# Another Scene Thread: Most Stressful to Watch (Spoilers abound...) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2014, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380 "2014-10-15T06:12:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/1 "2014-10-15T06:12:42Z")
By which I mean…well, let me tell you mine and that should explain it… **“No Country for Old Men”** - the audience knows how this game goes. The gas station guy doesn’t. I have a very high tolerance for all kinds of mayhem, but the way this was done, I couldn’t take it and I actually had to stop watching about halfway through the scene to gather myself together… the stress was too much. I was having palpitations. > [@](#): > > Anton Chigurh: What’s the most you ever lost on a coin toss. > Gas Station Proprietor: Sir? > Anton Chigurh: The most. You ever lost. On a coin toss. > Gas Station Proprietor: I don’t know. I couldn’t say. > [Chigurh flips a quarter from the change on the counter and covers it with his hand] > Anton Chigurh: Call it. > Gas Station Proprietor: Call it? > Anton Chigurh: Yes. > Gas Station Proprietor: For what? > Anton Chigurh: Just call it. > Gas Station Proprietor: Well, we need to know what we’re calling it for here. > Anton Chigurh: You need to call it. I can’t call it for you. It wouldn’t be fair. > Gas Station Proprietor: I didn’t put nothin’ up. > Anton Chigurh: Yes, you did. You’ve been putting it up your whole life you just didn’t know it. You know what date is on this coin? > Gas Station Proprietor: No. > Anton Chigurh: 1958. It’s been traveling twenty-two years to get here. And now it’s here. And it’s either heads or tails. And you have to say. Call it. > Gas Station Proprietor: Look, I need to know what I stand to win. > Anton Chigurh: Everything. > Gas Station Proprietor: How’s that? > Anton Chigurh: You stand to win everything. Call it. > Gas Station Proprietor: Alright. Heads then. > [Chigurh removes his hand, revealing the coin is indeed heads] > Anton Chigurh: Well done. > [the gas station proprietor nervously takes the quarter with the small pile of change he’s apparently won while Chigurh starts out] > Anton Chigurh: Don’t put it in your pocket, sir. Don’t put it in your pocket. It’s your lucky quarter. > Gas Station Proprietor: Where do you want me to put it? > Anton Chigurh: Anywhere not in your pocket. Where it’ll get mixed in with the others and become just a coin. Which it is. > [Chigurh leaves and the gas station proprietor stares at him as he walks out] ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/2 "2014-10-15T06:20:05Z")
I adore Saving Private Ryan, but the scene where Mellish is killed is very uncomfortable for me to watch. The up close and personal nature of it, and the slow inevitably, just twists my guts in knots every time. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/3 "2014-10-15T17:14:40Z")
In _Babel_, the scene/scenes where the housekeeper is stranded in the desert with the two young kids. I had to pause it and leave the room for a minute because I was hyperventilating out of concern for the situation. That’s never happened to me from a movie before. It sucked me in like nothing has ever done. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/4 "2014-10-15T17:25:00Z")
I can’t think of specifics right now, but I often get stressed – mostly due to anger – when the character does something incredibly stupid (in a drama, of course, though I’m not a fan of stupid characters in comedy, either). “What the hell are you doing that for, you moron?” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/5 "2014-10-15T17:43:33Z")
The beginning of **Cliffhanger**. I wasn’t really afraid of heights till I saw that. “I don’t want to die”. Oh, and for some reason the plane scene in **Flight** had me hyperventilating and tearing up. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/6 "2014-10-15T17:57:36Z")
The farmhouse scene that opens _Inglourious Basterds_. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uldpQpoZQM) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/7 "2014-10-15T17:58:43Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > The beginning of **Cliffhanger**. I wasn’t really afraid of heights till I saw that. “I don’t want to die”. Yeah, that’s what sprung to mind for me. I think it’s partly because I was expecting just a typical dumb-but-fun action movie, and to have such a harrowing opening sequence was really quite jarring. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/8 "2014-10-15T18:03:35Z")
The scene in _Reservoir Dogs_ where Mr. Blonde tortures the cop with a straight razor. I hate those kinds of scenes where Dude 1 is looking for an excuse, any excuse, to fatally harm Dude 2. Nothing Dude 2 says is the right thing to say. It reminds me too much of a job I left. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/9 "2014-10-15T18:14:28Z")
Blue Velvet well, many of the scenes but when Frank (Dennis Hopper) puts on lipstick saying “pretty pretty pretty” and proceeds to talk to Jeffery (Kyle MacLachlan) about love letters is pretty intense. I can never listen to “In Dreams” the same way again. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/10 "2014-10-15T18:41:16Z")
When John Travolta and Eric Stoltz were trying to figure out how to inject Uma Thurman in _Pulp Fiction_. I remember hearing reports (pre-big-Internet) how people would faint in the audience. Any scene with Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in _Full Metal Jacket_. I recall visibly relaxing when he was lecturing them about Lee Harvey Oswald on the bleachers. For the first time, he wasn’t heaping abuse on the recruits. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/11 "2014-10-15T18:43:06Z")
The reentry scene in Apollo 13. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/12 "2014-10-15T19:23:48Z")
The scene in Jame Gumb’s basement at the end of Silence of the Lambs. Agent Starling finally figures it out and goes down to confront him, and then he cuts the lights. ---
**Author:** ![Abracadebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Abracadebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abracadebra)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/13 "2014-10-15T19:38:37Z")
Jared Leto’s infected arm in “Requiem for A Dream”. Actually, most of that movie was disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/14 "2014-10-15T20:01:11Z")
The scene in \*Misery \*were James Caan is trying to escape while captor Kathy Bates is at the store. I find that harder to watch than the dreaded hobbling scene. ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/15 "2014-10-15T20:19:19Z")
_Sophie’s Choice_. The scene that gave the book/movie its name. Just harrowing and heartbreaking. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/16 "2014-10-15T21:25:51Z")
In _Boogie Nights_, the scene in which Dirk and his pals attempt to pass baking soda off as cocaine during a drug sale to a Russian roulette-playing drug dealer, all set to _Sister Christian_ and \*Jessie’s Girl \* on Awesome Mix Tape #11 and the sound of the houseboy Cosmo (“He’s Chinese”) setting off firecrackers, is pretty tense. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/17 "2014-10-15T22:09:48Z")
_Irreversible_, the rape scene, I watched it once. **Once**. And I’m a guy, it’s not like I could really put myself in her place. It’s just so brutal. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/18 "2014-10-15T22:20:34Z")
In Breaking Bad, when the two cousins are waiting for Walt to come out of the shower. Same series, when the cousins go after Hank. The last scene of The Sopranos, in which nothing really happens. The rape scene in Deliverance. I still can’t watch that movie. In Of Mice and Men, when the old man is waiting for the gunshot that kills his dog. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/19 "2014-10-15T23:18:39Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > The scene in _Reservoir Dogs_ where Mr. Blonde tortures the cop with a straight razor. I hate those kinds of scenes where Dude 1 is looking for an excuse, any excuse, to fatally harm Dude 2. Nothing Dude 2 says is the right thing to say. It reminds me too much of a job I left. I agree with this, but I have issues with torture scenes in general. Once, coming off a very intense training course, I started _Stop-Loss_ on the plane ride home. I had to stop it since it was making me jumpy with the firefight at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380/20 "2014-10-15T23:36:03Z")
In Sometimes A Great Notion, where Paul Newman (isn’t it?) is trapped under a log while the tide is coming in while his son can’t do anything to help. The stretched out inevitability is what I couldn’t take, plus my own daddy issues. If I have the details wrong, sorry, but I had to stop watching before the scene went on very long. And I’ve never wanted to watch it since. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-scene-thread-most-stressful-to-watch-spoilers-abound/701380.md?page=2)