# The one shot that made them a star **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2007, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199 "2007-05-23T09:22:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/21 "2007-05-23T16:37:55Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] Was recently watching **Reservoir Dogs**. Mr. Pink flees the robbery, takes cover behind a car, and the camera dollies in as he fires over the hood, his entire face clenched. “That’s the shot that made Buscemi a star.” [QUOTE] …considering Reservoir Dogs was certainly less than a hit film and Buscemi was still pretty obscure for years afterward, I think linking anything from that film to a breakthroug is flawed. Despite working with the Coens and Tarantino and costarring in a Sandler film nobody would have called him a star. I think his real breakthru shot is from Fargo. Bleeding from the neck, that red plaid coat, satark white snow landscape behind him… that’s more of a testament to the director than to Buscemi. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/22 "2007-05-23T16:38:19Z")
Sean Penn. **Fast Times**. “YOU DICK!!” Period. ---
**Author:** ![el\_nombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9dc877/32.png) [@el\_nombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/el_nombre)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/23 "2007-05-23T16:40:11Z")
Samuel Jackson sucking up the last of the Big Kahuna beverage through the straw. Jean Claude Van Damme doing the splits, looking pained. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/24 "2007-05-23T16:46:14Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] For instance, I was going to include John Travolta strutting down the street, but then remembered he’d been known as Barbarino for several years by then. [/QUOTE] But up until then, he was just a TV star - that shot made him a \*movie \* star. It’s the same with Bruce Willis. Sure, he was famous from _Moonlighting_, but the moment he smirked into that walkie talkie and quoted Will Rogers (more of a paraphrase, actually), he ascended to a new level of stardom. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/25 "2007-05-23T16:53:45Z")
[QUOTE=el\_nombre] Jean Claude Van Damme doing the splits, looking pained. [/QUOTE] IIRC, he was meditating with a very calm look on his face. It was his buddy, Ray Jackson, who quipped, “That hurts me just from looking at it.” Then a few minutes later he added, “You know you ought to stop doing that. You might want to have kids one of these days.” That scene still cracks me up. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/26 "2007-05-23T17:12:49Z")
Tom Cruise sliding across the floor in his underwear in _Risky Business_. ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/27 "2007-05-23T17:19:53Z")
**Bruce Willis** ’s John McClain peering out the broken window of the Nakatomi Building. > [@John McClain](#): > > Welcome to the party, pal! ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Ad\_Here](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b2d939/32.png) [@Your\_Ad\_Here](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Ad_Here)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/28 "2007-05-23T17:23:19Z")
Cameron Diaz in the tight striped dress in _The Mask_? ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/29 "2007-05-23T17:25:00Z")
Only one comes to mind. Anthony Hopkins, perfectly still, dressed all in white, brightly lit in the midst of a lightless cesspool, pudgy and balding and deadly. The character became a parody of itself in later films and novels, and was completely rendered toothless by the last few books/movies’ insistence on “developing his character,” so it’s easy to forget how powerful a first impression that character made before a line was even spoken. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/30 "2007-05-23T17:45:03Z")
Slim Pickens was never exactly huge, but the shot of him riding the atomic bomb downwards in _Dr. Strangelove_ was pretty iconic. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/31 "2007-05-23T17:48:22Z")
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard. The scene where he kills Takagi. “That’s a very nice suit.” And from then on. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/32 "2007-05-23T17:58:51Z")
Peter O’Toole, in a billowing white burnoose, striding atop a train. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/33 "2007-05-23T18:33:32Z")
**Sylvester Stallone** running up the steps and jumping with his fists pumped up in the air in _Rocky_. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/34 "2007-05-23T19:15:41Z")
Scarlett Johanssen peering at Vermeer while sitting for the painting of _Girl with a Pearl Earring_, in the movie of the same name. Sigourney Weaver stripping down near the end of _Alien_. Denzel Washington stoically being lashed for going AWOL in _Glory_. Matthew Broderick casually leaning back, his hands behind his head, in _Ferris Bueller’s Day Off_. Al Pacino sitting behind his father’s desk for the first time in _The Godfather_. Kirstie Alley, intrigued, discussing Kirk with Spock in _STII: The Wrath of Khan_. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/35 "2007-05-23T19:18:52Z")
[QUOTE=Lord Ashtar] IIRC, he was meditating with a very calm look on his face. It was his buddy, Ray Jackson, who quipped, “That hurts me just from looking at it.” Then a few minutes later he added, “You know you ought to stop doing that. You might want to have kids one of these days.” That scene still cracks me up. [/QUOTE] “Kumite express leaves in 5 minutes…are you ready?” (after the last bit of meditation) “Yes. I am ready.” No, I haven’t seen this movie a billion times. ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Holck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Matt\_Holck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matt_Holck)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/36 "2007-05-23T19:32:00Z")
Gene Wilder singing pure imagination Uma Thurman with a neddle sticking out of her chest ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/37 "2007-05-23T19:34:50Z")
How about Rose McGowan on the stripper pole at the beginning of “Planet Terror”? ---
**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:** [May 23, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/38 "2007-05-23T21:12:22Z")
Salma Hayek crossing the street and causing a car accident in _Desperado_. Mel Gibson walking towards the Nightrider’s accident in _Mad Max_. Clint Eastwood’s a tough one. Do you pick him standing in his poncho with his cigar in _A Fistfull of Dollars_ or one of its sequels, or staring into space as Misty sits in his lap all night from _Play Misty For Me_? Or something from _Rawhide_? _Coogan’s Bluff_? _Hang 'Em High_? All those predate _Dirty Harry_, but I still think you gotta go with “Did he fire six shots, or only five?” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/39 "2007-05-23T21:42:17Z")
[QUOTE=Push You Down] …considering Reservoir Dogs was certainly less than a hit film and Buscemi was still pretty obscure for years afterward, I think linking anything from that film to a breakthroug is flawed. Despite working with the Coens and Tarantino and costarring in a Sandler film nobody would have called him a star. I think his real breakthru shot is from Fargo. Bleeding from the neck, that red plaid coat, satark white snow landscape behind him… that’s more of a testament to the director than to Buscemi. [/QUOTE] Hmmmmmmmmm. MMMV, then. Oh, and you guys are right about Travolta. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199/40 "2007-05-23T21:47:27Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] Salma Hayek crossing the street and causing a car accident in _Desperado_…\ [/QUOTE] I was thinking that as well [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-shot-that-made-them-a-star/405199.md?page=3)