Particular scenes that raise a film from 'good' to 'great'

There are loads of good and very good films out there. When I go to the cinema, I usually have a good time. But lets be real, there are many average films that and instantly upgraded to 'potential classics' just because of certain stand out scenes.

If a thread similar to this has been done already, then my apologises as i'm new here. But I thought it would be interesting if we all shared scenes that the felt either 'saved' a film or really transcended that film's initial credibility.

I'm going to pick a particular scene from the film Half Nelson. It's a good drama that's not exactly original, but theres one particular scene that really makes it more powerful and encapsulates everything we see before AND after it. If you've seen the film, then you know exactly what scene i'm talking about. For those that haven't then heres a youtube vid of it:

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I hope everybody else joins in and posts such scenes they think boost a film. This coud be grrrr-ate.

Interesting question, TheDarkNight. I believe that the film West Side Story has many such scenes, and, due to my intense love for this film, I have much difficulty singling out a given scene(s). However, in no particular order, if there are any particular scene(s) that've really been pillars and helped make this movie great, they are the Prologue/Jet Song, America, Dance at the Gym, Officer Krupke, the Pre-Rumble Quintet, and even the Rumble itself. The Cool scene is also another pillar of a scene for my alltime favorite film.

First scene that jumped into my mind when I read the title of this thread was the whole shotgun murder scene in Woody Allen's Match Point. That film asks for a whole heckuva lot of your patience, but it rewards that patience in a big way with that scene. Fantastic payoff, every plodding second of the movie is completely redeemed right there. The best eight minutes of Woody Allen's career, foshur.



I also think that a lot of times if a movie has an especially awesome ending, the viewer is a little more forgiving of the rest of the movie. There Will Be Blood is a very good example of this. There are more than a few scenes in that flick that drag on a little longer than they probably should, but the final scene in the bowling alley pretty much solidifies my love for the movie. It sends you off on a high note and that's definitely what the movie needed.


"I'm finished!"

As grisly as the ending of There Will Be Blood was, it's probably a good finale. A little bit bloody for my liking, however.

I'm gonna have to go with the Interview scene in Natural Born Killers with Robert Downey Jr. and his American Maniacs show.



the movie is not the greatest example of satire and verges on sensory overload at times but that one particular scene for me transforms the film from 'good' to 'great'. Such a great moment. makes the whole film worth watching imo.

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The entire ending of departed raised it from great to super great.

It's a solid flick, all around.

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Miller's Crossing......um the Danny Boy Assassination scene! Can you say BAD ASS! Never ever saw a better ganster shooting go down....at the end in the road when the gun was smoking and the cigar snipe was put into his mouth......brilliant.....I was in love!

Agreed. One of my favorite scenes in film, period. When Holden recommended the film to me years ago, he mentioned the scene, as well. Needless to say, when it first played out for me on first watch, I was totally floored.

My choice is the scene early in GLADIATOR where Russell Crowe's Maximus tells the Emperor (Richard Harris) about his home in Spain. The audience has just watched a bloody battle scene, and is suddenly listening to a man wax nearly poetic about everything from the fruit trees on his land to the color of his wife's hair. It could've been wildly out of place, but it worked, and elevated GLADIATOR from popcorn action fun chick flick/Oscar winner/great movie.

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I made a thread called Crappy Movies With Great Scenes, or something like that....

I can't find it (too lazy to look actually). If I do look for it and find it I'll paste my answers here.

For now, I'm off to bed.

I have to work Canada Day.....

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I can think of two movies that would only have been good if not for a certain scene.

High Tension. When the twist hits with about half an hour left. The cop watching the security camera and they reveal the antagonist is actually the protagonist while they're replaying her burying an axe in some poor saps chest.

Feast: All I have to say is, Henry Rollins in pink sweat-pants = instant humor and greatness.

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I can remember one scene that, it could be argued, marked the change from the old moral code Hollywood to a more amoral modernistic approach to making movies. The scene was in Dr. No, the first James Bond film, in which Bond captures, disarms, and then questions an assassin sent to kill him. Then at the end of the questioning, Bond shoots him! Dead! Unarmed! No provocation! Just shoots him!

I can't ever remember a movie hero doing that before. But then after that, we have Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry or the man with no name shooting folks all over the screen, a romantic tale about Bonnie and Clyde, and films in which Mafia godfathers are the heroes. There used to be films about criminal types, but in the old Hollywood, they always ended up dying in the gutter in the final scene. Now it's often the hero who leaves dead bodies in the street.

For me it's The Illusionist.

Maybe that's OK, or maybe it should be in spoilers. I've seen lots of endings given away the last few days.

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Very true, rufnek. It's the sign of the times, unfortunately. I think that, since movies reflect the very times in which they're made, and therefore the very attitudes, to boot, it's safe to say that the attitude that "the punks need to be wiped out once and for all" has pervaded our society, and the film Dirty Harry back in the early 1970's, began that trend, as the "get-mad-as-hell and don't-take-it-anymore" attitude began to take hold back then, and it's continued today, as people are saying "let's clean out the dirt and take back our streets" Vigilantism is what it is, really.

Just thinking now... another movie that was 'good' and was boosted to 'great' would have to be Collateral - two scenes in particular. The scene where they visit the Jazz player:

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Incredible tension...

and ofcourse the nightclub scene, wow!



really made the film jump from OK to excellent.

IMO I dont think there is a movie out there that would be considered great now, but not so much if that scene was diferent or not there all together. If once scene is to be the determination between good and great, the movie probably is great material to begin with...Just sayin...

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The only one I can think of from recent memory is the boat scene from Caddyshack. Whereas much of the rest of the movie had me laughing a lot, I nearly had a heart attack from laughing so hard at the boat scene.

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