# Most Powerful Scenes in Moviemaking? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080 "2004-06-13T04:11:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080/61 "2004-06-16T12:57:23Z")
Nothing kitschy or bullshit about it… macho, however, definitely! I saw Fellini’s **8 1/2** last night and watched the scene where Guido and Luisa are sitting in the sun, when Guido’s lover walks into view, about 3 times. The dialogue between G&L at that moment is some of the most painfully honest I’ve ever seen in cinema. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080/62 "2004-06-16T13:00:52Z")
And by “honest”, I don’t mean by the two characters but by the screenwriter (Fellini and others). It is definitely a scene written by a person who has lived it. (Now watch me be proved wrong, with cites showing that Fellini was a loving, monogamous husband. 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080/63 "2004-06-16T15:11:52Z")
Several people have mentioned _Lord of the Rings_, but nobody has yet brought up the scene that I thought was the most beautiful, powerful, and awe-inspiring of all. The quiet moment during _Return of the King_ when Gandalf describes the afterlife to Pippin. Goosebumps and shivers every time. The funeral scene in _Clear and Present Danger_ was a masterpiece. The way they intercut the patriotic pomp and finery of a military funeral (the band playing “Goin’ Home”) with the massacre of the American troops left behind to die in Columbia. Pisses me off no matter how many times I see it. Which is exactly what was intended, of course. The revelation of the “truth” in _Courage Under Fire_. “I’m Spartacus!” The chariot race in _Ben-Hur_ is, as far as I’m concerned, the 20 greatest minutes ever put on film. Note for the picky – I’m referring to the 1959 version, not the silent film. Yes, I’m partial to war movies and epics. ---
**Author:** ![Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirt_Ninja_13)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080/64 "2004-06-16T16:01:05Z")
The final scene in Requiem For A Dream, Spoiler where Harry and Sarah meet in Sarah’s dream of being slim and on television, both happy and healthy. This, of course, is after Harry has gone to prison and lost his arm to gangrene, and Sarah’s found herself in the hosptial after being wrecked by drug addiction. The fact that they could both dream of being so happy after everything had gone to hell for them and every other main character in the story just about broke my heart. A close second is Harry’s phone call to Jennifer Connelly’s character shortly before she goes out to Big Tim’s party and gets involved in the “Ass to ass” montage. It’s just really sad… From _American Beauty_ Spoiler Lester’s working at the Drive-thru, and Carolyn pulls up with the Prince of Real-Estate guy, the both of them joking about their latest sexual misadventure. Lester hears her voice over the intercom and comes to the window, where he sees the both of them in her car. He goes into a couple lines about their specials and the two of them turn to him, open-mouthed. The shift manager who _was_ serving them drops _her_ jaw, too, and says “You are _so_ busted.” Carolyn: “Oh, shut up!” \<–(paraphrase) Lester: “Actually, she’s the shift supervisor, so this is kind of her turf.” Carolyn: “Don’t be so dramatic!” Lester: “Oh, no. You don’t get to tell me what to do ever again.” (as he hands her her meal). Ah, comeuppance. I’ll probably think of a few others in a bit. If there’s a thread like this for television, however, I can think of a few moments from the first season of Six Feet Under I’d like to nominate. _bamf_ ---
**Author:** ![Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirt_Ninja_13)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080/65 "2004-06-16T16:03:19Z")
crap ok, sorry. that was my first attempt at a spoiler box. Hopefully, I’ll get it right, next time. _bamf_ ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080/66 "2004-06-16T17:28:19Z")
Very end of _Glengarry Glenross_- Close-up on Shelley (Jack Lemmon) as he listens to Ricky (Al Pacino) singing his, Shelley’s, praises to the detective who is about to take Shelley in for the robbery- unbeknownst to Ricky. The mixture of gratitude/quiet pride/crushing defeat on Lemmon’s face is just amazing. Sometimes I think _Glengarry_ made _Death of a Salesman_ look like a made-for-TV movie. ---
**Author:** ![Volta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ce73a5/32.png) [@Volta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Volta)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080/67 "2004-06-17T02:52:12Z")
The part of _Fellowship of the Ring_ beginning with Merry & Pippin distracting the Uruk-Hai so Frodo can escape through Boromir’s death to the end of the movie is very powerful. Also, in _Patriot Games_, the scene where the terrorists attack the police convoy. The looks between Sean Bean’s character and the guard as it progressed were priceless. Everything about that scene, but especially the music, gave a chilling, foreign feel; it gave me shivers. ---
**Author:** ![Dancer\_Flight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dancer_flight/32/7601_2.png) [@Dancer\_Flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancer_Flight)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080/68 "2004-06-17T04:16:18Z")
I’ll second (or is that third or fourth) the assault on the beach in Saving Private Ryan, the other moment in that film that always brings tear to my eyes is at the end when: Ryan looks at his wife and says “Tell me I’m a good man…” I also get blurry in The Patriot when Meg speaks to her Papa for the first time… -DF ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080/69 "2004-06-17T10:56:14Z")
> [@Dancer\_Flight](#): > > I also get blurry in The Patriot when Meg speaks to her Papa for the first time… > > -DF The scene that gets me even more is when he leaves her anyway. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have done it! ---
**Author:** ![The\_27th\_Evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ebca7d/32.png) [@The\_27th\_Evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_27th_Evil)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080/70 "2004-06-17T12:18:26Z")
_Jacob’s Ladder._ One line: “Who the hell do you think you’re fighting?” The look on Jacob’s face as the truth dawns on him is just gut-wrenching. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-scenes-in-moviemaking/250080.md?page=3)