I took it to be the first one:
When Aresenio Hall falls to his doom in Amazon Women on the Moon.
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 think that should get a lot more credit for making Rocky a well-reviewed oscar nominated movie.(And probably the blame for the rest of Stallone’s career we have had to endure)
Yes- with Joni Mitchell playing in the background.
For me, Glengarry Glen Ross. The final showdown between Shelly “The Machine” Levine (Jack Lemmon) and John Williamson (Kevin Spacey), from the moment Pacino closes the office door behind him, to the moment he comes back out. First Levine is ripping Williamson a new one, then Williamson’s realization, then the tables turn. Jack Lemmon is spectacular in this scene. This scene should be shown in acting classes as an example of the pinnacle of performance, what the students should shoot for. It makes the movie- which is really saying something, considering the cast and the wonderful performances from all of them.
Sideways, the scene between Miles and Maya, at Stephanie’s house. Maya asks him why he loves pinot. Spectacular.
Michael telling Sonny, Tom et al that he volunteers to kill the cop and Solozzo. It’s the scene the entire movie turns on, and it’s the point of no return for Michael (which is ultimately the core of the story).
Many other memorable scenes (Tom goes to visit Woltz, Michael confronts Fredo’s weakness in Vegas, the tollbooth, etc.)… while cinematically they’re awesome, if they were summarized rather than actually shown the movie wouldn’t lose as much of its impact as if you were to somehow take out this scene.
Hell, you can take out the baptism scenes entirely, because Michael subsequently tells Carlo what has just happened. But you can’t take out Michael deliberately forsaking his innocence.
Good call. As a moment of acting I like the Michael/Carlo scene better but that scene really is the big moment.
But that’s what makes it for me. The tension keeps increasing little by little, though we know that bullets will fly.
What, no one remembers “Say Anything”—the scene with Lloyd where he stood with the boom box playing over his head and she hears him through the window?
Or the other great John Cusack moment (rather, one of many great moments in Grosse Pointe Blank) “I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. How’ve youve been?”
Amen.
“You’re a handsome devil. What’s your name?”
“This is me breathing.”
“I’ll just put these in some rubbing alcohol.”
Ugh. Hated that movie. But that scene… That scene. Amazing. Definately one of Walken’s most under-rated performances.
Oh, I remember it- we danced to that song at our wedding… “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel.
You’re kidding me.
Uh, yeah. Some tears for the movie version, but only because of the bucketload for the real thing. The rest of you, imagine an entire nation transfixed as we waited for a radio message from a quarter-million miles away that the odds said we might not hear it. There is no comparison with fiction.
Then again, Shakespeare’s Henry V could’ve ended after the St Crispin’s Day speech and the Battle of Agincourt with no ill effects. Dude just had no clue, ending the dramatic tension a third through the play. 
I think the scene in which Steve Buscemi hangs out with the unknowing little girl makes Con Air.
Yes, yes, yes. Yes. Yes yes. Yes yes yes yes yes.
I came in here to say JUST THAT.
It is pure acting genius. Every bit of it, every inflection, every facial expression, everything. I have seen that movie over 30 times and I NEVER tire of watching it.
I agree - the entrance of Harry Lime was spectacular.
Dude, I’m on the downstream side of this, too. 
I didn’t write it or propose it for this thread. I was just suggesting which line I thought was being suggested. I still don’t know why the first person to mention it felt like it needed to be veiled in such secrecy.
Sorry, that came off nastier than intended. I wasn’t snapping at you and appreciate the response. I was just hoping for something more awesome.
Yes! I love the slow-motion close up on Alice’s face just before she jumps. And the music is what really makes the scene.
I looked; still have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about. Why on Earth do you think you can’t repeat the line here?
Is it: “You’re extinct, fucker!”?
None of the lines are much good, although maybe they seem better within the emotional context of the piece. (And, it’s about time somebody made a movie about a Megalodon.)
To Live and Die in LA has a lot of good scenes, but the one that really distills the whole movie for me is near the end, when
Chance (William Petersen’s character) is ingloriously killed with a shotgun blast to the face. He’s a maverick cop who plays by his own rules – and that’s what happens. He gets an FBI agent killed unnecessarily, and then he eats a load of buckshot, because he played by his own rules and didn’t have backup.