Best Movie Scenes, Vol. I
I've been all about lists recently, haven't I? I have all your Top 5 requests to fill still from this week's latest meme. However, I had a spark of inspiration from watching Visions of Light, a documentary about the history of cinematography, and I began to make a list of my own favorite film scenes and sequences. I have so many already that I want to make an ongoing series of it. I don't know if there's any interest, but I think it will be cool at least for me to look back on.
There is a minor rhyme or reason to this:
• Of course, there are tons of more official "best scenes ever" lists out there, and mine will only moderately mirror them. I am, of course, no professional. This is simply a film fan's tribute to the favorite moments in my movie-watching experience.
• The picking of the scene has to come from a film I have actually seen.
• It has to be a scene that struck me then for one reason or another: cinematography, photography, performance, music, sound, effects, direction, or all of the above. So, this is not simply a "Best Cinematography" list.
• Where necessary, I'll include an explanation of why I chose one scene or another.
• There are some of my absolute all-time favorite films that won't be on this list. This is about the power of a single scene. Some favorite films are marked by several stand-out scenes.
• Appears in no particular order
Overall, the criteria for this list is that whenever I watch these scenes during the movie or on their own, I either laugh, tear up, cry, or get the chills.
1. À bout de souffle (Breathless) - 1960
Michel: How old are you?
Patricia: A hundred.
Michel: You don't look it.
À bout de souffle's intimate 20+ minute scene of the American Patricia returning to her Parisian apartment to find a half-naked lover, Michel, in her bed.
They talk, flirt, smoke, fight... Meanwhile, Michel is trying the whole time to tell her he loves her and begs her to sleep with him. She refuses many times, but eventually, they hide under the white sheets like innocent children, and make love.
All this takes place in a cramped urban apartment. Sometimes the wailing sirens heard through the open window drown out what they're saying. You literally feel like you're sitting on the bed with the two of them, watching them as they move about the small space. This scene (and this film as a whole) is a big turning point in cinema. From it emerged the more documentary-style realism in film.
This scene alone skyrocketed this film into one of my favorites of all time.
Here's a clip where Patricia asks if Michel would pick grief or nothing, and he chooses nothing. Watch at 43 seconds where Michel plays with his lower lip, which he does frequently throughout the film. *MELTS*
I fell in love with them and their simple dialog. This scene will have the most "style" of most scenes on this list. It's very French, very cool.
Here's a famous segment from the scene, in which Michel tries to get Patricia to smile for him. He tells her, "All right, I'll count to 8, and if you haven't smiled, I'll strangle you," and puts his hands around neck. But, even though they're in a threatening position, they're caressing her.
2. Almost Famous - 2000
Hey, Lady!
William and Penny say goodbye to each other at the airport, and William runs after her alongside the plane
For the coming-of-age tale, this scene is the ultimate moment of William's adolescence. Penny is his first love, and here is where he loses it. She boards a plane and he runs alongside it as it taxis away, like the modern day version of the person running after the train their lover is leaving on. The best part is that Penny feels it, too. You can see the perfect amount of sadness grow gradually in her eyes until finally she looks out the window and sees William running there. The music is bittersweet, building to a climax until William meets the end of his run and presses against the glass, letting her go.
3. The Sound of Music - 1965
The hills fill my heart
With the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song
It hears
The hills are alive with the sound of music.
Quite possibly one of the most recognizable scenes ever made. The scenery is just absolutely stunning. As the camera zooms in, you see a woman walking along the top of the hills. Then, she throws out her arms and spins and sings, "The hills are alive with the sound of music!" in one of the most classic and most mimicked scenes of all time.
Liesl and Rolf sing 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen' in a gazebo.
What sixteen year old girl does not sing this song at least once? This is one of my favorite songs of all time. When I was young, I looked up to Liesl like a cool older sister who was beautiful and mature and had a cute boyfriend (of course, until he became a Nazi). This scene/song felt so iconic to me as a young girl on the verge of becoming a woman. I used to dream of acting it out with a significant other. I have yet to fulfill that dream.
4. Edward Scissorhands - 1990
The "Ice Dance" scene shows Christmas in warm suburbia when Kim looks out and sees snow is falling, thanks to Edward's ice carving.
It is set to Danny Elfman's pefectly-composed song of the same name. In a beautifully simplistic way, Kim is seen dancing happily in the snow, and you start to understand that, in some way, she loves Edward just as he loves her.
Edward and Kim hug
The triumph of love over any obstacle is rarely so well depicted as Kim giving Edward a hug despite his long, sharp hands. I always thought that Kim was the pinnacle of kindness and empathy, and looked up to her for it. This scene shows it best of all.
5. Finding Neverland - 2004
Clap your hands if you believe!
The parlor performance of Peter Pan for the dying Sylvia.
This scene sticks with you primarily for the performance Kate Winslet (Sylvia) does with her eyes. She is devastatingly sad, but at the same time content, as she watches a play written about her children who will always be her little boys. When the characters clap their hands furiously to show that they believe in fairies, the "curtain" goes up and their imaginations reveal Neverland to them. Sylvia is taken off into Neverland like their queen, and that is where she will stay-- in the land where her little boys never grow old.
The final scene
Peter: It's just-- I thought she'd always be here
Jame: So did I. But in fact, she is, because she's on every page of your imagination. You'll always have her there. Always... She went to Neverland, and you can visit her anytime you like if you just go there yourself.
Peter: How?
James: By believing, Peter. Just believe.
Is there a dry eye in the room after this point? If so, you have no soul. This tear-jerking finale to the fantastic Finding Neverland might end up being little Freddie Highmore's best performance of his life. As the quiet young boy with painfully real tears in his eyes, he tries to understand his mother's death with James' help. Meanwhile, they're sitting on a park bench, with a two rows of trees framing them and stretching out into the distance, which adds incredible depth to this solemn scene.
Hope you enjoyed that! If you did, let me know. I'll feel better about keeping going in the future if I'm not the only one enjoying myself haha...
There is a minor rhyme or reason to this:
• Of course, there are tons of more official "best scenes ever" lists out there, and mine will only moderately mirror them. I am, of course, no professional. This is simply a film fan's tribute to the favorite moments in my movie-watching experience.
• The picking of the scene has to come from a film I have actually seen.
• It has to be a scene that struck me then for one reason or another: cinematography, photography, performance, music, sound, effects, direction, or all of the above. So, this is not simply a "Best Cinematography" list.
• Where necessary, I'll include an explanation of why I chose one scene or another.
• There are some of my absolute all-time favorite films that won't be on this list. This is about the power of a single scene. Some favorite films are marked by several stand-out scenes.
• Appears in no particular order
Overall, the criteria for this list is that whenever I watch these scenes during the movie or on their own, I either laugh, tear up, cry, or get the chills.
1. À bout de souffle (Breathless) - 1960
Michel: How old are you?
Patricia: A hundred.
Michel: You don't look it.
À bout de souffle's intimate 20+ minute scene of the American Patricia returning to her Parisian apartment to find a half-naked lover, Michel, in her bed.
They talk, flirt, smoke, fight... Meanwhile, Michel is trying the whole time to tell her he loves her and begs her to sleep with him. She refuses many times, but eventually, they hide under the white sheets like innocent children, and make love.
All this takes place in a cramped urban apartment. Sometimes the wailing sirens heard through the open window drown out what they're saying. You literally feel like you're sitting on the bed with the two of them, watching them as they move about the small space. This scene (and this film as a whole) is a big turning point in cinema. From it emerged the more documentary-style realism in film.
This scene alone skyrocketed this film into one of my favorites of all time.
Click to viewHere's a clip where Patricia asks if Michel would pick grief or nothing, and he chooses nothing. Watch at 43 seconds where Michel plays with his lower lip, which he does frequently throughout the film. *MELTS*
I fell in love with them and their simple dialog. This scene will have the most "style" of most scenes on this list. It's very French, very cool.
Here's a famous segment from the scene, in which Michel tries to get Patricia to smile for him. He tells her, "All right, I'll count to 8, and if you haven't smiled, I'll strangle you," and puts his hands around neck. But, even though they're in a threatening position, they're caressing her.
2. Almost Famous - 2000
Hey, Lady!
William and Penny say goodbye to each other at the airport, and William runs after her alongside the plane
For the coming-of-age tale, this scene is the ultimate moment of William's adolescence. Penny is his first love, and here is where he loses it. She boards a plane and he runs alongside it as it taxis away, like the modern day version of the person running after the train their lover is leaving on. The best part is that Penny feels it, too. You can see the perfect amount of sadness grow gradually in her eyes until finally she looks out the window and sees William running there. The music is bittersweet, building to a climax until William meets the end of his run and presses against the glass, letting her go.
3. The Sound of Music - 1965
The hills fill my heart
With the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song
It hears
The hills are alive with the sound of music.
Quite possibly one of the most recognizable scenes ever made. The scenery is just absolutely stunning. As the camera zooms in, you see a woman walking along the top of the hills. Then, she throws out her arms and spins and sings, "The hills are alive with the sound of music!" in one of the most classic and most mimicked scenes of all time.
Liesl and Rolf sing 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen' in a gazebo.
What sixteen year old girl does not sing this song at least once? This is one of my favorite songs of all time. When I was young, I looked up to Liesl like a cool older sister who was beautiful and mature and had a cute boyfriend (of course, until he became a Nazi). This scene/song felt so iconic to me as a young girl on the verge of becoming a woman. I used to dream of acting it out with a significant other. I have yet to fulfill that dream.
4. Edward Scissorhands - 1990
The "Ice Dance" scene shows Christmas in warm suburbia when Kim looks out and sees snow is falling, thanks to Edward's ice carving.
It is set to Danny Elfman's pefectly-composed song of the same name. In a beautifully simplistic way, Kim is seen dancing happily in the snow, and you start to understand that, in some way, she loves Edward just as he loves her.
Edward and Kim hug
The triumph of love over any obstacle is rarely so well depicted as Kim giving Edward a hug despite his long, sharp hands. I always thought that Kim was the pinnacle of kindness and empathy, and looked up to her for it. This scene shows it best of all.
5. Finding Neverland - 2004
Clap your hands if you believe!
The parlor performance of Peter Pan for the dying Sylvia.
This scene sticks with you primarily for the performance Kate Winslet (Sylvia) does with her eyes. She is devastatingly sad, but at the same time content, as she watches a play written about her children who will always be her little boys. When the characters clap their hands furiously to show that they believe in fairies, the "curtain" goes up and their imaginations reveal Neverland to them. Sylvia is taken off into Neverland like their queen, and that is where she will stay-- in the land where her little boys never grow old.
The final scene
Peter: It's just-- I thought she'd always be here
Jame: So did I. But in fact, she is, because she's on every page of your imagination. You'll always have her there. Always... She went to Neverland, and you can visit her anytime you like if you just go there yourself.
Peter: How?
James: By believing, Peter. Just believe.
Is there a dry eye in the room after this point? If so, you have no soul. This tear-jerking finale to the fantastic Finding Neverland might end up being little Freddie Highmore's best performance of his life. As the quiet young boy with painfully real tears in his eyes, he tries to understand his mother's death with James' help. Meanwhile, they're sitting on a park bench, with a two rows of trees framing them and stretching out into the distance, which adds incredible depth to this solemn scene.
Hope you enjoyed that! If you did, let me know. I'll feel better about keeping going in the future if I'm not the only one enjoying myself haha...