Julianne Moore, as an old woman, tells Meryl her story and in seconds Meryl's life changes.

Girl Interupted when Angelina torments Brittany Murphy about the chickens under her bed.

My three favorite movie scenes are all in Pulp Fiction. The Scene in the beginning with the Big Kahuna Burgers was hilarious. Even funnier was when John Travolta accidentally shot the guy in the backseat of the car. And another great scene was when Chris Walken was giving the watch to young Butch and told the story of how he kept it in his ass for four years. Its such a funny movie.

the scene in "the jerk" that begins, "I know we've only known each other four weeks and three days, but to me it seems like nine weeks and five days..." always gets me doubled over in laughter. but pretty much the whole movie is that way.

personally, I loved the scene in Kill Bill at the house of blue leaves. I also liked any of the major battles in LotR.

The Best Scene Has To Be The Scene In Tron... Yea Baby Tron! Where They Get On The Bikes And Go Round The Computer System Away From Those Tanks And Big Red Space Ship Like Things But Yea That Scene Owns!

OMG...Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is the OMG best movie...its sooo much better than the first one!!!...LOVE IT

-Kortni

My list could go on and on, so I'll just add scenes from time to time.

Swingers- That hilarious yet incredibly uncomfortable scene when Mike calls Nikki's answering machine over and over again.

Glengarry Glenross- The shining moment of Alec Baldwin's career when he gives the salespeople a little 'pep talk.' "PUT THAT COFFEE DOWN!"

The Natural- When Roy Hobbs hits that last homerun that puts the lights out. Music and camerawork really make it a memorable scene.

Raiders of the Lost Ark- Indy on a horse vs. Nazis in armored trucks. Need I say more?