Greatest film sequences
 

There are some movies that have that one great sequence. The one that makes you watch the movie till it comes around, then you can shut the TV off and do whatever.

Some of my favorites are:
The highway scene in "Matrix Reloaded".
The shootout after the bank heist in "Heat".
The car chase in "Ronin".
The first 30 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan".

What are some of your favorites?

The reveal at the end of The Matrix.
The lightsaber fight in The Empire Strikes Back.
Denouement Baptism/Vengeance sequence in The Godfather.
The reveal at the end of The Usual Suspects.
Night before the battle sequence in Branagh's Henry V.
The air cavalry surfs, Apocalypse Now.
"Make 'em laugh," and "Lullaby of Broadway," from Singin' In The Rain.
Epoxy as j/o lube sequence from American Pie 2.
Sword fight in bamboo trees, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Crossing the Sea of Reeds, Prince of Egypt.
The last battle, Kurosawa's Ran.
The last 15 minutes of The Maltese Falcon.

I have to agree. I bought the soundtrack (wrongfully so) in order to have the music from that scene. Unfortunately, I need to by the score (I hope)


The Phantom's reprise of "All I ask of you" from Joel Schumacher's version of Phantom of the Opera.
The ending to 2001: A Space Odyssey.


Not that it is profound in itself but the ending of the Doctor Who Christmas Special Voyage of the Damned where the Doctor screams in vain, "I can do anything!" That single phrase really does capture the Doctor's powers and his rage that he can't fix the universe.

The song "Drum Crazy" from the Fred Astaire movie "Easter Parade" - where Fred tricks a kid into giving up the bunny he wants to buy. A great combination of tap dancing and drumming:

the driving sequence from solaris


the black hair sequence from kwaidan


the whole sequence is available on youtube in 5 parts.
the sound is stunning...you really ought to see this on a big screen and continuously, though. the sound only really does it's work in the last part of this sequence.


the opening of 8 1/2

Rocky - Cracking the egg, drinking it and beginning his workout alone at dawn.
Matrix - Saving Morpheus.
Brian Song - Sayers speech after Pic dies.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - Final shoot-out scene
Enter The Dragon - Bruce Lee fight with man who caused the death of his character's sister, and the fight sequences leading to his capture.

The first few that came to mind:

Taxi Driver - When DeNiro goes to rescue Foster
The Trial - the 10 minutes or so following Anthony Perkins' awakening
Original Sin - For the most torrid onscreen clean sex scene

Damn, there are so many!

One right off the top of my head:

Girl With a Pearl Earring--Griet is walking across the main room of the house, looking at Vermeer caressing his wife, and her heart is in her eyes.

Although there are literally hundreds, the first one that came to my mind is the chase scene on foot in Point Break. It really does have everything, even a dog being thrown at Keanu Reeves!

If I think of more I'll be back! (wait - that sounds familiar!) :thumbsup:

Ding, we have a winner.

Also The Dude's dream sequence in The Big Lebowski.

Seconded.

The Devil's Rejects scene when "To be treated" plays

Ending of "The good, the bad and the ugly"
In Kill Bill I when Uma Thurman calls for O'Ren to come out

The Elegy of Dunkirk Beach sequence in Atonement is what comes to mind right now.

"MMMM That is a tasty burger!"

The Secret Garden

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Serenity... the River vs Reavers scene...

I'm not sure if it is the "greatest" film sequence, but I really enjoyed the last scene of Big Night when Primo and Secondo (Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci) are cooking eggs. No dialogue for quite a long time, just the two of them quietly cooking.

Meet Gunnery Sergeant Hartman

Remember the last sequence of The Great Escape?

The two main action sequences in Children of Men - continuous shots that completely blew my mind away in theaters (and still does now!)

Are we thinking of the same reveal? "I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see"/Neo can fly reveal? Because the music there is Wake Up by Rage Against the Machine.



Red Lemon made me think of the Puttin' on the Ritz scene from Young Frankenstein, which is a classic comedy scene.

Also good is the lightsaber duel between Darth Maul and Obi Wan Kenobi/Qui Gon Jinn at the end of The Phantom Menace. It reinforces my theory that there isn't a film in existence that couldn't be improved by a Ray Park fight sequence.

Greatest? Easy. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Elsa, the sexy aryan moron, had crossed the seal with the grail which triggered some sort of earthquake. Elsa falls into a crack, reaching for the grail. Indy falls into the same crack, facing the temptation that had just killed Elsa. Henry Jones, holding his son's hand, calmly says, "Indiana... let it go."

Fucking awesome.

I really should have mentioned this one before: the "to the pain" sequence from The Princess Bride.

Bringing in Indy offers too many choices to even think about. How about three:

1) the Cairo chase sequence in Raiders
2) the monkey brains sequence in Temple
3) the Young Indy chase sequence (opening sequence) from Crusade

And also, the ending sequence of Casa Blanca is so very classic.

Don't forget the sword fight between the Dread Pirate Roberts and Inigo.

I mean the scene in the hallway just after Neo revived.

Just thought of another. From Blade Runner, the "tears in the rain" speech.

Oh yeah!

I also like the cathedral scene from Andrei Rublev. The opening is good, too.

The Odessa steps from Battleship Potemkin. One of the most quoted and parodied bits of film.

Man with a movie camera -- the whole thing.

It's kind of hard to say you like it, but the opening sequence of Triumph of the Will is a striking piece of filmmaking. I can't believe they had little Bush act it out again on that aircraft carrier. What was Karl thinking?

The horse head in the bed bit from the Godfather.

As for 2001, i prefer the monkey parts of 2001 to the end. The bone --> space ship cut is pretty good, and the monkeys-and-the-monolith parts are fun.

Jesus... I can't believe I forgot about that scene.

The fight scene from the Crow where Brandon Lee is taking out all of the bad guys in Top Dollar's club just to get to Skank.

O'ren and Bee fighting in the snow with the perfect score behind it... wow.

My favorite is a strange one: The montage in Donnie Darko while "head over heels" plays.

Props to the reveal in the USUAL SUSPECTS.

- The reveal in OLDBOY

- The reveal/ending (as well as the conversations leading up to that scene) in SE7EN

- "The ear" in RESERVOIR DOGS

- "The Mines of Moria" (including the Balrog scene) in FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

- "Everyoooooonnnnnnnee!!!!" from LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL

- Most recently: "I drink your milkshake!!!" from THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Memento - Carrie Moss's betrayal, "Find a pen, find a pen!"
The Thing - The angsty bound blood test scene
Predator - Rock 'n roll bursts after Jesse Ventura's character goes down
Taxi Driver - The improv bit in the mirror, "Are you talkin' to me?"

1. The battle of Helm's Deep in "LOTR: Two Towers"
2. The car chase in "The Seven Ups"
3. Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris in "Way of the Dragon"
4. Julius and Vincent retrieving the suitcase in "Pulp Fiction"
5. Bourne fighting a would-be assassin to the death in "The Bourne Ultimatum"
6. Col. Jessup's testimony in "A Few Good Men"
7. The shootout in "Heat"
8. Rabbit vs. Papa Doc (final battle) in "8 Mile"
9.Gen. Chang taunting Kirk in "ST6: The Undiscovered Country"
10. Doc Holliday answer Ringo's drunken challenge in "Tombstone"

Has anyone mentioned the ending of the original Planet Of The Apes?

No, not the dull Tim Burton one.

How about when Hooper and Quint are comparing scars on the boat while hunting the shark in Jaws? It's interesting because Brody (Roy Scheider) doesn't show off any scars though we know that he was shot in the line of duty. Robert Shaw is particularly compelling when he tells the story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis.

Have to think about it a little but this scene/sequence is one I have toooooooo whole heartedly agree. The music, the camera work, etc was absolutely stunning. The reason I bought the DVD and OST.

Absoloutly awesome that is!

The Beacons scene from LOTR:ROTK

Army of Darkness - When Ash is trying to get the Necromonicon and can't remember the right words to say.

Se7en - When John Doe reveals to Mills what is in the box and that his wife was pregnant. Then Mills shoots him.

Team America, World Police - The sex scene.

To name just a few.

The LOTR vs. Star Wars scene in Clerks II

The OD scene in Pulp Fiction

And I have to reiterate the highway scene in Matrix: Reloaded, as it was perhaps the coolest scene in any movie....

Except for, maybe, the trees attacking Eisengard in Two Towers. That scene gives me chills every time.