# "Coffee is for closers!" Memorable single scene perfomances in film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516 "2011-06-23T02:17:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/61 "2011-06-24T16:01:55Z")
I think this is what the OP is going for… \*\*Judi Dench \*\*as Queen Elizabeth in “Shakespeare in Love.” Doesn’t she only have a single 10 minute scene, or similar, and it won her the Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/62 "2011-06-24T16:26:51Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I think this is what the OP is going for… > > \*\*Judi Dench \*\*as Queen Elizabeth in “Shakespeare in Love.” Doesn’t she only have a single 10 minute scene, or similar, and it won her the Oscar. I think that was what **Snickers** was going for in post 24 too! ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/63 "2011-06-24T16:55:02Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > That’s the easy one. > How about the [restaurant scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sr-vxVaY_M)? > I think I’ve watched most of the movie in youtube clips, but I can’t find the part where Karen introduces all the mob wives. It’s one of my favorite movies and the whole thing is filled with great scenes. I think I’m partial to it because so much of it hits home. Not that I’m in a mob family, but I was brought up in an Italian community. I was raised around lots of people that have the same names (Tony, Joe, Sam, Rose, Mary, Rosemary, Roseanne, Anne, more Tonys, more Joes, More Marys etc…), I’ve spent my life (to this day) entering restaurants through the kitchen door instead of the front door. I’ve never flushed coke, but I’ve met people who’ve had to skip town because they’ve owed the mob money. I’ve never had a gun pointed at my face, but I’ve known some mob people (my dad has stood in front of a grand jury over it, we’ve lost business because we’ve been pushed out by them). > > ETA, I think I may have missed the point as well. > > In that case, we’ll go for the obvious. When most people think of Goodfellas, they think of Joe Pesci’s [Funny How?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWINtUCshxY) scene. Though I think that scene has taken on a life of it’s own in that I think more people ‘know’ it then have actually seen it. Just as memorable is Frank Vincent as Billy Batts: “Now go home and get your fuckin’ shinebox!”. Love that scene. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/64 "2011-06-24T17:00:16Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > robert shaw as henry VIII in man for all seasons Good one. He’s only in one scene, Shaw’s Henry is indeed memorable, and while the character never appears again, his personality dominates the rest of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/65 "2011-06-24T17:00:51Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Bill Murray in “Zombieland”. Bill Murry in Little Shop of Horrors. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/66 "2011-06-24T17:10:10Z")
How about Sam Elliot as The Stranger in _The Big Lebowski_? Not like he could steal anything in that movie away from the rest of the cast, but his appearance was fairly iconic … "sometimes there’s a man … " ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/67 "2011-06-24T17:26:33Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I think this is what the OP is going for… > > \*\*Judi Dench \*\*as Queen Elizabeth in “Shakespeare in Love.” Doesn’t she only have a single 10 minute scene, or similar, and it won her the Oscar. While Judi Dench isn’t in the movie for long she has at least two or three scenes, two of them extremely significant, and the last scene would make no sense at all without the first. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/68 "2011-06-24T18:31:46Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Bill Murry in Little Shop of Horrors. Jack Nicholson in the original. ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/69 "2011-06-24T18:46:05Z")
Ben Affleck - Boiler Room [“Want vacation time? Go teach third grade public school”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqDtf1aw818) Another capitalistic scene stealer. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/70 "2011-06-24T18:53:11Z")
Donald Sutherland had a great single scene in **JFK** , where he explains all the weirdness surrounding the military not getting clearance to do what they were supposed to do for a Presidential visit in Dallas that day. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/71 "2011-06-24T18:56:23Z")
> [@tingbudong](#): > > Ben Affleck - Boiler Room > > [“Want vacation time? Go teach third grade public school”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqDtf1aw818) > > Another capitalistic scene stealer. I nominate this one for disqualifacation because it basically a rip-off of the Baldwin scene in _Glengarry_. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/72 "2011-06-24T19:04:42Z")
This is hard – while some scenes are absolutely great the whole movie is also at the same level so I cant say that scenes im about to offer really did steal the movie. Anyways… **U-Turn** – Billy Bob Thornton (Darrell) as a mechanic talking to Sean Penn (Bobby) Darrell: Ya think bad, then bad’s what ya get. Bobby: That’s a pretty decent philosophy you got there. Darrell: Yeah, well, no charge. **The Dead Man** – Billy Bob Thornton (Big George) in a scene with Iggy Pop dressed as a lady Big George: I don’t give a shit who saw what, and who did what, or who did who. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/73 "2011-06-24T19:08:28Z")
Wasn’t that character essentially _trying_ to emulate Alec Baldwin in _Glengarry_, though? ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/74 "2011-06-24T19:30:36Z")
More… Crispin Glover also has a single scene at the beginning of The Dead Man where for first 5 minutes none says a word. And then Crispin has this monologue that is so surreal. Crispin again in Wild at Heart as Lula’s cousin putting cockroaches in his underwear. This movie is totally weird but Crispin takes to another level. Will Ferrell in Austin Powers. You got to see that! Mark Walberg in The Departed. Patented scene stealer! David Bowie in The Prestige. Who else could play the coolest inventor of all times but the coolest musician of all times? ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/75 "2011-06-24T19:33:34Z")
For me, this scene is so memorable that it turns out to be one of the few scenes I can quote verbatim, from memory. And it’s because I feel exactly the same way. It’s Quentin Tarantino’s speech about coffee in Pulp Fiction. The rest of the movie I could take or leave, but I will watch it just for this scene when it happens to be on. I also answer “Wow, your coffee is really good…” with this: > [@Jimmy](#): > > I don’t need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay? I’m the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to taste it. But you know what’s on my mind right now? It AIN’T the coffee in my kitchen, it’s the dead n… Yeah, I stop that at the n-word. Just too offensive to quote for fun. I generally change the end of that sentence to something else – relevant to whatever is going on conversationally at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/76 "2011-06-24T19:47:25Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > simon oakland as the detective in psycho Martin Balsam played the detective ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/77 "2011-06-24T20:03:06Z")
H.I. McDonough’s cell mate and boss from “Raising Arizona”: "…and when there was no meat, we ate fowl and when there was no fowl, we ate crawdad and when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand. " “You ate what?” “We ate sand.” “You ate SAND?” “That’s right!” “How many Polacks it take to screw up a lightbulb?” "I don’t know, Glen. One? " “Nope, it takes three…Wait a minute, I told it wrong. Here, I’m startin’ over: How come it takes three Polacks to screw up a lightbulb?” "I don’t know, Glen. " “'Cause they’re so darn stupid!” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/78 "2011-06-24T20:10:06Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > H.I. McDonough’s \<\> boss from “Raising Arizona”: > > “How many Polacks it take to screw up a lightbulb?” > "I don’t know, Glen. One? " > “Nope, it takes three…Wait a minute, I told it wrong. Here, I’m startin’ over: How come it takes three Polacks to screw up a lightbulb?” > "I don’t know, Glen. " > “'Cause they’re so darn stupid!” Glen: “I’m crapping you negative.” I believe Randall “Tex” Cobb from that movie deserves mention in this thread! Awesome performance. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/79 "2011-06-24T20:46:24Z")
I only had one real laugh watching the execrable comedy _Loaded Weapon 1_, starring Emilio Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson. And the laugh came from the absolutely perfect delivery of a fairly pedestrian line by Charlie Sheen, in a cameo as a carhop. Sheen: (looks at the bill Jackson just gave him) “Got anything smaller?” Jackson: (waves him away) “Keep the change.” Sheen: (starts to turn away, pauses, then turns back) “Got anything larger?” Jackson glares at him, Sheen gives a little shrug & eyebrow move that wordlessly expresses, “Can’t blame a guy for trying!” and leaves the movie forever. Sadly. OK, maybe it just seemed hilarious when compared to the rest of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/80 "2011-06-24T21:04:02Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > I only had one real laugh watching the execrable comedy _Loaded Weapon 1_, starring Emilio Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson. And the laugh came from the absolutely perfect delivery of a fairly pedestrian line by Charlie Sheen, in a cameo as a carhop. > Sheen: (looks at the bill Jackson just gave him) “Got anything smaller?” > Jackson: (waves him away) “Keep the change.” > Sheen: (starts to turn away, pauses, then turns back) “Got anything larger?” > Jackson glares at him, Sheen gives a little shrug & eyebrow move that wordlessly expresses, “Can’t blame a guy for trying!” and leaves the movie forever. Sadly. > > OK, maybe it just seemed hilarious when compared to the rest of the movie. I love it. Anybody else remember SLJ as “Senor Love Daddy” in _Do The Right Thing_? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516.md?page=5)