Best single scene in film

Post by **Elentári** » Mon May 10, 2010 11:37 am

Mmm...I love Steel Magnolias - great performances from a wonderful cast.

I also think the ending scene from A History of Violence is incredible..where the little girl grabs the plate and silverware and sets a place at the table for her father.

Post by **axordil** » Mon May 10, 2010 4:54 pm

Hey, watch those last scene spoilers for movies out less than ten years! Some of us with kids haven't caught up on our Netflix queues yet!

Post by **Maria** » Mon May 10, 2010 4:58 pm

I know it's not a movie- but: Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly in The Train Job episode: "Darn"

Those who have seen it know what I mean and I don't think I've spoiled it for those who haven't.

Post by **yovargas** » Mon May 10, 2010 5:46 pm

Offhand, I don't know which scene you mean specifically but if it was in Firefly, I'm sure it was awesome.

Post by **Elentári** » Mon May 10, 2010 5:57 pm

axordil wrote:Hey, watch those last scene spoilers for movies out less than ten years! Some of us with kids haven't caught up on our Netflix queues yet!

Some of us with kids bought the DVD to watch after they're in bed!

Post by **MithLuin** » Mon May 10, 2010 9:12 pm

Best opening credits: Star Wars and Red Dragon, for different reasons, obviously.

I've been thinking over best scenes in Lord of the Rings, and I have to say the lighting of the beacons is near the top of the list. The music, the landscape, the sense of hope and purpose....

...even if it still annoys me that Pippin does it behind Denethor's back and that people live in huts on the mountain tops.

But the eagles coming for Frodo is also good

Post by **WampusCat** » Tue May 11, 2010 5:32 am

Oh yes! The lighting of the beacons. It always brings a tear to my eye.

Post by **Elentári** » Tue May 11, 2010 7:05 am

The Beacons is truly magnificent...but also the wonderful scene with Billy Boyd singing as Denethor tucks into his supper, juxtaposed with Faramir's "suicide mission"...just superb.

Post by **Pearly Di** » Tue May 11, 2010 11:37 am

So many I could mention but I'll nominate three scenes from three great Peter Weir films.

1) Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Miranda and her friends disappear into ... we never know where.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMU3SpmGkUg

Spine-chilling and memorable, this film has haunted me ever since I saw it at the age of 13.

2) Witness.

One of the most romantic scenes in movie history. The world-weary but heroic detective dances with the luminous Amish widow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p_tvjqSrBk

3) The final scene of The Truman Show.

Don't watch if you've never seen the film. One of the most perfect movie endings ever. GO, TRUMAN!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o5APFI6kH0

Post by **Nin** » Tue May 11, 2010 2:27 pm

A film which has deeply marked me less because of the sotary line than becasue of the shere beauty of some scenes was "Death in Venice" and I still think of the boy who played Tadzio as some ideal of absolute beauty. The scenes when he enters and the combination with the Mahler music is just perfection, although the film has such lenghts.

I don't know if this will work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IvGnv3e ... re=related

Casablanca, of course.

And then, City lights, I agree.

Or also this scene of "The Mission" - for me it's also the combination of sound track and scenery... maybe a thread about movie soundtracks one day?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfG_orGM ... re=related

Post by **N.E. Brigand** » Mon May 17, 2010 8:57 pm

My favorite is the spoon scene from Kurosawa's Red Beard. (The film as a whole is only fair, though the fight scene is also very good.)

The return of Apu's father near the end of Ray's Pather Panchali. The moment Apu discovers the necklace, as well.

The last scene of Tucci and Campbell's Big Night, fixing some eggs, with no dialogue.

"Of course, this isn't really my house. My house was destroyed. I'm just pretending this is mine for the movie" (paraphrasing from memory -- and of course the lines were in Farsi, which I don't speak): the moment that reality overtakes fiction (or is it the other way round?) in Kiarostami's And Life Goes On. I love the moment we finally see the two missing boys in his Through the Olive Trees, as well.

The swaying hammocks in Eisenstein's Potemkin.

Post by **Maria** » Mon May 17, 2010 9:45 pm

I like the moment in The Matrix when the walls flex around Neo near the end.
I also like in FOTR when the walls kinda flex around Gandalf when he gets mad at Bilbo.

I guess I just like it when someone is powerful enough to warp the reality around them momentarily....

Post by **Padme** » Tue May 18, 2010 1:21 pm

The scene in UP when Carl is there for Russells ceremony at the end of the movie.

Post by **Alatar** » Tue May 18, 2010 1:49 pm

I'd probably go for the opening montage of Carl and Ellies life together as the best scene in the UP, and possibly one of the best in any movie.

Post by **axordil** » Tue May 18, 2010 2:25 pm

The first minutes of Up and the first few minutes of WALL*E are some of the purest cinematic experiences around. Only the stickler in me keeps me from adding them to my list, since I think they're more properly sequences and not scenes.

*slaps his inner purist around*

There, I feel better.

We may have to subdivide this into categories. Best love scene, best reveal, best chase scene, best death scene...

Best chase scene not involving vehicles: The end of The Third Man.

Post by **Túrin Turambar** » Tue May 18, 2010 3:16 pm

Alatar wrote:I'd probably go for the opening montage of Carl and Ellies life together as the best scene in the UP, and possibly one of the best in any movie.

Oh yes, that was brilliant. Some of the best cinema ever.

ETA: here

Post by **Alatar** » Tue May 18, 2010 3:33 pm

Watching that again I have to say it's simply flawless. Why's my screen all blurry?

Post by **sauronsfinger** » Tue May 18, 2010 5:33 pm

UP is such a weird film. Those first 15 minutes are wonderful and truly great. Then the next 15 go down a bit... then the next 15 go down even more .... and by time we get to the finish, its pretty unwatchable. But those first ones are priceless and worth the price of admission all by itself.

Post by **MithLuin** » Tue May 18, 2010 7:02 pm

Ax, I'd like to nominate another 'best chase scene not involving vehicles' (unless horses count as vehicles):

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

It's 9 1/2 min, but I guess it can count as a single scene. Chases take longer when you're not driving cars

. The final 3 min., if you don't want the buildup. It's not as slapstick as the Princess Bride, but it is very amusing. It is also very easy to understand as a stand-alone scene.

Perhaps more poignant when contrasted with the final scene of the movie (spoilers, obviously), which my friend's mom calls....

Don't mess with Bolivia

Post by **axordil** » Tue May 18, 2010 7:08 pm

Don't mess with Bolivia