Ten Favorite Movie Moments (or, Why I Really Love The Movies)
Submitted by Macheath on Mon, 01/26/2004 - 02:44
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- The scene in Buster Keaton's Sherlock, Jr. where he literally jumps into the movie he's projecting. Then the scenery switches around him almost indiscriminantly, just because. Wow.
- This dialog from The Thin Man:
- Nora: Pretty girl.
- Nick: Yes. She's a very nice type.
- Nora: You got types?
- Nick: Only you, darling. Lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.
- Nora: Who is she?
- Nick: Oh, I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you. You see, Dorothy is really my daughter. It was spring in Venice, and I was so young, I didn't know what I was doing. We're all like that on my father's side.
- Nora: How is your father's side?
- Nick: Oh, it's much better, thanks, and yours?
- The Tramp's song and dance routine in Chaplin's Modern Times.
- When Ilsa is talking to Sam for the first time in years in Casablanca. Her face is so beautiful it practically glows.
- The precise moment in The Best Years Of Our Lives when Myrna Loy first realizes that Fredrich March has come home.
- The scene in All About Eve where Addison DeWitt cuts Eve Harrington down to size only hours before the premiere of Lloyd Richard's play. He's nobody's fool, least of all hers.
- Although Gene Kelly's performance of the Singin' In The Rain title sequence gets all the acclaim, my favorite scene is Donald O'Connor's own Make 'Em Laugh.
- Toshiro Mifune getting skewered with all those arrows in Throne Of Blood. It's impressive enough until you realize that they were really shooting arrows at him off camera.
- The face-off between James Mason and Cary Grant in North By Northwest, when they first meet and circle each other as all great adversaries do.
- The boys' little fart joke in Good Morning and the poor kid who ends up, erm, discharging more than gas every time he tries it.
Author Comments:
Well geez, I was hoping I could find ten items up to the present. Look for part two of this list at a later date.
Wow, what a wonderful debut list (I feel like I'm doing lots of cheerleading here lately, but what the heck, folks keep putting up good stuff)! I can't wait for chapter 2.
I've seen all these except Throne of Blood and Good Morning and agree they're standout moments.
I've recently been catching bits and pieces of Singin' in the Rain (it's my daughters' current favorite) and man, all the numbers in that movie are terrific. I never really noticed "Fit as a Fiddle" before, but it's so much fun, and an impressive display of humor, grace, and athleticism to boot. I'm with you though (along with my daughters): "Make 'em Laugh" takes the cake.
Count me in as another Make 'Em Laugh fan.
And I really agree on Throne of Blood, but you might wish to spoiler-tag that one. What a scene.
Great list. Your comments gave me high expectations, and you've more than met them. Thanks, and here's hoping this is the first of many!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Don't remember a moment when James Mason and Cary Grant face-off, unless you mean at the art auction, when Cary Grant catches Eve Marie Saint, Mason, and Landau all together and in cohoots with each other.
A favorite movie scene of mine is in FLash Gordon, where flash crashes the ship into the palace during the wedding ceremony. Another is from an Abbott and Costello movie called the Time Of You Life. It's towards the end, when the ghosts Horatio and Melody finally split up at the gates of heaven. Sweet little music plays right there, emphasizing the bittersweet moment. This one is probably my favorite Abbott and Costello movie.