# Scenes that are poignant for offscreen reasons **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384 "2011-07-26T14:23:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/41 "2011-07-27T20:28:28Z")
Just about any scene from _Newsradio_ involving Bill McNeil and a death joke. The first season, especially, has tons of them. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/42 "2011-07-27T20:33:13Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …this scene from the TV Series: Avatar: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFASos1G-5U](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFASos1G-5U) > > In itself, the scene was very sad. But then we find out the segment was dedicated to Mako, the voice actor for Uncle Iroh in the same scene, the result is devastating. I still cry every time I watch this. > > _“Leaves from the vine > Falling so slow > Like fragile, tiny shells > Drifting in the foam > Little soldier boy > Come marching home > Brave soldier boy > Comes marching home”_ Oh, I forgot this one. Everyone should watch that scene. It’s amazingly well done and Mako was sorely missed on that show. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/43 "2011-07-27T21:35:52Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > The Phil Hartman/Jan Hooks “Love is a Dream” sketch from SNL. Without Phil’s death, it’s just a weird bit of odd left field sentimentality from a show not known for it… but it turned out to be Phil’s perfect “obit clip” when SNL returned from hiatus after his murder. Even more so, the scene from Phil Hartman’s last episode of SNL when he sings “Goodbye, Farewell” to the cast, which ends with just him and Chris Farley (as motivational speaker/van dweller Matt Foley) at the front of the stage. \*Matt Foley: [alone at Home Base, tired and beat] “So long.. farewell! Hey, what am I, chopped liver? I need.. to sleep.. In a van.. down by the.. river.” [Matt slowly and defeatedly takes his seat on the apron of the stage, half-asleep, as Phil Hartman sits down and wraps his arm around Matt] Phil Hartman: [to audience] You know.. I can’t imagine a more dignifed way.. to end my eight years on this program. [singing] “Good-bye.. good-bye.. Good-byeeeeeeee!” [spotlight centers on Phil and Matt, as camera zooms out to fade] \* ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/44 "2011-07-27T21:59:12Z")
I came in to mention the John Belushi skit, but got beaten to it several times. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/45 "2011-07-27T22:26:29Z")
I suppose I should mention the parody “Amy Winehouse” from Disaster movie and her line in the credits song > [@](#): > > He’s fucking amy whinehouse > Yeah on the down low low low > And I’m fucking jessica simpson > Cuz I’m on blow blow blow ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/46 "2011-07-28T04:15:31Z")
On a more cheerful note…On **Always Sunny** , I love the scenes between Charlie and Waitress, knowing that they’re married IRL. They must have a great marriage: any tension between them, they can work through in these scenes! ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/47 "2011-07-28T05:31:11Z")
I don’t know which film it was, but my wife likes to talk about a scene where Meryl Streep is playing mother of a toddler, and my wife was flabbergasted at how well Streep interacted with the child, wondering how on earth an actor could get into a role so well that the little girl treated her like she was her mommy. Only later did my wife find out that the little girl was IRL Meryl’s own daughter. If I saw that I might get a little misty eyed. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/48 "2011-07-28T06:51:58Z")
[The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlQazIDBPik) is Don Johnson’s first film, about a young man discovering sex, psychedelics, and self - at the end of the 1960s. It has been my custom to watch this film with a headful from time to time, because it neatly mirrors my experience in the late 1980s, and never fails to trip me out. I can’t do this anymore – and not just because I let go of my VHS collection, but because Stanley Sweetheart’s first NYC apartment is inexplicably across the street from the World Trade Center under construction c. 1968 or 1969, and there are frequent shots of the construction of the first few floors. (Eg, Stanley has a girl over, and there is a terrible din outside. “They’re building something over there,” he casually explains, and we cut to a scene that looks \*exactly \*like someone has taken [an image like this](http://nyc-architecture.com/GON/6.jpg) and tidied it up… just a bit. I think these scenes were originally intended to convey a sense of awesome potential that was just beginning to be realized, with a direct analogy with the protagonist (and in special cases, the viewer.) Now they just say, “You may feel (or have felt) that life holds great things in store for you, but in reality your doom is inevitable. However optimistic you might feel, you are going to be dead before you know it, and you aren’t going to see it coming at all.” It’s a bit of a bummer, man. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/49 "2011-07-28T11:15:57Z")
The final scene of “Remains of the Day”, retired butler Anthony Hopkins is called back to service at the re-opened Darlington Manor which has just been bought by U.S. diplomat Christopher Reeve, especially as they work to release a bird who had flown down the chimney. The whole movie is bittersweet for me anyway & that is just icing on the cake. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/50 "2011-07-28T14:27:46Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Though in this case it’s hardly accidental. _Man on Wire_ (which is from 2008) is clearly to a large extent about 9/11, even though the event is never explicitly discussed in the course of the film. (Which, come to think of it, is a pretty unusual narrative device. Does any other movie have an elephant in the room of comparable size?) The children’s book does mention 9/11, and I teared up pretty heavily when reading it to my daughter. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/51 "2011-07-28T14:31:12Z")
I’ll risk being accused of hijacking- this isn’t a “scene” but a song. Musically, I don’t much like Badfinger’s version of “Without You.” I think Nilsson’s version is much better. And yet, knowing that two of the Badfinger members who sang that song eventually hanged themselves gives their version a terrible poignancy that I wouldn’t feel if they were alive and well today. Every time I hear that version of the song, I think of Pete and Tom and shudder, “They weren’t kidding… this wasn’t standard pop music hyperbole. They really COULDN’T go on living.” ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/52 "2011-07-28T16:45:40Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > On a more cheerful note…On **Always Sunny** , I love the scenes between Charlie and Waitress, knowing that they’re married IRL. They must have a great marriage: any tension between them, they can work through in these scenes! As are Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson) and Mac (Rob McElhenney). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Unexpected\_Okapi\_Debacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_unexpected_okapi_debacle/32/7702_2.png) [@The\_Unexpected\_Okapi\_Debacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Unexpected_Okapi_Debacle)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/53 "2011-07-28T17:44:07Z")
> [@Stauderhorse](#): > > I became a huge fan of Freddie Mercury in the last few years, and when he shows up on screen, I lose it. I’m usually in tears throughout the whole sequence. I have the same problem. I was mortified when he died and, though it’s not video footage, I find “Dear Friends” particularly hard to listen to. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/54 "2011-07-28T18:40:36Z")
I was catching up on “Castle” via Netflix, and the very first episode had Stephen Cannell in the poker game (this was a couple of months after he died). It really got me. And then, a couple of weeks after, I watched the actual up-to-date show, where Castle was saving Cannell’s chair. Got me again. Although I think that second one was meant to. Well, it worked. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/55 "2011-07-28T22:14:51Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > As are Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson) and Mac (Rob McElhenney). No. Way. I can’t believe I didn’t know that. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/56 "2011-07-29T00:11:18Z")
This was hard to see, and i didn’t notice it before this article, but check the upper right corner of the USA Today from [Back to the Future II](http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/backtofuturewrong2.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/57 "2011-07-29T00:31:18Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > The montage at the end of the excellent HBO docu-drama _And The Band Played On…_ about the researchers who “discovered” AIDS shows photo and video of famous people who died or were otherwise affected by AIDS. In the middle of the montage is Princess Diana in an orphanage in Africa, surrounded by emaciated toddlers and children. Every time I see it, I get profoundly sad. Of all the people in this montage, most of whom were dead when it was created, she wasn’t supposed to be one of them. I don’t particularly care about royalty, but this one picture just hits home about what a caring person she was, and now she’s gone. > > [Here it is, just in case you wanted to watch it.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlD_XNMCjuo) The thing that strikes me most about this…and what, I swear to God, honestly makes me sadder than anything: I have no idea who most of those people are. I am young, and in '93 I was 7 years old…but aside from the obvious and most famous people…I just couldn’t recognize any of them. And that honestly saddens me. It makes me want to apologize to someone… ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/58 "2011-07-29T18:05:46Z")
Prince’s video for ‘Seven’ centered around his gorgeous soon-to-be wife [Mayte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayte_Garcia); she got pregnant not long after their wedding. Their baby was born a very ill little boy who passed away and their marriage was annulled on their third anniversary. Lately I’ve seen that video again and again and every scene she’s in I think of her/their painful loss. If they’d been together longer or had a well child first, I think they could have made it and been another Paul and Linda. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/59 "2011-07-29T19:22:15Z")
The outtakes [scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQ_ClWBeRI) at the end of “Being There” is both funny and poignant to me, because Peter Sellers died so soon after making that movie. He was one of my favorite actors. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384/60 "2011-07-30T04:04:54Z")
And he believed that tag scene cost him the Oscar. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-are-poignant-for-offscreen-reasons/590384.md?page=4)