No article: “Theoden” is his name, not his title. The people are “Rohirrim”, the nation is “Rohan”. (The bit in the book that gives me the shivers occurs moments later at the gates of Gondor when Gandalf is defying the Witch-King, who laughs him to scorn and seems to be about to kill him when a cock crows, a shaft of daylight pierces the gloom, and the horns of Rohan bellow in the distance: “Rohan had come at last”.)
(shouts for glee, jumps for joy, got there before Qadgop the Mercotan)
The “Is it secret, is it safe” bit in FoTR does it for me, as does the later “I pass the test” bit with Galadriel, right after her WitchQueen freakout that everyone else seems to hate so. Mostly because I know what it’s the culmination of for her.
Oh, and I just wanted to say:
“Superman!”
You do have to see it. I insist.
The Germans are singing “Die Wacht am Rhein” (“The Watch on the Rhine”, an 1840 song about protecting the Fatherland from French invasions led by any more Napoleons), not the Nazis’ “Der Horst Wessel Lied”.
zoogirl has it nailed, but I’d go further. Its dramatic importance is from the situation - at that time, France had been defeated, half of it was occupied directly by the Germans, and the other half (which still held Morocco as a colony) was ruled by a Nazi-collaborationist government based in Vichy. Up until that point in the movie, the people in Casablanca, a transit port for refugees on the way to neutral America, had cooperated resignedly with the German overseers who controlled the Vichy government, represented by police Capitain Renaud. When they played the inflammatory anti-French song around the bar’s piano, though, that suddenly tipped and everyone showed by their singing of the even-more-inflammatory “Marseillaise” (check out the lyrics sometime if you don’t know it) that they didn’t accept Nazi rule, they still loved France, they were going to fight back as much as they could, and were determined to drive the invaders back out. The suddenness of the swing in apparent sentiment is the source of the scene’s drama.
The scene immediately following frames it well. Right after the patrons finish “La Marseillaise”, the German commander orders Capitain Renaud to close the bar to stop the incipient riot. When Rick asks Renaud why, his reply is “I am shocked, shocked to find there is gambling on the premises!” The dealer stuffs some money in Renaud’s pockets with the words “Your winnings, sir”.
I would have picked Kevin Costner diffidently, softly, not quite crying, asking his father’s ghost to play catch. Gets me every time.
For sheer drama, give me the re-entry scene - the communications blackout period lasting way too long, everyone on the ground gradually realizing that the capsule had burned up and the crew was dead, the classroom teacher gently placing his hand on Lovell’s son’s shoulder, and suddenly the radio reply!
Yes! Assuming you mean from a certain animated film, it’s the one I came here to mention. That one word makes me cry every time I see that scene.
Backstory: In the depression of 1920, Paul Muni is wrongly accused of a crime down south and sent to the chain gang, where men are little more than human refuse. He escapes,gets an education, and becomes a responsible and productive citizen. Although evidence points to his innocence and he’s demonstrated good character, a judge insists he be returned to the road gang, because his escape undermined the authority of the penal system.
[spoiler]Muni eventually escapes again. By now it’s 1932 and another depression is raging. One dark night he turns up on the doorstep of his former wife, looking filthy and haunted. She asks how he is getting by. His reply comes as he edges away into the darkness, eyes shining like an animal:
"I – STEAL!!"
The End.[/spoiler]
“I have, and always shall be, your friend. Live long, and prosper.”
'Nuff said.
I’ll also throw in
Aragorn: I swore to protect you.
Frodo: Can you protect me from yourself?
[holding out the Ring]
Frodo: Would you destroy it?
Aragorn: [closing Frodo’s hand around the Ring] I would have gone with you to the end… into the very fires of Mordor.
Frodo: I know.
[Sting begins to glow]
Aragorn: Now run!
[Aragorn turns the corner, and is confronted by hundred of Uruk-Hai. He salutes them, smiles, and attacks]
My single favorite scene in all 3 movies, with the possible exception of 'Concerning Hobbits."
Glad you mentioned this…I love all 3 movies, Peter Jackson is god. My only complaint is that he didn’t film this scene as depicted in the book, which was vastly superior to how it played out in the film.
[end LOTR-geekfest hijack]
Many probably consider this too cliche, but… at the end of City Lights when the woman, who can now see, gives the little tramp a flower out of pity - and touches his hands.
My favorite moment of all time.
For me, it’s the last scene between Tom and Leo. It just kills me.
Also agreeing with MrDibble and ArrMatey! on the “Superman!” scene from The Iron Giant. I tear up just thinking about that scene.
I have a few not mentioned above (perhaps because they’re all not classics but I do like them):
“That’ll do pig.” Okay - I’m a cornball. Babe is a great little movie.
Carl Brashear’s walk in the courtroom in Men of Honor.
The reunion of Ceelie and her sister in The Color Purple. I start bawling when they play ‘pattycake’.
William Thatcher visiting his father in *A Knight’s Tale * - (I love this movie - I don’t care whatcha call me)
When Colin Firth’s character dances with Amanda Byrnes’ character (finally) in *What a Girl Wants.[/
The Shawshank Redemption
Andy Dufresne locks himself in the Warden’s office, puts an opera LP (The Marriage of Figero)on the turntable and turns on the PA system, blasting glorious music throughout the prison. The inmates stand completely spellbound.
Red: “I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t wanna know. Some things are best left unsaid. I like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man at Shawshank felt free.”
Makes me cry every time. 
Actually, in terms of drama the confrontation between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men, packs quite a punch.
Kaffee: Did you order the Code Red?
Col. Jessep: I did the job I…
Kaffee: [shouting] Did you order the Code Red?
Col. Jessep: [shouts] You’re goddamn right I did!
I always thought that scene would have been more dramatic if they hadn’t included the earlier scene where Cruise’s character outlines his strategy to produce that result. His look of surprise when it actually works kind of makes up for it, though. 
God Dammit, you just made me tear up at work…
…another vote for LOTR: ROTH “You bow to no one”
I can now draw up a list of older movies I haven’t yet seen and get over to the video rental store and save a few bucks. Thanks guys
2001 - The bone-turned-weapon is flung into the sky and becomes a satellite - the longest flash-forward in Hollywood history. (A.C. Clarke later wrote that it was actually a nuclear-weapons satellite, which is all the more fitting - the first weapon becomes the latest).
Deliverance - One of the survivors (Burt Reynolds?) is offered a bowl of mashed potatoes by the kindly farmer, and bursts into tears.
A.I. - David is left in the woods by his mom.
Casablanca - As noted earlier. My favorite scene from my all-time favorite movie.
Star Trek II - Another vote for Spock’s last words. Great stuff.
Excalibur - King Arthur leads his knights on horseback through an orchard as it bursts into bloom.
The Incredibles - Bob flings his wife, and then a car, up into the air as Syndrome hovers above their house.
Trading Places - Dan and Eddie seize the initiative in the FCOJ trading pit.
ducks in to add:
In Munich, the lead character (Eric Bana) is an assassin hired by the Israeli government to eliminate all the Palestinians behind the Munich massacre at the Olympic Games. He’s had to leave his pregnant wife, whom he loves very deeply, behind as he goes on his mission, and eventually his newborn daughter.
In one scene, he’s getting ready for bed in a hotel. It’s been a long, horrible, gruesome, soul-sucking mission and he’s pretty much at the end of his tether.
He phones his wife, who’s in their kitchen holding the baby. “Talk for your daddy,” she tells the baby, holding up the receiver to her. There’s a moment of silence, and then she babbles some babytalk into the phone.
And Eric Bana’s character just breaks down and starts crying silently. It’s a heartwrenching moment.
My friend just mentioned the Russian Roullette scene in Deer Hunter. Kinda surprised no one has mentioned it already.
I’ve got two scenes.
Forrest Gump at Jenny’s grave, where he is talking to her and telling her everything that happened and he suddenly breaks down and starts crying. Yanks the guts out of me every single time.
Big Fish, at the end when he reconciles with his father. I obviously still have some unresolved issues with my father, because I cry like a baby during that.