OK, I’m going to have to turn in my Man Card for this one, but:
Joan and Adam’s first kiss, during the science fair on Joan of Arcadia (“Jump”). Her brother’s rail gun experiment had just launched an engine block through an aquarium, knocking over a paper-mache dinosaur, spilling a pile of feathers into a fan, and in the resulting snowstorm (and chaos) the camera circles around the young couple laughing and sharing their first kiss.
Absolutely perfect in every way.
The scene can be watched here. The sequence starts at 3:30 or thereabouts.
Night of the Hunter: Night scene: Murderous preacher Harry Powell is camped outside the farmhouse of Rachel Cooper, where the objects of his pursuit, John and Pearl Harper, are taking refuge. Cooper is sitting up in her kitchen, in a rocking chair holding a shotgun, watching Powell sitting on a hilltop out the window. He is singing a hymn in his baritone: “Leaning . . . leaning . . . leaning on the arm . . . leaning . . . leaning . . . leaning on the everlasting arm . . .” And suddenly Cooper joins in and harmonizes with the alto part: “Lean on Jesus, lean on Jesus . . .” A true cinematic moment of Zen.
The fistfight scene in They Live: The two leads (portrayed by actors who are also pro-wrestlers) fight on, and on, and on, and on, and some more, just because one is trying to persuade the other to put on a pair of special sunglasses so he can see the aliens. A perfect thing of its kind.
The scene in Blue Velvet where the pimp Ben lip-syncs “In Dreams” by Roy Orbison. “A candy-colored clown they call the Sandman / Tiptoes to my room every night . . .”
I’m too delirious with lust for Day-Lewis and fascination that he and the female lead whose name escapes me could be that jaw-droppingly gorgeous. They are like gods.
Chloe’s death scene in third-to-last episode of last summer’s Harper’s Island: Just after her boyfriend has been stabbed and thrown to his death defending her, the crazy killer has her cornered on a bridge that’s gated behind her. She can’t climb over the gate, and there’s water and rocks below. Rather than let him get her too, she climbs over the side of the bridge, says “you can’t have me” and lets go.
I was just saying in the thread on the latest, shitties Indiana Jones movie how magical the Map Room scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark is. It’s amazing because Indy is just as enchanted as we are - there’s this incredible feeling that we’re all on the brink of something awesome in the literal sense - numinous, dangerous, and wonderful.
Almost too short to be a “scene” proper, but Elisabeta’s death plunge in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
After that, I’d also say…T-Bird’s Death in The Crow. David Patrick Kelly just nails the performance going from a cool, unflappable, professional being consumed by utter terror. Made especially eerie by the fact that, when they filmed this scene, Brandon Lee had already died.
As Coen brothers’ offerings go, The Hudsucker Proxy ranks deservedly in the middle. It just doesn’t sustain greatness from beginning to end. Yet it has one scene that individually ranks as high as any of them. (And parenthetically we could start a thread with just great scenes from the brothers Coen alone.)
The development and release of the hula hoop montage is absolutely brilliant and as a mini-story in and of itself, is a more satisfying watch than most full feature-length films. Alas, including the Hudsucker Proxy itself.
Changing gears, the silent, life-story opener from Up is worth the price of admission / rental alone.
Oh, I hate to give out spoilers.
They tangoed for a variety of reasons–they were old school chums saying a rather decadent hello to each other.
The movie is based on the very true memoirs of one of the dancers, so that let’s you know that it least one of them does survive.
The final scene in The Maltese Falcon where Bogart explains the scheme to the police and sends Brigid to prison, promising that if they didn’t send her to the hanging galley for Archer’s murder he’d be waiting for her. (“That means if you’re a good girl, you’ll be out in 20 years. I’ll be waiting for you. If they hang you, I’ll always remember you.”)
The final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which, after being assured that “Top men are working on it…top…men,” the Ark is being shown crated and stored in a giant warehouse full of other anonymous crates (both calling back to Citizen Kane and indicating the irrelevancy of the Ark).
The scene in Rear Window in which Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelley are talking about their relationship by commenting on about the neighbors across the back gardens.
The penultimate scene in the Season 1 finale of Mad Men (“The Wheel”) in which Don Draper makes his pitch for the new Kodiak slide projector. “This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards…it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel.” It is nearly Shakespearean in its delivery and impact, and serves as an apt finish to the entire season.
