**Shane **— The dog slinks away as Wilson (Jack Palance) walks into the saloon.
**Star Wars **— The Star Destroyer passing overhead.
So very true! Both are chill bump moments and precede in time (at least for me) all other cliche’ copies of those moments.
It got me to wondering if there’s a movie counterpart to the last lines of Ozymandias:
The Wild Bunch: “If they move, kill 'em!”
Chinatown: The climactic scene in Chinatown, beginning with Escobar firing at the fleeing Packard and ending with Walsh saying, “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown!”
If I have to pick just one…
The dying Mozart dictating the reqiuem to Salieri in Amadeus.
Apocalypse Now - The Wagner attack scene…" I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ‘em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like …victory. Someday this war’s gonna end…"
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid - Think you used enough dynamite there Butch?
Patton - The opening monologue.
- “Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I READ YOUR BOOK!”
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - “There are two types of people in this world. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.”
Alright you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This… is my boomstick! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart’s top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That’s right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It’s got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That’s right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?
Some bad-assery moments:
Lethal Weapon 4, when Glover and Gibson are standing on the dock in the rain, looking at one extremely pissed off Jet Li, and realize they have to fight him.
Predator, as the team hoses down the forest canopy wildly, until out of ammo and the only sound left is the chain gun spinning on empty barrels.
Crouching Tiger, the fight between Yeoh and Zhang in the training arena. Not only was the choreography brilliant, but the actors expressions and emotions were amazingly done.
Rocky 3, the final fight against Clubber Lang, starting from the nose to nose staredown.
Two more scenes from The Jerk. The intro, his birthday party, and "I’m picking out a Thermos for you. Not an ordinary Thermos for you. But the extra best Thermos that you can buy, with vinyl and stripes and a cup built right in. " Ok, so it turned out to be three scenes.
Close. I think he said “Enough now. Enough.”
Correct.
Fitzcarraldo – There is a scene in which the protagonist realizes that his steamboat is on the wrong river, and the one he wants to be on is on the other side of a mountain. His great idea is to have the natives drag it over the mountain. Pretty impressive, but what gets me is the special effects that they used to simulate the feat:
They actually dragged the boat over the mountain.
To me, that is probably the best scene in any movie ever.
The Philadelphia Story - Drunken Mac professes love to Tracy- “heathfires and holocausts”
The Breakfast Club -The truth or dare game.
Breaking Away- The scene where his dad walks with him around campus.
Pulp Fiction - “I’m sorry, did I break your concentration?” Also the scene at the opening credits.
Deer Hunter - The Russian roulette game in captivity.
Office Space - Destroying the copy machine.
Million Dollar Baby - When Maggie is told out what “Mo cuishle” means.
I think we should stop listing individual scenes from Pulp Fiction, and just stipulate the entire film is one iconic moment.
It was for me - I knew I was seeing something special within the first 15 minutes.
Blade Runner: Super-futuristic setting, harsh orange light pouring in. Sean Young struts on scene, in a 1940s outfit, 1940s makeup, 1940s hairstyle, lights up a cigarette in classic 1940s movie style. Before you can process the anachronisms, the screen fills with the owl perched in a high corner. It flutters across the screen.“You like our owl?”
Didn’t read the responses prior to posting, forgive me if this has been mantioned…
Chief Bromden launching the sink fixture through the window in “Cuckoo’s Nest”
So no one ELSE has to Google it: To Kill a Mockingbird. Why couldn’t anyone just say it for us?!?
Three scenes that give me the chills every time I see them:
I intended to nominate Yvonne singing the La Marseillaise from Casablanca, but friend** Frostillicus**
had the you tube link to it.
The first Chestburster scene in Alien
“Get away from her, you BITCH!” from Aliens
“Oh no, Not again!” from Spaceballs
and two more from Spaceballs
“I was your nephew’s cousin’s former roommate”
“What does that make us?”
“Absolutely nothing!”
“Now you see, Lone Starr, that Evil will always triumph, because Good is Dumb!”