There's so many to choose from, so I'll just choose some that I've seen recently and/or some from my favorite films.

I don't know how the **** I'm supposed to make spoiler tags, I tried [spoiler], [spoilers] and [spoil], i just don't care anymore. Read at your own risk, spoilers are contained

Persona - The opening montage is strange and searing.

Maborosi - Probably the most powerful, emotional and personal scene I've ever seen in films, is where Yumiko follows the funeral procession and ends up at the pyre on the beach, and when her husband comes to get her she confronts him about her feelings regarding her former husband and his death. I just... aaaagh, so amazing

Nights of Cabiria - The final scene where Cabiria realizes her fiance wants her money and is going to kill her for it, and then when she leaves, accepting that love is impossible as the minstrels dance around her

Au Hasard Balthazar - the scene, and the image, where the wounded Balthazar lies down in the field and is surrounded by the flock of sheep is one of the most spiritually meaningful and unforgettable images in movies.

Naked - the end where the girls' flatmate comes back from Africa and refuses to take Johnny's advances

Nashville - where Albuquerque takes the stage after Barbara Jean's assassination and leads the crowd in a rendition of 'It Don't Worry Me'

Hidden - when Majid slits his throat in front of Georges

Linda Linda Linda - the final scene where they perform, and the collection of shots of the empty school while they sing their final song... joyous and heartbreaking

Mulholland Dr. - Llorando

Vibrator - the scene in the hotel bathroom is just... wow

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - where Joel and Clementine come to terms with their relationship as the beach house crumbles around them

Hedwig and the Angry Inch - "the Origin of Love"

The Cranes Are Flying - the tracking shot up and down the station when the girl searches for her fiance as the men are getting sent to war

Pierrot le Fou - when Ferdinand and Marianne hold the show for the American soldiers

Georgia - Sadie singing the Van Heflin song

La Captive - the tracking shot down the avenue at night as the lead character surveys the array of prostitutes is bewitching

The Day I Became a Woman - if you consider the Ahoo segment a scene in itself

Late Marriage - the raw, revealing, scary and sad final scene where the lead character fights for his dignity as he marries the girl he has no feelings for and as his family look on watchfully

Take My Eyes - the gut-wrenching scene where the husband locks the wife out on the balcony naked and then assaults her

Beau Travail - even thinking about Galoup's dance makes me want to cry

Hiroshima Mon Amour - the first part of the film, the "film essay" on Hiroshima, is immensely powerful

Cherry Blossoms - as the husband dances on the lakeshore with his wife's ghost

Pieces of April - where April's family returns to her house from the diner, open the door and her brother takes her picture, this and everything after this moment had me bawling

Four Minutes - the film is quite bad but the titular 'four minutes' pack quite a punch

The Piano Teacher - the scene where Erika gets beaten by her lover

WALL-E - the scenes on Earth

The Family Game - the final 'dinner' scene is just fantastic

Ordinary People - Donald Sutherland's 'therapy' scene is a masterpiece of acting and writing and the best thing in the film.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: puxzkkx,

Surely tons I'm forgetting. Mostly current or modern, because that's how far my memory goes.

American Beauty - The entire climax on the stormy night.

Children of Men - The tracking shot through the war-torn slum.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - The opening scenes capturing locked-in syndrome in the first person.

Eve's Bayou - Mozelle recounts the death of her husband in the mirror.

Jurassic Park - The T-Rex attack.

Kill Bill: Volume 1 - Hard to beat the massive fight scene between the Bride and the Crazy 8s.

Million Dollar Baby - The ending: "Somewhere between nowhere and goodbye ..."

Mulholland Drive - Dead on, puxzkkx -- Club Silencio is an astonishing scene.

Network - "I'm mad as hell ..."

Network - Ned Beatty's one big scene, which was enough to earn him an Oscar nomination.

Network - Beatrice Straight's Oscar-winning five minutes.

No Country for Old Men - "Call it, friendo."

On the Waterfront - Karl Malden's speech on the ship.

Saving Private Ryan - The Normandy Beach invasion.

Scream - The Drew Barrymore killing -- Janet Leigh for the modern age.

The Silence of the Lambs - The night vision basement climax.

Stephanie Daley - The childbirth scene.

To Kill a Mockingbird - The victim's testimony.

To Kill a Mockingbird - "Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing."

Vertigo - The final confrontation in the tower.

WALL-E - The entire opening sequence on Earth.

Wit - "The Runaway Bunny"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 742,

Well there's a LOT of them.

I agree with 742's list and here's some of mine:

The sniper-reveal in Full Metal Jacket. That left me, quite breathless. Speechless, even.

All of 2001: A Space Odyssey

Several scenes in Michael Clayton.

That, unbelievably touching montage in UP.

The spinning tetrahedron in Demon Seed.

The ocean attack, plus many other scenes in TCCoBB (so sue me).

Jason Statham's martial-arting gangs in his Transporter films. Crank too.

Some of the scenes in AI.

Pretty much, every scene in the LOTR series.

The "pop-out" scene in Alien, plus other scenes.

The art direction in Blade Runner.

The bank robbery gone bad, in The Long Riders.

I'm forgetting quite a few as well. I might add them later.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: babypook,

The scene of the CHOICE in Sophie's Choice..Haunting forever....

Stephanie Daley had three great scenes - the childbirth, the ending, and Stephanie's nighttime trek through the woods to find her babydaddy, and her "I thought it was a deer" line. Astonishing acting by Tamblyn.

I also want to mention Watts's 'audition' scene in Mulholland Dr.

Am I the only one who thought the "choice" in "Sophie's Choice" was the least interesting piece of acting/writing/plotting in that performance and film? I can understand the crushing implications of it but I don't think Streep's performance in that scene was compelling enough (and I wish the camera had stayed more distant), even though the rest of the performance was fantastic.

Also, someone please remind me why the opening of 'Scream' is well-acted, interesting or iconic in any way, because I didn't get it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: puxzkkx,

quote:

Originally posted by puxzkkx:
... her babydaddy ...

Umm, were you recently on the Jerry Springer or the Maury Povitch show?

This scene just came into my head:

Unfaithful : Diane Lane's "train scene"

The mention of Unfaithful reminds me of several:

The projection slide scene in 9 1/2 Weeks with Kim Basinger

The "Your luck's about to change" scene with Ellen Barkin and Dennis Quaid in The Big Easy

The tent scene in Brokeback Mountain

The Porsche-in-the-lake scene in Risky Business

The Pied Piper play in Testament

Chris Cooper backing up in the drive way, in Adaptation

The mud-flinging scene in Belle de Jour

Annette Bening's walk in The Grifters, as well as every scene with Anjelica Huston

Elizabeth Taylor's fighting style in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Also her entrance into rome in Cleopatra, which was, the best thing about that film.

Predator taking his mask off for the first time. Bugs are scary, never mind one on two legs and bigger than me.

I AM THE SUPER MOTHER BUG - Bug

quote:

Originally posted by babypook:
The tent scene in Brokeback Mountain

Partly disturbing and slightly wank-off-able, but powerful?

SCENES THAT TAKE MY BREATH AWAY BECAUSE OF GREAT ACTING, WRITING, EDITING AND USE OF MUSIC.....


THE "PUMP' AND "WATER" SCENE IN THE MIRACLE WORKER

THE "NORMANDY BEACH " SCENE IN SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

THE STAIRCASE SCENE WITH THE CAMERAS ROLLING IN SUNSET BOULEVARD

THE "DANCE IN THE GYM" SCENE IN WEST SIDE STORY

THE FINAL SCENE WHEN ELIZABETH TAYLOR VISITS MONTGOMERY CLIFT IN JAIL...IN A PLACE IN THE SUN

THE "FROG" SCENE IN MAGNOLIA

THE "SHOOTING OF LESTER BURNAM" SCENE IN AMERICAN BEAUTY

THE "I'M MAD AS HELL" SCENE IN NETWORK

THE "I'LL NEVER BE HUNGRY " AGAIN SCENE BEFORE INTERMISSION IN GONE WITH THE WIND

MERYL STREEP ON THE STAND IN KRAMER VS. KRAMER

THE SCENE WHEN DIANE KEATON (KAY) TELLS AL PACINO (MICHAEL) THAT SHE HAD AN ABORTION IN GODFATHER PART II

SO MANY MORE BUT FINALLY.....

EVERY SCENE IN "ALL ABOUT EVE"

Stop with the capital letters all the time!

Madeline Kahn as Trixie Delight in Paper Moon: Let Trixie sit in the front seat

Dustin Hoffman as Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy:
I don't think I can walk anymore / the death scene

Jon Voight as Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy: the death scene

Meryl Streep as Sophie in Sophie's Choice: the choice scene

Meryl Streep as The French Lieutenant's Woman:
I was the French Lieutenant's whore

Elizabeth Taylor as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: I am, George; I am / I am the Earth Mother

Bonnie and Clyde: the slow motion death scene

and many more from films like Psycho, Rocky, The Wizard of Oz, To Kill a Mockingbird (already mentioned above by 742), and on and on and......

quote:

Originally posted by puxzkkx:

Also, someone please remind me why the opening of 'Scream' is well-acted, interesting or iconic in any way, because I didn't get it.

I love the pacing of the scene, the gradually building dread, and Drew Barrymore plays the hell out of it. I'm not sure I would go as far as to call it iconic, but it's one of my favorite scenes from any horror or suspense film I've seen.

quote:

Originally posted by 742:

I love the pacing of the scene, the gradually building dread, and Drew Barrymore plays the hell out of it. I'm not sure I would go as far as to call it iconic, but it's one of my favorite scenes from any horror or suspense film I've seen.

Scream - The Drew Barrymore killing -- Janet Leigh for the modern age.

Umm, no.

The Dinner Table Scene and Ouisa walking out in "Six Degrees of Separation"

Spencer Tracey's big speech at the end of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"

learning about Susan's unhappiness at the start of the last act of the film in 'Adaptation'

The Bridge scene in "Manhattan"

The train scene in "Reds"

The final scene where the execs decide how to fix the hemorrhaging ratings of "The Howard Beale Show" at the end of "Network"

When Streep and Tomlin sing Goodbye to their mother "A Prairie Home Companion"

The end of "The Purple Rose of Cairo"

When grady gives his bag of pot to the janitor in "Wonder Boys"

Simply nearly anything in the movie Once Were Warriors ...............

OBVIOUSLY it's the drugs -- after reading some of these noms for supposedly "most powerful" scenes, what other explanation could there be?

Also:

At the end of the film, early in the morning, when Calvin calls it quits while there is so much distance between them in "Ordinary People"

Meeting Satine in "Moulin Rouge"

Velma singing "All that Jazz" in "Chicago"

Szpilman playing the piano for the German soilder in "The Pianist"

Szpilman's scenes as he wanders through alone in "The Pianist"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: G.Penn,

quote:

Originally posted by Pucifer:
OBVIOUSLY it's the drugs -- after reading some of these noms for supposedly "most powerful" scenes, what other explanation could there be?

Fine Puce; then how about these?:

The walk-out scene with Lord Hidatora, along with the look on his face when he arrowed the soldier tormenting his fool in Ran.
Lady Kaede slashing her kimono as a show of what she does to her enemies, in Ran.

Dersu Uzala, sitting by the fire, explaining how, the wind is a man, in Dersu Uzala

Catherine Deneuve's decent into madness in Repulsion

Roman Polanski finding that tooth, and seeing himself looking at himself, in The Tenant

The entirety of Helen Mirren's performance in The Queen; but particularly, that "look"

Marlon Brando (among so many of his other great works) explaining to Pacino how, he's looking after his family, and is nobody's puppet, in The Godfather

Julie Christie's true feelings bursting forth in the final act of Far From the Madding Crowd

Marianne Faithful socking it to them in the final act of Irena Palm

Jeff Goldblum explaining "insect politics" in The Fly

Lindsay Crouse's courtroom scene in The Verdict

That unbelievably great choreographed fight between Patricia Arquette and James Gandolfini in True Romance

Lucy Liu as O-ren Ishii in Kill Bill.

Hugo Weaving without any ears or sunglasses in Little Fish

It's a television series, but Anne-Marie Duff reminding the guards that she is a King's daughter too, in The Virgin Queen