Key scenes

In all fairness, I don't think he would have been able to find Jefferies with his eyes closed.

I think it's important to distinguish the medium from the craft of acting. Some of the scenes we've suggested so far could easily be recreated on stage. I think we should strive to find scenes that are uniquely cinematic.



This is an early example of using the advantages of the medium.

Ecstasy of gold, one of my alltime favorite scenes:

Sharky wrote:

ambler wrote:

On The Waterfront is a film that does nothing for me. I prefer the classics such as Moulin Rouge.

Not bourgeois enough, eh? ;)

It's one of my Top 5 favorite films. :)

Watchmen - The origin sequence of Dr. Manhattan. I'd link a youtube clip but I can't find a proper clip. They're all just fan edits with shitty music or with key bits edited out for no reason at all.

The Gold Rush, Ecstasy of Gold... I think I'm seeing a pattern here. Just name your price, Oppers.

Your point on finding uniquely cinematic scenes is well made,I regret to say. I must give this some more thought. Not right now, though - Friday is bowel cancer night.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Sharky wrote:

ambler wrote:

On The Waterfront is a film that does nothing for me. I prefer the classics such as Moulin Rouge.

Not bourgeois enough, eh? ;)

It's one of my Top 5 favorite films. :)

Kazan is on of my favourite directors and I can think of only one use for Nicole Kidman. My post was, uh, playful.

For one brief moment in "The Gangs of New York", the old master came alive:

Salomé wrote:

For one brief moment in "The Gangs of New York", the old master came alive

I couldn't find it.

I saw that last week. Hated it.

But DDL was great.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Salomé wrote:

For one brief moment in "The Gangs of New York", the old master came alive

I couldn't find it.

I saw that last week. Hated it.

But DDL was great.

I agree that the movie as a whole is rather horrid, especially by Scorcese's earlier standards. I fear that he was forced to make too many concessions on the studio's behalf.

Salomé wrote:

I agree that the movie as a whole is rather horrid, especially by Scorcese's earlier standards. I fear that he was forced to make too many concessions on the studio's behalf.

You don't give Brian De Palma the same benefit of the doubt I notice, though there's purportedly a director's cut of The Black Dahlia that runs an extra hour and has never been released.
De Palma pisses all over Scorcese when it comes to great visual moments; he is technically much superior.

I still think this scene from Carrie is the greatest bit of visual storytelling of the 1970s. The film also contains the two best female performances of that decade. Ah, Piper ...

ambler wrote:

You don't give Brian De Palma the same benefit of the doubt I notice, though there's a directors cut of The Black Dahlia that runs an extra hour and has never been released.

I keep hoping they're release it. But aside from the Mia Kershner stuff, I'm not too bowled over by what is there, either (visually, it all strikes me as kinda so-so).

ambler wrote:

De Palma pisses all over Scorcese when it comes to great visual moments; he is technically much superior.

Hm. Not sure I agree, but I'll have to mull it over.

ambler wrote:

I still think this scene from Carrie is the greatest bit of visual storytelling of the 1970s.

It's a great sequence, sure. But "greatest bit of visual storytelling of the 1970s" surely belongs to one of the sequences from Andrei Tarkovsky's 1970s output.

Which Tarkovsky moment did you have in mind? Stalker and Andrei Rublev have fine visuals.

ambler wrote:

Which Tarkovsky moment did you have in mind? Stalker and Andrei Rublev have fine visuals.

STALKER was the one that came to mind first. (RUBLEV is a brilliant film, but it's from the 60s, not the 70s.)

But, really, there isn't a Tarkovsky film that doesn't feature a tremendous understanding of the language of cinema. In the ranks of great directors, he stands tall.

Since I only just saw Andrei Rublev, I wasn't sure how I felt about the film until the ringing of the bell. Which is a good thing, I guess, since it serves as a sort of climax. But if we're talking about key scenes, that's undoubtedly Andrei Rublev's. Flawlessly constructed (the film, not the bell.)

This and the opening scene to "Once upon a time in the West" are almost too obvious to post here...

Mediocre film, but a legendary line.

The Long Walk (roughly the first 2:30 of the above clip) in Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch". Kurt Russell made an obvious tribute to this scene in "Tombstone".

^Speaking of Tombstone, it also has the greatest "NOOOOOO" scene in motion picture history:

Surprised Ambler hasn't posted this one yet:



The use of the stairs is a good example of a purely cinematic construct.

Salomé wrote:

The use of the stairs is a good example of a purely cinematic construct.

How so? Have you never seen stairs on a stage?

ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

The use of the stairs is a good example of a purely cinematic construct.

How so? Have you never seen stairs on a stage?

The use of close-ups that masks the actual length of their descent.

Salomé wrote:

ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

The use of the stairs is a good example of a purely cinematic construct.

How so? Have you never seen stairs on a stage?

The use of close-ups that masks the actual length of their descent.

Ah. That's not what I think of by cinematic. In fact, I dislike close-ups altogether.

To me, cinematic is when a sense of movement is conveyed. That's really the only advantage film has over the novel. In most other respects, it's inferior.

ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

The use of the stairs is a good example of a purely cinematic construct.

How so? Have you never seen stairs on a stage?

The use of close-ups that masks the actual length of their descent.

Ah. That's not what I think of by cinematic. In fact, I dislike close-ups altogether.

But they are very much a big part of the medium's vocabulary. I'm surprised to hear a Leone fan express a dislike for the close-up!

Anyway, my point about that scene being purely cinematic in nature is precisely because you could not recreate it on stage. Either the actors would have to move down at an absurdly slow pace or you'd need a much larger staircase.

Salomé wrote:

But [CU] are very much a big part of the medium's vocabulary. I'm surprised to hear a Leone fan express a dislike for the close-up!

Usually they're there for an actor's ego rather than to serve the film.

I'm not a Leone fan as such. I like his work, but he made too few films for me to say he was a master. I'm far more interested in the work of Don Siegel than Leone.

It's easy to list great moments from great films. Unusually great moments from lesser films are more interesting, in my opinion. Stuff like the horse stunt in Stagecoach, or the "God was wrong" bit from Bigger than Life.