Pivotal scenes from your favorite movie(s)

I got the idea from this thread when Dani8 so perfectly described 'the reveal' in The Usual Suspects. I believe that good movies, like good literature have a scene that bring a whole new meaning to the plot and the character. It s a scene that becomes a take away for the audience, such as discovering Rosebud in Citizen Kane.

Here s a favorite of mine. Long before Jack Nicholson or Paul Newman became 'antiheroes' Scatlett O hara was the antiheroine for the entire Civil War. In fact I found her quite unlike able, shallow and vain, selfish and an unabashed slave owner besides- and might have wondered why this epic movie hinged on her person- until this scene:



Please post either a description , scene or sentence of any fave movie moments.:

Excellent question – I'll have to think about this one .

Oh thankyou, Lady. I love a good reveal and I'm sure I saw one recently but have to remember what it was. Back later.

I love Scarlett O’Hara. Mistress of her own life (finally) & surviving without the aid of a man (finally). You go girl!

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Not sure if this is what the OP means, but The Deer Hunter is one of my all-time fave movies. Love love love the scene at the wedding when Linda is aware (maybe for the first time) that Michael is in love with her. Swoon.

THIS! YES!

I was preaching "Bravo" after that whole sequence was done.

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Yes, you got it exactly , Stitchley! -I may not have phrased this topic as well as I should have, but that scene you posted is exactly right. Maybe I should have said 'defining moment? '

My sentiments about Scarlett as well - seems she was well ahead of her time.

Love love love the scene in Midnight Cowboy when Rizzo has died & Joe is alone in Florida. He dumps his NYC clothes in the trash & buys some nice clean comfortable clothes. Joe then goes into a diner & the waitress is so sweet to him. This is the first time that Joe realizes that the life of a hustler is nothing but pain & that from hereon maybe he can just be a regular guy who lives a normal life.

Love the pivotal scene in Bonnie & Clyde in the hamburger joint. Their first meal together & Clyde tells Bonnie to lose the kiss curl. She immediately does & this shows the audience that she will do anything for Clyde.



Pivotal scene in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, which I totally relate to & love is when Alice is trying to find a job. She exhausts herself doing so & gets a blister on her foot. The bar owner is so nice to her. He gives her a shot of whisky & a bandaid. He even hires her despite his misgivings. My first job in NYC was as a cocktail waitress. Four days in America & I had a job. The restaurant owner took a chance on me & I got a break just like Alice. 😎

You've got it exactly Stitrchley, Bonnie letting him know she'll follow his any whim: and that life affirming, life redemptive scene for Alice... and you.

Well before I post the pivot on The Sound of Music, I am going to mention I think the true pivot (or foreshadowing) is when a soaking wet Maria argues with the Captain, and he gets so flustered, he calls her Captain lol.

But this dance scene...so lovely and elegant...oh, swoon! ...is the beginning of the loving romance that is the driving wheel of the movie:

Another musical scene - of a totally different type, and this pivot comes (like Dani's description of the reveal at the end of Usual Suspects ) at the very end of the film. In fact, for me, it actually came AFTER the end of the film, as Bob Dylan s earnest young voice sings Fare thee well over the black screen and the credits rolling.

For me, the thing that annoyed me about Llewyn Davis was not his character (which most audience members found unsympathetic) but his lackluster musical performances -and his lack of true talent(and tho I abhor violence in life and art; I could not help but think the Coen brothers were taking some well deserved punches at every 5th rate egomaniacal narcissistic performer I have suffered through hearing on open mic night) . The beating Llewyn takes precedes the great reveal- that even as an adolescent, raw boned, raw nerved performer, with a distinctly pure and true and UNpretty voice, singing a version of a traditional song years before he started giving the audience his own music- Dylan was a burning, soaring talent who was about to reach millions.

I don t know where the Coen bros found that early, nascent Dylan performance, but for me it was.....Goosebumps

I kind of got a more bitter vibe from the Dylan cameo. Or maybe not bitter, but certainly something skeptical about performance and what he signaled for the future of that scene.

Also, lackluster throughout? Part of the bitterness (though that many not be the right word) is that Dylan comes on right after Llewyn’s most hearted performance, that one where he pours his heart out and has earned the lyrics he sings. Like a moment too late, or something.

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Well for me,Saunch, the Dylan song was a chillingly powerful antidote to what I perceived as a lesser talent. And perhaps the bitterness you sense is on Llewyn s part, maybe he has an inkling that even his 'best' performance is about to be usurped my this upstart newcomer. I certainly agree that LD s best moment, such as it was, came too late.

On reflection (and I am not familiar with all the Coen Brothers' work) I think this film is much more open to viewer interpretation than films like Fargo or Brother Where Art Thou. So your viewpoint is no less meaningful or pertinent than mine.But for this viewer, while I could tolerate the somewhat melodic but uninspired musical offerings of LD, the contrast with Dylan's affecting performance was the reason ( in this viewer's opinion) LD was about to leave the music for good. No loss to this viewer.

What Dylan signals to me is a future of music transformed for ever after, and surely for the better. He was a sponge for every type of music that came before him, and a conduit of a brilliant muse, who influenced every musician who came after him.

In the end, the Coens artfully present us with no visuals at all- just the essence of what it was all about - the music! I see -and hear- that prescient Dylan song not with bitterness or dismal regret: but hope.

fay grant having sex with richard gere while she was on the phone with her husband, In the Classic cop thriller: Internal affairs, mike figgis nailed the atmosphere especially with the music used

Well the conversation was getting pretty serious back there re: Llewyn Davis, from Saunch and I - so here s a scene from an absolute delight of a movie; perhaps the first movie I loved: Here starts the beginning of an amazing journey m, and a beautiful 'friendship, , when our heroine meets a modest fellow who doesn't know how smart he really is -

Millers Crossing - Tom telling Leo he's been seeing Verna, if the story is about loyalty to a friend's well being over the friendship then that's the moment the decision is made.


Marketa Lazarova - The "wolf among humans" monolog about Straba sums up the atmosphere of the film so well with its sense of wild otherness and arguably mirrors a lot of the story.

The scene in Total Recall where the doctor shows up to tell Quaid that he's still living out a memory implant and thinks it's real, thus raising the question as to whether or not he's really been a sleeper agent unexpectedly woken by Rekall or if he is the average Joe who's enjoying his brain holiday so much that he refuses to return to reality.

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The scene in Münchhausen where the Baron first encounters Count Cagliostro. It's actually giving me chills thinking about it . It's pivotal because of what happens later, which these days we'd think of as an origin story.

The scene in The Pornographer (1999) where Paul has just finished complaining in a store about the quality of the pornography (I'm laughing as I'm typing this). The man behind the counter replies sagely "If you don't like it then maybe you should make your own movies".