One scene that sums up a movie?

Watching the BBC's 'British Film Forever' at the moment. They just had a bit about The Full Monty, saying that the scene where they dance to Hot Stuff in the dole queue encapsulated the film as a whole in one scene.

So I was wondering whether other films have one scene which could sum up what the film is about.




(Note: this is not about the best or your favourite scene in a film.)

I'm a trained actor reduced to the status of a bum!

Alternatively: We've gone on holiday by mistake.

or

We have failed to paint it black.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

The death star being destroyed in Star wars... Luke blows up the Empire's Death star, thats the films story in one scene... Before everyone kicks off the one film not the whole series!

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I think the opening of Once Upon a Time in the West does nicely summarising the poetic style of Leone and the rest of the film.

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twist ending

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The time machine when he sees the future societies books.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

From You, Me, and Everyone We Know, a very quirky film by Miranda July

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http://earlsmoviepicks.blogspot.com/

This is a prety good pick, Iro, though I'd argue that that scene is slightly more overrated than the whole film. Though maybe that was the point.

That scene in Rain Man where he teaches the brother to dance. That caputed the film in a whole I think. Showing how he truely does care about his brother, try as he might to hide it.

I Am Sam. Sorry, but Rain Man always brings me back to I Am Sam. I think a few scene can sum this movie up, namely the parts with Sam and Lucy.

Fight Club, the scene right before credits where the city gets blown the f*** up! Just awesome!

This scene from Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain not only sums up his film... but all films. He was a troll before his time.

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Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of 'Green'?

-Stan Brakhage

This scene is the soul of The Straight Story

Sometime watching that film, it feels like almost every scene feels as if it could sum up that whole film. Of course, you could also argue that no scene could sum up that film as the film is a journey and no stage can sum up a journey.

This may be cheating since it's more than one scene, but here's something from Five Easy Pieces. Technically, the finale sums up the movie but there'd be no way to know if you hadn't seen the whole thing first.

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I'll see your:

And raise you a:

I know, there's so many excellent scenes in that movie that would work--actually the camera shot that so beautifully portrays the feel of the movie is the one of the combines working in tandem in the field. That one gets me every time!

The Godfather in which The scene where Michael is at the christining and it INTERCUTS with all the mobsters being killed on Michael's orders.

Any scene in any Ozu film instantly sums up that film and any other Ozu film ever. Except maybe Floating Weeds.

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For me it has to be this scene from one of my favourites

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Wow N, I forgot all about this movie! Loved the scene when the father shows them the pasa doble.