100 Film Moments That Stay With Me
Limiting this to 100 is hard. I tried my best.
I was re-reading Patton Oswalt’s great book Silver Screen Fiend, updated to include several of his essays about film. One of them caught my attention—a piece about 100 of his favorite moments in film, be they performances, whole sequences, or effects. Since I revere Patton, I decided to write my own list of moments that I think about constantly. Not necessarily the most iconic, or the “greatest,” but the ones that touch something in me or provide a new understanding of how actors, cameras, or sound can communicate emotion. These are 100 of the first ones that came to mind—I could easily fill another article with a completely different 100 from different movies. So here goes.
The camera moving in on Joan Fontaine when she realizes Louis Jourdan doesn’t remember her in Letter from an Unknown Woman.
Eddie Murphy running across the freeway in Bowfinger.
The little boy watching his dad jump on the bike at the end of Bicycle Thieves.
The bicycle race at the end of Breaking Away.
Ian Richardson taking Jonathan Pryce to his new office in Brazil.
Roy Scheider watching Ann Reinking and Erzsebet Foldi do “Everything Old Is New Again” in All That Jazz.
Donald O’Connor running up the wall in Singin’ in the Rain.
Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda.
Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny: “Everything that guy just said is bullshit.”
The look on Ben Kingsley’s face when he realizes he has to explain just how awful Ralph Fiennes is to Liam Neeson in Schindler’s List.
“Silly Games” in Lovers Rock.
“I Lied to You” in Sinners.
Daveed Diggs’ rap at the end of Blindspotting.
Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles: “These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know – morons.”
John Cazale saying “Wyoming” in Dog Day Afternoon.
Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity.
The final line of I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.
John Goodman in The Big Lebowski: “You want a toe? I can get you a toe by 3:00 this afternoon, with nail polish. These fucking amateurs.”
The final scene of Burn After Reading.
Antonio Banderas checking in with his ex in Pain and Glory.
“What have the Romans ever done for us?” in Life of Brian.
Toshiro Mifune’s death in Throne of Blood.
Chishū Ryū peeling the apple at the end of Late Spring.
The cat bus in My Neighbor Totoro.
Eli Wallach in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Albert Brooks trying to convince Garry Marshall to give him back the money in Lost in America.
Beulah Bondi’s face on the train platform at the end of Make Way for Tomorrow.
Fredric March coming home to his family in The Best Years of Our Lives.
Gena Rowlands asking Peter Falk if he still loves her at the end of A Woman Under the Influence.
The Oprichniki’s musical number in Ivan the Terrible Part 2.
The woman running down the hall to correct the misprint in Mirror.
The camera moving in on Paul Newman when the verdict is read in The Verdict.
Moonstruck: “Dad, why are you crying?” “I’m confused.”
The first time Peter Simonischek appears as his alter ego in Toni Erdmann.
“My Rifle, My Pony and Me” in Rio Bravo.
Cagney tap dancing down the White House stairs in Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Peter O’Toole’s monologue in Ratatouille.
Larry Hagman as the translator in Fail Safe.
Walter Matthau’s face at the end of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
Christopher Plummer in The Insider: “That’s MISTER Wallace!”
The Fugitive: “I didn’t kill my wife.” “I don’t care!”
David Thewlis in Naked.
“The Carousel Waltz” in The Long Day Closes.
Rock Hudson getting the shit kicked out of him in the diner in Giant.
The magic candies in Céline and Julie Go Boating.
Ann Miller in Mulholland Drive.
James Cromwell dancing in Babe.
Philip Seymour Hoffman teaching Patrick Fugit how to be a rock critic in Almost Famous (uncut version.)
Pee-Wee Herman’s basement meeting about his stolen bike in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.
The waitress welcoming Jon Voight to Miami in Midnight Cowboy.
Yoda in The Last Jedi: “We are what they grow beyond. That is the burden of all masters.”
Tim Meadows introducing John C. Reilly to drugs in Walk Hard.
Bigger Than Life: “God saved Isaac!” “God was wrong!”
The trial of Chico in Duck Soup.
William Redfield patiently explaining (and re-explaining) to Walter Matthau that he’s broke in A New Leaf.
The husband and wife dancing to Dinah Washington’s “This Bitter Earth” in Killer of Sheep.
The Black acting school sketch in Hollywood Shuffle.
Mink Stole in Female Trouble: “I wouldn’t suck your dick if I was drowning and there was oxygen in your balls!”
The women in the jail cell chanting “we want the formula!” in Salt of the Earth.
David Lynch’s cameo as John Ford in The Fabelmans.
The guitar moving towards the camera and snapping back in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Kathleen Byron putting on the lipstick in Black Narcissus.
The 16mm and 35mm breaking at the ends of Acts I and II of Steve Jobs.
Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci fighting on the beach in Big Night.
Yul Brynner sticking the gun between Horst Bucholz’s hands in The Magnificent Seven.
Bob Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Michael Caine in The Muppet Christmas Carol.
Dorothy Malone literally dancing her father to death in Written on the Wind.
Kimberly Rivers rapping “I don’t need you to tell me that I’m amazing” in Trouble the Water.
Brian Cox as Robert McKee in Adaptation.
Kevin Kline beating up his friend who told him Barbra Streisand was too old for Yentl in In and Out.
The Weenie King in The Palm Beach Story.
The blind man destroying W.C. Fields’ store in It’s a Gift.
The witnesses in Reds.
Joel Grey watching Liza Minnelli from the wings singing “Maybe This Time” in Cabaret.
Boris Karloff’s eyes opening just before he’s sealed into the wall in Bedlam.
David Lean yelling “Who are you?” at Peter O’Toole at the Suez Canal in Lawrence of Arabia.
Robert Pattinson as the dictator at the end of The Childhood of a Leader.
Johnny Walker singing “Sar Jo Tera Chakraye” in Pyaasa (dubbed by Mohammed Rafi.)
Bing Bong in Inside Out.
Robert De Niro’s letter to his parents in Taxi Driver.
Philip Seymour Hoffman singing “Slow Boat to China” in The Master.
Jean-Louis Trintignant’s shadow disappearing during his conversation with the Professor in The Conformist.
The uncle climbing the tree in Amarcord.
Jim Piddock having to keep a straight face next to Fred Willard as the dog show commentators in Best in Show.
The banging in the hall during the first night in The Haunting. (Original version.)
The cat in Inside Llewyn Davis.
Candice Bergen laughing while Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel talk to her from offscreen in Carnal Knowledge.
The crowd yelling the names of other race riots at the police after they kill Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing.
John Wayne kicking the guy in the face without looking in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
Donald Sutherland asking Mary Tyler Moore what difference it made what he wore to the funeral in Ordinary People.
The bonfire in Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
Catherine O’Hara mouthing Fred Willard’s lines during the audition in Waiting for Guffman.
Robert Shaw’s monologue in Jaws.
The sound effect of the tugboat after Barbra Streisand finishes “Don’t Rain on My Parade” in Funny Girl.
Maximilian Schell going from speaking German to English in Judgment at Nuremberg.
Daffy pushing “The End” card away in Duck Amuck.
William Powell in My Man Godfrey.
Fred Willard (again) in A Mighty Wind: “Ay! Wha happened?”
The entire sequence of Hannibal escaping the jail in The Silence of the Lambs.