# Best Movie Scenes With No Dialogue (or almost no dialogue) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298 "2012-04-29T04:02:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/1 "2012-04-29T04:02:38Z")
It always bugs me when filmmakers forget that film is a visual medium, and wind up making movies that could just as easily be stage plays. Conversely, I really love it when a filmmaker is able to tell a story, or part of a story, using no words at all (or at least very few words). A couple of my favorites: [The revenge sequence from _Rushmore_](http://youtu.be/yly2UDQp6fc). (Yeah, there are a few words of dialogue at the very end.) (And yeah, maybe this is more of a montage than a “scene.” Quit bustin’ my chops, OK?) [The record listening scene from Before Sunrise](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQpYHiB0k6k). This scene captures, maybe more perfectly than any on film, that singular moment of falling for someone new. Any others? ( **And let’s leave silent films out of this, shall we?** ) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/2 "2012-04-29T04:05:23Z")
The beginning of _There Will Be Blood_ was amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/3 "2012-04-29T04:05:55Z")
I always thought that [this eight minute fight scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHwoRFe70jk) from The Miracle Worker was amazing (and the best part of the whole movie). ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/4 "2012-04-29T04:12:19Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > It always bugs me when filmmakers forget that film is a visual medium, and wind up making movies that could just as easily be stage plays. It took the comic book industry some time to figure this out as well. Find some Batman or Superman comic book from the 1940s, and you’ll find the panels loaded with captions describing the action that the artwork is already depicting perfectly clearly. They feel like illustrated transcriptions of radio dramas. Come to think of it, it also took television a while to realize they didn’t need a narrator describing everything. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/5 "2012-04-29T04:23:43Z")
On the funny side, I have to mention the blind man’s encounter with the dinosaur in Caveman (1981), in fact, as the whole movie dialogue was just grunts and pseudo language one can say that there was no dialogue in the whole movie. On a serious take on early man, it is hard to find a better scene than the discovery of the first weapon in 2001: A space odyssey. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd3-1tcOthg) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/6 "2012-04-29T04:39:51Z")
The robbery scene in _Rififi_ is a classic. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/7 "2012-04-29T04:41:33Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > It always bugs me when filmmakers forget that film is a visual medium, and wind up making movies that could just as easily be stage plays. Film is also an aural medium. On the other hand the stage is also a visual medium. Some of the greatest films ever are filled with dialog. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/8 "2012-04-29T04:43:15Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Film is also an aural medium. On the other hand the stage is also a visual medium. Some of the greatest films ever are filled with dialog. Your quibble is noted. Now can we get on with the best no-dialogue scenes? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/9 "2012-04-29T04:45:45Z")
The heist scene in [Rififi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rififi). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/10 "2012-04-29T04:52:08Z")
The baptism scene in The Godfather, which isn’t technically a silent scene (there’s a baptism going on). [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Sokkp7NA8NA/hqdefault.jpg "Godfather baptism scene") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sokkp7NA8NA) ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/11 "2012-04-29T04:52:40Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/EwYjmMjwF_M/maxresdefault.jpg "The Great Gatsby (6/9) Movie CLIP - Reuniting (1974) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwYjmMjwF_M) The first 25 seconds of this scene. Gatsby and Daisy are reunited at Nick’s cottage. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/12 "2012-04-29T04:54:37Z")
Cast Away. i have little patience for over-indulgent slow moving movies but this one is extremely compelling, especially for what is basically a one-man show. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/13 "2012-04-29T04:55:57Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > The baptism scene in The Godfather, which isn’t technically a silent scene (there’s a baptism going on). > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sokkp7NA8NA&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sokkp7NA8NA&feature=related) Yeah, that counts. The baptism is analogous to background music. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/14 "2012-04-29T05:14:28Z")
The Warriors - That silent scene on the subway where our heroes are beaten and bruised after their ordeal and another group of young people their age with obviously very different lives get on. What a perfect scene, perfect. One Million Years BC - The whole movie has not one word of dialogue, yet it is one of the most compelling movies I’ve ever seen. Everyone is skeptical about the movie but when they actually watch it their eyes are glued to the screen. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/15 "2012-04-29T05:21:40Z")
The Black Stallion, the tremendous extended sequence when the shipwrecked kid finds himself washed up on the island, finds the horse, finds a bond growing between the two of them. The rest of the movie was meh, but that part was magic. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/16 "2012-04-29T05:23:14Z")
The re-entry scene in _Apollo 13_. A tense scene that speaks for itself. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/17 "2012-04-29T06:56:02Z")
A favorite scene. The first two minutes of this clip features Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert conceiving the plot of _The Mikado_. No words, other than some gibberish noises, and it is one of the few movie scenes I know of where you really see the character _thinking_. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/18 "2012-04-29T06:59:53Z")
The scene in \*\*\*Jaws \*\*\*when Chief Brody’s son is mimicking him at the dinner table. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/19 "2012-04-29T07:16:52Z")
Almost every film by Michael Mann has at least one long, terrific scene with no dialog (but often distinctive music). The [cliff scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9SEFMIBwAs)from \*the Last of the Mohicans \*(dialog stops at about 1 minute in) is probably the most famous, but there’s also the Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida scene from _Manhunter_, the bank robbery from _Heat_, and the jogging scene from _Ali_. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/20 "2012-04-29T07:47:55Z")
The seamless passage of a year in _Notting Hill_ as Will Thacker (Hugh Grant) [walks through the markets](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJibQNkhX5s). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298.md?page=2)