# Best movie explosions! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596 "2005-12-01T19:25:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/21 "2005-12-02T03:15:26Z")
Well the destruction of the Klingon moon Praxis in Star Trek VI is excellant. The Enterprise blowing up in Star Trek III sure had a huge emotional impact. I am ashamed to admit that there was anything of quality in this movie but the explosion of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor was pretty impressive. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/22 "2005-12-02T19:35:37Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > The Nostromo in _Alien_. How about John Hurt’s abdomen in _Alien_ ? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/23 "2005-12-02T19:46:48Z")
Dr. Evil’s place in the first Austin Powers. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/24 "2005-12-02T19:48:54Z")
My favorite explosion is subtle. It’s when they blow the dam in Force 10 from Navarone. Explosion followed by nothing. It looks like the mission failed. It continues to look that way, with the bomb guy saying be patient. Then cracks in the dam, getting bigger and bigger. Finally the whole thing goes. Sweet success. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/25 "2005-12-02T20:03:39Z")
(Wow, a third one in Apocolypse Now) The napalming of the Vietnamese village. What? You don’t have a subwoofer for your surround system? Get one. Taking out the guerilla camp in Predator. Rambo lures baddies into a field using chicken blood, then WHAMMO blows up the field with expolding tip arrow. Blowing up the bad guys compound in Clear and Present Danger. ---
**Author:** ![Bomzaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Bomzaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bomzaway)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/26 "2005-12-02T20:19:19Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > _Swordfish_. That opening explosion had me primed for a fantastic cinematic experience. Awesome! If I didn’t waste my time with the rest of the movie, I’d have been well-satisfied. A-freakin-men! That camera shot where the screen zips around the event horizon of the explosion was fantastic. …the rest of the film sucked. Speaking of _Die Hard_, I always liked that one shot in Die Hard II when Bruce activates the ejection seat just as the plane explodes beneath him. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/27 "2005-12-02T20:51:38Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > The Orlando City Hall in _Lethal Weapon 3_. AFAIK, the only movie explosion that destroyed a real building and not a mock-up or a ficticious one. There have ben plenty of real buildings destroyed in movies. [Controlled Demolition](http://www.controlled-demolition.com/default.asp?reqLocId=18) specializes in taking out buildings, and quite a few of their jobs have been filmed for use in movies. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/28 "2005-12-02T21:16:59Z")
> [@bubastis](#): > > This is my understanding, too. Anyone hazard a guess as to the largest on-screen explosion ever? A real one, not alderaan blowing up. Clue: its in a really shitty movie. Was it the movie with Will Smith and Gene Hackman. I forget the title, but they blew up some building in Baltimore. I always liked the Falcon outrunning the explosion in Return of the Jedi. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/29 "2005-12-02T21:33:47Z")
Likely the movie with the biggest real-life explosions was _Doctor Strangelove_, which ended with a montage of nuclear test footage. That said, one of my favourite metaphorical explosions was Humphrey Bogart completely losing it on the stand in _The Caine Mutiny_. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/30 "2005-12-02T22:02:43Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > Was it the movie with Will Smith and Gene Hackman. I forget the title, but they blew up some building in Baltimore. _Enemy of the State_. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/31 "2005-12-02T23:56:58Z")
The blowing of the river bridge in _ **The Wild Bunch** _, with Robert Ryan and his men “riding half a case of dynamite to the bottom of the river!” ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/32 "2005-12-03T01:01:59Z")
It doesn’t exactly count as an explosion, but I thought that a lovely bit of serendipity was when Ridley Scott needed to burn down a forest while filming _Gladiator_, and the German government needed some trees cleared! Those sap bombs being flung into and exploding against trees were awesome. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596/33 "2005-12-03T06:38:12Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > Was it the movie with Will Smith and Gene Hackman. I forget the title, but they blew up some building in Baltimore. That was the Dr. Pepper building - I’m assuming a bottling plant. Yet another of CDI’s jobs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-explosions/333596.md?page=1)