# Most harrowing scene in a movie. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803 "2011-03-15T16:52:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/21 "2011-03-15T21:15:25Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > American History X. > > Upper teeth. Curb. Boot. > > There is no other scene in the history of cinema that shook me so hard. > mmm Damn, pretty high on the list too. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/22 "2011-03-15T22:10:12Z")
A scene that’s always stayed pretty searing for me is the scene in _Gallipoli_ where Mel Gibson’s character is racing back through the trenches to deliver the order to cancel the attack where his friend will be going over the top in another futile effort against the Turks. I saw this when I was eight or so when HBO had a free weekend, my parents were out to dinner and my babysitting older sister had left me alone to watch TV while she was up in her room doing older sister stuff. I see it was only rated PG at the time, I’m sure it would have been at least PG-13 nowadays, maybe R for the naked swimming and very realistic battle scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/23 "2011-03-15T22:18:34Z")
The penultimate scene in \*\*Sometimes A Great Notion \*\*(1970). Paul Newman’s brother, played by Michael Sarazin, has been trapped by a tree which has fallen across his legs pinning him to the ground just as the river reaches flood state and overflows its banks. The two of them realize there is no way to get the tree off Sarazin before the rising river drowns him. They trade quips as the water gets higher and higher until Newman watches his brother drown. Heart-wrenching! ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/24 "2011-03-15T22:26:29Z")
_The Green Mile_, when they get the settings for the electric chair wrong, on purpose IFRC. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/25 "2011-03-15T22:45:20Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > I’m not sure if _City of God_ is guilty of this, haven’t checked it in a while, but other Brazilian films do use street urchins to play… well… street urchins. So the terror may have been from some other terrible thing he really saw. It’s a reason why watching those types of Brazilian films are already a bit difficult to me, knowing that some of the child “actors” are not really actors at all but really do live in the slums. > > Speaking of Brazilian films, _Pixote_, which is an older Brazilian movie, is one of the most difficult to watch films I’ve seen. After seeing that, at least _City of God_ had happy moments. What sticks out in my mind, after many years, is the scene showing the remains of an illegal abortion done with knitting needles. I was going to say the same thing. There’s a scene where one of the gang boys (a non-actor actor) gets taken home by a female reporter… so she can fuck him. They are off camera for a moment going into a bathroom for a shower and you hear the boy say something like “I’ve never had a hot shower before.”… it wasn’t a line. The boy thought the camera had stopped rolling. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/26 "2011-03-15T22:49:08Z")
In _Eye for An Eye_ starring Sally Field and Kiefer Sutherland, Sutherland’s character brutally rapes and murders a young girl on-screen. It was an otherwise forgettable movie, but that scene was like a punch in the gut. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/27 "2011-03-15T22:57:14Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > American History X. > > Upper teeth. Curb. Boot. > > There is no other scene in the history of cinema that shook me so hard. But is the killing blow actually shown? Did I see an edited version? ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/28 "2011-03-15T23:35:07Z")
The murder of the femaile Dutch assassin in **Munich**. It’s just a slow, face-to-face killing where she slowly starts to choke on her own blood before she’s finished off. A very unglamorous look at murder and death. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/29 "2011-03-15T23:47:40Z")
The scene in **The Downfall (Der Untergang)** in which Magda Göbbels enters the bedroom in the bunker where her six children lie in a drugged sleep, after she had given them all a sedative in an earlier scene. One by one, starting with her youngest daughter, she puts a poison capsule in their mouths, pushes the jaw up so you can hear the _crunch_, and pulls the blanket over their heads, uncovering their bare feet. This is history, I knew what had happened, I knew what was going to be shown, but my heart was slamming against my chest the whole scene long. Masterful acting, and O God, I’m going upstairs right now to give my sleeping kids a kiss. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/30 "2011-03-15T23:51:58Z")
Good call. Which reminds me… I forget if the scene is in the movie of _On the Beach_, but I definitely remember it from the book: the young couple poison their infant child before taking poison themselves, knowing that otherwise they’ll all inevitably die of radiation poisoning. Under the circumstances, it’s a horrible form of kindness. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/31 "2011-03-16T00:05:34Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > But is the killing blow actually shown? Did I see an edited version? IIRC, the blow was not actually shown. It was _heard_, though. mmm ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/32 "2011-03-16T01:44:17Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > I was going to say the same thing. > > There’s a scene where one of the gang boys (a non-actor actor) gets taken home by a female reporter… so she can fuck him. They are off camera for a moment going into a bathroom for a shower and you hear the boy say something like “I’ve never had a hot shower before.”… it wasn’t a line. The boy thought the camera had stopped rolling. You’re the first person I know, outside of my class (it was for a Brazilian film class), that has seen this movie. Not even my Brazilian friends have seen it. IIRC, one of the child non-actors (the star) died quite young (killed), after the relative success of the movie, and being unable to find other legitimate jobs (instead of street life). OTOH, one of the older child actors did have moderate success and was at least able to leave the slum. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/33 "2011-03-16T01:46:24Z")
“We Were Soldiers” with Mel Gibson. When the soldier’s skin slides off his legs after the napalm attack. On a more humorous note, I watched the notorious “Cannibal Holocaust”. What icked me out the most? The rapes? No. The impaling? No. The abortion? No. The spiky thing? No. It was the old lady preparing food by chewing it and spitting it out into a bowl. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/34 "2011-03-16T01:52:31Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > IIRC, the blow was not actually shown. > > It was _heard_, though. > mmm Gah. Hideous. I have another one: the opening scene in Jaws. That haunted me, because it was very believable. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/35 "2011-03-16T02:29:41Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > The murder of the femaile Dutch assassin in **Munich**. It’s just a slow, face-to-face killing where she slowly starts to choke on her own blood before she’s finished off. A very unglamorous look at murder and death. Yah. Also a fantastic character beat, as you can see just how far behind the protagonists have left their humanity. Contrast it with the first killing by the protagonists, in which their victim very nearly talks them out of it. Come to think of it, pretty much _every_ bit of violence in that film is harrowing stuff. Great movie, hard to watch. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/36 "2011-03-16T02:39:52Z")
The scene in ‘Silence of the Lambs’, when Hannibal Lecter is about to be served his meal of lambchops. ---
**Author:** ![Tarwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@Tarwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarwater)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/37 "2011-03-16T02:47:42Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > IIRC, the blow was not actually shown. > > It was _heard_, though. > mmm No, it’s definitely shown. The camera cuts away a split-second after the impact, but it’s still there. It wasn’t the act itself that really got me, though. It was the sound of the poor guy delicately putting his teeth on the curb. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/38 "2011-03-16T03:22:19Z")
I’m claustrophobic, so _The Vanishing_ is harrowing to me, as is the ending of _Miracle Mile_ and quite a bit of _Jurassic Park_. Actually, my claustrophobia is so bad that I had to change the channel last week during _Modern Family_ when the two guys were in the little girl’s playhouse. How about the car/bumper scene in _The Hitcher_? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/39 "2011-03-16T03:27:33Z")
Chris Rock’s death scene in _Nurse Betty_. The opening scene in the kitchen in _The Believers_ ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803/40 "2011-03-16T03:29:49Z")
The “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” number in _Cabaret_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-harrowing-scene-in-a-movie/574803.md?page=3)