What single scene MADE a movie for you?

happyninja42

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Inspired by the fun thread:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.933390-What-Single-Scene-Killed-an-Otherwise-Great-Movie

I thought I'd ask the opposite question. What specific scene, or character, or other single element in a work of fiction made you just love it? Everything else could be utter shit, but that one part just makes you giggle uncontrollably with delight, or other positive emotional reactions.

For me, there are a few.

Van Helsing - Dracula. Oh...My...God...Dracula. He is soooo hilarious in this movie. He chews up every scene he's in, and spits out crumbs for the other actors to fight over. My favorite being when he's bitching about Van Helsing and the others thwarting his plans, and doing it while walking up the side of the wall. His 3 wives are hanging upside down, upset because their first wave of children were all just killed. He ends up, upside down, still bitching, and one of the wives, grief stricken. "But what about our children?! Have you no heart?!" To which he responds with a booming "NOOOOOOO!!!" *dramatic pause as he appears to have an orgasm from his scene chewing.* "I..am....hoooollooow" I just, god it was just wonderful. Also, the sidekick to Helsing was most amusing to me. He felt like C-3PO, but he was actually capable, and had a few moments of heroic awesomeness. And he even got laid! Which is more than our protagonist can say! xD

Outlaw of Gor: MST 3K This movie, my god, this movie. It's a terrible Conon/Beastmaster ripoff from the 80's, from...Italy I think? But the way Trace Beaulieu delivers some of his lines as Crow just floor me. 2 scenes in particular. Jack Palance, as a Grand Vizier, speaking to evil queen:

Queen: "You must kill him"
Crow as Jack Palance, who is actually silent in this part. "Oh I'll do more than that..."
Queen: "What are you going to do."
Crow, again as Jack is silent. "KILL HIM!" xD

Another, where the protagonist, I forget his name...I think they might've said it once? Caber, Cabel, Cable? Eh, something like that. They didn't put much emphasis on it. Anyway, Cabron and his midget sidekick are stranded in the desert, suffering from dehydration. They stop at one point, and Cabberet points into the distance:
"That...that mountain, I remember seeing it yesterday."
Crow as Cabernet: "It's clearly FOLLOWING us!"

So what about you? Any particular bits in a movie that elevate it to something you love, even if it's not really all that good overall?
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

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Every scene from Pacific Rim that has giant robots punching giant monsters in the face. Everything else might as well be white noise.

Also the mob scene from Dark Knight. When the Joker walks in laughing mockingly and stabs the black ganb-member in the eye with a pencil. and Oh man the dialogue.
"Its simple, we kill the Batman."
Gets me every time.

I know most people would point to the Joker interrogation scene and yeah that was good, but the whole "I don't want to kill you. You complete me." part I found very...out of tone? Maybe out of character? That Joker didn't strike me as someone who had personal longing and enough self awareness to know what 'completes' him. Even if he was joking, its still not something he'd say. It just felt too...forced.
 

Fappy

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The coffee shop scene in Heat. It's one of those definitive scenes that the entire movie funnels into. Sure, the plot is built so that everything leads up to the climactic bank heist, but the final scenes of the film wouldn't be half as powerful if we hadn't seen the good guy and the bad guy share a cup of coffee.
 

DefunctTheory

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Silentpony said:
Every scene from Pacific Rim that has giant robots punching giant monsters in the face. Everything else might as well be white noise.
I loved Pacific Rim overall, though yes, the out of robot portions of it were overwhelming. It was obvious that those scenes were basically there to justify the giant robot vs. giant monster scenes, which is just fine with me. That's what the movie was, and what it was advertised as, and what the material it was inspired by did, so I can't blame it for that.

What really sold me on Pacific Rim though, what really pushed it up another level, was the scene where Gypsy Danger floats down to the alien staging area and explodes. The movie starts with the 'we built monsters to fight monsters' speech, and then the theme is solidified when they discover the kaiju are, in fact, constructs that are basically the same as the jaegers. But when the aliens are forced to look upon the monsters that humans have built, effectively flipping the script on them... that was just so satisfying.
 

PsychicTaco115

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This scene just encapsulates everything I love about this film. It just keeps getting better and better but DAMN, what an opener

I would make love to this movie if I could
 

the December King

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The Red Dwarf: Back to Earth series. I was expecting the usual low brow silliness and was looking forward to it all, at least on a certain level, but there is a moment near the end that made a lump in my throat and some sand in my eye... it elevated the whole of the show in those ten seconds. The key was, a little voice from I don't know where whispered in my head that David Charles wasn't acting, he was totally Lister in that moment. Broke my heart a little.
 

happyninja42

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PsychicTaco115 said:

This scene just encapsulates everything I love about this film. It just keeps getting better and better but DAMN, what an opener

I would make love to this movie if I could
XD This is bat country!! God I remember that.
 

Scarim Coral

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I don't cared on Nolan opinion on this scene (the last part). It was pure awesome having the camera panning on each of the character fight scene while kicking arse!
 

bartholen_v1legacy

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The scene in Spirited Away after Haku has taken Chihiro to see her parents elevated it from a fantastic movie to a phenomenon for me. No movie scene has ever hit me on such a personal level, and I would love to see something eclipse it in that regard.

The end credits of 22 Jump Street. I haven't laughed so hard in a movie theater ever. Nothing could prepare me for it when I was watching it.

My Neighbor Totoro for the flying top scene. There's just something so utterly wonderful and innocently happy about it that I grin like an idiot every time I see it.

Ponyo also in the same category for the scene where Ponyo comes out of the water and runs to Sosuke, and the following scene inside the house. It's so aggressively cute and adorable, but goddamnit, it works!

The escape scene from Moria in Fellowship of the Ring is one of the most epic fantasy scenes in any movie ever. The music, the intensity, the final standoff on the bridge, and just everything about it screams awesome.

Aside from those I don't think there are nearly any movies I could say I'd watch for one scene alone.
 

Casual Shinji

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Long John Silver in Disney's Treasure Planet. The movie overall is a bit lame, but that character and his interaction with Jim Hawkins is terrific.

And while we're on Disney... James Woods as Hades in Hercules. No need to explain why, I'm sure.
 

The Wykydtron

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The bank heist intro to The Dark Knight was so freaking cool, it actually made me think that maybe this isn't just some Batman crap made to cash in on the licence.

People just betraying each other left and right regardless of the fact that they haven't even secured any money yet, the entire operation was a massive clown fiesta.

Also the intro to Gurren Lagann is so much hype. Not even just the teaser prologue in space, even the way Kamina challenges a mecha with just a sword was so badass.

Finally, not really a movie but the first scene in Sharin no Kuni was pretty damn engaging. Instantly showing you that even though your guy Kenichi is a complete boss, Hozuki is completely out of his power level and is basically the final boss. The only other person who got to the finish line of this huge ass marathon through super dangerous terrain, including fucking active minefields, gets shot dead for showing up a few minutes late.

Not even a warning, Kenichi is going through his inner monologue introducing her then suddenly her CG has a hole in her head. Fuckin' Hozuki is metal as fuck.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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The bear mauling scene in The Revenant. Tom Hardy is a bit of a scene stealer in that movie as well. The rest is... eh.
 

Ihateregistering1

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The last scene from "Cabin Fever". Minus a mostly naked Cerina Vincent, I thought the movie sucked, but I think I laughed for 5 minutes straight at the "that one's for the niggers" joke that came full circle at the end.

"The Man from Nowhere". Really good Korean action movie that reminded me a lot of "Man on Fire". Wasn't wall to wall action, but sort of had a slow burn build-up to the final fight sequence, which was just crazy well done and insanely brutal.

From "Dredd", the "incendiary" scene. Karl Urban sounded more impactful saying a single word than many action actors manage in their entire movies.

Speaking of Karl Urban, I'd have to say the battle of the Pelennor Fields from "Return of the King". With the exception of hating how it concluded, I just remember watching it and thinking "this is basically the closest thing I've ever seen to what I'd imagine a giant fantasy battle in Warcraft or Warhammer would look like".
 

JimB

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Superman catching the plane in Superman Returns. The movie itself isn't very exciting and doesn't have much to say except "Superman is lonely and having blood relatives is the only cure for that, apparently," but that scene is genius. It goes on so long because of the logistics of safely landing a falling plane, but it expects you to put those pieces together without holding your hand via narration or some shit; and Peta Wilson's frantic praying at the end of the scene completely nails what Superman is about: God won't save you, but if Superman can, he will.
 

SquidVicious

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The bar scene from Near Dark has always been one of my favourite depictions of vampires as just pure egotistical hunters and definitely had a huge impact on how I play as a Sabbat in Vampire: The Masquerade. The scene itself is damn near perfect in terms of cinematography, angles, music, visual acting, framing, and dialogue. Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen absolutely sell the hell out of the scene, playing off each other perfectly with Henriksen being the straight man while still being menacing and Paxton being the crazed out character whose every action fit perfectly with his personality.