Which scenes in movies stand out as your favorites?
Sometimes, a scene stands alone and could be removed from the movie completely without missing it much. Other times, a scene is vital to the overall plot line, but still stands out for whatever reason.
I’ll give some examples of what I am looking for.
The music writing discussion scene in Sling Blade - When the band is sitting in the house after their little jam session, and Morris is explaining how he and Terrance write words and music.
I love when Doyle says “If you all don’t shut up I’m going to go out of my mind. Besides, Carl here’s already off balance, he’s liable to bust a spring.”
Pulp Fiction - when Captain Koons gives little Butch his dad’s watch.
Reservoir Dogs - the scene where the crooks all get assigned their names.
Rounders - the judge’s game scene.
I never get tired of these scenes, and can watch them without seeing the rest of the movie.
Alec Baldwin in Glengarry, Glen Ross. Iconic not just for the performance but for what it shows about the whole salesman world. My roomie told me about how he’s lived through real versions of that scene more than once.
When Wil Munny goes back to the saloon in Unforgiven. Sheer badassery.
The revelation scene of The Sixth Sense. I have never been so completely fooled before by a movie.
Oh, so many! Hard to think of some, they’re mostly short…
Kill Bill Vol. 1 - after the sword fight in the nightclub, there is one young masked desperado left, and Uma Thurman whacks him on the butt with her sword and tells him “you! go! home! to! your! MOTHER!”
The whole shootout with the men in black in “The Matrix”, when Neo and Trinity walk into that lobby. Ending with the helicopter crash into the building.
(No one asked about TV, but I have one, it’s early in True Blood where Eric is keeping some humans imprisoned in his basement. One of them is mouthing off, he comes downstairs, tears off a limb, and starts beating the poor bastard. While he (Eric) is wearing a pink plastic poncho because his hairs are in foils! I don’t know whether to cringe in horror or ROTFL.)
Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth in Blue Velvet when he first meets Jeffery coming out of Dorothy’s apartment: “Wanna go for a ride?” What a sinister fucker he was!
The scene in Reds when Diane Keaton goes to meet Warren Beatty at the train station. She knows he’s been ill, and when she sees a sheet covered body being taken off the train, she turns around and closes her eyes, a look of total anguish on her face. Then she opens her eyes and sees Beatty just looking at her. She silently, slowly walks over and hugs him.
From The Usual Suspects, my favorite scene in any movie ever…
Verbal’s leg straightening out
This reminded me of another favorite scene only because you said your friend ‘lived through the real version’. I grew up in the restaurant industry. My grandfather delivered the produce to the restaurants in Milwaukee, my father and I still run a business that does the same thing. If you own or owned a food service business (other then a chain, but even then) in Milwaukee in the last 50 years, you probably know my dad, he’s pretty well connected. He loves to talk. He’s pretty well known for going out to eat and finding himself in the kitchen at some point to talk to the chef or owner, either because he knows them or wants to see about getting their business.
Many, many times during my childhood we’d go to a restaurant and instead of going in through the front door like normal people we’d go in the backdoor, through the kitchen, say hi to a bunch of people, stop and talk to the owner, the chef, a bartender and eventually make our way out to a table. Embarrassing as hell for me when I was a little kid but I sort of grew into it as I got older. The first time I saw this scene I looked at whoever I was with (girlfriend maybe) and said “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done exactly that with my dad”. It really hit home. To this day I still like watching that scene.
All great choices so far - I don’t disagree with any of them.
My choice : The USS Indianapolis scene in Jaws. Robert Shaw delivering that absolutely chilling account of waiting for his turn in the water while the sharks were picking off his friends one by one…“I’ll never put on a life jacket again…”
That scene could be watched without the rest of the movie and still be just as riveting.
Gordie’s story about “Lard Ass and the Pie-Eating Contest” in Stand by Me. Completely gross and ridiculous, as only a 12-year-old mind could imagine it.
