Most intense movie scenes

[STLmapboy]

I watched Paul Greengrass' United 93 the other night. It's a great movie, but the last 20 minutes are downright harrowing and extremely emotional. Of course, the whole movie is permeated with that sense of dread/inevitability that is so common in movies about real-life disasters, but the ending was just masterfully constructed to bring out so much emotion.

Any other scenes like this?

[nexus73]

The scenes with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" playing in "V For Vendetta" are darkly thrilling.  As movies go, the dystopia portrayed is quite harrowing and done in a serious dramatic fashion.  If that style appeals to you and this movie has not been viewed before, then do give it a gander.

Rick

[STLmapboy]

The scenes with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" playing in "V For Vendetta" are darkly thrilling.  As movies go, the dystopia portrayed is quite harrowing and done in a serious dramatic fashion.  If that style appeals to you and this movie has not been viewed before, then do give it a gander.

Rick

I've seen it. V for Vendetta is an interesting film, but it doesn't have the same emotional bite (especially the heavily stylized action). The political message is somewhat heavy-handed at times, having almost zero subtlety (but these are the Wachowskis, after all). There are some good quotable lines from Hugo Weaving's V.

[mgk920]

You definitely have to include the shower scene from Psycho in this - it is still amazing how Alfred Hitchcock was able to keep an entire generation of women out of the shower just by using nothing more than some raw hamburger and dark Karo corn syrup (it was filmed in black and white).

Mike

[ET21]

Trench run from Star Wars A New Hope
The snap in Avengers Infinity War

[nexus73]

The scenes with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" playing in "V For Vendetta" are darkly thrilling.  As movies go, the dystopia portrayed is quite harrowing and done in a serious dramatic fashion.  If that style appeals to you and this movie has not been viewed before, then do give it a gander.

Rick

I've seen it. V for Vendetta is an interesting film, but it doesn't have the same emotional bite (especially the heavily stylized action). The political message is somewhat heavy-handed at times, having almost zero subtlety (but these are the Wachowskis, after all). There are some good quotable lines from Hugo Weaving's V.

On this end, political dramas are seen as having the most bite.  Other people love action.  Throw in some tearjerking romance movies.  Different strokes for different folks!

Rick

[Max Rockatansky]

The Vice scene in Casino. 

[Scott5114]

Trench run from Star Wars A New Hope

You can recreate this in real life by driving through an OkDOT work zone!

[nexus73]

The Vice scene in Casino. 

That whole movie is an intense scene...LOL!  "Casino" goes in the books as a classic.

Rick

[kurumi]

Opening scene, Inglourious Basterds.

Blood test scene, The Thing.

[qguy]

You definitely have to include the shower scene from Psycho in this - it is still amazing how Alfred Hitchcock was able to keep an entire generation of women out of the shower just by using nothing more than some raw hamburger and dark Karo corn syrup (it was filmed in black and white).

Mike

Don't forget the shower scene in High Anxiety.

Filmed in color, but the "blood" in the drain is still in black-and-white.

[kkt]

The Convention scene in The Manchurian Candidate.

[hbelkins]

The campfire scene in "Blazing Saddles."

[1995hoo]

The juxtaposition of the baptism in The Godfather.

[dlsterner]

The rape scene in "Deliverance" - probably even more so back in 1972 and you didn't know it was coming.

[RobbieL2415]

The scene in Close Encounters where the aliens take Barry.

[briantroutman]

I'd probably say the carousel sequence in Strangers on a Train.

I've thought about this topic before–especially with regard to Alfred Hitchcock films, since the annual Stanford Theatre Hitchcock Festival each year was one of the highlights of my years living in the Bay Area. Watching a thrilling movie is one thing, but watching it with a rapt audience on the big screen takes it to a much higher level.

Though Strangers... is probably not my favorite Hitchcock film, it might be my favorite one to watch with an audience. And compared with Hitch's other famous thrilling sequences–the Mount Rushmore scene in North by Northwest, the shower scene in Psycho, the bell tower scene in Vertigo–I think the carousel scene is unmatched for its unique combination of giddy nervous excitement, macabre humor, and sheer panic.

[SSOWorld]

And I....


Am....


Iron Man
*snap*

The "keep away" scene in the final battle of Avengers Endgame.

[roadman]

Trench run from Star Wars A New Hope

You can recreate this in real life by driving through an OkDOT work zone!

Or the PennDOT single lane cattle chutes on I-80.

[Throckmorton]

   
The Victory Motel shootout in L.A. Confidential.   
   
   

[kkt]

I'd probably say the carousel sequence in Strangers on a Train.

I've thought about this topic before–especially with regard to Alfred Hitchcock films, since the annual Stanford Theatre Hitchcock Festival each year was one of the highlights of my years living in the Bay Area. Watching a thrilling movie is one thing, but watching it with a rapt audience on the big screen takes it to a much higher level.

Though Strangers... is probably not my favorite Hitchcock film, it might be my favorite one to watch with an audience. And compared with Hitch's other famous thrilling sequences–the Mount Rushmore scene in North by Northwest, the shower scene in Psycho, the bell tower scene in Vertigo–I think the carousel scene is unmatched for its unique combination of giddy nervous excitement, macabre humor, and sheer panic.

The Stanford Theatre is awesome!  I hope they survive the pandemic.

Henry II and the Princes after they attempted to ambush him, egged on by Eleanor, in The Lion in Winter.

[roadman]

The scene in Roma where Cleo goes into the water to save the two children who are in trouble.