Did Mrs. Deagle Flying Through The Roof Make it? (Top Ten Movie Scenes)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Top Ten Movie Scenes
Date:	03/11/06 (306 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Movies rock

Disadvantages: Bad movies (like "Top Gun" and "Pretty Woman")

Movies are great aren’t they? A whole story captured in an hour and a half in which you can watch with a beer in one hand and your nachos in the other. They certainly save having to plough through a whole book! I adore movies on the whole and probably watch one most days. I like to think I’m fairly eclectic in my tastes although, perhaps the horror and fantasy genre spike my interest the most. To actually pin down 10 top scenes within movies themselves seems to be an interesting challenge so hear goes!

In no particular order:

One of my favourite war movies is the Steven Spielberg directed “Empire of the Sun” released in 1987. Based on the book written by J.G.Ballard, Christian Bale loses his parents in the evacuation of Shanghai during the 2nd World War. Eventually ending up in a Japanese prisoner of War camp, Bale’s character – Jamie Graham – befriends the wonderful John Malkovich playing the American opportunist, Basie. The movie itself is so brilliantly imagined with some of the best cinematography I’ve ever seen but the particular scene that sticks in my mind is the one where Bale wanders over to a Japanese fighter plane being repaired. As he looks on, the sparks from the tool being used to repair the plane light the sky up set against a sunset backdrop and the silhouetted fighter pilot looks every bit the hero even though he’s actually “the enemy” in the context of the war. With a fabulous, choral soundtrack to add effect, it’s also the fact this movie actually humanizes what we would deem to be the opposition making it truly inspired and the film deservedly won a string of Oscars.

Joe Dante’s “Gremlins” from 1984 is choc full of great scenes. To pick any particular one seems sacrosanct. I mean, there’s Mrs. Deagle flying through the roof when her stair lift gets sabotaged by the gremlins, there’s the plough being driven right through the Futterman’s house but the scene that always stands out for me is the one in which all of the gremlins have congregated in the cinema and are sitting in the theatre watching “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. As the camera pans across, the viewer gets to see a panoramic sweep of the little blighters cackling away, flicking popcorn at the screen and generally laughing at the movie. It’s pure gold in a movie vault of lots of pure gold, certainly in terms of this seminal movie. Unusually, “Gremlins” was followed by an equally strong sequel with some great scenes in that too!

I loved the “Hellraiser” movies, well at least, one and two. For me, the first movie was groundbreaking although “Hellraiser 2” was better visually. With Kenneth Cranham on top form as the crazed Dr Channard, the curious doctor eventually opens the puzzle box and becomes one of Hell’s demons himself. It’s the depiction of Hell that stands out in my mind. A labyrinth of cold corridors and Hellish sets are topped off by the rotating trapezoid at the very heart of Hell. It’s the incredible visual awakening of what Hell might look like that makes this scene stand out as various parties stand in awe at the rotating figure that seems to be emanating power and hate. Of course, the movie franchise is best known for the Cenobite creatures and, in particular, Pinhead, making the “Hellraiser” movies some of the most visually arresting of all time.

James Cameron’s “Titanic” released in 1997 was a significant movie in my life. From that moment on, my son became hooked on the legend of the 1912 disaster in which so many people lost their lives. As the second half of the movie unfolds and the tension is cranked to hysteria as the liner finally sinks, it’s actually the scene where Jack and Rose are standing at the bow of the ship, Jack holding Rose, Rose with her arms outstretched pretending to fly as the liner powers through the waves, that captured my imagination from the first half of the film. Celine Dion's haunting "My Heart Will Go On" cements that Celtic power to the love story entwined within the disaster movie itself and it's a heady fusion of tragedy and romance that made the film so compelling. It doesn’t work quite so well now that I know that the scene was shot using blue screen but, nevertheless, the concept of flying, tied in with the ship’s beauty and power is a wonderful allegory for the story as a whole.

One of the most frustrating things for me when I was 14-years-old was not being able to get into the cinema to see Ridley Scott’s “Alien” in 1979. Combining horror and science fiction, I had to make do with reading a paperback version of the story so when I eventually got to see the film on video; I sat there enthralled for the whole 117 minute run time. The scene that I love the most is where John Hurt is on the alien planet and is walking through the pods, surrounded by mist. As he peers into one, it breaks open and the alien of the movie’s title explodes into his space helmet. That whole scene is so eerie, chilling and filled with tension and only potentially upstaged later on in the movie when it explodes out of Hurt’s chest having successfully gestated.

I do like Tim Burton as a director and I adore Jack Nicholson as an actor so when the two combined in 1989 to make the gothic “Batman”, it became a must-see movie for me. Filled with dark, brooding street sets, the film was a visual triumph but the scene that stands as is where Nicholson’s Joker turns up at the art gallery, boombox perched on Nicholson’s shoulder with Prince blaring out as he meets up with Kim Basinger’s Vicki Vale. Nicholson is truly awesome playing the deranged, villainous Joker but there’s always an underlining, laconic irony that is the trademark of so many of Nicholson’s characters.

I loved the recent Peter Jackson version of “King Kong” but, in terms of watershed movies, the 1933 black and white movie is hard to beat. I remember seeing this as a kid with a tear in my eye as the closing scenes played out. Having become emotionally attached to the giant gorilla of the movie’s title, he fights for his noble life at the top of the Empire State Building in New York as bi-planes from that era reign bullets down on him. Those scenes did more for New York tourism than anything else and the technical skill in delivering that standard of scene was simply staggering for movies from the 1930’s.

Ridley Scott features again through the 1982 sci-fi noir movie “Blade Runner”. Harrison Ford is superb in the lead role as the android hunter Rick Deckard. The film is typical of Philip Dick’s profound theorizing over the relationship between reality and our own perception of what’s real and what’s imagined but the scene where Rutger Hauer’s android finally succumbs to its lifespan is staggeringly well shot. As the android Batty dies, the whole scene slows as Hauer utters the immortal line “I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.” With that, white doves fly into the air and you realise that his lethal pursuit of Deckard has ended in failure and the android has expired. Fabulous stuff.

War films generally aren’t my thing but I do like Michael Caine. He’s so charismatic and has made so many good movies over the years. One of his finest hours of many fine hours is in the 1964 film "Zulu”. Based on the Battle of Rourke’s Drift, the stiff-upper-lipped British army is facing overwhelming odds as the Zulu army bears down on the garrison. It’s the scene with the soldiers all propped and ready to engage the enemy that stands out for me as the vast might of the Zulu warrior force amasses at the brow of the hill. Caine as Lt. Gonville Bromhead can only watch in awe as the Zulu legions bang their shields and ready themselves for the forthcoming battle.

Last but not least (if you made it this far!) would be another Spielberg classic “Close Encounters of the Third Time” Released in 1977, the film created quite a stir because, apart from the fact it’s a fine movie, it tried to imagine what it would be like if a alien ship ever landed on Earth. Of course, the brilliant Michael Rennie inspired “The Day the Earth Stood Still” had examined this concept before, back in 1951, but it was the creative imagining behind Spielberg’s movie that set it apart in its genre. The closing shots of the UFO landing in a blaze of light, watched by the gathered reception committee was seminal in its day and another visual triumph for the audience to gape in awe at.

Oh well, there you have it and I’ll probably think of loads more as soon as I’ve posted this one. For pure escapism, endeavor, imagination and emotion, you simply can’t beat the movies and the next time you are feeling low, try escaping into the wonderful world of movies along with me and the millions of others that do just that, whenever we can.

Thanks for reading

Mara

Summary: My top 10 movie scenes