I’d like to hear people’s choices of the best moments in Lord of the Rings–book and movie(s). I’ll start:
Best book moment: Frodo, at the Council of Elrond, says “I will take the ring, though I do not know the way.” After the terrible things he’s already been through, to take the burden on himself is, IMHO, the bravest act in the entire story. Jerks the tears every time.
Best movie moment (so far): The waters rising at the Ford of Bruinen when the RingWraiths try to cross. It was perfect!
Second best movie moment: Shadowfax.
For the TT… Theoden’s speech before the battle at Helms deep ("where are the horse and rider…”) I was hoping they’d have it in the RotK but I’ll take it.
Sure, too many to list, but that means you have to decide what “favorite” means.
Third favorite movie moment (or maybe it’s first and the others have to move down): Gandalf says “So am I” quietly to himself after Frodo says “I’m glad you’re back” and jumps off the cart. McKellen is GREAT!
FOTR: When the hobbit children are following Gandalf’s cart and waiting for some fireworks. Just when they think he’s going to disappoint them–Crack! Pop! The children cheer and Gandalf laughs with glee. (the other fireworks scenes are great as well)
TTT: Gandalf’s fall and battle with the Balrog. There had BETTER be more of this on the extended edition DVD’s.
Yes, this one is good – but what makes it even better is how the older hobbit gentleman laughs at this scene, until the wife glares at him… and his smile fades into this “guilty, chastised” facial expression that is priceless. Cracks me up every time I see it!
FOTR: Battle at Amon Hen, particularily Aragorns cool, smirky look while approaching 983 Uruk-Hai, and most of all, Boromir’s rescue of Pippin and Merry and subsequent heroic death
TTT: Gimli blowing the Horn of Helm (ye gods, the sound of it)while everyone else goes charging out of the keep, with the yelling of “Forth Eorlingas!”
Hmm, there’s just so many… and some that have already been mentioned that I too loved. (the fireworks/cart scene w/Gandalf… very touching, gets me every time… and yes Legolas doing that vault up onto the charging horse… that just blew me away!)
My fave scenes from Fellowship: the entire sequence with the Balrog left me breathless the first time I saw it. The way they build up to it is perfect. But the scene that gets me is right after they exit the Mines of Moria and are stunned at losing Gandalf, and grieving… aw man. Good stuff. Chokes me up every time.
The wide shot in Two Towers when Gandalf is battling the Balrog where you see that HUGE cavern and then see the light from the Balrog coming out of the ceiling… and they’re so small… again, breathless.
Also, that wide shot of Saruman’s army approaching Helm’s Deep… all the dust, and the torches… very well done. And the scene where Gandalf leads the men of Rohan in their downhill charge is simply stunning.
Oh yes, I forgot one very nice little scene that was put in in the extended version of FotR…
The scene where Bilbo is talking to Frodo at the party after having just narrowly escaped the Sackville-Bagginses… where he says, “…you’ll be alright” and then takes a swig of his ale. I just love that, as it shows Bilbo’s affection and concern for Frodo.
The best? Oh well that would be the scare at the house in Crickhollow.
Or the fog on the barrowdowns and being saved by Tom Bombadil…
Or when Gandalf decides to go through the Mines over Aragorn’s objections…or the lengthy and thoughtful debate by the Ents before they attacked Isengard and sent the Huorns to Helm’s Deep, no wait, Faramir letting the hobbits go in Ithilien, that’s it…
Ask me in November what my favorite parts are, because, in the words of Jackson/Walsh/Boyens, “We could never sell it.”
Thank you petcat. I was afraid I was the only one who felt that important parts were left out of Mr. Jackson’s fine, in many ways, movie(s).
I do find it amusing that they had to have Frodo solve the riddle at the gates of Moria because he hadn’t done enough lately, but they took out one of the most important of his character development moments: defying the Ringwraiths at the Ford.
I want to get into this thread before it turns into more of the same old Jackson-bashing… (for the record, I love the book and the movies equally.)
My favorite scenes in the book are both in The Return of the King, so I’ll put them in spoilers for the benefit of those who are waiting for the last movie:
When Eowyn kills the Lord of the Nazgul. Or, when the black ships arrive at Minas Tirith, helmed by Aragorn instead of the enemy.
For the movies so far: Fellowship of the Ring - on Weathertop, when Frodo wears the Ring and sees the Ringwraiths in their true form. Or, the scene in the prologue where the shockwave from Sauron’s death knocks over every soldier on the battlefield. The Two Towers - Gollum & Smeagol’s argument towards the end of the movie. Or, the close-up of the Orc spitting out “What about the legs?” when trying to eat Merry and Pippin.
Cheers, NoCoolUserName, please don’t misunderstand, I have much respect for the work that everyone who worked on the film did. Just that I’ve been reading JRRT for 20 years and when I hear commentary like (sic) “we just had to compress the 17 years between Gandalf leaving Frodo at Bag End, and his return from Gondor”…well I go, you COULD have, you DECIDED not to. - Honestly, Jackson’s voiceover in the FOTR EE is fairly tolerable, but those two women…voice of the Nazgul, sheesh, I almost threw my beer at the tv. Even worse was the actors voice-over…I could only stomach about five minutes of it before I realized Sir Ian and Christopher were consummate professional actors and the rest of the pack were just …er, not.
But they made a damn fine set of movies, and that’s something…It could have been more Bakshi (poor guy), at least they got all the way through! Oh well, you can’t please everyone, and the more I watched their explanations the more I realized they were catering largely to the unread masses.
I’m just waiting for a double-wedding ending and more parts left out (like the scouring of the Shire, I DREAD how THAT’s gonna go)
Well, I would rather not see any bashing in this thread. I’m interested in favorites. I’m waiting with bated breath for TRotK. On the other hand, I’ll miss another of my favorites: blowing the horn call of Buckland. On the commentary track they’ve said that the scouring of the Shire won’t happen. <sigh>
Preface – I see no point in dumping on the movies in this thread. Sure there are things I wish were different (some of my favorite speeches in TT were left out; Frodo should have defied the wraiths at the Ford as someone else pointed out, etc.). However, the movies are still better than I ever dared hope, with the incredible casting, music and locations adding so much.
That said, I have read (& reread) & loved LOTR ever since I was in junior high (am now 50…). Just too many good spots in the books to choose favorites…and too many would be spoilers for others, tho the Grey Havens chapter and the ending in general are perfect .
From the 1st two movies, these are my favorite moments, tho it’s certainly hard to choose:
-Bridge at Khazad-Dum (sp?) scene and subsequent escape/grieving by the others.
-Amon Hen sequence. Aw hell, from the moment Boromir confronts Frodo til the end of the FOTR movie, the whole sequence just blows me away.
-So many scenes with Frodo - I think Elijah Wood’s performance is very powerful, and has been overshadowed by others. Seems on the message boards people either love it or hate it. The moment at Bag End where he says “what must I do” is great; so is the Weathertop sequence; and when he says at the Council that he will take the ring “though I do not know the way” – that is so powerful. He’s also very good in TTT, I think.
-Ian Mckellan’s small touches – he’s perfect as Gandalf.
-the ending of TTT, when the 3 strands of the story are shown together as Sam makes his speech.
My favorite moment in the movies: Boromir’s death scene with Aragorn.
As for the whole book vs movie thing…I have read and reread the books since I was a kid. I agree the story told in the movies is slightly different in emphasis to the ones in the books…and frankly, I find myself preferring the story of the movies.
The Gollum/Smeagle argument was done more perfectly than I could have hoped. It is, and I am sure will remain, one of my all time favorite scenes from any movie.
