One great moment can change the way you look at a movie. There have been several times over the years that I've thought to myself, "That was a really great scene." That being said, here are five of my all-time favorite movie moments...
(In no particular order)
1. Coffee Scene in Heat...
Okay so maybe all of these after this one are not in any particular order, but this scene is my all-time favorite for sure. Al Pacino plays a cop (Vincent Hannah) and Robert De Niro plays a thief (Neal McCauley) in this genius matching of wits, directed by Michael Mann. This movie doubles as also being on my top movie list, staying at #1 for years. After several attempts to no avail to catch McCauley in the act of a big heist while keeping him under surveillance, curiosity gets the best of Hannah and he pulls McCauley over on the highway. As McCauley readies his gun, he rolls down the window to hear "How ya doin? You wanna get a cup of coffee?" McCauley responds, "Yeah sure, let's go." They talk about there respective places in the world and the intriguing aspect of it is that essentially, both parties need each other to survive in the world. At one point in their conversation over coffee, Hannah says, "You lookin' to go back?" (to prison). McCauley responds, "You see me doin' thrill-seeker liquor store holdups with a 'born to lose' tattoo on my chest? I am never goin' back." "Then don't take down scores," Hannah retorts. "I do what I do best," McCauley says, "I take scores. You do what you do best, try to stop guys like me." Classic...
2. Bus Scene in Almost Famous...
This one is about a young kid trying to make it as a reporter for Rolling Stone. He gets an assignment to cover a band called Stillwater and gets to go on tour with them. I really enjoyed this movie; Billy Crudup is one of my favorite actors (biased possibly because he played Steve Prefontaine in Without Limits) and after his character goes missing and runs out on the band, everyone is mad at each other and sitting in complete silence on the tour bus. The radio is playing and "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John comes on the radio. One at a time, they all start singing in and when the chorus starts, they are singing in unison, "Hold me closer, tiny dancer!" It's a memorable and incredible scene because you can see and feel the tension on the bus fade away as they join in together in singing the song.
3. Piano Scene in Big...
I'm willing to bet that this scene would make many people's top list. As we all know (or better), Tom Hanks plays a 13 year-old kid who wishes to be big, only to wake up as Hanks. He scores a job working at an agency that markets toys. He runs into the president of the company at a department store by chance, and they start talking. Hanks starts telling him about some of the things he thinks are wrong with the toys they market (his real age helps his expert insight) and as they are walking, they happen upon a life-size piano. Hanks starts walking around on it and begins playing it with his feet. The president joins in and before you know it, they are jamming with the whole store looking on.
4. Speech in Braveheart...
This movie is Mel Gibson's classic epic about Scotland's William Wallace (played by Gibson) and his effort to lead his country to freedom over England. Just before a major battle with England, in which they are outnumbered, Wallace must convince the restless Scots of the importance of freedom. "I am William Wallace, and I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?" he shouts at them. One responds, "Against that? No, we will run, and we will live." "Aye, fight and you may die," Wallace continues, "run, and you'll live, for at least a while. And dying in your beds, years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our FREEDOM!!" The Scots then get pumped up and go on to defeat a much larger English army. Truly great scene...
5. McDermott goes bust in Rounders...
Matt Damon plays a law student (Michael McDermott) who plays poker for a living in this great flick. The opening scene shows him scrapping together cash from his hiding places in his apartment to go play in the big game. As the narrator of the film and main character, Damon does the play-by-play in a big hand with $30,000 in front of him. As the hand sums up (they're playing hold-em), the board shows A-9-8-9-3 with three spades. McDermott holds A9, figuring to have the best of it with a full house. The 3 that hit the board at the end was a spade, so he figures the other guy in the hand hit a flush draw. He announces, "I'm gonna go all in cuz I don't think you have the spades," trying to bait a call, thinking he surely has the best hand. "You're right," says Teddy KGB, played brilliantly by John Malkovich, "I don't have the spades." He starts to put his money in and McDermott narrates, "I know before the cards are turned up." Malkovich reveals pocket aces, a bigger full house than McDermott's. The despair of the major loss of $30,000 is written all over Damon's face as he looks completely in shock (as any of us would after losing that kind of money).
For argument's sake, there is a better scene in Rounders, but I didn't want to give anything away. That being said, there are also several scenes that came to mind but since they would give away the ending to anyone who had yet to see the films, I neglected to add them.
Feel free to reply to give some of your favorite movie scenes!
