I second these and wanted to add the scene in Unforgiven when Little Bill gets what he deserves.
One of the most deeply satisfying “Oh my!” moments for me –
The Deep Blue Sea, when Samuel L. Jackson gives the speech about survival, and how they should all stick together and they’ll win… And the shark jumps out of the water and eats him.
There was a collective stunned gasp in the audience… Then a cheer!
God, I still love that moment.
I second (Rubystreak’s moments above) these and wanted to add the scene in Unforgiven when Little Bill gets what he deserves.
I just realized, in reveiwing the synopsis for accuracy of my post, that at the time of his death, Little Bill, says “I don’t deserve this…to die like this.” Munny replies, “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.” Munny then shoots Little Bill dead.
That last quote is exactly what Snoop (a character in The Wire) says to the young soldier, Michael when telling him about a (fake) hit they’re about to do and Michael questions whether the target deserves to be killed.
I liked it better when the QB smashed the bruiser. The ref refuses to call a penalty “on a quarterback?”
Much better (IMHO) is the original * Dangerous Liaisons * when Glenn Close’s character realizes her entire life (as she knows it) is over.
The Green Mile - when Coffee spews that stuff at the psycho guard and he shoots Wild Bill and everything
** Tombstone ** when you know that Wyatt can’t beat Ringo and Doc Holliday is too sick, then “I’m your huckleberry.”
YAY
Some of my favorite movie moments:
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The Bourne Ultimatum: when Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) barges into the office in the CIA black ops lab in New York just as Pam Landy (Joan Allen) finishes faxing the Project Blackbriar classified papers to the press. The look on his face, and Landy’s “I hope you have a good lawyer”. Priceless.
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Return of the Jedi: when Leia strangles Jabba the Hutt with her own slave-girl chains
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speaking of returns…Return of the King when Eowyn slays the Witch-King of Angmar. “I am no man…AAAAAAAHHHHH!” stab
I love that scene, but I think my favorite “just desserts” moment in that movie is when Chihiro gives the “medicine” to No-Face, and he/she/it subsequently pukes on Yubaba. Big time. Bitch had it coming
It lost something in the translation hence the youtube.
How about the rapists getting a load of buckshot in Pulp Fiction?
Or Gary Oldman’s character in Leon (aka The Professional)? (Or, what KneadToKnow said.)
Also, Jodie Foster getting served in that Spike Lee movie about the bank robbery was pretty awesome. Almost made up for
the Godwinization.
Almost.
I think it was 28 Days Later, where…
…in a fight with one of the renegade troops, the hero gouges his opponent’s eyes out with both thumbs.
Y’know, it’s interesting…in all the movies I’ve seen, all the characters that that ever happens to—no matter how badass they are—always end up squealing.
On the other extreme, the ending of the happy, fluffly little fairy tale flick, Ever After:
[spoiler]When now Princess Drew Berrymore (read: Cinderella) confronts her evil stepmother, who’s been making her life a living hell for years, and recently tried to sell her into indentured servitude, in the middle of the royal court.
Drew says something along the lines of “Know this…in a few minutes, I’ll have put you out of my mind, and I’ll never think of you again. But I’m sure you’ll be thinking of me for the rest of your life.”
I mean, pretty standard fare, right?
But the best part is the stepmother’s reply—she’s beaten, she’s doomed. She’s lost everything, and everyone has abandoned her. She’s surrounded by eyewitnesses and guards. But she looks up from her cringe, and asks, demurely as you can imagine,
“And…how long might that be?”
I always loved that part, for some reason. No shrieking curses, no breakdown, no hopeless defiance. It’s almost like it’s one professional to another; “Well, that’s it, you got me. Could I inquire if there’s going to be a lot of screaming involved on my part after this, or are we just going straight to the axe?”
Now that is knocking a tormentor down to size. Or maybe it’s just rising to meet them.
[/spoiler]
And…one particular scene from the grand brooding goth of revenge fics, The Crow:
She didn’t deserve him. And I’d rather have Kate, the smith.
Michael Clayton’s little corridor conversation with Karen Crowder at the end of Michael Clayton. No blood; just the end of her world.
I still love the shopping scene in Pretty Woman.
Julia Roberts comes in lookin’ fine, with a stack of bags and boxes and looks at the snooty women and says “You guys work on comission, right? Big mistake…HUGE.”
Heh - love that.
I think some of my most viscerally satisfying media moments were successful rescue scenes. That Mary elizabeth mastarantonio resucitation scene in James Cameron Movie was awesome…perhaps that influence carried over as the protector in T2. That hypothermic heartstopper in last weeks Nip and tuck.
Just deserts.
As a proud but abused black woman stuck in a gay white male body, two of my favorites that haven’t been mentioned yet:
The Color Purple- Celie’s rebirth at the Easter dinner table (great acting all around in that scene, but I particularly loved Danny Glover’s expression when Celie picked up the knife)
What’s Love Got To Do With It?- the limo ride from airport to hotel when Ike beats Tina and for the first time she beats back. I particularly love the way Angela/Tina was cowed by him for a split second, then goes absolutely berserk.
ETA: Tina on Ike action begins about 1:30 into this clip.
In a similiar vein, from Serenity:
[spoiler]Captain Reynolds is standing about ten feet away from the deadly Operative who is standing between Reynolds and the transmitter he needs to get to. The following dialog (roughly) ensues:
Operative: “Is this cause really something you’re willing to die for?”
Captain Reynolds: swallows “Yes.” [Draws his pistol in a flash and shoots the operative.]
Captain Reynolds: “But I’d rather not.”
[/spoiler]
Hoo, boy. How could I have forgotten about that one? Not to mention the Samurai sword to the stomach, also. That’s one of the best of these scenes ever. I never saw Pulp Fiction in the theater - did people cheer when that happened? Some must have.
Well, I’m confused too, because according to the IMDB, those last eight words are “is Andrew Shepherd, and I am the President”.
Mayhap Sunrazor meant the last TEN words…?
I like the scene a few minutes before when [Goldwyn’s character] types in his access code and the $4 million “blood money” account has been closed.
Gone With the Wind- the scene in which Scarlett encounters, kills, and disposes of the Yankee soldier (or the just deserts deserter) is an intense and well done scene from start to finish and the reason Scarlett is such an icon even though she’s one of the least likable characters in film or literature, though Melanie steals the scene (the saber, her cool lying, and her very ladylike suggestion that they rob the body). YouTube
The next season of The Shield should have such a hell of a moment, I’m quite looking forward to it.