Greatest Film Sequences

[Beirut]

Birthed from the Arthur c. Clarke books thread, I thought it would be interesting to have a list of what we consider the greatest film sequences.

My vote will, obviously, go to the docking sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[Fragony]

The epilogue 'conversation with my mother' from Kaos, pure beauty.

[TinCow]

My vote has to go to the final shot in Big Night. The entire scene is a single shot of Secundo making an omelette for Primo and Cristiano. There is no dialog at all, just the cooking and eating, and it lasts at least several minutes. After all that had gone on between the two brothers, it was the perfect ending. So much was conveyed in such a simple shot and it was beautiful. It has been my favorite scene since the first day I saw it.



Another one of my favorite shots is about half-way through The Big Lebowski. The Dude and Walter are at the bowling alley. Walter is bowling and walks out of frame to throw. You hear the ball go and the sound of the pins falling, then after an appropriate pause, Walter re-enters the frame and picks up his ball from the ball return. Doing the shot in this way really draws the viewer into the scene by expanding the scope of the setting beyond what can be seen on the screen. The viewer is aware of the larger world beyond the area that is captured by the camera, something that is very tough to do. The Coens achieve it in this scene with a very simple method and I applaud them for it.

I could easily name 50 more, but Big Night will always get my top vote.

[Louis VI the Fat]

For me, the clear winner is the opening scene of the black and white 1976 French-Czechoslovakian co-production 'L'Existentialisme Chrétien c'est quoi?', a 35 minute monologue of a naked man debating with himself in front of a mirror the influence of existentialist thought for the development of the concept of 'truth' in the works of

No! Wait! A better scene suddenly springs to mind:

There is this moment near the end of this Swedish special interest movie, where Ulrika meets Big Birgitta and finally lifts her shirt and proceeds to

No! Wait! A better scene suddenly springs to mind:

The final fifteen minutes or so of Return of the Jedi. That is just such an emotional rollercoaster ride. The perfect resolve of the series. Seriously! I've never understood other Star Wars fans and their underappreciation of ROTJ. It's majestic, the greatest of them all. The whole last hour or so is the very best in cinematic history.

[Lemur]

The sequence when the roller-skating ninjas attack the dude in the microcar. That chokes me up every time.

[Marshal Murat]

Hotel Rwanda...

The scene when the Catholic nuns and the Rwanda children are walking into the compound, the rain falling, and the camera-guys trying to bring the children with them...

[Decker]

I have a few

Pulp Fiction:
The first

Ezekial 25:17
The second being the scene where they administer the Adrenaline shot to Uma Thurman's character.

The fight scene in Morocco in the Bourne Ultimatum in which Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) puts a book into the bad guy's neck and proceeds to punch it into oblivion. Intense.

The opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan and the closing sequences with the older Ryan paying his respects to Hank's character.

BTW, did anybody notice that in Gladiator when the Barbarians were chanting they were using the same chant used by the Zulus in the movie ZULU?

And the dogfight sequences in The Battle For Britain are the best that I have ever seen and probably the only good ones in existence.

O and in The Thin Red Line when the men were attacking up the ridges, and also when they took the MG bunker and also the Japanese encampment. Those were some of the best war scenes that I have seen in a war movie on the Pacific Theater. Also it is an underrated film that should get more respect.

[Geoffrey S]

Great film that. Some beautiful little scenes there.

Too many to mention, but some which spring to mind instantly:
- The fight in the subway in the Matrix. Seriously, the first time I saw that...!
- The approach to the asteroid in Armageddon, and the opening sequence of the same movie. Strange choice possibly, but they're absolutely perfect for testing new screens and sound systems and so I've seen them numerous times. Some of the best action sequences ever.
- The end of Twelve Monkeys. 'nuff said.
- Opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan.
- A TV series now. The State Within, when Gardner is executed. I was really expecting him to survive.
- End of Life of Brian.

But the best sequence ever? Time... to die...

The final fifteen minutes or so of Return of the Jedi. That is just such an emotional rollercoaster ride. The perfect resolve of the series. Seriously! I've never understood other Star Wars fans and their underappreciation of ROTJ. It's majestic, the greatest of them all. The whole last hour or so is the very best in cinematic history.

Funnily enough, agreed. Perfection is achieved in the sequence where Luke hides, and Darth Vader discovers the sister.

[Banquo's Ghost]

My own favourite is from "The Mission". After Rodrigo kills his brother, he is given a chance of penance by dragging his armour across Christendom to his new role as a Jesuit priest. The boy who comes to cut him free of this burden is one of the Guarani which he persecuted and enslaved when he was a mercenary. As a symbol of pure forgiveness, I find it greatly moving.

(The sequence at the end, after the credits, where Ray McAnally's cardinal looks quizzically at the viewer - asking the question of you - is marvellous too).

Other favourites:

"Apollo 13": The Saturn V launch sequence - every boy of the 60's dream.

"The Man in the Iron Mask": Great casting, apart from diCaprio, and the final musketeers' charge into the teeth of the guards guns is swashbuckling joy.

"Gladiator": The Barbarian Horde sequence. Nuff said.

"Casablanca": Obviously, the whole movie, but especially when Lazslo directs the band to play the Marseillaise and drowns out the Nazis.

Ah, so many more...

For me, the clear winner is the opening scene of the black and white 1976 French-Czechoslovakian co-production 'L'Existentialisme Chrétien c'est quoi?', a 35 minute monologue of a naked man debating with himself in front of a mirror the influence of existentialist thought for the development of the concept of 'truth' in the works of

No! Wait! A better scene suddenly springs to mind:

There is this moment near the end of this Swedish special interest movie, where Ulrika meets Big Birgitta and finally lifts her shirt and proceeds to

Louis VI the Fat. Renaissance man.

[Apoc]

I have a real soft spot for the lighting of the beacons scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

[Northnovas]

There have been some very good scenes mention and I can think of many more like Steve McQueen in Papillion when he is arranging the escape and meets the leper smoking the cigar and he hesitantly takes a puff of the leper’s cigar.
The leper says “How did you know I was dry?” He didn’t; cool Steve move.

My most memorial movie scene from to Kill a Mockingbird is at the end of Tom Robinson’s trial and the courtroom is empty except the balcony where black members of the community remained.
Atticus Finch lost the trial for an innocent black man, dejected he slowly walks out of the courtroom. The people remaining in the balcony all stand showing their respect for him has he walks out. Powerful stuff.

[drone]

The final scene of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, when Chief talks to McMurphy after his lobotomy, smothers him out of mercy, and breaks out. "You're coming with me". Bonus points for a young Christopher Lloyd cackling like a maniac and getting typecast as a loon for the rest of his career (not really a bad thing).

[Bijo]

The final scene of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, when Chief talks to McMurphy after his lobotomy, smothers him out of mercy, and breaks out. "You're coming with me". Bonus points for a young Christopher Lloyd cackling like a maniac and getting typecast as a loon for the rest of his career (not really a bad thing).

That is a very depressing film. Especially that woman nurse and her... idiot "hernchmen" as I call them are disturbing ones.

[Bijo]

In Indiana Jones:

- the scene in part 1 where a sword fighter stands ready to engage him in battle, but Indy quickly shoots him and is done with it.

- in part 1 when the evil German torturer (/information extractor) -- whose name is Toht I think -- enters the tent and holds an object that looks like a torturing device. While the suspenseful evil music plays you look at it as he puts it together and you expect a terrible wretched event to happen, but soon you find out it's only a coat hanger. Damn good gag.

- the scene where Indy uses the ancient stick to pinpoint the digging location.

In Cast Away, when Tom Hanks loses the football.

[Marshal Murat]

It's actually a volleyball.

[Conradus]

I'm suprised none has mentioned the scenes in Ben Hur where he meets Jesus, or his path to the cross. I've found those marvelous.