Greatest Film Moments and Scenes

GREAT MOMENTS and SCENES FROM THE GREATEST FILMS

An extensive collection of the most famous, distinguished, unforgettable or memorable images, scenes, sequences or performances, many from the greatest films of all time

Part 1

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About Schmidt (2002)	The character of mid-60s Warren Schmidt (Oscar-nominated Jack Nicholson) as a retiring Omaha, Nebraska insurance salesman who views his entire life as disappointing - with the opening shot of Schmidt in his barren office waiting on his last day for 5 PM - and the scene of his retirement dinner; his correspondence with his "Save the Children" adoptee (delivered in voice-over soliloquies "Dear Ndugu...") - an uncomprehending Tanzanian six year-old orphan, and his anger about his long-time homely and overweight wife Helen (June Squibb) ("Who is this OLD woman in my bed?") and about his lack of accomplishments ("...When I was a kid I used to think that maybe I was special that somehow Destiny would tap me to be a great man..."); his loathing for his prospective "nincompoop" son-in-law waterbed salesman Randall Hertzel (Dermot Mulroney) ("This guy’s not up to snuff, if you ask me. Not for my little girl..."); the scene in which Warren discovers his wife dead in the kitchen due to a stroke, and his ensuing road trip in a Winnebago to Denver to visit his only child - mousy daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis); Warren's regretful prayer atop his Winnebago on a starry night to his dead wife ("Was I really the man you wanted to be with? Was I? Or were you disappointed and too nice to show it?"); the character of uninhibited, earthy flirtatious divorcee (and the mother-in-law of his daughter) Roberta Hertzel (Oscar-nominated Kathy Bates) - and her infamous nude hot-tub scene with the unwilling Schmidt; the brilliant wedding toast scene in which Warren finds some self-healing and consolation, his despairing letter to Ndugu ("Relatively soon, I will die. Maybe in 20 years, maybe tomorrow, it doesn't matter. Once I am dead and everyone who knew me dies too, it will be as though I never existed. What difference has my life made to anyone? None that I can think of. None at all"); and the climactic catharsis when Warren receives his first letter back from Ndugu's missionary mother superior with a drawing of Warren and Ndugu holding hands, and the closing close-up shot of a teary-eyed, elated Warren, in director Alexander Payne's existential character study and nihilistic black comedy
The Abyss (1989)	The startling, opening credit-less title sequence in which "THE ABYSS" emerges from the dark, with the camera descending down the "Y" into the ocean, the frighteningly realistic nuclear submarine drowning scene and later the scene of divers surveying the drowned corpses that mock death, and the many computer-generated images of the watery aliens, including the revelatory emergence of a glowing purple/pink ship in front of Lindsay Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) -- and her later description of it to estranged husband Virgil "Bud" Brigman's (Ed Harris) ("It... it was like a dance of light!") -- and the amazing "pseudopod" sequence featuring a CGI water-based tentacle that morphs into the faces of Linsday and Bud, the scene-stealing, paranoid character of Lt. Coffey (Michael Biehn) -- driven insane by pressure sickness, and his two major tense, action sequences in which he knife-fights with Bud and the "chase" scene with two submersibles which culminates in Bud and Lindsay being stranded in a leaking submersible with only one aqualung, the subsequent drowning of Lindsey, and Bud's frantic resuscitation scene ("Goddamn it, you bitch, you never backed away from anything in your life! Now fight!"), paralleled by Lindsay's speech to Bud when he descends into the 2.5 mile deep Abyssal Trench to defuse a nuclear bomb ("I'm with you. I'll always be with you"), Bud's encounter with the angelic-looking NTI's (Non-Terrestrial Intelligences) and his being taken to their awe-inspiring underwater city in a 2001-ish sequence, the astonishing deleted "tidal wave" scenes (restored in the director's cut), and the final kiss between Bud and Lindsay ("Hello, Brigman," "Hello, Mrs. Brigman"), in James Cameron's landmark science-fiction film
The Accidental Tourist (1988)	The character of fastidious, withdrawn travel guide writer Macon Leary (William Hurt) who was emotionally numbed by the violent shooting death of his son Ethan (Seth Granger) in a fast-food restaurant robbery - including his subsequent divorce from wife Sarah (Kathleen Turner); his painful flashback in which he identified his son's body with a flat, drained confirmation: "Yes, that is my son"; also the many forward attempts of wacky dog trainer and flirtatious single mother Muriel Pritchett (Best Supporting Actress winner Geena Davis) (who was tending Macon's spunky Corgi named Edward) to date the oblivious Macon, offering more than dog training (Muriel: "Or just call for no reason. Call and talk." Macon: "Talk?" Muriel: "Sure! Talk about Edward, his problems. Talk about anything. Just pick up the phone and talk. Don't you ever get the urge to do that?" Macon: "Not really"); and the moving scene in which he attempted to break off a dinner date with Muriel by a written note - and then when he tried, awkwardly in person, to explain his loss and his reasons for not wanting to get close ("I can't go to dinner with people, I can't. I can't talk to their little boys. You have to stop asking me. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I'm just not up to this"), and her comforting hug followed by a non-sexual invitation to go upstairs to her bed to sleep - and her response of "I'm bashful" when he asked her to remove her gown next to him; and then later, the tearjerking finale in Paris when Macon (on his way to DeGaulle airport) after breaking up once and for all with Sarah and telling her that he was returning to Muriel ("I tried but I can't make this work...I'm beginning to think it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them"); after he was helped into a taxi by a blonde French-speaking boy (Gregory Gouyer) who strongly resembled Ethan, he spotted Muriel leaving the hotel (whom he'd repeatedly spurned while in Paris) - and the film ended with their mutual shocked reactions (Muriel's delighted and smiling reaction and Macon's teary-eyed look and half-smile) when she saw him in the back seat of the taxi that he had ordered stopped by her, in director Lawrence Kasdan's quirky, award-winning romantic drama
Ace in the Hole (1951) (aka The Big Carnival)	The powerful character of Charles 'Chuck' Tatum (Kirk Douglas): a belligerent, self-obsessed, unscrupulous big-city newspaper reporter working for the Albuquerque Sun-Bulletin (with its hand-embroidered motto "Tell the Truth") - with his contemptuous rant about how he misses New York after being stuck in New Mexico for a year: ("...Too much outdoors. Give me those eight spindly trees in front of Rockefeller Center any day. That's enough outdoors for me...); his stage-managing of an "ace in the hole" media-frenzied story - an orchestrated rescue operation of a good-hearted trading post owner named Leo Minosa trapped by a cave-in of rocks 250 feet inside an ancient, haunted Indian cliff dwelling (Mountain of the Seven Vultures) while looting it of artifacts in the remote town of Escudero; also, his sleazy scheming with Leo's long-suffering, jaded, and unhappy femme fatale wife Lorraine (Jan Sterling) after five years of unfilfilled marriage to both hustle the situation, who first considered running off - (Tatum: "Got a little jump on him this time, huh? Can't run after ya, not lyin' there with those rocks on his legs." Lorraine: "Look who's talkin'! Much you care about Leo. I'm on to you. You're workin' for a newspaper. All you want is something you can print. Honey, you like those rocks just as much as I do"), but later reconsidered after Tatum suggested that there would be monetary rewards for staying and pretending to be a grieving wife: ("There's gonna be real dough in that cash register by tonight. When they bleached your hair, they must have bleached your brains too") - she is easily persuaded by the promise of revenue from gathering throngs to remain with her ailing husband - the Trailways bus pulls away to reveal Lorraine walking back inside; the scene of Tatum siding with local corrupt Sheriff Gus Kretzer (Ray Teal) up for re-election: "What did ya have? A pair of deuces. This is better. Here we've got an ace in the hole?"; the frenzied, scenes at the rescue site - looking like a drive-in theatre with tourists, a literal circus (S & M) amusement park and carnival, a camp ground, rising admission prices, etc.; the shocking scene of Lorraine stabbing Tatum in the lower waist with a pair of scissors as he strangles her with a cheap mink stole (Leo's present to her for their 5th anniversary); the scene of last rites being administered by a priest to pneumonia-stricken Leo after 6 days of being unnecessarily trapped in the cave-in, and Tatum's speech to the crowds to go home after Leo's death: ("Leo Minosa is dead. He died a quarter of an hour ago...with the drill just 10 feet away. There's nothing we can do anymore. There's nothing anybody can do. He's dead. Do you hear me? Now go on home, all of you! The circus is over"); and the sight of Leo's forlorn Papa Minosa (John Berkes) looking at the "Rescue Fund" sign after everyone's departure - with litter blowing in the wind; and the final low-angled shot of bleeding, defeated journalist Tatum collapsing at the feet of his editor Mr. Boot (Porter Hall): ("How'd you like to make yourself a thousand dollars a day, Mr. Boot? I'm a thousand-dollar-a-day newspaperman. You can have me for nothing"), in director/co-writer Billy Wilder's uncompromising, scathing and harsh noirish commentary on the sensationalizing media
Adam's Rib (1949)	The scene of the attempted assault/murder of her philandering husband by wife Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) after reading an instruction manual about how to use a gun; the stellar performances of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy as dueling lawyers and as husband/wife Amanda and Adam Bonner -- prefaced by Adam's first learning of his wife's role as defense attorney: "I'm going to defend her" - (he topples a tray of drinks); also the scene of the Bonner's confrontation on a massage table at home when he slaps her behind hard ("What are you - sore about a little slap?" and her reply: "I know a slap from a slug"); and the scene of Doris' speech in court; and the closing dialogue including Adam's phrase: "Vive la difference!", in director George Cukor's battle-of-the-sexes romantic comedy
Adaptation (2002)	The opening monologue of the main character in voice-over during the film's credits displayed on a black screen (with white typewriter text), the sped-up scene of the evolutionary creation of the cosmos, life and man from Hollywood (from Four Billion And Forty Years Earlier) to the present concluding with the close-up of a childbirth; and the scene of writer-blocked screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) seated at his typewriter and speaking about rewarding himself with coffee and a muffin: ("I'm hungry. I should get coffee. Coffee would help me think. Maybe I should write something first, then reward myself with coffee. Coffee and a muffin...Maybe a banana nut. That's a good muffin"); also the many scenes of alter-ego/twin screenwriter Donald Kaufman (Cage in a dual role) with his brother Charlie, including when he asks about "a cool way to kill people" for his script, and receives the reply: "The killer's a literature professor. He cuts off little chunks from his victim's bodies until they die. He calls himself 'The Deconstructionist'"; also Charlie's self-doubt, introspective neuroticism, and fear about adapting a New Yorker article ("The Orchid Thief") by writer Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) and his statement: "The only thing I'm actually qualified to write about is myself..." followed by his dictation into a hand-held tape recorder about himself ("Fat, bald Kaufman") while pursuing the elusive story - with Donald then entering the room with his crassly-commercial script titled The 3 - a successful thriller about a psycho serial killer with multiple-personality disorder who employs a slightly-modified killing technique: "Now the killer cuts off body pieces and makes his victims eat them" - forcing the distraught Charlie to believe himself insane for self-indulgently writing himself into his own screenplay; also the advice of on-stage lecturer Robert McKee (Brian Cox) about not using voice-overs in scripts - and his astounding reply to struggling screenwriter Charlie's question during the 3-day seminar about how to "write a story where nothing much happens...more a reflection of the real world" ("...Are you out of your f--king mind? People are murdered every day. There's genocide, war, corruption. Every f--king day, somewhere in the world, somebody sacrifices his life to save somebody else...") - and his later prophetic advice at a bar about how to end a movie script: ("Wow them in the end, and you got a hit. You can have flaws, problems, but wow them in the end, and you've got a hit. Find an ending, but don't cheat, and don't you dare bring in a deus ex machina. Your characters must change and the change must come from them"); also the scene of writer Susan snorting mind-altering, ghost-orchid flower extract and getting high (while brushing her teeth) - and combining her voice in a phone dial-tone duet with orchid thief John Laroche (Chris Cooper); also the thriller-ending of Charlie/Donald being pursued in the Florida Everglades swamp by the adulterous Susan and lover Laroche and Donald's profound words to Charlie while they hid behind a stump: "You are what you love, not what loves you"; and the scene of Charlie openly admitting his feelings for pretty ex-dating partner Amelia Kavan (Cara Seymour) and kissing her (with her own confession: "I love you, too, you know") - while simultaneously discovering how to finally end his script, with the upbeat playing of the Turtles' song "Happy Together" - and a sped-up time lapse photograph of flowers and an LA street over a period of several days, in Spike Jonz' brilliant but often bewildering, twisting and turning comedy/drama
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)	The story-within-a-story told about the fabulous and fanciful misadventures (illustrated with expensive special effects) of a legendary late-17th century European aristocrat (John Neville) who was a reputed chronic liar -- to the moon in a hot-air balloon created with inflated ladies' underwear along with a stowaway girl Sally Salt (Sarah Polley) to meet the King of the Moon (uncredited Robin Williams) who could detach his head from his body while making love to the Queen of the Moon (Valentina Cortese), to the interior of a fiery volcano and into the presence of the Roman god Vulcan (Oliver Reed) where the goddess Venus (Uma Thurman) made a spectacular entrance from a giant clamshell - and then the Baron experienced a lyrical spinning airborne dance with her; and then the group's entrance into the belly of a whale-sized sea monster where he was reunited with his white horse Bucephalus and used his snuff to 'sneeze' their way out through the whale's blowhole; also the scene of the Baron's own shooting "death" or assassination by city official "The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson" (Jonathan Pryce) during a victory parade when his life's soul was taken by the Grim Reaper 'doctor' - as the Baron's body was lowered into a grave, he suddenly appeared on stage and told the audience: "And that was only one of the many occasions on which I met my death, an experience which I don't hesitate strongly to recommend!"; also the finale in which the Baron strode through the city's opened gates, rode off onto a faraway hillside, saluted the town, and then cryptically disappeared; also the characterizations of the Baron's friends, including fast-running Berthold (Eric Idle), Adolphus (Charles McKeown) with miraculous sight for sharp-shooting, wind-blowing Gustavus (Jack Purvis) and super-strong Albrecht (Winston Dennis), in writer/director Terry Gilliam's absurdist and imaginative "fantasy to end all fantasies"
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)	Peter Pan-like Robin Hood's (Errol Flynn) greeting to an ambushed Norman caravan including Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland) - when he appears in the trees, swings down on a vine, and says: "Welcome to Sherwood, my lady!", the quarterstaff battle between Robin and Little John (Alan Hale, Sr.), the "piggy-back" episode between Robin and Friar Tuck (Eugene Pallette), the romantic scenes between Robin and Maid Marian, the exciting archery contest (accompanied by Erich Korngold's music) and the "classic," climactic, vigorous and exciting sword duel between Robin and Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) on a winding stone staircase in the finale, in director Michael Curtiz' classic adventure film
An Affair to Remember (1957)	The scene at the end of an ocean cruise before their ship Constitution docked in New York when wealthy playboyish bachelor Nickie Ferrante (Cary Grant) and former singer Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) decided to reunite six months later (on July 1st at 5:00 pm) at the top (102nd floor) of the Empire State Building, as Terry added: "Oh yes, that's perfect. It's the nearest thing to heaven we have in New York"; then the scene six months later when Nickie waited at their rendezvous point (a clock chimed 5 times), but Terry didn't appear (she was injured in an awful car accident (off-screen) on a busy NYC street on her way rushing to meet him) and there were ambulances heard blaring at 10 minutes after five; and then in the conclusion of this romantic, tearjerker tale of star-crossed lovers, the revelation scene six months later regarding the devastating, terrible secret of why she couldn't keep her fateful appointment: his accusatory and scolding conversation with her as she was supine on a couch (covered with a shawl from his now-deceased Grandmother Janou (Cathleen Nesbitt)) and his ultimate discovery that she bought his painting (visible in the mirror reflection in her bedroom) and kept her accident a secret ("Why didn't you tell me? If it had to happen to one of us, why did it have to be you?") - leading to their tearful reunion, her explanation ("I was looking up - it was the nearest thing to heaven. You were there"), and their kiss in the conclusion of the romantic, tearjerker tale of star-crossed lovers, when she told him: "Don't worry, darling...if you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen", in director Leo McCarey's romantic melodrama [This film was a remake of the original shipboard romance classic Love Affair (1939) by writer/director Leo McCarey, starring Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne - and was referenced in director Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle (1993), and in Love Affair (1994) with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.]
The African Queen (1951)	The extraordinary performances, chemistry and unlikely pairing of gin-swilling river rat Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) and a prim missionary's sister Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) ("...you crazy, psalm-singing, skinny old maid"), Rose's draining of Charlie's drink bottle, their roller-coaster, down-river encounters with Germans and the treacherous rapids; Charlie's mimicking of Rose's "What an absurd idea!" after he has rejected her idea to go down river and blow up a German warship; their struggle against swarms of mosquitos, the scene of Charlie pulling leeches off his body after pulling the boat through the tangle of reeds and muck, his reluctant return to the water; also Charlie's mimicking of the look and sounds of submerged hippos and scratching baboons on shore as they float along and his words to his sweetheart: "Pinch me, Rosie. Here we are, going down the river like Anthony and Cleopatra on that barge!"; and the stunning crane shot that pulls up and away from their stuck boat and discloses how close they are to the lake, their sighting of the German gunboat Louisa and their plotting to blow it up, and the finale in which they find themselves wedded and alive, in this classic John Huston adventure film
Airplane! (1980)	The opening views of a plane's wing-tip cutting through the clouds to the accompaniment of the theme from Jaws, the spoof of the disco-era Saturday Night Fever in the flashback scene when ex-Air Force pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) and stewardess girlfriend Elaine (Julie Hagerty) are obliviously dancing to "Stayin' Alive" in the place where they first met - a Casablanca-style bar in Drambuie off the Barbary Coast, the scene of air stewardess Randy (Lorna Patterson) singing River of Jordan while knocking out the IV drip for transplant patient (Jill Whelan) who desperately struggles during the song (a spoof of the earlier film Airport 1975 (1974)), the gross image of feces being splattered by a fan, Elaine's in-flight announcement: "By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?", the bit about "Vector Victor" and "Roger Roger", the inflatable auto-pilot Otto (humorously credited as HIMSELF); McCroskey's (Lloyd Bridges) running "Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit smoking / drinking /amphetamines / sniffing glue" gag; the infamous hysterical passenger (Lee Bryant) gag (the passengers get in line to slap her with various implements); the scene paying homage to From Here to Eternity's beach-embrace, the post-credits comment by a long-suffering cabbie (Howard Jarvis) still waiting for Striker ("Well, I'll give him another 15 minutes, but that's it"), and other non-stop one-liners (including the running gag of flamboyantly gay Johnny Hinshaw (Stephen Stucker)) and the Captain's (Peter Graves) question: "Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?"), sight and verbal gags throughout this manic movie - entirely a spoof of Zero Hour! (1957) and later "Airport" films, in this anarchic comedy by the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams
Akira (1988, Jp.)	The Blade Runner (1982)-styled dystopic view of "Neo-Tokyo", complete with gigantic skyscrapers and holographic advertisements, the thrilling motorcycle duel through the streets of Neo-Tokyo, including a game of chicken in gang warfare between the Clown gangleader and anti-hero Keneda, Tetsuo's capture and victimization by psychic experimentation, the scene in which toys seemingly transform into giant, monstrous versions of themselves, Keneda visceral slow motion dispatching of a moving motorcycle rider while on foot, Tetsuo's transformation into a godlike entity and eventually into a 2001: A Space Odyssey-ish "Star Baby", and the end credits sequence of the creation of the universe, in Katsuhiro Otomo's landmark animated film
Alexander Nevsky (1938)	The battle scene on the ice (that starts to crack) at frozen Lake Chudskoe in 1242 between the invading barbaric Teutonic knights and the Russian army - both wielding spears and axes, accompanied by Sergei Prokofiev's score, in Sergei Eisenstein's film
Algiers (1938)	The famous romantic love scenes between fugitive jewel thief Pepe le Moko (Charles Boyer) and the beautifully seductive adventuress Gaby (Hedy Lamarr in her debut American film) in the Casbah, in director John Cromwell's romantic drama
Alice Adams (1935)	The scene of Alice (Katharine Hepburn) weeping at her rain-spattered bedroom window after returning home from the dance, and the tragic-comic dinner-party scene in the summer heat to impress Alice's beau Arthur (Fred MacMurray), with Hattie McDaniel as the valiant maid; and their kiss on the front porch at the end of the film, in director George Stevens' version of Booth Tarkington's novel of the same name
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)	The Wizard of Oz surrealistic prologue; also the scene of recently-widowed, quietly-despairing, mid-30s New Mexico housewife Alice Hyatt (Oscar-winning Ellen Burstyn) in a hotel room in transit through the Southwest to California to find work - which she ultimately finds in a Tucson, Arizona diner (Mel's Diner), with her precocious, complaining, often-bratty, "whining" young son Tommy (Alfred Lutter) and her demand that he write down his "problems " and things that are wrong with his life ("all the bad things"); and the scenes with fellow waitresses (Valerie Curtin as loopy Vera and Oscar-nominated Diane Ladd as foul-mouthed Flo), especially a scene of Flo and Ellen sunbathing ("If you bend over, you'll get more tips") and also talking in a toilet stall, in Martin Scorsese's dramatic film about female self-actualization that ultimately became a popular TV comedy series titled Alice
Alice in Wonderland (1951)	The White Rabbit's (voice of Bill Thompson) "I'm late" song, his comical quip, "Don't just do something, stand there!," Alice's many experiences when turning large and small, the Mad Hatter's (voice of Ed Wynn) Tea Party and "The Unbirthday Song", all the fanciful characters (Tweedledee and Tweedledum, The Walrus and the Carpenter, The Lizard with a Ladder, The Talking Flowers, The Caterpillar, The Cheshire Cat, etc.), and the blustery, domineering Queen of Hearts' (voice of Verna Felton) constant bellowing of "Off with their heads!", in the animated Disney classic
Alien (1979)	The early scene of Nostromo crew member Kane (John Hurt) being attacked by the 'face-hugging' alien as he explores the alien ship - and later the attempt to surgically remove the parasitic Alien from Kane's face, spilling an acid-like substance; the horrifying, bloody, gory sequence revealing the birth of the sharp-toothed baby alien from the bursting chest of Kane and its scurrying across the floor; the life-and-death struggle with the relentless Alien, the scene of the bludgeoning of Ash (Ian Holm) revealing that he is an android/robot, the reactivation of Ash's severed head when he warns: "You still don't understand what you're dealing with," the scene of crew-member Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) question to "Mother" (the ship's computer) and its harsh answer: "Insure return of organism for analysis. All other considerations secondary. Crew expendable"; the Alien's head-splitting murder of crew member Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) when he searches for the crew's cat named Jones; and the final scene on the shuttle craft when the sole remaining Ripley - ready for hibernation and stripped down to mini-bikini panties and T-shirt - realizes the Alien is still onboard, and how she carefully dons a spacesuit and fights the creature to the death by expelling it out of the airlock and incinerating it in the ship's engine blast, in director Ridley Scott's atmospheric sci-fi thriller
Aliens (1986)	In a reprised role (57 years after the original film), aggressive "Rambo-like" heroine Flight Officer Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) nightmare in the film's opening of 'giving birth' to an Alien; gung-ho Marine Private Hudson's (Bill Paxton) scream when the drop-ship crashes: "That's it, man, game over, man. Game over, man! Game over!", the mother-daughter bond formed between Ripley and orphaned Newt (Carrie Henn), and Ripley's final confrontation (wearing a walking forklift/loader) in the hangar to protect Newt with her threat ("Get away from her, you bitch") and aggressive, fisticuffs bitch-slap of the Alien Queen mother/monster with the arm of the contraption, and the tense moment when Ripley's ankle is grabbed by the screaming beast as she holds onto the rung of the outer space hatch ladder, in James Cameron's action blockbuster sequel
All About Eve (1950)	The barbed, sophisticated and witty dialogue of the screen play and its flawless acting and direction with Oscar-nominated Bette Davis' peak performance as Margo Channing, the opening scene of Eve's (Oscar-nominated Anne Baxter) receipt of the Sarah Siddons Award, Margo's description of autograph collectors, the scene of adoring fan Eve relating her hard-luck, life-story to a backstage audience, the entire welcome-home birthday party scene including Margo's famous threat ("Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night") and Addison De Witt's (Oscar-winning George Sanders) introduction of Miss Casswell (Marilyn Monroe) at Margo's party as a so-called actress - "Miss Casswell is an actress - a graduate of the Copacabana School of Dramatic Art"; also the scene of Margo in the back seat of a car ("The things you drop on your way up the ladder so you can move faster. You forget you'll need them again when you get back to being a woman") and De Witt's powerful scene denouncing and unmasking Eve's fraudulent duplicity just before her opening performance, and the final scene of one of Eve's star-struck fans Phoebe (Barbara Bates) clutching Eve's award while bowing in front of a mirror, in writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz' black-and-white, Best Picture-winning masterpiece
All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)	The realistic battle sequences of World War I including rows of infantrymen instantaneously being mowed down by machine gun fire as the camera moves sideways across them and shows the remains of one unfortunate soldier (his hands grab barbed wire), the scene of soldier Paul (Lew Ayres) stabbing a Frenchman in a panic and being trapped in the bomb crater with the slowly dying man and attempting to give him water to drink, the scene of Paul's return to his school to tell the students of his disillusionment with war, the death scene of experienced platoon leader Katczinsky (Louis Wolheim) when Paul discovers that his friend is dead, and Paul's death to the sound of the whine of a French sniper's bullet as his hand reaches out to touch a beautiful butterfly from the shell-hole trench; also the film's final image of ghostly soldiers marching away, while superimposed over a dark, battle-scarred hillside covered with a sea of white crosses, in this Best Picture-winning war film from award-winning director Lewis Milestone
All That Heaven Allows (1955)	The gossip-mongering subject ("Right now everybody's talking about us -- we're a local sensation...if the people get used to seeing us together, then maybe they'll accept us") for the 'ideal' Americana town's upper crust -- the relationship between fortyish widow Cary Scott (Jane Wyman) and her handsome younger gardener Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), and the scene after she suspends her love affair with him due to repressive community pressure and is presented with a brand new TV set (adorned with red ribbons) as a Christmas present from her grown children to keep her company (as a substitute for her lost love) - she sees her reflection on the screen as the salesman tells her: "All you have to do is turn that dial and you have all the company you want right there on the screen - drama, comedy, life's parade at your fingertips," in Douglas Sirk's melodramatic soap opera
All That Jazz (1979)	The cleverly-edited opening sequence of New York choreographer-director Joe Gideon's (Roy Scheider) waking in the morning (with dosages of dexedrine, alka-seltzer, eyedrops, etc.) and the repetition of his rousing stock phrase in front of the mirror: "It's showtime, folks!" followed by the full-stage 'cattle-call' audition dance number set to George Benson's "On Broadway"; and the erotic, sweaty and sensual Air-Rotica rehearsal scene with the bizarre number "Take Off With Us" featuring sexy and half-naked Sandahl Bergman ("Going all the way, Won't you climb aboard?"); also the impromptu top hat song-and-dance act performed in Joe's apartment by his girlfriend/lover Kate Jagger (Ann Reinking, Fosse's real-life lover essentially playing herself) and pre-teen daughter Michelle Gideon (Erzsebet Foldi); and the heart attack scene (with an angel of Death appearance by flirtatious Angelique (Jessica Lange) while he was preparing for the theatre production of Chicago); and the spectacular finale with its wild, imaginatively-surreal hallucinations that are experienced by drug-addicted Gideon as he undergoes open-heart cardiac surgery with chorus girls dancing around his bed (while he and television host O'Connor Flood (Ben Vereen) sing "Bye Bye Life" to a heavenly studio audience in a dance-musical number), in director/co-writer Bob Fosse's kinetic musical
All The King's Men (1949)	Willie Stark's (Oscar-winning Broderick Crawford) no-notes rousing, half-drunken campaign speech for governor at the Upton Fairgrounds barbecue ("Now, listen to me, you hicks..."), and his assassination scene on the steps of the state capital building when shot twice by the embittered and vengeful young Dr. Stanton, the nephew of the judge whose career Willie has ruined - and Willie's last words ("Could have been whole world - Willie Stark. The whole world - Willie Stark. Why does he do it to me - Willie Stark? Why?"), in director/writer Robert Rossen's Best Picture-winning political drama
All the President's Men (1976)	The opening police call ("Car 727. Car 727. Open door at the Watergate office building. Possible burglary"), the night scene at editor Ben Bradlee's (Oscar-winning Jason Robards, Jr.) house when Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) divulge the news from Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook) that "everyone is involved"; Bradlee's words of advice to his reporters: "Nothing's riding on this except the, uh, First Amendment, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f--k up again, I'm going to get mad. Goodnight" - and his go-ahead for his reporters to print their story; also the statement by Deep Throat - delivered in the shadows: "Just follow the money"; and the opening and then final compelling scene in which they type (a closeup of typewriter keys banging on paper) in their news office while in the foreground - a TV broadcasts Nixon's 1972 second inauguration, 21-gun salute and oath of office - and then another teletype report of August 9, 1974 - "NIXON RESIGNS...", in Alan Pakula's Best Picture-nominated political film
Almost Famous (2000)	The uplifting scene of the Stillwater band (mythical) on their tour bus singing along to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" playing on the radio, and later the scene on Stillwater's chartered airplane when lead guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) begins singing Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" when the aircraft hits heavy turbulence, in director/writer Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical film