What is the Most Famous Movie Scene?

[c.d.]

What is the most famous movie scene? Not the best movie or the most famous movie but the scene that defines movies? I would have to go with the airport scene in "Casablanca." Then there is always the shower scene in "Psycho" and Clark Gable uttering those famous lines "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." And who can forget the old horse head in the bed?

c.d.

[Derrick]

What is the most famous movie scene? Not the best movie or the most famous movie but the scene that defines movies? I would have to go with the airport scene in "Casablanca." Then there is always the shower scene in "Psycho" and Clark Gable uttering those famous lines "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." And who can forget the old horse head in the bed?

c.d.

cd
Ones choice may down to a generational thing or it may be something off the wall such as the opening part of the Pearl and Dean adverts here in the UK.

I would suggest a few that are genuinely well known bar the ones you have mentioned. They are not necessarily films I like but are memorable scenes.

The lager drinking scene from Ice Cold In Alex
Indiana Jones after just realising that a bleeding great marble is coming his way.
Orson Welles appearing from the shadows in The Third Man.
Mae Wests come up and see me speech.
Harold Lloyd hanging from the clock.
Leo and Kate on the front of the Titanic (crap film but very nice boat effects. I hate Celene Dion to boot.)
Judy singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow from the Wizard Of Oz.
Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor's scenes in Singing In The Rain. These were imitated by respectively Morecombe and Wise and The Full Monty.

More to follow as it is time for dinner
Derrick

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi all. I think CD's list pretty much nailed it, unless you want to include a scene from Wizard of Oz, which pretty much defies any generational boundaries, at least here in the U.S. In fact, If you showed the tornado scene from WOO to anyone from age 5 to 95, they'd name the film in a second. Not sure if that's true with Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, or Psycho. For instance, I've never seen Casablanca (I know Psycho by heart though).

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[protohistorian]

Shower scene in Psycho and lone nude swimmer scene in Jaws. Dave

[sleekviper]

Chest buster scene....Alien
"I'll be back".....Terminator
"Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no stinkin badges!"...treasure of sierra madre
"I know what your thinkin punk, has he shot 5 times or 6? Well punk, go ahead, make my day"....Sudden Impact
"What we have here, is a failure to communicate".....cool hand luke
"May the force be with you"....star wars
"I see dead people"....sixth sense
"I don't want to be an elf, I want to be a dentist"
" You will be an elf, and LIKE IT!!!"...rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
parting of the red sea....The Ten Commandments
"You going to eat your fat?"..... Caddy shack.

[Tom_Wescott]

Sleek, those are famous lines, not scenes. Another famous scene would of course be Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs when he talks about fava beans. Or Blair Witch where her nose is running.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Pontius2000]

Shower scene in Psycho and lone nude swimmer scene in Jaws. Dave

I almost agree with you. in the US, the Psycho shower scene is definitely #1.

and I can't think of a more likely #2 than one from Jaws. but the most famous scene from Jaws is when the shark sticks his head out the water for the first time and Roy Schieder's cigarette drops out his mouth and he says, "we're gonna need a bigger boat".

[Stephen Thomas]

The shark suddenly appearing at the back the boat in Jaws.

Last scene in Some Like It Hot with Jack Lemmon and Joe E. Brown.

Gun hidden in toilet scene in The Godfather.

I'm Spartacus

[Tom_Wescott]

I believe it was Richard Dreyfuss who uttered the boat line. Again, this is a famous line moreso than a famous scene.

Incidentally, everyone should see the new bloodfest 'Piranha'. Very bloody and a lot of fun, and the movie opens with Richard Dreyfuss being eaten alive! You can't beat that.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

I almost agree with you. in the US, the Psycho shower scene is definitely #1.

If you're 35 or older. It's the most famous MURDER scene, but it would probably have to be Wizard of Oz to take this mantle in the U.S. Pretty much any scene.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

Regarding horror movies, more widely known across generations than the shower scene would be the headspinning scene in the Exorcist, or the pea-soup spitting.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Abby Normal]

What is the most famous movie scene? Not the best movie or the most famous movie but the scene that defines movies? I would have to go with the airport scene in "Casablanca." Then there is always the shower scene in "Psycho" and Clark Gable uttering those famous lines "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." And who can forget the old horse head in the bed?

c.d.

-George Bailey running down snowy mainstreet yelling hello to everyone in Its a Wonderful life
-Darth Vader virtual choking scene in Star Wars
-"Rosebud" Citizen Kane
-"I think we need a bigger boat" scene in Jaws
-"no place like home" /tapping ruby slippers in Wizard of Oz.
-"Adrianne!!" scene Rocky
-Lawn chair through the glass front door-Body Heat
-Any scene in Animal House

[sleekviper]

Pure scene would probably be lowering of the body in the lab during the storm in Frankenstein, or Kong on the Empire State building in the original King Kong. I would also include the parting of the red sea from The Ten Commandments, and chest busting scene in Alien.

[Tom_Wescott]

Kong on the Empire State building in the original King Kong

Good one.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[lynn cates]

British cinema

Hello CD. Well, if one includes British cinema, and if suspense defines movies, 2 great ones are:

1. "The Trollenberg Terror" (AKA, "The Crawling Eye"), a Baker and Berman opus. The scene, after about 61 minutes of titillation, the monster breaks down the door of the Hotel Europa, appearing for the first time.

2. "The Quatermass Experiment" (AKA, "The Creeping Unknown"), a Val Guest offering. The scene, Gordon Jackson has his camera crew pan up at Westminster Abbey and the creature, fully morphed, makes its appearance.

Alas, how many young laddies and lassies will remember these?

Cheers.
LC