Sights, Sounds and Stupendous Scenes....

I know it is extremely difficult to choose "the best scenes ever" among all the movies that one has seen, mainly because there are an infinite number of them that make a huge impression when one is watching a movie but are very difficult to come to one's mind unless the movie itself is being thought about... Also, any such list is biased, more often than not, towards the movies that the listmaker has seen recently, again because they are more likely to be fresh in one's mind than a movie seen, say, 2 years ago. But, now that suddenly the thought of trying to remember some of the best/most memorable scenes that I have seen in movies has crossed my mind, it would be a tragedy if I don't create a post out of it... The idea, initially, was to list some of the scenes that keep coming back to you simply because of their "sights and sounds".. great cinematography and a haunting background score can make even a content-less scene stick to one's mind for ages.. However, once I started thinking about some of the scenes, I realized how difficult it is to decide the factors that make a scene memorable, at least for some of them... so, finally, the list is composed of scenes of all kinds - great to watch, great to hear, excellent writing, superb acting, epic scale, mindbending twist that takes the movie many notches above what it was till that point... one thing common is that each of them is unforgettable, at least for me... Again, these are just a few that come to mind without really thinking a lot or doing any research online (don't have time for that!! :( )... So, here we go (in no particular order)..

* indicates possible spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen the movie.. read that line only if you have seen that movie or don't care about spoilers...

*The Godfather: The great horse's head and blood in bed scene... absolutely chilling!! Also, the hospital scene where Michael saves Vito... The book was never successful in generating the kind of tension that this one scene did in the movie...

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: the climax in the vast cemetery... unbelievable blood rush!! the scale, the music, everything about the scene is stuff of legends..

The Lord of the Rings: "YOU CANNOT PASS!!!" in first and second movies, the lighting of the beacons from Gondor to Rohan and the first scene of Minas Tirith in the last movie.. breathtakingly beautiful, both of them... Mount Doom and the battle of the pelennor fields intercut with each other with one common astounding score... brilliant!!! Also, Faramir's suicidal march with Pippin singing and Denethor dripping the red sauce/blood...

Once Upon a Time in America: The smile during the end credits... just one frame, but has the effect of possibly changing the whole movie's meaning... the whole sequence leading to Jennifer Connelly's introduction dance scene... haunting music, building up anticipation and seamlessly shifting to a flash back that takes your breath away... One of those movies where the soundtrack is so haunting that it has the effect of elevating the whole movie in one's memory... Saw this movie 3-4 months ago and since then there hasn't probably been a single day when the signature tune hasn't been playing at the back of my mind for hours on end... even though I haven't actually heard it anywhere since watching the movie... I should probably just go ahead and buy the soundtrack now...

Dersu Uzala: Dersu and Arseniev frantically struggling to keep themselves alive in the middle of a frozen marsh with a long, lonely and very likely lethally cold night coming close fast... I don't remember any other comparable sequence that is as long as this and as gripping even though its essentially one single thing being shown for a long time (except probably the HAL scene in 2001:A Space oddyssey... see below...) This is Kurosawa at his absolute best!!

*Kill Bill: House of Blue Leaves sequence... the most entertaining violence sequence that I can remember... cinematography and choreography.. and the soundtrack!!! WHAT a soundtrack!!!! the first scene of Vol. 1 and the beginning of starting credits... "Bang Bang" whoa!! That scene took my breath away!!! Bill's intro scene in Vol. 2, his flute and conversation with the Bride.. "I'll try my best to be sweet!".... the truth serum scene... and the final "five point palm heart exploding" scene... "you look ready"!! :)

Pulp Fiction: The scene in the kid's room... "I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?" and the whole Ezekiel 25:17 thing... Hilarious!!!

*Satya:The whole sequence from Chandu's encounter upto assasination of Amod Shukla... to me as close to perfect cinema as any Indian movie has ever gone... then other obvious candidates like Bhau's election victory celebration... shocking!!! and Satya killing Jagga... "karna hai.. to karna hai".. and the sequence just after the initial killing of the movie producer (or director?).... and "mumbai ka king kaun??" thing... in fact the whole f-ing movie!!! :)

Iruvar: Mohanlal rehearses with the sword at the beginning of the shooting of his first big movie... stupendous background score.. and wonderful acting.. the whole thing giving you a sense of power.. you know this is a screen god in making... he is destined for huge things... Unnodu Naan picturization... Prakash Raj getting attacked... Mohanlal realizing the power of his popularity and waving to his followers from Prakash Raj's house's roof... the background score giving all these scenes that extra power... This has to be not just Rahman's most underappreciated work but actually very likely his BEST work in background score, period... maybe Dil Se comes close, but Iruvar gives the score a huge edge because the movie itself is superior to Dil Se by a huge margin...

*2001: A Space Odyssey: The dumbing down of HAL... a sloooooow, loooong scene that is all the more effective because of it... a classic!!! And the legendary bone-to-spacestation-transition scene....

The Shining: "Heeeeere's Johnny"... possibly the most chilling scene in what is probably the best horror movie ever made... Jack Nicholson can do almost anything!! Also, the blood from the elevator scene... shows you how easy it is to inspire dread without really showing much... in horror, its what is NOT shown that works...

ok... still about 11-12 more movies and their scenes in the list... better break the whole thing in two volumes, a la Kill Bill. :) so... the rest in Vol. 2... coming soon, most likely within 24 hours.. :)