All-Time Favorite Scene From A Movie

[U2isthebest]

Matthew Broderick lip-synching "Twist and Shout" on top of the float in 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', leading to most of Chicago dancing in the streets.


I could watch that every day.

 

[U2girl]

"You want the truth ? You can't handle the truth!" from A few good men.

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!" from the last Godfather.

I know this one is more recent but I do think that last scene from Casino Royale is a classic too.
"The name's Bond...James Bond."

 

[Lancemc]

A few of my personal favorites:

Tuco and Blondie leave Pablo's ministary - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

"Tell Her I'm Old Fashioned." - The Age of Innocence

Medievil Times - The Cable Guy

"Why Ringo, you look like somebody just walked over your grave" - Tombstone

The final shot from Magnolia

"Yesterday" - Once Upon A Time In America

"It's a shame she won't live, but then again who does?" - Blade Runner

"Why didn't you stay?" - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The final duel - The Wrath of Khan

Bill Cutting's late night chat - Gangs of New York



And more recently in theaters:

Bath House - Eastern Promises

"If you got somethin to confess, you best spit it out now." - The Assassination of Jesse James

The final two shots - Lust, Caution.

 

[monkeyskin]

This one.

 

[Bonochick]

Johnny Depp doing his routine in the park in Benny & Joon (and when he swings outside of Mary Stuart Masterson's hospital room).

Heath Ledger singing to Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You.

 

[U2isthebest]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF8C471tcLs

 

[Daddysgonnapay]

way too hard a question...but ONE of my favorites

in Last of the Mohicans

Daniel Day Lewis
"Stay alive...no matter what occurs...I WILL find you"

 

[Justin24]

One of the Best Scenes Ever!!!
Pan's Labrynth--The Pale Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9YD2PFF31E&mode=related&search=

Shadow of the Vampire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzhCA3gQWyQ

A Clock Work Orange (Contains Material not suitable for the faint or young at heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnzOJZWZJdA

 

[Bonogirl777]

Johnny Depp doing his routine in the park in Benny & Joon (and when he swings outside of Mary Stuart Masterson's hospital room).

I love that too.

 

[impy13]

Richie's attempted suicide in The Royal Tenenbaums, my favorite film of all time, perfectly accentuated by Elliot Smith's Needle in the Hay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pyBB7y8fDU

The gorgeous scene in the Life Aquatic when they finally find the Jaguar Shark. I love Bill Murray in this scene. This was also my introduction to the music of Sigur Ros, which has become an obsession. The song is perfect for this scene. The dialog is understated and poignant. "I wonder if it remembers me" is one of my favorite lines:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1UcGMhyJPk


Max's famous dinner scene in Rushmore, but there are so many from this movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxerE5VMxbs

Lance already mentioned "Why didn't you stay?" in Eternal Sunshine, but that's definitely up there for me. The score for the entire movie is highly underrated. This movie means so much to me, and this is the only scene from any movie that's ever made me cry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNkhrFQNK4g
(Also, I love David Cross)

The last scene of Lost in Translation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZRECWcW89g

As cliche as this choice may be, the Tiny Dancer singalong in Almost Famous:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qn3tel9FWU

This youtube video is in terrible quality, but this famous scene from Boogie Nights is an example of what an amazing director PT Anderson is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT5MzaupqAI

I'm unafraid to admit Love Actually is one of my favorite movies. It's one of those "have to watch it at Christmas" movies for me. My love for Keira Knightley might foster a sort of bias, but this scene gets me every time. Cheesy as it may be, my old girlfriend and I signed all of our cards and what not to each other with "To me, you are perfect," so this means a lot to me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m2T5yfgsZ0

V For Vendetta is such an excellent film, and V's soliloquy here is really something special:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW6HbZXI9Y0

Sorry guys, but I still love Garden State. Great Simon & Garfunkel song here too. Good luck exploring the infinite abyss:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9qHWFLQkCI

I'd try to post a video from Children of Men, but its moments are too numerous to mention. The long shots (the scene in the car and the firefight in the refugee camp) are two of the great scenes in recent cinema, but the scene with Theo and Kee carrying the baby down the stairs as the building is close to crumbling and the refugees and soldiers all stop and stare is amazingly powerful. It's a crime that Children of Men was not nominated for more awards as it was plainly my favorite film of 2006.

I love you, Christopher Guest. If you haven't seen Waiting for Guffman, you're missing one of my favorite comedies ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De6AkndwRpM

Well, this has proved a nice diversion from my constitutional law paper that I've barely started and is due tomorrow. I hope you enjoy my clips so at least I did something productive while I prepared myself to fail the class.

Pan's Labrynth--The Pale Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9YD2PFF31E&mode=related&search=

And yeah, that scene is unbelievable.

 

[Lila64]

The end of Dead Poet's Society. Oh Captain My Captain... And how the music builds... and and and.... I cry every time (like now :sniffle: )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8UL_9R_W-Y

thank you boys, thank you

 

[Slapnutz]

Couple of my favs.

The final scene in Chaplin's Modern Times. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvUG4U7JfoY

Leon the Professional ("I like these calm little moments before the storm.")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlbSDqa5DtU

Glengarry Glen Ross ("What are you going to do about it ... arsehole?")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HURJNd0J4U

The Fabulous Baker Boys (Michelle Pfeiffer - Makin' Whoopee)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TULYBRHBAs

 

[beegee]

"Baby, you are gonna miss that plane."

 

[Lancemc]

Updated with new scenes and videos:


Since IMP already posted the Eternal Sunshine clip, I'll just post a different one. This is that glorious ending I was talking about in another thread.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihQin8vu-dA&mode=related&search=


Magnolia's final scene. Gorgious. From 6:15 in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihQin8vu-dA&mode=related&search=


Bill The Butcher speaking to Amsterdam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY2tbeP_K1M


Just friggen hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g82yZXXpxY8


Khan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkeOSNW9WZ4


Tuco and Blondie - my favorite part of possibly my favorite movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmir...stern clint eastwood eli wallach sergio leone


The best line in Blade Runner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FAcmH0iN8I


Not the scene I mentioned before, but they're all so fantastic it really doesn't matter which one I pick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idJBSf9CQMQ&mode=related&search=


Fantastic scene from The Insider.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_zky83BizQ


Needs little explanation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3veEXeihvw

 

[namkcuR]

I don't know if it's my favorite ever, but it's up there...the scene at the end of American History X where Derek gets out of the shower and it looking at himself in the mirror and running his hand over his swastika tattoo....the symbolism is brilliant.

 

[Nate Dogg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZwcbXeh4FY


Alligator fuck-house.

 

[Justin24]

Saving Private Ryan (Greatest War Film Ever)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFQIuF590B4&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMq7iiIoiSw&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHXTbBdcfEg&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B02a7GhyAXA&mode=related&search=

2001: A Space Odyssey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdoA3AJ6zGE

The Untouchables (That's The Chicago Way)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g0RLyxP13o

 

[lazarus]

"Baby, you are gonna miss that plane."

Yes!!!

Top 5 endings ever.

Lance, great mention of The Age of Innocence's final scene. The light reflecting off the window and the flashback to the lake, the music, the birds, the walk off screen. Perfection. In a million years Spielberg isn't capable of an ending like that. Same with your Magnolia mention. For Once Upon a Time...I'd probably say the scene where old Noodles finally sees Deborah again in the dressing room after her show, or maybe the scene when they're kids and she reads the Song of Songs to him. Major Morricone Moment.

And I'm finding it very, very hard to top monkeyskin's contribution.


Probably have to go with this first, as geeky as it is:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=h6sj89xgnl4


Also up there would be the "train station scene" from Reds. A moment that could have been totally over the top and Hollywood, but is done instead with much restraint, and is even more moving as a result. This was reproduced almost EXACTLY, minimalist piano music included, at the end of Cold Mountain, to equally great effect.

Apocalypse Now--the assassination scene, or the Willard gets drunk and freaks out scene.

Spirited Away--the train scene. apparently I'm not the only one who thinks this is the best thing in the film. I think it's also the greatest scene in an animated film, ever. The music is exquisite. That brief moment when you see the shadowy figure of the girl at one of the stops? Haunting, and absolutely beautiful. This puts everything ever to come out of Disney or Pixar to shame:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bOJE_F9yL0


The English Patient--The flying scene at the beginning with the two Tiger Moth planes. Or maybe the scene with Hana & Kip in the cathedral. Gabriel Yared is a god.

Once Upon a Time in the West--when Jill arrives at the beginning, no one is there to pick her up, and the camera cranes over the train station for the establishing shot as she walks into the bustling pioneer town. Again, Morricone makes this magical.

Vetrigo--James Stewart tails Kim Novak around San Francisco, about 10 minutes nearly dialogue-free.

Days of Heaven--the locust storm.

The New World--the final 5 minutes. just an orgy of images and music. Unbelievable.

 

[Lancemc]

Lance, great mention of The Age of Innocence's final scene. The light reflecting off the window and the flashback to the lake, the music, the birds, the walk off screen. Perfection. In a million years Spielberg isn't capable of an ending like that. Same with your Magnolia mention. For Once Upon a Time...I'd probably say the scene where old Noodles finally sees Deborah again in the dressing room after her show, or maybe the scene when they're kids and she reads

Totally. That scene in AOI absolutely blew me away. Same for Claudia's smile in Magnolia. Couldn't have filmed a more perfect shot to end on.

As for OUATIA, I thought about posting both of those scenes you mentioned, but like I said, any one scene from that film is beyond perfect. I'm really in love with the whole sequence from when Middle-Aged Noodles enters the train station, and dissolves to old Noodles, then goes back to the bar. Then we get that magnificant dissolve to young Noodles, and the beautiful scene with Deborah.

God damn. That's great filmmaking.

 

[lazarus]

Saving Private Ryan (Greatest War Film Ever)

Not even close, brother.

The Big Red One
The Steel Helmet
Platoon

^^ Written and directed by people who ACTUALLY FOUGHT IN A WAR.

Paths of Glory
Apocalypse Now
The Thin Red Line
The Sand Pebbles

^^ Films that portay the insanity and dehumanization of war, instead of acting as flag-waving (waving in SPR, literally!) propaganda for the military and telling us how killing people is heroic.

...to name a few better ones.

 

[LMP]

I love you, Christopher Guest. If you haven't seen Waiting for Guffman, you're missing one of my favorite comedies ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De6AkndwRpM

Well, this has proved a nice diversion from my constitutional law paper that I've barely started and is due tomorrow. I hope you enjoy my clips so at least I did something productive while I prepared myself to fail the class.

You're all bastard people!

Your other links were great, too. I need to figure out my fave scenes and then post later.

 

[beegee]

Yes!!!

Top 5 endings ever.

I had fallen in love with the first film nine years earlier and wasn't exactly sold on the idea of a sequel. But as I watched it I realized I was watching one of the most brilliant continuing stories ever put on film, and I loved it. At the end, after she said that line, I gasped as the screen went black.

 

[lazarus]

I had fallen in love with the first film nine years earlier and wasn't exactly sold on the idea of a sequel. But as I watched it I realized I was watching one of the most brilliant continuing stories ever put on film, and I loved it. At the end, after she said that line, I gasped as the screen went black.

The other great "scene" in that film (it's kind of one long scene, isn't it?) is when they're on the boat and Jesse is talkng and Celine reaches out to touch him as he's looking away, and she pulls back her hand before he sees. Perfect.

 

[Justin24]

Not even close, brother.

The Big Red One
The Steel Helmet
Platoon

^^ Written and directed by people who ACTUALLY FOUGHT IN A WAR.

Paths of Glory
Apocalypse Now
The Thin Red Line
The Sand Pebbles

^^ Films that portay the insanity and dehumanization of war, instead of acting as flag-waving (waving in SPR, literally!) propaganda for the military and telling us how killing people is heroic.

...to name a few better ones.

Are you insane? SPR was not a propaganda film about telling people that killing other is heroic! It's the exact opposite You see the struggles the soldiers go through. Terrence Malik who directed The Thin Red Line was not a soldier and neither was Francis Ford Coppola. I have never seen Sand Pebbles or Paths of Glory. So I can't judge those. Platoon is a great film but not as great as SPR.

 

[LMP]

Saving Private Ryan is vastly overrated, and this is coming from a huge Spielberg fan.

Anyway, some of my favorite scenes that haven't already been said:

The blood test scene from 'The Thing'
http://youtube.com/watch?v=olQHy4XUXa0

The revenge montage with The Who's "A Quick One..." from 'Rushmore':
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yly2UDQp6fc

"Puttin' on the Ritz" from 'Young Frankenstein':
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m6rqXHX3O48

The breakfast scene from 'Pulp Fiction':
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f6csp2fZt2E

The greatest line in film history right here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IHi-4NYYw-Y

 

[monkeyskin]

Justin24 - laz didn't say Mallick and Coppola were soldiers, just Stone and Fuller.

I don't usually get one with war films, with only Paths of Glory, Apocalypse Now and All Quiet on the Western Front really interesting me. On the other hand I like films that show what happens away from the front line, such as Grave of the Fireflies and Empire of the Sun. Just personal taste.

And another cheer for the end to Before Sunset. I'm tempted to hope for a third film in a few years time if they can make it work, but the two so far are perfect to revisit. I love the scene in the first one when they're in the listening booth and starting to realise how attracted they are to one another...

Another great moment: in Rear Window when the guy across the street stares straight into Jimmy Stewart's camera lens / right at the viewer.

 

[beegee]

The other great "scene" in that film (it's kind of one long scene, isn't it?) is when they're on the boat and Jesse is talkng and Celine reaches out to touch him as he's looking away, and she pulls back her hand before he sees. Perfect.

Yes. I love that. It happens when they're in the taxi. Another scene that I think is filmed so beautifully is when they are going up to Celine's apartment. She picks up a cat and strokes it as they slowly climb the stairs. The cat is a soft, sensual thing between them - a soft, sensual thing with claws. Again, a little detail that is so perfect.

 

[Slapnutz]

Aside from the opening sequence, I find Saving Private Ryan incredibly nauseating. I can only swallow so much cheese before wanting to throw up (no, not that kind of cheese, pervert).

Platoon, now there's a war movie. The final scene stills haunts me.

Last couple of scenes:

Candy (opening sequence)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Ygqh5q91o

A fitting metaphor for the for the downward spiral they will soon experience at the hands of heroin.

Eyes Wide Shut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DExkPNbo7I
I watched this film alone in the cinema when the rest of the audience walked - including my date (her loss, I guess). This scene really creeped me out. Still does in fact.

Un Coeur en Hiver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PydPKeC7AWM

One of many examples why Emmanuelle Béart is the best thing to come out of France since Michel Platini.

 

[lazarus]

for lance and anyone else with a heart:

this was the only clue available on youtube, and it's emotionally wrenching to watch. such a great film.

if you haven't see the film yet, watch out, there's spoilers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXcLqMd2LxI

 

[Justin24]

Aside from the opening sequence, I find Saving Private Ryan incredibly nauseating. I can only swallow so much cheese before wanting to throw up (no, not that kind of cheese, pervert).

Platoon, now there's a war movie. The final scene stills haunts me.

I will agree with you on the final scence of Platoon. SPR is not a cheese fest. Are you saying it's to pro-american or to much pro-War?