I haven’t seen the movie Sophie’s Choice in decades and remember very little of the movie overall but the memory of my reaction to the scene where it became apparent that Sophie actually had to make a choice gave me an adrenalin rush the likes of which I’ve never experienced since.
Care to share your most dramatic scene in the movies ?
This thread, though asking for opinion, is about movies.
Moved from IMHO to CS.
“most dramatic” and “adrenaline rush” are two very different things. For me, the most dramatic scenes are carefully written, usually witty dialogue that (witty or not) skillfuly reveals character while developing plot. My all time favorite dramatic movie is Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons (wonderfully directed by Fred Zinneman, but Bolt wrote it, darn it!) But no adrrenaline rush in any of it.
For me, the scenes that give me the biggest thrill are when our Hero(s) take flight, successfully, against all odds. I mean that literally. I love the takeoff scene in the original Flight of the Phoenix, and I love Clint Eastwood’s escape in Firefox.
****This is a spoiler if you haven’t seen The Last of the Mohicans
The Last of the Mohicans will always have a special place for me. The scene just before Alice jumps, when she looks and realizes Uncas is dead and the music is swelling and the beautiful backdrop of the mountains.
She just looks, with unshed tears and steps off.
It’s a beautiful scene
I prefer the classics. The “Marseillaise” scene in Casablanca has never been equalled.
I was going to mention this as well. It’s a little better in the theatrical version than in the director’s cut DVD. Madeline Stowe’s reaction shot immediately after this is amazing as well. The music is so powerful.
I have a theory - women tend to cry at the end of Casablanca, while men are more likely to shed a tear at the scene you mentioned (although they usually try to hide it). I’m misting up a bit now, myself.
The Rutger Hauer android’s death scene in “Bladerunner.”
“I have seen attack ships blazing in the skies around Orion…”
Some of the first things that popped into my head. . .
The “Layla” scene in Goodfellas when all the dead bodies start turning up.
The takeoff scene in Apollo 13. I’m not much of a Ron Howard fan, but he does do tension well.
A scene that always gets me is the main “coward” scene in Saving Private Ryan where the gets slowly stabbed to death.
The opening scene of Gangs of New York, before they open the door really stirs me, too.
That’s off the top of my head. Anything else would probably be more of an intellectual fabrication.
The scene in Reds when Diane Keaton sees the body being carried off the train, turns around and closes her eyes, then opens them and sees Warren Beatty standing there. Instead of screaming and running to him, she silently and slowly walks into his embrance.
*In This Our Life * Bette Davis plays a typical (for her) bad girl role, a rich, spoiled young woman in a Southern town who’s accidentally killed a man in a drunken hit and run. A young black man is arrested and accused of the crime. Bette Davis goes to the county jail and tries to persuade him to plead guilty because it would be “simpler for everyone.” And you can see the desperately frightened young man slowly giving in …
I’ve seen this flick a half a dozen times, I freakin’ KNOW how this scene turns out, and I still bite my knuckles and shout at the screen, “Don’t do it! She’s a conniving tramp!”
Of course, I’m a Bette Davis fan. YMMV.
In The Godfather II when the scenes of the baptism and the hits on the other families are intermingled.
Do you reject satan in all his forms?
I do.
Silence of the Lambs: Clarice Starling finally telling Dr. Lecter the story about trying to rescue the spring lamb. That was the most haunting moment of the film, and probably the best acting Jodie Foster ever did. When I was in college, I ran the projectors when they showed this movie (and it played to a full house every night). I noticed that, in every screening, during that scene every single person in the audience was wrapt to attention during Foster’s monologue.
Black RobeThe friendly Indians have been captured along with the priest. They are prisoners of the Hurons. The Huron chief tells the dad captive to sing and to keep singing. As Dad sings, the Huron takes a sharp-edged shell and slits the boy’s throat. Dad has to watch this but he stands there and keeps singing to show his bravery.
And his voice quavers. 
My vote is with yours. That scene has kept Hauer (and his huge ass) in the movies a lot longer than if he hadn’t done Blade Runner, although I loved the ending to Wanted: Dead or Alive where Gene Simmons gets a very short headache.
One that just popped to mind is in In The Name of the Father, when:
Daniel Day-Lewis’s father dies, and the inmates all light bits of paper on fire and put them out their windows. Actually, there are a lot of great dramatic scenes in that movie. The final court scene is wonderful too. Great film.
Pretty sure that is GF1. Great scene though.
Crap, you’re right. Right at the end when Michael takes that final step and fully embraces his future. Thanks.
The scene in “In America” where the little girls want the big prize at a carnival game, and their father keeps paying more and more money to try and get it for them. The price doubles for each attempt, and he starts at two dollars and just keeps going. He bets their rent and then all of their savings. Watching him put his entire family’s well being into jeparody over a toy for his daughters had me on the edge of my seat, probably more tense than I’ve ever been at a movie before.