Your most intense movie scene

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
khh
Posts: 343
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 9:31 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by khh »

The Shawshank Redemption, when the cell door closes behind Andy Dufresne on his first night in prison.
SimonJester
Posts: 2500
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:39 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by SimonJester »

The Wind That Shakes the Barley, the fingernail scene. Almost lost my cookies on that one...
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
Keep It Simple
Posts: 298
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 4:07 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Keep It Simple »

mmaguy wrote:The Ring -- TV scene, scared me.
+1

Also "When Harry Met Sally" - Meg Ryan scene at the table - pretty intense!
User avatar
Bounca
Posts: 896
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:48 am

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Bounca »

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. ... LW5mYbPVPw

Leon bunkered down in his apartment against the NYPD in The Professional
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YXCUodkSmM
User avatar
gatorman
Posts: 2493
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:35 am
Location: The Swamp

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by gatorman »

The train crash scene in The Fugitive.
gatorman
gkaplan
Posts: 7034
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by gkaplan »

marcwd wrote:Wait Until Dark (1967)

The final scenes with Audrey Hepburn (as the blind woman) in the apartment with Alan Arkin (drug dealer) who is looking for the heroin-stuffed doll.
I haven't seen this movie in some years, but I'll agree to this.
Gordon
User avatar
BigFoot48
Posts: 3115
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:47 am
Location: Arizona

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by BigFoot48 »

The scene in Hair (1979) comes to mind, when the Treat Williams character, who took his friends place in the Army, is marching into the blackness of a transport plane's loading ramp, heading to Vietnam, to never return.

I believe the song he was singing was "Let the Sun Shine In"....
We starve-look at one another
Short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation
Of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes
Retired | Two-time in top-10 in Bogleheads S&P500 contest; 18-time loser
User avatar
SamGamgee
Posts: 603
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:21 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by SamGamgee »

When Jafar turns into a cobra in Disney's Aladdin.


What?


:D
flamtap
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:19 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by flamtap »

It's the opening and closing scenes of Saving Private Ryan that tear me apart. I've seen that movie at least 25 times and I still can't get through those scenes very well.

But the "intense" scene, for me, is the hand-to-hand fighting upstairs in that building. With the German prisoner. I still have to skip through it most of the time.

I also think the scene from We Were Soldiers when Sergeant Major Plumly says, "That's a nice day, Sergeant Savage." is intense in its own way.
User avatar
Don Christy
Posts: 391
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:33 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Don Christy »

Many good scenes already mentioned.

"Here's Johnny" from The Shining was intense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDpipB4yehk
“Speak only if it improves upon the silence." Mahatma Gandhi
tarq476
Posts: 40
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:45 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by tarq476 »

Braveheart: Murron has just been killed and William Wallace is riding slowly into the camp, pretending to turn himself in. He then caves in the face of the English soldier with a Flail-like weapon and the village revolts. The music and Gibson's facial expression help greatly here.

Forrest Gump: Jenny stands on the edge of the balcony and considers jumping as Free Bird blasts in the background.
cheesepep
Posts: 1295
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:58 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by cheesepep »

Maybe not my most intense movie scene, but the first opening moments of Gladiator and when they are in the coliseum surrounded by chariots.
User avatar
bengal22
Posts: 2146
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 5:20 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by bengal22 »

Meryl Streep singing in Mama Mia
"Earn All You Can; Give All You Can; Save All You Can." .... John Wesley
User avatar
William4u
Posts: 1445
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:02 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by William4u »

Sohie's Choice. So sad.
User avatar
gatorking
Posts: 1499
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:15 pm
Location: MA

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by gatorking »

Graveyard scene in The Omen

Image
Taboose
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:30 am

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Taboose »

Cape Fear 1962 version - Max Cady (Robert Mitchum): I got somethin' planned for your wife and kid that they ain't nevah gonna forget. They ain't nevah gonna forget it... and neither will you, Counselor! Nevah!

And in its own way - Brian's Song. Can't watch that anymore.
User avatar
tadamsmar
Posts: 9972
Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 12:33 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by tadamsmar »

Not intense for me, but out 5-year-old son only lasted for part of PG-rated Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom. He was in screaming in terror and we had to leave.

It's one of the movies credited with causing the creation of PG-13
User avatar
tadamsmar
Posts: 9972
Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 12:33 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by tadamsmar »

Roman Holiday when Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck put their hands in the Mouth of Truth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6af1dAc9rXo

;-)
Last edited by tadamsmar on Wed Jan 16, 2013 1:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
cheese_breath
Posts: 11787
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:08 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by cheese_breath »

tadamsmar wrote:Not intense for me, but out 5-year-old son only lasted for part of PG-rated Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom. He was in screaming in terror and we had to leave.
If we're talking 5 year olds then I have to tell about my daughter. She was deathly afraid of the flying monkees in Wizard of Oz. She's 44 now.
The surest way to know the future is when it becomes the past.
User avatar
tadamsmar
Posts: 9972
Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 12:33 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by tadamsmar »

cheese_breath wrote:
tadamsmar wrote:Not intense for me, but out 5-year-old son only lasted for part of PG-rated Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom. He was in screaming in terror and we had to leave.
If we're talking 5 year olds then I have to tell about my daughter. She was deathly afraid of the flying monkees in Wizard of Oz. She's 44 now.
Having kids meant that I got to see some old Disney movies for the first time. The scene when Bambi mom dies was pretty intense for me.
Rupert
Posts: 4122
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 12:01 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Rupert »

Funny Games (American version): The whole movie is intense, but the scene where they shoot the kid in front of his parents was the most disturbing thing I've ever seen on film.
User avatar
runthetrails
Posts: 593
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:51 pm
Location: Tennessee

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by runthetrails »

Dennis Hopper sex scene with Issabella Rossalini in Blue Velvet.

"Don't look at me! Don't you ******* look at me!"

Very intense film.
Van
Posts: 1007
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:24 am

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Van »

dm200 wrote:The "Squeal Like a Pig" scent in Deliverance.
+1
guitarguy
Posts: 2191
Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:10 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by guitarguy »

There are lots of good ones here. I'll post 2...both ironically starring Edward Norton...hands down one of my favorite actors.

1. American History X. If you've seen it, I need not elaborate. But for those who haven't...the violent scene that shows the actions that sent him to prison. Crazy.

2. Primal Fear. When his "alter ego" first appears when he's talking to his lawyer in the interrogation room. Chills every time. GREAT movie.
minesweep
Posts: 1670
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:17 pm
Location: 27,000 light years from the Galactic Center of the Milky Way Galaxy (the suburbs)

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by minesweep »

John151 wrote:The shower scene in "Psycho.".
+1 .

I was 15 years old when I first saw the film "Psycho" at the movie theater.

The Famous Shower Scene From "Psycho"

The making of the Shower Scene in Psycho

These following two scenes from the movie are equally frightful:

Arbogast Meets Mother

The Truth About Mother

Mike
Last edited by minesweep on Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Time is your friend; impulse is your enemy - John Bogle | Learn every day, but especially from the experiences of others, it's cheaper! - John Bogle
User avatar
htdrag11
Posts: 1261
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:22 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by htdrag11 »

renter wrote:That one scene in Body Heat. What a great movie.
Now I've to dig it up and re-watch.

Thanks.

As couple have already wrote, The Ring got me jumped the 1st time around while Audition still gives me the chills.
User avatar
JupiterJones
Posts: 3624
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 3:25 pm
Location: Nashville, TN

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by JupiterJones »

BigFoot48 wrote:I believe the song he was singing was "Let the Sun Shine In"...
Isn't that part of the song technically titled "The Flesh Failures"? Which segues into "Let the Sunshine In"?

Anyway, my list of memorable intense movie scenes:
  • Pretty much the entirety of Boys Don't Cry
  • The wine cellar scene from Hitchcock's Notorious. (The final few minutes of the movie are chair-arm-grabby too.)
  • The "Stuck in the Middle With You" scene from Reservoir Dogs
  • Any Javier Bardem scene from No Country for Old Men, but probably the "coin toss" bit most of all
JJ
"Stay on target! Stay on target!"
User avatar
ryuns
Posts: 3511
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 6:07 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by ryuns »

flamtap wrote: But the "intense" scene, for me, is the hand-to-hand fighting upstairs in that building. With the German prisoner. I still have to skip through it most of the time.
I agree. There's a weird parallel in mind when I watch The Two Towers. Aragorn prevents Theoden from killing Grima Wormtongue, who promptly rejoins the bad guys, and gives them crucial information about a structural weakness in Helm's Deep. The unfortunate lesson is both these cases is that if you take mercy on a bad guy, you've set yourself up cinematically for said bad guy to play a crucial roll in your downfall.
An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. -- GK Chesterton
User avatar
stemikger
Posts: 4950
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 5:02 am

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by stemikger »

In the movie It's a Wonderful Life when Jimmy Stewart (George Bailey) and Donna Reed (Mary) are at her Mother's house when they are talking on the phone to Mary's boyfriend and George's friend and they are holding the phone close to each other and then he grabs her and kisses her.

Also in the movie Officer and a Gentlemen when Lou Gossett is trying to break Richard Gere and he breaks down and starts crying "I've got No Place Else to Go"
Choose Simplicity ~ Stay the Course!! ~ Press on Regardless!!!
detroitbabu
Posts: 375
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:07 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by detroitbabu »

Not the most intense but the one of the most shocking for me was from "The Crying Game".
mako171
Posts: 85
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:18 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by mako171 »

Some good stuff mentioned.

Also:
a. some of the scenes from Requiem for a Dream
b. the whole sub-plot about the child molesters from Running Scared (yes this is a Paul Walker movie)
Oddlot
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:01 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Oddlot »

I agree with the russian roulette scene from the Deerhunter. Incredible.

I also second the scenes from Jaws, Wait Until Dark, Deliverance, and Psycho. I would add the scene in Psycho where she heads down to the fruit cellar to meet "mother".

How about the sinking scene from the much-maligned Titanic?
Topic Author
reggiesimpson
Posts: 1697
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:47 am

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by reggiesimpson »

Oddlot wrote:I agree with the russian roulette scene from the Deerhunter. Incredible.

I also second the scenes from Jaws, Wait Until Dark, Deliverance, and Psycho. I would add the scene in Psycho where she heads down to the fruit cellar to meet "mother".

How about the sinking scene from the much-maligned Titanic?
Always had a fear of drowning. That scene went to my core!
kiwi123
Posts: 302
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 6:37 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by kiwi123 »

The Man From Nowhere - knife fight scene
User avatar
VictoriaF
Posts: 20122
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:27 am
Location: Black Swan Lake

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by VictoriaF »

La Dolce Vita : Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in the Trevi Fountain.

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
PedsDoc
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:37 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by PedsDoc »

Torture scene at the end of Braveheart
Topic Author
reggiesimpson
Posts: 1697
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:47 am

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by reggiesimpson »

For romantic intensity i would suggest the scene in Last Tango in Paris with Marlon Brando talking to his dead wife as she is laid out in the bedroom. Heart wrenching expression of grief over the loss of a love.
User avatar
tadamsmar
Posts: 9972
Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 12:33 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by tadamsmar »

Oddlot wrote:I agree with the russian roulette scene from the Deerhunter. Incredible.

I also second the scenes from Jaws, Wait Until Dark, Deliverance, and Psycho. I would add the scene in Psycho where she heads down to the fruit cellar to meet "mother".

How about the sinking scene from the much-maligned Titanic?
Or, how about the fogging up the car windows scene :)
Urvile1
Posts: 53
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:51 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Urvile1 »

First 45 or so minutes of Full Metal Jacket.
investnoob
Posts: 481
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:57 am
Location: Ottawa
Contact:

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by investnoob »

Bounca wrote: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. ... LW5mYbPVPw

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
Bfwolf
Posts: 2108
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:19 am

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Bfwolf »

Full Metal Jacket is a good one. I'd especially nominate the bathroom scene at the end of the first half of the movie. When Leonard says, "I am....in a world....of s***," with that really creepy look. Yikes.

Sticking with the Vietnam theme, what about the Apocalypse Now scene where Captain Willard kills Colonel Kurtz while the natives simultaneously slaughter a cow, all to the tune of The Doors "The End?" When Martin Sheen's head comes out of the water, that gets me every time.
traineeinvestor
Posts: 508
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 7:52 am
Location: Hong Kong
Contact:

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by traineeinvestor »

I found some of the drug taking and cold turkey scenes in Christiane F. quite disturbing (even more so now that I have two daughters of my own).
Leesbro63
Posts: 10643
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2010 3:36 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Leesbro63 »

Django Unchained. The dog scene and the Mandingo fighting scene. Similarly, the scene in Roots (technically a mini-series, not a movie) where they cut off part of Kunta Kinte's ("Toby's") foot.
Fallible
Posts: 8798
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:44 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Fallible »

I thought of this thread while watching Fargo (for the umpteenth time) the other night and was sure I'd come up with another intense scene. Instead, there seemed to be a lack of intensity, or at least sustained intensity, at least for me. The closest I could come to it was when the guy who had just killed the trooper then chased down the driver who happened to witness the scene. My guess is the film's unusual and expert mix of genres - especially the comical - kept lessening the intensity.
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
wordslayer
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2009 12:06 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by wordslayer »

This was as intense for me as anything I've ever seen, and if anyone has seen the movie, they can immediately identify this by the third line

Get under the bed. Tell me when you're there.

I'm here. - Now, the next part is very important.

They are going to take you. Kim, stay focused, baby. This is key.

You will have five, maybe ten seconds. Very important seconds.

Leave the phone on the floor. Concentrate.
tim1999
Posts: 4205
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:16 am

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by tim1999 »

The scene in The Shining where Jack is breaking through the bathroom door. "Here's Johnny!"
User avatar
Imperabo
Posts: 1109
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2008 1:00 am

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by Imperabo »

ryuns wrote: Aragorn prevents Theoden from killing Grima Wormtongue, who promptly rejoins the bad guys, and gives them crucial information about a structural weakness in Helm's Deep. The unfortunate lesson is both these cases is that if you take mercy on a bad guy, you've set yourself up cinematically for said bad guy to play a crucial roll in your downfall.
Then again, Bilbo and Frodo sparing Gollum ended up saving Middle Earth because Gollum accidentally destroyed the ring in Mount Doom when it seemed that Frodo wouldn't be able to.
irwinmfletcher
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:55 am

Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct

Post by irwinmfletcher »

Enough said.
User avatar
htdrag11
Posts: 1261
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:22 pm

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by htdrag11 »

wordslayer wrote:This was as intense for me as anything I've ever seen, and if anyone has seen the movie, they can immediately identify this by the third line

Get under the bed. Tell me when you're there.

I'm here. - Now, the next part is very important.

They are going to take you. Kim, stay focused, baby. This is key.

You will have five, maybe ten seconds. Very important seconds.

Leave the phone on the floor. Concentrate.
Taken. Great scene.
gkaplan
Posts: 7034
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: Your most intense movie scene

Post by gkaplan »

Bath tub scene in Fatal Attraction.
Gordon
Post Reply