One last screw would have killed him, though.
Just remembered - the rescuer’s first name was Valentin, not Vladimir. My error.
“Mr. Scott, we need warp speed in two minutes or we’re all dead.”
Nothin’ beats that.
Brody shooting the oxygen tank and blowing up the shark in Jaws.
Spider-man stopping the elevated train just as it reaches (and hangs slightly over) the end of the track in Spider-man 2.
In Batman Begins: “I’m not going to kill you, but I don’t have to save you,” as Batman exits the train just before it crashes.
The Fifth Element: They’ve activated the four stones, but Dallas has to tell Leeloo he lurves her before she can save the world.
Forest Gump carrying Lt. Dan out of the jungle in Nam with napalm flames nipping at his heels.
Favorite riff on this: in an episode of The Adventures of Superman, Supes arrives seconds after Jimmy Olsen’s car went over the edge.
The bad news is, Jimmy had jumped from the car and was dangling from the edge.
Naw, Scotty always overestimated the time it took to make repairs, just so he could look like a hero.
I’ve always loved the scene in Armageddon when they’re on the asteroid, and after their drilling equipment gets caught by the anti-gravity of space and goes flying away and they think they’re doomed, the second driller (from the backup shuttle which crashed about 50 miles away) arrives to complete the job.
Atom bomb timer counting down: 006, 005, 004 … and stops when it reaches 007.
Cavalry charge in Road To Rio << Well, we didn’t make it. Pretty exciting though, wasn’t it >>
In Babylon 5, after the desperate battle between loyalist and rebel Earth Alliance ships, the jumpgates open with a new fleet of loyalist ships, ensuing despair only countered by the arrival of Delenn with a Mimbari fleet just in the nick of time
I always thought that was a funny bit.
… an excellent example of an oxymoron…
Not saving the world or anything, but I loved the scene in Broadcast News where Joan Cusack finished editing a story as it was supposed to be airing on the newscast, and she went on a mad dash to get it to the control room, at one point sliding underneath an open file drawer.
To expand on what MMI said; in Babylon 5 Severed Dreams, when the second wave of Earthforce ships are demanding the station’s surrender, and Delennn shows up with several Minbari ships.
Delenn: “This is Ambassor Delenn of the Minbari, Babylon 5 is under our protection. Withdraw or be destroyed !”
Attack Fleet Officer: “Negative ! We have authority here ! Do not force us to engage your ship!”
Delenn: “Why not? Only one Human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me! You are in front of me ! If you value your lives, be somewhere else !”
There’s a scene in a Star Trek novel where Geordie LaForge tells a junior engineer to always double your estimates, because the Captain will always cut it in half and when you meet his deadline, the Captain’s happy and everyone thinks you’re a genius ! Then Picard calls up, Geordie gives an estimate and Picard immediately demands it be done in half the time. “See !”
I’m guessing that’s from a James Bond film, but was it more like: 010, 009, 008, and then stopping at 007? Otherwise it makes no sense.
It’s from Goldfinger:
Ahh, ok. Thanks for the explanation.
Or, Battleship Potemkin, when the baby may or may not be saved by that glasses guy. Probably not.
Nick of time entrances are Superman’s signature piece, of course–not merely because he’s a hero, but because he’s typically solving problems no one else has a prayer of doing anything about. The three best moments in Superman Returns are his plucking the crippled 747 out of mid-air; catching the Daily Planet globe moments before it would have turned Perry White into street pizza; and rescuing the White/Lane family from sinking ship.
I’m not sure this counts, since it was planned, but I’ve always loved the moment in RoTJ when R2 shoots the light saber over to Luke on the plank, who proceeds to kick ass.
Then there are the monkeys and elephants who go charging into action to save Freedonia in Duck Soup.
Except Scotty did not effect the repairs this time.