What is the big money scene that secured an actor or actress the Academy Award?
I will take a crack at the 2k best actor winners.

Russell Crowe-Gladiator-The "are you not entertained" scene or his death scene.

Denzel Washington-Training Day-Alonzo and Jake's first meeting or "King Kong ain't got S H I T on me" scene.

Adrien Brody-The Pianist-The end scene.

Sean Penn-Mystic River-When Jimmy finds out about his daughter.

Jamie Foxx-Ray-Detox scene

Phillip Seymour Hoffman-Capote-the last meeting between Perry Smith and Truman Capote.

Forrest Whitaker-The Last King of Scotland-Idi Amin's finds out about Nicholas' affair with one of his wives.

Daniel Day Lewis-There Will Be Blood-Eli and Daniel's final confrontation.

Sean Penn-Any one of Harvey Milk's stump speeches.

Nicole Kidman - The train station scene.

Peter Finch - "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore."

Cuba Gooding Jr. - "Show me the money"

Ingrid Bergman for "Gaslight" - her final speech to her tied up husband.

Bearice Straight - her one scene in the film

Meryl Streep for Kramer vs. Kramer - she was great throughout, but it was the courtroom scene that really cemented her win.

George Sanders - the scene where he tells Eve he knows everything and traps her.

Jane Fonda for Klute - when she undresses for her older client or in the confrontation scene when the tape is played for her.

Katina Paxinou - the whole, but especially the scene about being ugly and loving.

Cloris Leachman - all of it, but especially that last scene.

Cate Blanchett - I think what got her to the podium was the scene where she tells Howard in the bathroom that people don't understand them and they'll make them out to be freaks.

Jennifer Hudson - "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going"

I'm not sure if all of these are the scenes that won them the oscar, but they're the actors most memorable scenes and when you look over the ballot and think of these performances, for me, they instantly come to mind and are really powerful.

Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine: "You're not a loser"

Tom Hanks for Forrest Gump: Jenny's grave site

Kevin Spacey for The Usual Suspects: Ending montage of his interrogation with Chazz Palminteri

Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men: The liquor store "call it" scene.

Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight: "You're just a freak... like me" interrogation scene

Halle Berry: A combo of the hospital break-down and the "Make me feel gooooood" line pre-coitus.

Julia Roberts: The crying scene in the car on her cell phone, or the "This is my work, my sweat, my time away from my kids!" line.

Catherine Zeta-Jones: The "I Can't Do It Alone" song.

Renee Zelwegger: "IT'S RAAAAININ'!"

Helen Hunt: Breakdown while writing the thank you letter.

Jack Nicholson (One Flew...): That incredible lingering shot of his face as the party near the end is winding down, and the consequences of it start to dawn on him.

Marlon Brando (The Godfather): The aching face of grief and regret when he hears of Sonny's death.

Vivien Leigh (Streetcar): Ordering Mitch to leave the apartment before she starts screaming. Then screaming.

Julie Christie (Darling): "Get out of here!"

Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl): "My Man" at the very end.

Faye Dunaway: Talking non-stop about ratings during sex, with the climax being an afterthought.

Juliette Binoche: The perfectly-modulated breakdown near the end.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rand0mDude,

Still the original one, and unsurpassed over these many years, ultimate one (without which there was zero chance of the win) is Luise Rainer's tearful phone call scene in The Great Ziegfeld

Marlon Brando:
"I could have had class...I could have been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am"

"I never wanted this for you. I work my whole life~I dont apologize~to take care of my family, and I refuse to be a fool, dancing on the string held by all those bigshots. I dont apologize..."

Sophia Loren's bitter anger in Two Women

Cliff Robertson's classroom reveal, in Charly

The unbelievably great cast in The Last Picture Show; Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, and the loneliness and isolation they conveyed.

Peter Finch, hearing the voice of God

Christopher Walken, already dead and playing that game; The Deer Hunter

Mary Steenburgen, that tapdance, Melvin and Howard

Dianne Wiest, "Dont speak, dont speak"

And there are so many who were good from beginning to end. Just to name a few: Rachel Weisz, Helen Mirren, Chris Cooper, Holly Hunter, Marisa Tomei, Jodie Foster, Peggy Ashcroft, Meryl Streep, the droll John Gielgud, Joel Grey, Fredric March, and others who strung, one astonishing scene after another.

quote:

Originally posted by Professor Chaos:

Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight: "You're just a freak... like me" interrogation scene

Just reading that made me want to run over to the DVD player and pop it in.

Marisa Tomei easily won it for her courtroom scene. Hilarious stuff.

A lot of winners were consistent from beginning to end - I always enjoy coming across those performances.

Helen Hunt - when she had that scene where she was talking to her mother (Shirley Knight).

Marisa Tomei - the courtroom scene

Jennifer Hudson - "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going"

Marion Cotillard - all of it, but probably the breakdown scene and the scene when she was old and singing that song.

Cuba Gooding Jr. - "Show Me The Money"

Im still dissaponted about Jennifer Hudson winning by that song over all the great scenes from Cate Blanchett and Adriana Barraza in NOTES ON A SCANDAL and BABEL.

quote:

Originally posted by musicboy:
Im still dissaponted about Jennifer Hudson winning by that song over all the great scenes from Cate Blanchett and Adriana Barraza in NOTES ON A SCANDAL and BABEL.

I somewhat agree, though I did LOVE Jennifer Hudson, especially "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going". She nailed that song, and the emotions that come with it. If she didn't win, I was all for Rinko Kikuchi in 'Babel'. She was breath-taking. Her best scene, though she had many, was her scene with the detective near the end. Heartbreaking stuff.

Rinko deserved that gong, and no other!

Nicole Kidman -- the train station scene
Cuba Gooding, Jr. -- "Show me the money!"
Jennifer Hudson -- "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"
Marion Cotillard -- Edith's reaction after discovering that Marcel had died in a plane crash
Halle Berry -- the hospital room sequence
Robin Williams -- the park bench scene with Matt Damon
Javier Bardem -- the "Call it . . . " sequence with the store owner
Tim Robbins -- the vampires monologue
Catherine Zeta-Jones -- "All That Jazz"
Peter Finch -- "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
Heath Ledger -- the Joker's upside-down cackle in his last scene in the film
Dianne Wiest ("Bullets Over Broadway") -- "Don't speak! Don't speak!"
Tilda Swinton -- "You don't want the money?"
Shirley MacLaine -- "Give my daughter the shot!"
Katharine Hepburn ("On Golden Pond") -- "You're my knight in shining armor . . ."

I almost uniformly disagree. While there are surely exceptions (Hudson might come closest in recent years) I think there is rarely a "scene" that one people an Oscar on it's own. It's easy for us to point to a big scene or an emotional one and say that's it, but I just don't buy it most of the time. I think the performances - whether you agree with the win or not - almost always won for their totality, not just one scene.

Luise Rainer clearly won the Ziegfeld oscar for the phone scene, and Claire Trevor won her Oscar for the singing scene.

I agree with Myst Rent that a scene rarely wins an Oscar, but I'll share one experience -

about a month before its world premiere in Cannes, Clint Eastwood presented a scene from Mystic River to a bunch of us as part of a two-day WB sales event. It was the scene on the porch where Sean Penn and Tim Robbins are taking, and Penn breaks down but keeps talking.

Basically everybody in the room at the point - without seeing any of the rest of the film - figured he'd finally won an Oscar.

I believe the best example of scene winning an Oscar is Ingrid Bergman winning for her interrogation scene on "Murder on the Orient Express".

Another examples:
Jennifer Connelly - sequence with child in a bath
Cate Blanchett - when Hepburn thanks Hughes for not publishing her photos with Tracy
Helen Mirren - 2 scenes with deer
Sean Penn (MR) - "Tell me, is that my daughter?"
Tim Robbins - "I did it"
Hilary Swank (MDB) - her eyes in last scene
Catherine Zeta-Jones - her courtroom scene - "I'm out of practice... WHAT A LAUGH!"
Adrien Brody - confrontation with bitchy neighbor
Angelina Jolie - confrontation with Brittany Murphy's character
Roberto Benigni - translation scene
Al Pacino - tango
Jodie Foster & Anthony Hopkins - first meeting of Clarice Starling & Hannibal Lecter
Whoopi Goldberg - "4 million dollars?!"
Anjelica Huston - when she talks to her father about her sex life
Jessica Lange (Tootsie) - memories about wallpaper
Christopher Walken - his last scene when Robert De Niro's character finally finds him
Maggie Smith - just after her character lost an Oscar (it's delightful and ironic that she won for this movie!)
Diane Keaton - balcony scene
Barbra Streisand - first casting
Julie Andrews - when she realized that she has to leave
Audrey Hepburn - her return to the palace
Joan Crawford - when she tears the check and Vera slaps her

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jake221,

quote:

Originally posted by MysteriousRent:
I almost uniformly disagree. While there are surely exceptions (Hudson might come closest in recent years) I think there is rarely a "scene" that one people an Oscar on it's own. It's easy for us to point to a big scene or an emotional one and say that's it, but I just don't buy it most of the time. I think the performances - whether you agree with the win or not - almost always won for their totality, not just one scene.

Sure they win for their entire performances, but I think there is a scene that can push them over the edge and make it certain that they win the Oscar. I think that there can be scenes so powerful that it makes it hard to vote for anyone else because all you can think of while voting is "that scene".

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

Two mysteries for me in Best Actress:

Grace Kelly
Gwyneth Paltrow

which scenes in their Oscar winning roles should I re-watch to "get it"

Grace Kelly won as much for her roles the same year in Rear Window and Dial M for Murder, and the contrast between her glamour in those two films and being deglamourized in The Country Girl.