Favorite Scenes from movies

[sunny]

Maybe this belongs in the lounge, but I thought we'd have a little fun here. What are some scenes from movies that have stuck with you? Made you laugh or cry, captured your philosophy of life, informed your philosophy of life, or just made you admire an actor or directors artistic achievement? Does it contain a quote you live by or drop into conversations at every opportunity? Why?

I won't start the fun, as I do not want to influence you or lay out a formula for what the thread should be, but I will say this: don't be pretentious and only pick out scenes from "accomplished" or arty films. Sometimes, a single scene in a crappy film can have a lot of resonance. At the same time, if your scene(s) comes from Citizen Kane, so be it.

Set the scene for us, make it come alive, and help us to understand why it is so great in your eyes.

[slow_dazzle]

The opening sequence of Apocalypse Now with "The End" as the soundtrack because it is so evocative of the period. And the trippy scene at the last outpost before the main characters head up river to find Kurtz with Hendrix's discordant guitar as a metaphor for chaos is genius - flares going off and the soldier who replies "ain't you?" in response to "who's in command here?" evoke responses in me that I could not articulate even though I "know" what I am thinking . The scene with the helicopter gunships tends to be remarked upon because it is "wow man" but that misses the point - it is a depiction of horror but the perpetrators don't realise they are the demons. Coppola is just a master.

The opening sequence of Contact because of the way it conveyed the immenseness of space.

Come and See - an anti-war film that few people know about but which everyone should see. The scene where the German paras drop in is frighteningly real because it is devoid of fantastic pyrotechnics and the scene depicting the destruction of the village had me in tears. Hollywood could not make a film like this one. Saving Private Ryan doesn't even come close. See it please.

The scene in Mulholland Drive where "cowboy" appears and enters into a monologue. Lynch practices TM and it shows. I know what he was conveying to us but I couldn't put it into words.

Another Lynch film - Twin Peaks. Where the girl uses body language to explain the situation to the FBI agent is absolute brilliance.

The whole clammy atmosphere in Don't Look Now sets the tenor for the whole film - cold and damp.

Nic Roeg's Walkabout - the final scene where Jenny Agguter is chopping meat with a ciggy in her mouth is interspersed with flashbacks to them all swimming naked. A contrast between the vitality of primitive innocence and the dulling effect of "civilised" life. One of my favourite films.

In The Company of Wolves there is a scene where the devil drives into the forest in a Rolls Royce and hands over a phial of liquid to a boy. The surreality of the car in the forest...

Good call sunny.

[MASONIC PLOT]

There are many but two come to mind that I really enjoyed. Both are from my favorite actor Marlon Brando:

"You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill." —Apocalypse Now

"I worry that my son might not understand what I've tried to be. And if I were to be killed, Willard, I would want someone to go to my home and tell my son everything. Everything I did, everything you saw, because there's nothing that I detest more than the stench of lies. And if you understand me, Willard, you will do this for me." —Apocalypse Now

[sunny]

Beautiful, slow_dazzle and MP, just what I was looking for. s_d, you make me want to see Come and See.

Keep it coming, y'all!

[slow_dazzle]

http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=71

[HMKGrey]

The scene in Magnolia where all the characters are in their own little worlds but singing Aimee Mann's "Wise Up".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86ZOUkSnGk0

Genius.

[MASONIC PLOT]

Fo sheer humor there is this one:

"I'll have what she's having," – Customer (Estelle Reiner) in “When Harry Met Sally”(1989) Columbia Tristar


(I am sure you can all remember THAT scene lol)

and then a couple of my favorites from FIGHT CLUB:

"You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you."

"It's only after you've lost everything," Tyler says, "that you're free to do anything."

"We wanted to blast the world free of history.... picture yourself planting radishes and seed potatoes on the fifteenth green of a forgotten golf course. You'll hunt elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center, and dig clams next to the skeleton of the Space Needle leaning at a forty-five degree angle. We'll paint the skyscrapers with huge totem faces and goblin tikis, and every evening what's left of mankind will retreat to empty zoos and lock itself in cages as protection against the bears and big cats and wolves that pace and watch us from outside the cage bars at night."

"I wanted to burn the Louvre. I'd do the Elgin Marbles with a sledgehammer and wipe my ass with the Mona Lisa. This is my world, now. This is my world, my world, and those ancient people are dead."

And finally:

Tyler Durden: "You are not your job. You are not the money in your bank account. You are not the car you drive. You are not how much money is in your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world."


There is nothing more refreshing than a good healthy dose of disdain.

[slow_dazzle]

the scene in Cabaret where the Hitler Youth stands up and sings "Tomorrow Belongs To Me". The people responded by cheering and showed how scary mobs can be. Another scene is where the MC sings "If you could see her through my eyes she wouldn't look so..." and then pops his head through the stage curtains to say - ..."JEWISH". Chilled me to the bone.

MP mentioned Brando - damned fine actor. In The Godfather his dismissal of Salazo's (spelling?) drugs proposal with reasoning and his overall persona are cinematographic genius. The persona was so well portrayed without glamourising gangsters.

edit - speling - agen

[MASONIC PLOT]

Bonasera: "I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom, but I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boyfriend; not an Italian. She went to the movies with him; she stayed out late. I didn't protest. Two months ago, he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey. And then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her, like an animal. When I went to the hospital, her nose was a'broken. Her jaw was a'shattered, held together by wire. She couldn't even weep because of the pain. But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again. I went to the police, like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison - suspended sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool. And those two bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, for justice, we must go to Don Corleone."

[slow_dazzle]

absolutely rivetting and a useful companion to the book/film.

I have it as CD Audio which I listen to in my car - you will like it I'm sure.

s_d

[DBtv]

Even thinking of this moment in the film chokes me up and represents my philosophy of life:

As the Council of Elrond argue over the impossibility of returning the ring to the fires of Mount Doom, the smallest in the council speaks up:

Frodo: "I will take the ring to Mordor, though I do not know the way."

http://www.tk421.net/lotr/film/fotr/16.html

That's real faith in the power of good and light.

[stickdog99]

[jingofever]

A couple of quotes/scenes from Repo Man,,,

Miller: A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch o' unconnected incidents 'n things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top o' everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.
Otto: You eat a lot of acid, Miller, back in the hippie days?
Miller: I'll give you another instance: you know how everybody's into weirdness right now?...

and this one, though you need to view the scene (it helps to see the movie to fully grok that last quote as well):

Leila: What about our relationship?
Otto: What?
Leila: Our relationship!
Otto: Fuck that!

Yes, I suppose those sum up what I have been calling a personal philosophy.

[sunny]

"It's a mystery! It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!"

David Ferrie in JFK, frantic, manic, desperately trying to convey the hopelessnes of Garrison's Quixotic quest for justice. With that scene, my naive belief in American justice was devastated. It was true-the cover-up was so elaborate, deliberate, and venal, so tangled in disinfo and active, almost gleeful deceit and murder, justice may never come. Later on, with Ferrie's death, we realize that even trying to hope is an exercise in futility.

And then the score over the closing credits. It is evocative of unrequited love. Hope straining to break free, only to be dashed and mourned. A bittersweet funeral dirge for a great man on the brink of realizing his greatness, only to be cruelly struck down. Is it better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all? The pain is palpable, and we are left a hollow shell of our former selves, yearning for the ability to hope that we may yet love again.

(I have more, but I have to go cry +(

[HMKGrey]

Okay, Band of Brothers.

There's lots and lots of powerful, emotive moments ranging from the gung-ho to the incredibly tender:

- When Winters says "We're paratroopers. It's our job to be surrounded."

- When Babe offers his hand to Webster to help him in to the truck after Webster has been on the outs all through the episode.

- When Speirs runs through the German lines and then back again.

- When Lipton tells Speirs that the company's happy to have a good commander at last and Speirs says that they've always had one and goes on to describe Lipton - who doesn't quite get it so Speirs has to tell him.

- When Winters cancels the night patrol.

So many moments. [And yes, I know that BoB is probably quintessential PTB TV/brainwashing etc, but I don't care. I love it on a whole diferent level and it actually makes me angry at the PTB and gives me hope for humanity.]