"Great" movies

[Khev]

Alfred Hitchcock was once quoted as saying that the definition of a great movie is any movie with at least three great scenes and no bad ones.

Whether or not he really said that or whether or not you agree with that definition which of your favorite movies actually meet that criteria? List one or more movies that you consider "great" and try and name at least three great scenes from it. Does the movie have any bad scenes? And please use spoiler tags if you mention a pivotal scene from a movie in current release.

I'll start:

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Great scenes:

1. The AT-AT attack

2. Yoda raising the X-Wing from the swamp

3. Han Solo being frozen in carbonite

4. Vader's revelation to Luke

 

[CelticPredator]

Total Recall

1. Rekall gone wrong...."YOUUU BLEEW MAH COVAAHHHAA!"

2. The first attack, where Quaid unleashes his unrelenting badassness.

3. The chase through the train station, uses a guy as a human shield? Awesome.

4. The entire "Ghet yer ass to Mahs" scene.

5. Two Weeks!

6. The "Consida dat a devroce" scene. Such great moments there. And is the moment in the film where, if you believe it's a dream, shifts into total absurdity. Great bits of dialogue.

7. "Open your mind".

8. The final assault.

9. "See yoo at da pahty Riktah!" fight scene.

10. And finally, the end resolution with those eye popping special effects. Awesome villain death.


Doesn't have one bad scene. Every scene is filled with action, or great dialogue, or great comedy, and absurdity.

 

[cokebabies]

Silent Night, Deadly Night 2

Great scenes:

1) Stabbing someone with an umbrella, then opening said umbrella
2) Movie theater scene with the loudmouth
3) The Garbage Day rampage

 

[The Josh]

Fellowship of the Ring 2001

1. Entire prologue sequence

2. Fellowship cresting the hill

3. Moria sequence

4. Boromirs Death

The Two Towers 2002

1. Battle of Helm's Deep

2. Frodo Sam seeing the oliphant

3. Frodo, Sam, Faramir in the hidden cave

4. Last march of the ents

The Return of the King 2003

1. Sarumans death

2. Battle of pelenor fields

3. House of healing sequence

4. Frodo, Sam, Gollum in Mt. Doom

I could pick s many moments from these three films that IMO are just so much fun to watch.

 

[Khev]

Sarumon didn't die and there was no House of Healing sequence in the 2003 cut of ROTK.

 

[The Josh]

Saruman didn't die and there was no House of Healing sequence in the 2003 cut of ROTK.

That's ok I fixed your spelling error so we're even.

 

[Khev]

That's ok I fixed your spelling error so we're even.

 

[The Josh]

 

[preeny101]

Dawn of the Dead ('78):

1. Projects Siege
2. Hillbilly Zombie Hunting
3. Roger's Death
4. Motorcycle Gang Invasion

 

[snoop101]

FIRST BLOOD

1. Prison escape
2. Booby trap scenes
3. Rambo firing the m60 and exploding the sporting goods shop.
4. Ending scene with Trautman

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

The Thing

1. Dog cage

2. Norris creature

3. Blood test

 

[Devil_666]

Conan The Barbarian (1982)

1. Opening slaughter of Conan's parents/village.

2. Conan pit fighting.

3. Conan and Subotai killing the giant snake.

4. Cannibal orgy slaughter.

5. The final battle with Thulsa Doom's army at the mounds.

 

[DiFabio]

ROBOCOP 1987

1. The death of Alex Murphy

2. ED-209/Detroit Police attacking Robocop

3. Robocop's unmasking/Baby Food

4. Factory Shootout

5. Death of D!ck Jones/"What's your name son?" . . .

 

[Calvin Candie]

my top ten favorite films

1. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY


2. FIGHT CLUB

3. pulp fiction
4. goodfellas
5. no country for old men
6. the godfather part 2
7. inglourious basterds
8. the shining
9. death proof
10. the matrix

every scene in all of these movies are great.

 

[DiFabio]

Now you have to list 30 scenes to reason why they're great.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

1. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

1. Evolving apes

2. Deactivating HAL

3. Flying into the monolith

 

[Preshea]

Heat

1. Cup of Coffee scene- Pacino and Deniro actually sit down and threaten each other face to face. To date I don't know anyone who sits through that exchange without getting goosebumps.

2. Bank job street shoot out scene- The very definition of EPIC from start to finish!

3. Never going back/ end scene- A beautifully shot, simple, strong, very touching yet masculine end to a literal masterpiece of all action dramas.

 

[Darth Snoopy]

Planet of the Apes (1968)

1. The Icarus sinking.
2. When the apes where first revealed during the hunt in the jungle.
3. Nova. 'Nuff Said.
4. Taylor saying "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty apes!"
5. The Statue of Liberty half-buried in sand.
6. Taylor screaming "Maniacs!! You finally blew it all up!!! God damn you all to hell!"

 

[plasmid303]

I might take some heat for this. I have all the respect in the world for him, but I think Hitchcock's rubric for a 'great' movie is a crock of ____.

He pretty much broke his own rule in Psycho with that completely unnecessary (and unnecessarily long) scene at the end in which the psychiatrist practically relays redundant expository information about Norman Bate's condition, even though most people could intuit what was wrong with him via having seen the prior 99% of the film. The final shot with Norman in the cell almost makes up for it. It should've just been that from the beginning.

Psycho is a great film.

 

[devilof76]

1. Evolving apes

It could have ended there and I would have been happy.