# Best Damned Moments at the Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2000, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412 "2000-07-13T07:01:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lord\_Vega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9adbd/32.png) [@Lord\_Vega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Vega)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/81 "2000-07-16T04:16:26Z")
> [@](#): > > One of my favorite movie lines ever came from a cheesy X-rated flick called “Flesh Gordon” that I saw when I had just turned 18. The heroes have just landed on the planet Porno when they step out of their phallic space ship. The scientist takes a few purposeful strides away from the ship, takes a deep breath, exhales, and declares: > > “Good! There’s oxygen on this planet!” And I though I was the only one that saw that movie. As an aside, back in the late 80’s, early 90’s, before I retired, that movie made the NMPS (Navy Motion Picture Service)Classic movie list! Whodathunkit? And the line I like the best, our heros are in the cave with the one-eye’d monsters and Flesh says, “Professor! What kind of monsters are those?” Professor: “Hmm, some sort of Penisaurus I should think.” For weeks after seeing that movie on the ship, whenever someone did something dumb, they were met with crys of “You DILDO!” V. ---
**Author:** ![Quadzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/a4c791/32.png) [@Quadzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quadzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/82 "2000-07-16T04:19:04Z")
Contact: the opening sequence where the camera pulls back and you hear the music/TV clips getting older and older the further out the camera gets. Shawshank Redemption: the most personally affecting moment for me is where Andy is being dragged out of the warden’s office yelling, “You don’t get it, do you? THIS IS MY LIFE!!!” Also, _ **spoiler** _ loved the end of the movie, where the warden is throwing the rocks around Andy’s cell, pitches one at Raquel, and discovers the hole in the wall. The look on the man’s face is absolutely priceless, and I howled until someone dug an elbow into my ribs. The Sixth Sense: The ending. Twice. Evita: discovering that Antonio Banderas is not just a damn handsome face…he can also carry a good tune. ---
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/83 "2000-07-16T04:30:23Z")
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: When “Large Marge” says, “And when they pulled the body from twisted, burning wreck, it looked like… THIS!” Bwahahahahahaha! And she morphs into a crazy looking face. Also, Twilight Zone the Movie: Dan Akroyd says, “Wanna see something \*really[/] scary?” Ahhhhhhhh! ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/84 "2000-07-16T10:03:12Z")
1. The Lion in Winter: The scene that takes place in King Philip’s room, where, one at a time, each of King Henry’s sons comes to double deal with Philip against their father and each other, and each hide behind tapestries and curtained beds when another visitor comes to intrigue with Philip. During the scene, King Henry enters and negotiates with Philip as well, and by the end of the scene, Henry realizes that ALL of the sons are against him (and each of the sons are against each other) Also, the scenes featuring King Henry (Peter O’ Toole) and Queen Eleanor (Katherine Hepburn) are delightful–the two play off each other so well, and the dialogue just crackles. Eleanor is so vicious when she taunts Henry with the rumor that she slept with his father: “We did it! You were in the next room when we did it!” 1. The filibuster scene, particularly the climax, in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, is very emotionally powerful. Makes me actually think there’s some hope for humanity after all. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/85 "2000-07-16T11:57:25Z")
For my money, the best movie moments are… 1)Fight Club when Edward Norton kicks his own ass in his managers office. 2)Jurasic Park when the group gets the first look at the dinosaurs in a wide panoramic view. 3)The Maltese Falcon when Bogey goes through the list of reasons why he’s sending the dame over to the cops. 4)Raising Arizona, all the way through ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/86 "2000-07-16T13:27:48Z")
**AudreyK** I _loved_ Sleuth!! I own a copy on video and think it’s worth watching over and over just for the performances of Olivier and Caine. It’s amazing how only two actors can keep your attention held for two hours. One of my favorite moments at the movies was in _the Untouchables_. Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) is shooting it out with gangsters at the train station. There is the baby in a carriage rolling down the stairs and Ness is trying to catch it. One gangster is hiding behind a pillar. Everything’s in slow motion as Stone (Andy Garcia) is running to that part of the train station to help. Ness aims and _click_ his pistol’s empty. Just then, Stone runs around the corner, tosses Ness a pistol and slides in front of the baby carriage to stop the baby from crashing into the pillar below and Ness takes out the gangster hiding behind the pillar. The audience lost it. One of the few times I heard cheering in a theatre. The other one: the collective _GASP_ in the theatre when we found out who the killer was in _LA Confidential_ ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/87 "2000-07-16T14:27:33Z")
These are the times I remember audiences going nuts in cinema’s - _ **E.T.** _ : When he can back to life . The audience jumped up and screamed , I remember a few kids ( probably the same age as myself ) running around around screaming “YES , YES” . - _ **Dead Poet’s Society** _ : Getting up on the desk “My Captain , My Captain” . Saw it recently and thought it was chessey but at the time it worked . - _ **Ghostbusters** _ : The beginning of the film . Everybody singing the song . - _ **Nightmare on Elm Street** _ : The first one was pretty good for the whole screaming thing . - _ **Scream** _ : The Drew Barrymore beginning . ---
**Author:** ![Falula\_Guinea\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@Falula\_Guinea\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falula_Guinea_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/88 "2000-07-16T15:40:25Z")
Once, in a small cinema just before the main feature came on, my mate Sarah was trying to open a bag of Minstrels. It refused to open until she gave it an almighty tug, when it exploded open and all the sweets went tumbling down the stairs in the middle of the theatre. It was that really quiet bit just before the film starts and all you could hear was the seemingly endless flow of sweets down the steps! We laughed so much we missed the first 5 minutes of the film! As for best movie moments, I have to agree about 6th Sense. The ending was superb. Also, the final scene of The Big Blue is one of the most mind blowing, moving scenes I have ever seen, amazing. Finally, in Titanic, the bit where the boat is tipping and people are falling overboard, one guy falls and bounces off the propellor with a metallic thud noise that just struck me as hilarious! I was the only person in a packed theatre that laughed, it was that thud, it just cracked me up! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/89 "2000-07-16T15:57:53Z")
_ **Schindler’s List** _ : 'nuff said ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/90 "2000-07-17T06:05:33Z")
Quigley Down Under: Most of the movie, but especially the final showdown at the ranch. Tom B. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/91 "2000-07-17T13:43:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shirley Ujest \* > \*\*This scene was changed from Indy and the swordsman sword fighting by Harrison Ford. He told Spielberg that Indy wouldnt waste his time with this guy, not when he had a gun on him. \*\* Actually, here’s the story about that scene: From [The Internet Movie Database](http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0082971) > [@](#): > > Script originally included a long fight between a swordsman and Indiana with his whip. Actor Harrison Ford was suffering diarrhea at the time, and asked if the scene could be shortened. Spielberg said the only way he could shorten it was if Indy pulled out his gun and just shot the guy. The entire crew laughed and that’s how it was filmed. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/92 "2000-07-17T18:09:30Z")
In _L.A. Story_, just at the end of the California cuisine luncheon, when they’re all getting up and saying their insincere goodbyes. Someone tells a joke just as Sara is taking a drink of water. She laughs and spills some and Harris offers her a napkin. Everbody else is wrapped up in their own conversations, and she looks back at him and smiles and says “I keep thinking I’m a grown up, but I’m not.” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/93 "2000-07-17T18:54:22Z")
I agree with “The Crying Game”-no one knew The Secret when I saw it, and there was a collective gasp/silence when It was revealed. Better moment was a few minutes later–the roar of laughter when Stephen Rea’s character’s dream changes to the smirking Forrest Whitaker. Favorite moments have been endings: the frozen pond in “To Die For”, Gallipoli, Thelma & Louise, Breaker Morant…\ ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/94 "2000-07-17T19:06:20Z")
X-Men Spoiler . . . . . . . . . You’ve been warned. . . . . . A moment when I felt part of a community as a movie audience member came last Friday night watching _X-Men_. It seemed everyone there, including me, was a fan, and there were gasps of recognition as Kitty Pryde and Bobby Drake made cameo appearances, and at the end of the film, the entire theater erupted in wild applause. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/95 "2000-07-17T19:35:42Z")
Species II – The protaganists enter a room filled with gore, and the female says “This is just awful”! I looked at my date, and she agreed. So we walked out of the theater. Jaws – when the decaying head floats into the hole in the boat! The girl behind me grabbed my shoulders screaming. I just about peed my pants! I was shaking for the rest of the movie. There’s Something about Mary – when he ‘jump starts’ the dog with the lamp cord, setting it on fire. I laughed so hard I threw myself over the seats in front of me. Fortunately they were empty. Boogie Nights – the final scene. Is anybody not disturbed by this one? ---
**Author:** ![Oreo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c57346/32.png) [@Oreo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oreo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/96 "2000-07-17T20:18:43Z")
Okay, it’s a cheesy movie, but I had a great experience seeing Independence Day. Opening night, packed house. The crowd was really into it…when the movie opened with REM’s “End of the Word as we Know It,” everybody sang along. And Will Smith’s “Welcome to Earth!” Got a big cheer. Lots of fun. Jurassic Park…again opening night, packed house. The part when you can hear the T-Rex coming, and you can see the impact tremors in the water, but you haven’t seen him yet. They had the speakers so loud I could feel the boom of the footsteps in my chest. Great, suspenseful moment. Actually, I love the whole T-Rex scene. I’ll have to second Drew Barrymore’s opening scene in Scream. A friend and I went to see it with no real expectations. Neither of us had heard much about it…and I was expecting to be disappointed. I hadn’t been scared by a movie in years. But man! When Drew’s scene was over, there was popcorn all over the floor and my friend and I were clutching each other in fear. It was a very pleasant surprise. She spent the night at my place that night because neither one of us wanted to go home alone. One of my favorite film moments of all time…the ending of the Last of the Mohicans, when Alice jumps off the cliff. Amazes me everytime. Final Destination evoked several great audience reactions, too. Especially the bus scene! Okay, that’s all I can think of off the top of my head… ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/97 "2000-07-17T21:01:40Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. The Lion in Winter: The scene that takes place in King Philip’s room, where, one at a time, each of King Henry’s sons comes to double deal with Philip against their father and each other, and each hide behind tapestries and curtained beds when another visitor comes to intrigue with Philip. During the scene, King Henry enters and negotiates with Philip as well, and by the end of the scene, Henry realizes that ALL of the sons are against him (and each of the sons are against each other) I watched that movie in World History class. The whole class was cracking up over that scene. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/98 "2000-07-17T21:20:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BratMan007 \* > One of my favorite moments at the movies was in _the Untouchables_. Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) is shooting it out with gangsters at the train station. There is the baby in a carriage rolling down the stairs and Ness is trying to catch it. One gangster is hiding behind a pillar. Everything’s in slow motion as Stone (Andy Garcia) is running to that part of the train station to help. Ness aims and _click_ his pistol’s empty. Just then, Stone runs around the corner, tosses Ness a pistol and slides in front of the baby carriage to stop the baby from crashing into the pillar below and Ness takes out the gangster hiding behind the pillar. The audience lost it. One of the few times I heard cheering in a theatre. I loved that scene! It was based on a scene from this other movie that was made in the early 1900s or so. [learned this in film class, but can’t recall name of movie or director] Another great scene from Pulp Fiction that I liked was the adrenaline scene. That just took me by surprise, and startles me still. Chicken Run: “It’s a Klingon!” I think I was the only one in the theater that got it, even though I don’t like star trek. Rainman: “We gotta go to kmart and get boxer shorts. 400 oak street.” Slingblade: when the little kid beat up the abusuive boyfriend. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/99 "2000-07-17T21:37:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ssskuggiii \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by BratMan007 \* > > One of my favorite moments at the movies was in _The Untouchables_. Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) is shooting it out with gangsters at the train station. There is the baby in a carriage rolling down the stairs and Ness is trying to catch it. One gangster is hiding behind a pillar. Everything’s in slow motion as Stone (Andy Garcia) is running to that part of the train station to help. Ness aims and _click_ his pistol’s empty. Just then, Stone runs around the corner, tosses Ness a pistol and slides in front of the baby carriage to stop the baby from crashing into the pillar below and Ness takes out the gangster hiding behind the pillar. The audience lost it. One of the few times I heard cheering in a theatre. > > I loved that scene! It was based on a scene from this other movie that was made in the early 1900s or so. [learned this in film class, but can’t recall name of movie or director] > \*\* _The Battleship Potemkin_. The audience I saw this with was also impressed by the scene with Al Capone and the baseball bat. And the “_That’s_ the _CHICAGO_ way!” speech delivered by Sean Connery plays well here… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412/100 "2000-07-17T21:46:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by a35362 \* > \*\* > _The Battleship Potemkin_. > > \*\* Directed by Sergei Eisenstein in 1925. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-damned-moments-at-the-movies/25412.md?page=6)