# Scenes of pure nerve **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804 "2007-06-13T02:45:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/81 "2007-06-29T17:57:40Z")
I’m finally watching the third season of **Deadwood** , and so I have to cast a vote for Alma walking alone from The Gem to her bank after being shot at. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/82 "2007-06-29T18:03:14Z")
I like when Clint (in FFoD, IINM) faces down the stable-ful of hombres and tells them he’d like them to apologize to his horse because the horse didn’t realize they were just fooling around when he came into town. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/83 "2007-06-29T21:34:49Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] I like when Clint (in FFoD, IINM) faces down the stable-ful of hombres and tells them he’d like them to apologize to his horse because the horse didn’t realize they were just fooling around when he came into town. [/QUOTE] [nitpick]Clint was riding a mule.[/nitpick] How about Grig in **The Last Starfighter?** “I’ve always wanted to fight a desperate battle against incredible odds.” Or else his reply to the statement “One gunship against the entire armada? It’ll be a slaughter!” answers “That’s the spirit!” From the same movie, Kril, who when asked “She won’t answer the helm! We’re locked into the moon’s gravitational pull. What do we do?” Replied “We die.” ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/84 "2007-06-29T22:13:18Z")
Real life: The Doolittle raid over Tokyo. Long range, carrier launched bombers, bailing out and hoping they don’t get captured. Col. Chamberlain’s (and the 20th Maine’s) stand (and then charge) at Little Round Top. ( **JohnM** already mentioned it, but I figured it was worth repeating). ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/85 "2007-06-29T22:27:14Z")
Captain Mal Reynolds’ primary weapon is pure nerve. His ship is an old, beat up, unarmed freighter. As for personal weapons, Jayne is the best armed crew member, with an assault rifle and some grenades. Anytime there’s any sort of dangerous encounter, you can’t help but wonder how in the hell Mal is even going to survive, much less win, but he always finds a way. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/86 "2007-06-30T03:45:29Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs, and Fargo, and probably some other stuff too. [/QUOTE] In Desperado, in a bar run by the local drug boss: “…Now this bar, it was full of real LOW-LIFES. _(looks around)_ Not like this place here. No, I mean bad, like “up to no good,” do you know what I’m saying?” ---
**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:** [June 30, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/87 "2007-06-30T17:32:17Z")
In season two of the animated _Justice League_ TV show, Green Lantern has been captured by Despero, a religous despot who has an entire planet under his mystic thrall. He’s brought before Despero, who is standing atop a giant pramid, surrounded by tens of thousands of his followers. Green Lantern looks at him and says casually, “You must be the guy in charge.” “I am Despero!” says Despero, and from the assembled multitude comes a unified chant. “Despero is all! Despero is ALL!” “With a back-up band, no less,” replies Lantern nonchalantly. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/88 "2007-07-01T02:01:31Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] Sanjuro in _Yojimbo_, chewing on a toothpick and calmly facing down three thugs with forty or so more behind them: Sanjuro: You’re all tough, then? Gambler: What? Kill me if you can! Sanjuro: It’ll hurt. It did, too. [/QUOTE] Proof that bad-ass one-liners can cross cultures. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/89 "2007-07-01T04:13:01Z")
Gary Cooper. _High Noon_. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/90 "2007-07-01T05:53:50Z")
I always liked the part in the Disney _Hercules_ movie when Herc has lost his supernatural strength, yet when he sees the cyclops attacking the city, takes a deep breath and starts walking down the steps to fight him. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/91 "2007-07-01T06:10:17Z")
Don’t remember which Conan story it is but at the end of yet another ferocious battle he is the only survivor on his side, back to a wall, corpses piled at his feet, facing a mass of enemy soldiers. Sword and dagger drawn he stares them down and asks “Who dies first?” Love that. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804/92 "2007-07-01T21:25:52Z")
_True Romance_ again–Patricia Arquette and James Gandolfini going toe to toe in the bathroom, she’s ALL messed up but she keeps coming back, blood on her teeth, with a corkscrew no less, and kicks his ass! Damn, I love that movie way more than I should… 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-of-pure-nerve/407804.md?page=4)