# Scenes in movies that 'make it' **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922 "2009-04-03T23:29:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/101 "2015-03-13T19:40:27Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > the scene where Emma Thompson realizes that Alan Rickman is cheating on her, while they are opening Xmas presents with their children (the present she saw unwrapped by mistake the week before & thought was for her has actually gone to the mistress). She excuses herself, goes into the bedroom, has a quiet, total, insane 30 second breakdown, then pulls her shit back together and whisks the family off to the school Xmas pageant without anyone the wiser. > > Yes- with Joni Mitchell playing in the background A most touchingly understated scene indeed, very well done. And **Mitchell** ’s song works wonderfully in this context. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/102 "2015-03-13T20:01:50Z")
For me, the scenes that pack an emotional punch are ones where The Plane Finally Takes Off – where that has been the climax toward which the entire story has been working. Thus, the takeoff scene in **the Flight of the Phoenix** always blows me away. (The original, of course. I haven’t been able to watch the remake) I get a similar thrill when Clint Eastwood’s Mitchell Gant takes off in the MiG-31 in **Firefox**. The takeoff of the GeeBee in **the Rocketeer** takes place too soon 9under the opening credits) for the same effect, but it’s still a little thrill. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/103 "2015-03-13T20:18:16Z")
I am a leaf on the wind. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/104 "2015-03-14T03:01:24Z")
_ **Excalibur** _ - (paraphrasing) _Arthur, did you free Excalibur from the stone? Yes, father, I’m sorry. I’ll put it back_. AND HE DOES!! :eek: 🆒 Even better - Later, everyone’s fighting over whether or not to follow a boy king, when Arthur corners Uryenes: Arthur: Swear faith to me, and you shall have mercy! I need battle lords such as you! Uryenes: [scornfully] A noble knight swear faith to a squire? Mador: NEVER… NEVER! Arthur: You are right. Arthur: You’re right… I’m not yet a knight. [Hands Excalibur to Uyrenes and kneels] Arthur: You, Uryenes, will make me a knight. Then as knight to knight… I can offer you mercy. Merlin: [Alarmed] What’s this? What’s this? Mador: Keep it, Uryenes! Uryenes: [hesitates and then touches Excalibur to Arthur’s shoulder] In the name of God, St Michael and St George, I give you the right to bear arms and the power to mete justice! Arthur: That duty I will solemnly obey, as knight and king. Merlin: I never saw this. Uryenes: Rise… King Arthur. [Uryenes kneels before Arthur] Uryenes: I am your humble knight, and I swear allegiance to the courage in your veins. So strong it is, its source must be Uther Pendragon’s. I doubt you no more! [kisses Arthur’s hand - other knights also kneel] _ **Toy Story 3** _ - The toys are about to be incinerated, they stop struggling and join hands to go out together. Gets me Every.Single.Time. Big second for “Superman” from _ **Iron Giant** _. It’s so good (Christ, that’s Vin-freakin’-Diesel!), I even love the false “set-up” for the sequel-that-will-never-come. Brad Bird kicks ass and takes names. Probably my favorite film: _ **The Taking of Pelham One Two Three** _ (1974). One classic black comedy line after another, one incredible scene after another, I’m rolling on the floor with tears in my eyes every time I watch it. Hard to pick a fave scene but: Matthau corners Shaw - _Excuse me, would you mind putting down your gun? Drop it!_ 😃 Shaw - _Lieutenant, could you use a quarter million dollars?_ Matthau - _Oh. No, my accountant says I’ve accepted enough this fiscal quarter._ Shaw fries himself on the third rail. Matthau checks the injured undercover hippie-disguised cop - _We’ll have an ambulance here in no time, miss._ I’m outta here, gotta go watch it again, it’s been almost 2 years! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/105 "2015-03-14T04:17:07Z")
Forgot to include this: Plumber: How come that gate ain’t locked? Caz Dolowicz: Who’s gonna steal a subway train? ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/106 "2015-03-14T04:37:57Z")
“Miss Jean Louise, Stand up. Your Father’s passing…” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/107 "2015-03-14T05:26:30Z")
**Full Metal Jacket** has two. – The opening credit sequence: a montage of the recruits getting their heads shaved. Blond, brown, Afro, long, short, wavy, straight…it all goes. Everything they were before is being stripped away. – The recruits reciting the rifle credo. Brings tears to my eyes, not from sadness but from the intensity. Remember when that guy asks Joker why he has a peace sign on his helmet? I’m frankly surprised that wasn’t at least part of his answer: “Because the rifle credo ends with ‘peace, amen’.” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/108 "2015-03-14T16:56:49Z")
In the re-make of Sabrina, they have a very subtle one. David (Greg Kinnear) has picked up Sabrina (Julia Ormond) at the station and is driving her to the estate, but has no idea who she is. She’s just a pretty girl and he doesn’t recognise her as the chauffeur’s daughter who’s been away in Paris and grown up with Parisian flair. Then as he’s unloading her gear in the driveway, still baffled, Linus (Harrison Ford) walks by and says, completely unemotionally, “Hello Sabrina.” He knows her immediately in spite of the changes in her appearance and her lengthy absence. That little exchange (which isn’t in the original) really frames the whole movie for me and makes it believable that Linus will fall for Sabrina. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/109 "2015-03-14T17:36:32Z")
An Affair to Remember-Grant & Kerr version, not that other horrible one. Cary Grant realizing that there is a lot more going on than he thinks with Deborah Kerr as she lays on the couch, running to the bedroom, seeing the portrait and it all comes together for him Shit, tearing up writing this. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/110 "2015-03-14T18:36:25Z")
_ **Robin and Marian** _ (1976) starring Sean Connery as Robin Hood and Audrey Hepburn as Maid Marian. A physically ageing yet mentally forever young Robin Hood returns to Olde England and has comedy infused adventures including a misfiring attempt at rekindling his romance with Maid Marian. The film climaxes with with a deliberately tawdry portrayal of Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham; two tired and sweaty old men, having a sword fight. Ultimately Robin wins the duel but, badly wounded, is taken from the battlefield by Marian and Little John. His dire injuries being tended to by Marian, Robin regains the childlike enthusiasm for adventure that has previously, in the film, seen Marian leave him. But he still can’t see her worries and he’s excitedly talking of all the future battles he will have. Which leads to the tear jerking scene where Marion, so often portrayed in the film as being, superficially at least, angry and fed up of Robin, gives him a curative potion. Except we realise, well before Robin, it is poison as Marian simply wants to save Robin from any more suffering. When he realises what she has done, at first he’s angry and calls for Little John but then he accepts what Marian has done and declares he loves her more than anything… Even Little John is in tears. The film is surprisingly little known. Or seems that way to me. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/111 "2015-03-14T20:51:14Z")
> [@Mojo\_Pin](#): > > **Rules of Attraction** has [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDkAQ7d1D90&feature=related&fmt=18) gem of a scene. The scene just before is also funny. Watched it. Looked like paste to me. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/112 "2015-03-14T21:05:23Z")
For me, it’s the battle between King Kong and the trifecta of T rexes in Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Giant monkey and giant dinosaurs battling it out over lil ol’ Naomi Watts. Of course, she was just a tidbit to the T-rexes, but they were all about the fighting once they got their blood up. There are other tasty scenes in the movie, but this scene is so much better than the rest of the film, it’s like it came from another, much better movie. ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/113 "2015-03-15T06:03:05Z")
For me, it was a moment in “The Avengers”. Just before the final battle, as Bruce Banner shows up at the scene of all the mayhem. _Steve Rogers_: Doctor Banner, now might be a good time for you to get angry. _Bruce Banner_: That’s my secret, Captain: I’m always angry. For me, this completely changed my perception of Bruce Banner, and made me appreciate Mark Ruffalo’s performance. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/114 "2015-03-15T06:27:57Z")
“Hunt for Red October”. At the end, the Russian submarine fires their second (or third) torpedo. The torpedo is chasing the Red October - fully armed. Impact is imminent. At the last moment, Jones yells, “Way to go, Dallas!”. You see the US submarine Dallas veer the torpedo off, only to cut to the captain of the Dallas say, “Alright. Fly Big D. Fly.” “Inception”. At the end, when Cobb emerges from Saito’s subconscious, and awakens on the airplane, I literally felt like I had cold water poured on me and that I woke up myself. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/115 "2015-03-15T07:34:36Z")
In _Toy Story 2_, after the song _When Somebody Loved Me_, which is pretty powerful all by it’s self, is the exchange between Woody and Jesse: - \*\*Woody: \*_Jesse, I didn’t know… **Jesse:** Just go…_ Those two words are the finest acting in Joan Cusack’s career, and recalling it nearly brings me to tears, even though I haven’t seen it in years. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/116 "2015-03-15T16:49:38Z")
> [@LH75](#): > > “Miss Jean Louise, Stand up. Your Father’s passing…” And the scene where she slowly realizes who the man behind the door is: “Hey, Boo!” That one gets me every time, and I really don’t know why. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/117 "2015-03-15T19:53:46Z")
From _Big Hero 6_: Hiro has accidentally activated Baymax, a robot medical assistant that his brother designed, and while trying to get Baymax to leave him alone, accidentally knocks over a shelf, causing a bunch of figurines and assorted items to fall on him. Baymax then gives one of his catchphrases for the movie: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?” And Hiro, very sarcastically, replies “Physical or Emotional?” If you haven’t seen the movie, it is important to note that Hiro’s brother has recently died, and Hiro’s progress in coping with this is an important central theme of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/118 "2015-03-16T00:31:45Z")
I remember an interview of Cle Sloan (who acted as advisor and gang-relations diplomat for Antoine Fuqua on\* Training Day\*, who was recently run over by maybe Suge Knight) where he said that upon seeing the rushes of the scene where Ethan Hawke sits down in Denzel Washington’s car, asks whether they’re going to the squad’s office, Denzel just stares at him, punches on the car’s hydraulics and stereo and flashes him a shit-eating grin - “This the office, baby !” - that he knew just then that the movie was going to be good. I tend to agree. Just a great character setting moment. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/119 "2015-03-16T01:16:09Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > I have always thought the Mickey’s(Burgess Meredeth) big break down talking and yelling at Rocky though Rocky’s door is one of the best(and most underappreciated) emotional sceens in movies in the past 40 years. And He did the whole thing with no-one to interact with but a big dumb emotionless hunk of wood, (and the door was in the way too ;)) I realize this post is almost 6 years old, but I have to give you props for it. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922/120 "2015-03-16T13:56:15Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > The saloon scene at the end of Unforgiven. > > “I’ll see you in hell William Munny.” > > “Yeah.” Unforgiven. What a great movie. For me the scene in Unforgiven that makes the movie is when William Munny is under tree collecting his bounty and talking to the whore. She’s telling him about how Ned has been strung up at the bar, etc. etc. During that conversation you see the transformation of William Munny from the broken down dad, trying to raise two kids on his own to the cold blooded killer he once was. When he drops that whisky bottle, you know all hell is about to break loose! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-in-movies-that-make-it/491922.md?page=7)