Ten More Best Movie Scenes

Here they are! Ten more of the best movies scenes to ever grace the silver screen, at least according to me.

10. Some Kind of Wonderful (1988) – The First Kiss Lasts Forever

While helping Keith (Eric Stoltz) prepare for his big date with Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson), Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson)–who is secretly in love with Keith–asks him if he thinks he can deliver a kiss that kills, and offers to work on it with him.  Of course, it turns into an amazing hot kiss, though it takes Keith the rest of the movie to realize that he has feelings for Watts.

9. American Beauty (1999) – (tie) “American Woman” and “Don’t Let It Bring You Down”

The “American Woman” scene is about liberation–Carolyn (Annette Bening) has just been nailed by Buddy the Real Estate King (Peter Gallagher), Jane (Thora Birch) breaks free of her normal routine with flaky friend Angela (Mena Suvari) for some one-on-one time with her admiring neighbor (Wes Bentley), and Lester (Kevin Spacey) quit his job, blackmailed his boss, and drives to Mr. Smiley’s smoking a blunt and singing at the top of his lungs.  Liberating indeed!

“Don’t Let It Bring You Down” is a pivotal scene, yet once with a MAJOR cringe-factor.  As viewers, we’ve traveled along with Lester, and we know he’s going to die at some point very soon, so over the course of the movie, he’s become a sympathetic character.  However, I’m sure I’m not the only one who was glad Lester didn’t deflower Angela on the couch.

8. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) – Disciplinary Hearing

Good versus evil.  Funny versus unfunny.  Cool versus uncool.  Perverts versus … (aw, heck!).  There were many battles fought in “Animal House,” and war was officially declared at the disciplinary hearing, following the Delta Tau Chi fraternity’s infamous toga party.  Though the Deltas may not have won this battle, since their charter was revoked and they were expelled, their comedy reigned supreme and made the Omegas and Dean Wormer (John Vernon) look like a bunch of pussies.

7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) – “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”

Though Etta (Katharine Ross) was Sundance’s (Robert Redford) girl, the scene with her and Butch (Paul Newman) on the bike is classic–sweet, funny, romantic, and atypical of most westerns.  And there have been none like it since.

6. Woodstock(1970) – “Soul Sacrifice”

OK, so Woodstock was not THE rockumentary of the 1960s, but it did have its moments.  Santana’s performance  wasn’t just phenomenal; they simply wiped the stage with everyone else.  ‘Nuff said!

5. Singin’ in the Rain (1952) – The Dueling Cavalier Premiere and “Good Mornin’”

Absolutely, positively, one of the best movie musicals ever made!  And these scenes contain some of the funniest moments, particularly Lina Lamont’s (Jean Hagan) “No! No! No!” “Yes! Yes! Yes!” dialogue flub, plus the movie’s best dancing sequence.  Another scene definitely worth mentioning is Cosmo Brown’s (Donald O’Connor) song-and-dance number “Make ‘em Laugh,” the only original song written for the film, though heavily borrowed from “Be a Clown” in The Pirate (1948).

4. Easy Rider (1969) – “The Weight”

Regardless who you are or whether you cared about the 1960s counterculture, the scenes that appear with The Band’s “The Weight” on the soundtrack are beautifully and amazingly shot–many instinctively by the film’s DP, the late Lazlo Kovacs.  Yeah, it may not be more than a montage, but who cares?  It balances out the turmoil that the characters face later.

3. The Shootist (1976) – Gillom avenges Books

J.B. Books (John Wayne) seeks out three enemies on his birthday for an early morning shootout in Carson City’s Metropole Saloon.  With both actor and character dying of cancer, the film is bittersweet at best.  Books spends his final days rooming with widow Bond Rogers (Lauren Bacall, Wayne’s Blood Alley (1956) co-star) and her son, Gillom (Ron Howard).  When the shootout concludes, Books is victorious, albeit a bit closer to death, when the bartender shoots him in the back.  Gillom takes Books’s pistol and shoots dead the bartender, before Books dies.  It’s a moment that forever changes him, much more so than simply knowing Books has.

2. Monterey Pop (1968) – (tie) “Ball and Chain,” “Section 43,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” and “Got a Feelin’”

Dude!  When she sang the first note of “Ball and Chain,” Janis announced her arrival, and music was never the same.

OK, so Country Joe’s an interesting guy to say the least–like, what was with the hard hats?  But there was nothing cooler than watching thousands of hippies wake up to the psychedelic strains of “Section 43,” particularly that reverse long shot of the band (with the peace, love, and flowers below the stage) that dissolves into a crane shot of the crowd.  Groovy!

Otis Redding made rhythm and blues cool for the love generation with his set at Monterey.  (See Shake! Otis at Monterey (1968).)  Unfortunately, he wouldn’t live to see the film’s release.  But his performances were truly one-of-a-kind, and contain an enviable energy that today’s acts will never be able to emulate.

On the commentary, filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker said that his inclusion of the Mamas and the Papas’ “Got a Feelin’” in Monterey Pop signified an end of the hippie era.  And that end is evident within the Mamas and the Papas as well.  Prior to their appearance at Monterey, relations within the group were highly strained.  Denny Doherty had been in the Virgin Islands. John and Michelle Phillips’ marriage was on the skids.  And the group’s professional relationship was also strained, as John, Denny, and Mama Cass Elliot had unsuccessfully attempted to kick Michelle out of the group.  In fact, their Monterey performance would be their second-to-last live performance.  The tension is most evident in their outtake performances, especially “Monday, Monday.”  But “Got a Feelin’” remains a hippie’s goodbye to a good thing–and John and Cass’s vocals make the yearning for days passed that much more bittersweet.

1. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – “Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!”

Nothing restores a man’s faith like a second chance, and George Bailey (James Stewart) lets the whole world know it.  (”Yeah!”)  That first yell he lets out when he arrives back in Bedford Falls is priceless, and sets the tone for one of the best movie endings in film history.

Honorable Mention (in no particular order):

Die Hard (1988) – “Shoot the glass!”

OK, if you’re a German terrorist, you shouldn’t have to be told in English, after being told in German, to shoot the glass. Oh, well, nobody’s perfect. And Hans’s (Alan Rickman) reaction is priceless.

10 (1980) – “An Ear for Love”

Songwriter George Webber (Dudley Moore) visits the Reverend (Max Showalter), the Reverend reveals that he, too, is a songwriter, and sings a song so outrageously bad that it’s funny.

Throw Momma From the Train (1987) – Cousin Paddy

Grab your cast-iron cookware!  I’m sure I’m not the only one who knows several people they’d like to try Owen’s (Danny DeVito) response on:

Mrs. Lift: You don’t have a Cousin Paddy.
Owen: You lied to me! (smacks Larry (Billy Crystal) across the face with the frying pan)

Anne of Avonlea (1986) – Anne’s Return

The Anne of Green Gables series–or at least the first two films–are quite possible the most engaging made-for-TV adaptations ever produced, especially considering they don’t contain any fancy special effects, and the second film is a combined adaptation of three books, and the third film is complete fiction.  But one of the best scenes of all the films–aside from Anne (Megan Follows) and Gilbert’s (Jonathan Crombie) first kiss–is when Anne returns to Green Gables after her year away teaching in New Brunswick.  Just looks of excitement on Anne and Marilla’s (Colleen Dewhearst) faces as they run to each other–dude!  There is no need for words.

Thanks for reading!
~Tal