Every day I ask a movie related question on Substack Notes.
Earlier this week, I asked “What is the most memorable scene from a movie for you?”
Here are some of my favorite answers:
“So, so many - up there would be the Shower Scene in Psycho, the ending of the original Planet of the Apes, Omaha Beach opening of Saving Private Ryan, the ending of the Usual Suspects, the ending of the original Wicker Man, “You talkin’ to me?” - Taxi Driver, Russian Roulette - Deer Hunter and I’ve just got to include in my top picks the “I’ll have what she’s having” from when Harry met Sally….”
“That’s a tough one! There are several that stick with me; the end of “Blade Runner” where Rutger Hauer’s character is dying (the “like tears in the rain” speech) is truly visceral in it’s poignancy; the “Badges? We don’t have no badges!” scene in my favorite film, “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (that scene serves as the tension breaker for the standoff, which is why it’s so widely quoted); there are others.. .but THE ABSOLUTELY MOST MEMORABLE SCENE EVER:
“Slim Pickens as Major Kong riding the A-bomb like a bronco as it drops from the belly of the B-52 in “Dr. Strangelove” (1964)!”
“I like when the little boy in Matilda is forced to eat a whole chocolate cake by Miss Trunchbull because that is how I would like to live my life (eating cake, that is, not being ordered around by a large woman).”
I’ve never see Matilda, so I can’t comment on that. But who can forget the ending of Dr. Strangelove? When I think Stanley Kubrick, I think about the ending of Dr. Strangelove and Jack Nicholson’s “Here’s Johnny” in Shinning. Just an awesome shot.
What do you think?
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Not just that scene in Matilda. Also when she spun and threw the kid by the pigtails!
Goodfellas always stick in my mind. When Joe Pesci goes batshit in a bar and smashes him with a phone. Donavan happily sings Atlantis as Billy Batts is beaten down and kicked by Tommy and Jimmy. Seared into my brain.