Your most intense movie scene

[nirvines88]

Wow, so many come to mind.

'Intense' = equals guns and shootouts in my mind so I'd have to go with:

The city street shoot out scene in Heat with Deniro, Paccino, Val Kilmer. That shoot out scene was so brilliant it made the movie's ending completely anticlimatic
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DZL9fnVtz_lc&sa=U&ei=2ZX2UPbfH43g8AToqIGoBA&ved=0CCgQtwIwAg&usg=AFQjCNG14obYYbjfmtYBfYacLW5mYbPVPw

Leon bunkered down in his apartment against the NYPD in The Professional
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YXCUodkSmM

That's exactly how I define it too. Besides those scenes, the chainsaw scene in Scarface and the scene in the Last of the Mohicans when Uncas and Chingachgook take on Magua are intense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp957uI31SA

L.O.T.M. is a great movie. A lot of it was shot in NC.

[Goldfinger]

Scary intense (1): the first "over the edge" scene in The Exorcist. "Leave her alone! The sow is mine!" And what Linda Blair did next with that cross...

Scary intense (2): From The Shining, when Shelly Duvall started looking through page after page after page of Jack Nicholson's work ("All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" typed hundreds of thousands of times in a stack 10-12 inches high. Her expression upon realizing that after months of typing, her husband was going insane. The look on her face captured horror better than any scene I've ever watched - hands down.

Good intense: the locker room scene in Miracle where Kurt Russell plays coach Herb Brooks of the 1980 Olympic Hockey team about to take on the Russians. "I'm sick and tired of hearing about how good the Russians are. 9 times out of 10 they'd beat us. But not tonight. Their run is OVER!" I'm getting the chills just typing this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdmyoMe4iHM

--Goldfinger

[dratkinson]

From Eraser, the scene where the unknown-until-then villain (James Caan) kills his witness in an attempt to draw out the location of the heroine.

[tadamsmar]

snipped
--Goldfinger

How about the scene where you tie Bond down to a sheet of gold and start to cut him in half with a laser beam!

[tadamsmar]

The dinner scene in My Dinner with Andre

[Macmungo]

The earliest movies seen affected me the most intensely. I can still remember the jolts of:
1)Heidi's separation from her grandfather in the 1937 movie of that name.
2)The death of Bambi's mother in "Bambi" (1942).

[curly lambeau]

The Soviet WWII film "Come and See" (1985). Pretty much every single scene qualifies for this thread. It's on a much higher intensity level than Full Metal Jacket ,Deerhunter, Apocalypse Now, etc. I can't think of anything else that comes close to it.

[reggiesimpson]

The Soviet WWII film "Come and See" (1985). Pretty much every single scene qualifies for this thread. It's on a much higher intensity level than Full Metal Jacket ,Deerhunter, Apocalypse Now, etc. I can't think of anything else that comes close to it.

I just finished a book about the Russian soldiers experience in WW11 called "Ivans War". Not only was it horrific for what they had to go through against the Germans but also how Stalins government treated them. I have a number of Russian friends that verified their treatment. I had no idea 7,000,000 soldiers died and 20,000,000 civilians perished. Mindboggling numbers. This movie sounds awesome.

[freebeer]

The climactic scene from Blue Velvet with Dennis Hopper and Kyle MacLachlan...

[tdirgins]

Come and See is amazing, but definitely not for the squeamish. Truly horrifying.

Schindler's List - when the kids are scrambling to hide

Some other intense scenes:

Aliens - Waiting for Bishop to pick up Ripley and Newt at the top of the elevator shaft

Three scenes from East of Eden that get me everytime:
When Cal (James Dean) tries to give his father the money. Heartbreaking.
When Cal confronts his father about his mother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d92f_DaEqAE
Final Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKYWpp-qKuQ

Honorable mentions:
Breaking Away (Bike Race)
Field of Dreams (Ray decides to keep the farm, Moonlight Graham and the hot dog scene, Final scene)

[Oddlot]

The earliest movies seen affected me the most intensely. I can still remember the jolts of:
1)Heidi's separation from her grandfather in the 1937 movie of that name.
2)The death of Bambi's mother in "Bambi" (1942).

and maybe a third- when Old Yeller is put down.

[SurfCityBill]

Linda Blair's head doing a 360 degree rotation in the Exorcist

+1

[kevin.m]

I know this isn't a movie scene, but the most intense scene in general was from the end of Homeland season one when:

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When brody was trying to activate his vest and it wasn't going off... and then hesitating after his daughter called him.
My heart was thumping more during that scene than from any movie I've scene.

As far as intense movie scenes though, I think the Nazi bar scene from Inglorious Basterds, when the Nazi officer approaches the table followed by the mexican standoff, would have to be my #1. Or the opening scene from the same movie.

[jojay]

Robert Deniro on the boat in Cape Fear when he goes after Juliette Lewis. I had seen the original with Grogory Peck and Robert Mitchum years earlier but the remake was far more scary. Deniro scared me.
More on DeNiro as was seen in Deerhunter. I also watched Raging Bull the other night and the jail scene with DeNiro pounding the wall with his head was incredible.
The chain saw / bath tub scene in Scarface was gory but also intense just to think that people actually do treat each other that way.
In Forrrest Gump, there is a scene in the Vietnam section where 2 guys are simply vaporized. I was not there but can now understand why guys that were do not want to talk about it.

Some stuff on the Sopranos series was extreme as are some of the things I've seen on Dexter

[Rexindex]

The deer hunter.......Russian roulette

[Goldfinger]

snipped
--Goldfinger

How about the scene where you tie Bond down to a sheet of gold and start to cut him in half with a laser beam!

I was hoping nobody would bring that up.

[bluemarlin08]

Misery where she breaks his ankles and Where the Red fern Grows the death of little ann and little dan.

[gkaplan]

The dental chair scene in Marathon Man.

[steve roy]

When Bruce Willis realizes he's dead in "Sixth Sense."

[doglaws]

Other honorable mentions:

Prometheus scene where Shaw (Noomi Rapace) realizes she is pregnant with the alien baby and decides to go to the Medi-Pod and try to remove the embryo. Brutally hard to watch.

Several opening scenes from the James Bond movies.

Terminator 2 scenes in the Psychiatric Pavilion where Schwartzenegger is attempting to rescue Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton).

Parts of the original Speed movie with Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper.

[bornloser]

Have been following this post and really enjoying the opinions on "intense" movie scenes. I would have to agree with the OP's choice of The Deer Hunter Russion roulette scene. I was a teenager watching my first "R" movies and dude that was very intense, probably too intense for me at that age. I still reference this scene along with the rats/cages in the water. Can't watch the whole move again b/c it's 3 hours long! I would have to add as a second choice: the serial killer stabbing scene of the couple in the park in the movie Zodiac.

[EmergDoc]

While objectively it pales in comparison to many of the scenes noted above, the final lightsaber duel in Star Wars III has to be mentioned. After 30 years of wondering how Darth Vader got into that mask, knowing the whole time that at some point Obi-Wan and Anakin are going to go at it, watching them finally do so was pretty intense.

"You were the chosen one! You were my brother!"

"I hate you!"

All while Anakin was on fire....

[kenyan]

The "gotcha" moments in Sixth Sense and the Usual Suspects were intense the first time, but of course they wear off and don't have similar effects with subsequent viewings. The Shawshank Redemption had numerous scenes that were intense for me - the scene with the Warden in "the hole," the poster reveal, the first night beating.

However, I do think the "real story" aspect makes things even more intense. In the same vein as the Saving Private Ryan folks, I'd have to say that the passengers saying goodbye on "Flight 93" was perhaps the most intense for me - though I only saw in once, and recently. Identifying with the people on the plane, and how it easily could have happened to me made more powerful. It's also more relevant to my generation than WWII.

[zeusrock1]

The bar scene from A Bronx Tale, "Now u'sss can't leave..."

[reggiesimpson]

Have been following this post and really enjoying the opinions on "intense" movie scenes. I would have to agree with the OP's choice of The Deer Hunter Russion roulette scene. I was a teenager watching my first "R" movies and dude that was very intense, probably too intense for me at that age. I still reference this scene along with the rats/cages in the water. Can't watch the whole move again b/c it's 3 hours long! I would have to add as a second choice: the serial killer stabbing scene of the couple in the park in the movie Zodiac.

The "Viet Cong" actor doing all the slapping in the RR scene is named Ding Santos and is basically a non actor. "Mao" "Mao" actually means to hurry up. I always thought it meant "shoot". God knows i wanted to shoot the dude myself but thankfully De Niro does it in classic style.

[oneleaf]

127 Hours: THE scene
Sunshine: Kaneda! What do you see?!
Alien: THE scene
Inglourious Basterds: bar scene

[BigFoot48]

I was hoping nobody would bring that up.

Do you expect me to talk?
No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!

[livesoft]

For me, the most intense movie scene was in "Good Morning Vietnam" when the bar blew up because at that precise moment smoke started filling the movie theater which had caught fire. At first the patrons ignored the smoke as some part of the special effects, but within 10 seconds we realized it was something serious.

[modal]

Headhunters
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614989/
I wouldn't say it is necessarily the most intense, but it had some very intense scenes. It took the outhouse hideaway to the extreme.

Robocop
The E209 Board Room Scene
(Wondering if it has happened outside the fictional realm )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9l9wxGFl4k

The Skin I live In
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1189073

Fastest <= Superbike Documentary on Loreno Rossi
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1721677

Harsh Times
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433387/

American Pyscho
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144084/

[modal]

The "Squeal Like a Pig" scent in Deliverance.

"He got a real pretty mouth, ain't he?"

[thebogledude]

[del.]

[gkaplan]

And here I thought I was the only one who saw Headhunters.

[Kathleen Ryan]

The most intense movie scenes that have stayed with me over the years.

1.) What happens to Clint Eastwood's character at the end in, "The Beguiled." This movie was made long before, "Misery."
2.) The black and white still photography during the ending scene of the original, "Night of the Living Dead," when the hero is mistakenly killed because he was believed to be a zombie.
3.) Horse's head in the bed of the original, "The Godfather."
4.) The opening scene where the room is full of people who had been hanged, and closing scene where Mel Gibson's character is being killed in, "Braveheart."
5.) What happens to Kris Kristofferson in the ending scene of, "The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea."
6.) The original, "Halloween." Pick a scene, any scene!
7.) When Clarisse meets Dr. Lechter in, "The Silence of the Lambs." And the entire scene of how he makes his get-away towards the end.
8.) The sad ending to, "Awakenings," a true story about the people given the drug L. Dopa. They came out of their state of unconsciousness and not being able to move-(some for 30 years), then going back into unconsciousness when the drug no longer worked. I believe they called it, "post-encephalitis syndrome," and occurred in the 1930s.
9.) The opening scene of, "Jaws," when the shark takes the young woman.
10.) The entire movie, "Seven Beauties," - directed by Lina Wertmueller.

[Trev H]

Ok... here is a old one. It really only works if you were something like 10 years old when the movie came out (in 1970 something).

The "Legend of Boggie Creek"... the scene where the boy is running thru the woods and runs right up on the Bigfoot creature.

As a 10 year old that often hunted alone for squirrel and deer in the woods behind our house... that was quite intense.

For years after that movie... as dark came on while out hunting... cedar trees started looking like Bigfoot

Trev H

[BigFoot48]

The entire movie Testament. I've never seen so many people leaving a movie theater crying in my long life.

[Cuzz35]

Other honorable mentions:

Prometheus scene where Shaw (Noomi Rapace) realizes she is pregnant with the alien baby and decides to go to the Medi-Pod and try to remove the embryo. Brutally hard to watch.

Several opening scenes from the James Bond movies.

Terminator 2 scenes in the Psychiatric Pavilion where Schwartzenegger is attempting to rescue Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton).

Parts of the original Speed movie with Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper.

+1 for Prometheus.

For me it is Fire In the Sky. Part when the aliens drag him through the ship and experiment on him. I was maybe 5 or 6 and snuck out of my room and was hiding behind the couch when I first saw this scene.

[EternalOptimist]

How about the scene in Jaws near the end where the shark caught up to the boat and starts eating everyone

[reggiesimpson]

The entire movie Testament. I've never seen so many people leaving a movie theater crying in my long life.

Couldnt remember the name of that tooooo realistic depiction of nuclear war in our own neighborhood. Thanks.

[VictoriaF]

License to Kill, 0:53:58-0:54:10 - where a bad guy attacks James Bond with a swordfish. The guy has survived and became my diving instructor.

Victoria

[gkaplan]

The airport scene in Argo was pretty intense. Or perhaps, tense would be a better descriptor.

[Van]

The Deer Hunter has been mentioned many times, and I would agree that it is a great movie and the roulette sequence was terrifying. However, and beside the point, did anyone else notice that those are ELK NOT DEER in the opening?

[reggiesimpson]

The Deer Hunter has been mentioned many times, and I would agree that it is a great movie and the roulette sequence was terrifying. However, and beside the point, did anyone else notice that those are ELK NOT DEER in the opening?

Correct. In reviewing some of the facts of the movie they noted that it was an elk not a deer and that it took forever for them to subdue it with tranquilizers. Of further note: when Christopher Walken spit in DeNiros face in the second roulette scene it was completely impromptu (supported by the director Cimino). DeNiro was so annoyed he almost left the set. His expression of anger was quite real!
Lots of great intense scenes denoted by the BH community. Thanks.

[magician]

Off the top of my head (and bearing in mind that recent memories are more vivid than older memories), I'd have to say the scene in Warhorse where the horse runs into the barbed-wire-covered no-man's land.

That our 30-year-old mare just passed away a week ago makes it all the more vivid to me.

[LazyNihilist]

Last of The Mohicans ending... especially the music...

Deerhunter Russian Roulette scene...

Withnail & I when Withnail delivers his last 'Hamlet' speech to the wolves.

Terminator II scene where the liquid metal robot 'rejoins' after being burnt.

Many many more....

[Minot]

The 1972 TV movie "The Glass House," starring Alan Alda in a role miles away from M*A*S*H. The entire movie was powerfully disturbing; it took me days to recover.

Minot

[RTR2006]

I'd add Alien to my list, I was on edge the entire movie. gatorman

Chicago, dateline 1979. We were at the Chicago CES convention and a bunch of us decided that it would be really funny to smoke a large quantity of pot and then go see that new movie, "Alien." Oh, yes, we were going to laugh our asses off through the whole thing.

Well, let's just say the evening didn't turn out as planned. When it was over we were sitting there shell-shocked. Funny now in retrospect, and I DO love recounting the story, but it remains the most intense movie ever seen.

Hey, does weed count?



RTR

[swaption]

Scorsese in the back of Robert De Niro's cab about to go kill his wife in Taxi Driver. Something about that scene. Of course the violence at the end offers a different type of intensity.

Also, continuing the Saving Private Ryan theme, the hand to hand fight where the German soldier slowly drives the knife in. Chilling.

[atfish]

Jack Nickelson's character in "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", especially the scene when they wanted to watch TV and Nurse Ratchett would not allow it.

[Fallible]

The Soviet WWII film "Come and See" (1985). Pretty much every single scene qualifies for this thread. It's on a much higher intensity level than Full Metal Jacket ,Deerhunter, Apocalypse Now, etc. I can't think of anything else that comes close to it.

I just finished a book about the Russian soldiers experience in WW11 called "Ivans War". Not only was it horrific for what they had to go through against the Germans but also how Stalins government treated them. I have a number of Russian friends that verified their treatment. I had no idea 7,000,000 soldiers died and 20,000,000 civilians perished. Mindboggling numbers. This movie sounds awesome.

I just watched Come and See and agree completely the entire movie is one relentlessly intense scene. An excellent NYT review that came with the DVD ends with the movie's director Elem Klimov saying that what he filmed was a "lightened-up version of the truth. Had I included everything I knew and shown the whole truth, even I could not have watched it." Yet it seems to end with hope - the arrival of the Russian winter.

[Kuota Rider]

I am stunned that no one has mentioned the baptism scene in The Godfather.