I only have one favorite scene.
When Butch makes Etta strip at gunpoint.
Clerks 2 -Jay bouncing his ass off the window at Mooby’s. I was laughing for about 5 more minutes after everyone else in the theater had stopped laughing.
Team America -The puppet sex scene. And the opening scene of the puppet putting on a puppet show.
LotR RotK -At the end when Aragorn says, “My friends you bow to know one.” gets me all teary-eyed.
Star Wars RotS -At the end when Anakin gets burned by the lava and then made into Vader.
I’m going to try and list five that haven’t made it yet:
My pick from Amadeus is the Don Giovanni sequence.
The burning of the girl in The Seventh Seal.
For sentimental reasons, I’ll take our first shot of Aragorn from Fellowship of the Ring (where the embers in his pipe light up his eyes)–I had gone into those films with a lot of skepticism, and that was the scene where I realized that things were going to be okay.
Mr. Crocker-Harris overcome with emotion after receiving a gift in The Browning Version (1951 w/Michael Redgrave)
From The Lion in Winter:
“You’re still a marvel of a man”
“And you’re my lady.”
(If I had to go strict top five: Don Giovanni sequence, La Marseillaise sequence, Luke-Vader-Emperor duel from ROTJ, the charge of the Rohirrim at dawn from ROTK, the burning of the girl.)
So many good ones.
Field of Dreams: James Earl Jones’ soliloquy. “People will come, Ray….”
Glory: When Matthew Broderick’s character lets his horse run free before the climactic battle.
Lawrence of Arabia, in the officer’s club in Cairo:
Lawrence: We’ve taken Aqaba.
Brighton: Taken Aqaba? Who has?
Lawrence: *We have. Our side in this war has. The wogs have. We have… *
The Conversation: The sequence where Gene Hackman suspects his apartment is bugged.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:
Clementine: Meet me in Montauk.
[ul]
[li]Rebecca - the denouement I hated her![/li][li]The Ghost and Mrs. Muir - Mrs. Muir meets the ghost in the kitchen.[/li][li]Woodstock - Port-o-san (also, the whole setup sequence).[/li][li]Jaws - “Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into her side, Chief.”[/li][li]Annie Hall - the Marshall McLuhan movie line scene.[/li][/ul]
and from TV mini-series
[ul]
[li]Pride and Prejudice - Lady Catherine De Burgh confronts Lizzie.[/li][li]Smiley’s People - Karla walks over the bridge.[/li][li]QBVII - Sir Adam Kelno on the stand: “Jew!”[/li][li]Smiley’s People (again) - Connie Sachs remembers for George Smiley[/li][li]To Play the King - the final scene where Francis Urquhart dismisses His Majesty.[/li][/ul]
This is all true, but the way it goes down in the film is like this:
Paul’s lover/meal ticket notices a man watching the apartment building. Paul walks out into what I believe is Central Park, getting the guy to follow him. He sits down, the guy sits down next to him, and Paul asks him what he wants. Buddy Epson says “I need a friend” and shows Paul the picture. He talks Paul into helping him see Holly (since she apparently spooks whenever he shows up). Paul knocks on Holly’s door, calls her Lula May, and then leaves as the two have their reunion.
Paul never confronts her ex-husband about Holly. I own the movie and have watched it many times. I have not read the book, so I don’t know if the scene is different in the book.
The Empire Strikes Back: the battle scene on Hoth (mentioned upthread already).
Boogie Nights: the tracking shot in which Dirk Diggler (then Eddie Adams), after leaving an abusive situation at home, meets Reed Rothchild and others at Jack Horner’s house (with Mama Told Me Not To Come playing in the background).
Almost Famous: the Tiny Dancer sequence (mentioned upthread already).
Raising Arizona: the sequence of events that follows after H.I. determines that Nathan needs Huggies.
The Haunting (1963): the scene in which Eleanor and Theodora are alarmed to find Some Thing wanting to enter their room.
This is a great thread. A few that haven’t been mentioned…
Mommie Dearest. Joan Crawford in the Pepsi boardroom - “Don’t fuck with me boys. This ain’t my first time at the rodeo.” Doesn’t need anymore explanation.
Glory. Already mentioned but I love the scene of the battalion marching through the lined up Union soldiers. It is total silence until the one white soldier yells out “Give 'em hell 54th!” and the rest of the white soldiers start cheering. Gives me chills.
Gettysburg. During the battle for Little Round Top when the Confederates are massing for a final charge, after having been turned back twice already, and Colonel Chamberlin, knowing how crucial it is that he holds the flank, gets word that the Union soldiers are essentially out of ammunition and then gives the order to “Fix bayonets.” Gives me double chills.
The Changeling. The scene with the ball on the stairs.
Bubba Ho-Tep. Elvis’ satisfied smirk after finally getting an erection while the nurse applied his medicine. “It’d been two presidential elections since I’d had a boner like that.”
Lethal Weapon 4: Mel Gibson and Danny Glover vs Jet Li, after the whole movie set up what a badass Jet Li was.
“How did he take my gun apart?”
“Yep, let’s go ask him”
LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring: Entry of the Balrog. The book didn’t really describe the Balrog in detail (does it have wings, anyone?). So I was really excited about seeing it. All you get is silence, a roar, then orange light among the pillars. I was almost giggling with anticipation.
Another LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring: Seeing Barad-Dur for the first time. A large tower over looking Mt. Doom. Then the camera moves and you realize that tower was merely a battlement for the massive (yet uncompleted) Dark Tower.
To Kill a Mockingbird: When the judge hears the verdict and slams the door on his way out. Even in the racist South, the judge was very disappointed in the jury.
And a funny one, from when I was little
Empire Strikes Back: Vader cutting off Luke’s hand. This was more shocking than Vader’s revelation for me back then. I mean, come on, Luke the hero was beaten so bad that his hand was cut off. The father thing? Vader was lying.
Excellent choice. A favorite in Casa Scarlett. (Mr. S and I always say that we think the Bertie Wooster version of Hugh Laurie could play a passable Stan Laurel.)
Another favorite in a movie chock full of excellent scenes.
Here are mine; I know they’re more than five, and I’m probably missing some, but still. These are the ones that I always have to stop and watch closely.
Shawshank Redemption: The big payoff scene. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen it; if you have, you know the one I’m talking about. Brilliant!
Tootsie: Actually three scenes: (1) Michael in his agent’s office: “They can’t all be idiots, Michael. You argue with EVERYBODY!” After an exasperating night at my last Real Job, I would often come home, pop in the tape, and fast forward to this scene just to remind myself that I wasn’t alone. (2) Dorothy’s “audition”: “Not threatening enough? How’s this? You take your hands off me, or I’ll knee your balls through the roof of your mouth! (sweet smile) Is that enough of a threat?” (3) Dorothy explodes during rehearsal: “My name is Dorothy! It’s not Tootsie, or Toots, or sweetie, or honey, or doll.” Ron: “Oh Christ.” Dorothy: “No, just Dorothy. Now Alan is always Alan, Tom is always Tom, and John is always John, well I have a name too, it’s Dorothy, capital D-o-r-o-t-h-y. Dorothy!” Good for her!
About a Boy: The “Kids Rock” scene where Will comes out with a borrowed guitar and throws himself on the grenade for Marcus. Another excellent movie all around.
Apollo 13: Two scenes: (1) All the stuff thrown on the table in front of the engineers: “We gotta make this fit into this, using nothing but that.” Revenge of the nerds at its finest! (2) Others have voted for the launch scene; I’ll put in a vote for splashdown. We all know how it ends, and yet we’re on the edge of our seats and then cheering at the happy ending. Props also to Gene Kranz finally collapsing into his chair and dabbing briefly at his eyes.
Stripes: The “Uncle Hulka” scene: “You don’t call me sir, I work for a living!” and “I’m gonna teach you to walk, talk, eat, sleep, shoot, shit, like a United States soldier!” Loved Warren Oates all around in that movie. The way he reverently set his hat on the sink before putting Bill Murray on the floor without wrinkling his shirt.
Waking Ned Devine: Lizzy Quinn in the phone booth. Like Shawshank, I’m not gonna spoil it, but if you’ve seen it, you know the scene.
I wanted to add one more:
When Det. Arbogast meets Mother in Psycho. The shower scene is much more famous but this one makes me jump every time.
I already picked mine but three long tracking shots that could definately make the cut:
The scene entering the Copa in Goodfellas (someone must have said this by now)
The opening tracking shot in The Player
The tracking shot walking through the studio in Magnolia
Ohhhh, yes ! And the burst-from-the-mud-and-scream scene, and the Lone Motercycle Rider of the Apocalypse.
The street dance scene in The Blues Brothers. Ray Charles voice and Twalya Twarp’s choreography are perfect.
I won’t be able to pick 5 that others have not already mentioned (but I’ll think of them later, I’m sure) but here are a couple:
In the Heat of the Night early on when they’re questioning Virgil at the station, culminating in “They call me MISTER TIBBS!”
In the Heat of the Night the goodby at the train station.
In the Heat of the Night just about every darned second of the movie.
Several people have already chosen the courtroom scene from A Man for All Seasons but I’ll have to say that my favorite is when his family visits him in his room in the Tower. Especially Wendy Hiller (as his wife) who can’t understand why her famous and brilliant husband must remain locked up.
Another “every scene is a top 5 scene” movie.
From Absence of Malice Wilford Brimley as James A. Wells, Assistant U.S. Attorney General trying to clean up a real mess:
Now we’ll talk all day if you want to. But, come sundown, there’s gonna be two things true that ain’t true now. One is that the United States Department of Justice is goin’ to know what in the good Christ - e’scuse me, Angie - is goin’ on around here. And the other’s I’m gonna have somebody’s ass in muh briefcase.
What a great thread!! Here’s a few that I don’t think are repeats:
Hoosiers - The sequence of the championship game…and the timeout where Jimmy Chitwood says, “I’ll make it”.
Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan - Spock’s death scene
This movie is full of them:
The Color Purple - Dinner scene where Celie tells Mister she is leaving
The Color Purple - “God is Trying To Tell You Somethin’”
The Color Purple - Of course the ending when Celie is reunited with Nettie :
:
Sirens: The fairies
Crouching Tiger: Sword fight in the bamboo (common enough thing to do, apparently, but this is the best)
A Clockwork Orange: Ultraviolence to “Singin’ in the Rain.”
Raiders of the Lost Ark: Indiana Jones shoots the guy with the sword
Life of Brian: Biggus Dickus
I thought of another one:
Rhapsody in Blue from the very underrated and underappreciated Fantasia 2000
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The second-to-last scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, when Charlie and Grandpa Joe confront Wonka in his office. “You LOSE. You get NOTHING. Good DAY, sir!” and “So shines a good deed in a weary world…” Gets me every time.
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The whole first appearance of the tyrannosaurus on the rainy road in Jurassic Park. The first time I saw that it scared the you-know-what out of me. I think sometimes people forget how cutting-edge the CGI in that film was in 1993.
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The first meeting between Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs.
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The discussion between Bethany Sloane and the Metatron in Dogma, where the Metatron describes Jesus’s reaction to finding out what he would need to do.
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The ending scene in The Sixth Sense, where Bruce Willis finally realizes the truth. Maybe I’m thick, but the first time I saw that movie back when it was still in theaters, I didn’t see it coming, which made it all the cooler for me.
And a couple of animated honorable mentions: Jessie’s song in Toy Story II (the one that makes me cry every damn time I see the movie, despite my best efforts) and the scene about the way Radiator Springs used to be in **Cars **(ditto)