Movie scenes with little or no dialogue

TwilkesTwilkes Posts: 68
Forum Member
I'm looking for examples of scenes in films with little or no dialogue - the first few I came up with were the end of The Good The Bad & The Ugly, the end of The Straight Story, and pretty much any scene from 2001 A Space Odyssey. :)

Arty-type films tend to have a lot of this, but can anyone come up with such scenes from more well-known films, even Hollywood blockbusters?

Cheers,
«1

Comments

  • Sez_babeSez_babe Posts: 133,998
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭✭
    The first 15 minutes of Brokeback Mountain comes to mind
  • big brother 9big brother 9 Posts: 18,152
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    One scene that springs to mind is the noose scene in 12 years a slave
  • TakaeTakae Posts: 13,555
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    So many. Off my head:

    The Last Picture Show
    Days of Heaven
    Badlands
    Blow Up (John Travolta) Edited: Blow Out, not Blow Up.
    Paris, Texas
    The Ice Storm
    The Conversation
    Collateral (the ending especially)
    Inside Man
    Warriors (the walk before one makes that 'come out to play' call)
    Touch of Evil (the opening scene)
    Rear Window (the part where he watches her breaking into the suspect's flat)

    That Clint Eastwood film where he's a burglar or thief in Gene Hackman's place. Edited: Absolute Power. (Thanks, melonfarmer.)

    Edited: Close Encounter of the Third Kind (the mashed potato scene)
  • melonfarmermelonfarmer Posts: 43
    Forum Member
    Takae wrote: »
    So many. Off my head:

    That Clint Eastwood film where he's a burglar or thief in Gene Hackman's place


    Is that Absolute Power?
  • TakaeTakae Posts: 13,555
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Is that Absolute Power?

    Yes, it is. Thank you.
  • Super FrogSuper Frog Posts: 11,480
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    All Is Lost has almost no dialogue at all.

    A good chunk of the scenes in Cast Away.

    The first 20 minutes of There Will Be Blood.
  • manderleymanderley Posts: 2,267
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    The first 30 minutes of the 1955 French crime thriller, Rififi has no dialogue or background music.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 53,142
    Forum Member
    sex films i expect..just the silly music going on in background, and groaning :D
  • dodradedodrade Posts: 23,681
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Quest for Fire is set in prehistoric times and has no intelligible dialogue.
  • rfonzorfonzo Posts: 11,771
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    The opening scene of Once Upon In America where the phone keeps ringing.
  • D_PeugeotD_Peugeot Posts: 781
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Under The Skin.
  • idlewildeidlewilde Posts: 8,698
    Forum Member
    Drive
  • RebelScumRebelScum Posts: 16,008
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Once Upon a Time in the West - the Henry Fonda & Charles Bronson face off. No dialogue, just a blistering soundtrack.
  • mgvsmithmgvsmith Posts: 16,452
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    The end sequence of 'Cruel Intentions'
    The long opening section of 'Wall-E'
    The hair washing sequence of Tarkovsky's 'Mirror'
    Hospital scene from 'Jacob's Ladder'
    Darkness scene from 'Silence of the Lambs'
    Numerous scenes from Lynch's 'Eraserhead'
  • Johnny ClayJohnny Clay Posts: 5,317
    Forum Member
    Several in tinfoil hat classic Eyes Wide Shut:

    Dreamy/eerie tracking shot through masked orgy.

    Cruise stalked by heavy who, eerily, makes no attempt to hide.

    Cruise handed letter at mansion gate by another heavy under eerie gaze of security cam.

    As we can see, EWS is quite an eerie film.
  • Ted CTed C Posts: 11,730
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    The opening robbery scene in Michael Mann's Thief.
  • TwilkesTwilkes Posts: 68
    Forum Member
    Thanks for these, keep them coming if you've got them. :)

    Based on these suggestions I've been remembering wordless scenes from films that can otherwise be quite scripted - Miles and Maya walking up the stairs to her apartment in Sideways for instance.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 53,142
    Forum Member
    Rambo..where he is just making weapons or hiding with daft music on

    or

    Predator..again same as above :D
  • quirkyquirkquirkyquirk Posts: 7,160
    Forum Member
    The opening sequence of Rio Bravo.
  • Grabid RanniesGrabid Rannies Posts: 4,588
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    There's a number of noteworthy dialogue-free sequences in Brian DePalma's Dressed To Kill, including this famous one set in a museum. It's SFW - unlike the scene that immediately follows it!
  • pearlsandplumspearlsandplums Posts: 29,393
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Belleville rendez vous and the illusionist are both pretty much free from dialogue
  • muggins14muggins14 Posts: 61,844
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    The Artist :D;)

    The scene in Notting Hill where he walks through the market, seasons and scenes changing to mark the passage of time.

    Does the scene at the end of Alien, where she's trapped alone in the pod with the Alien, have any dialogue?

    The scene where Tippi Hedren takes the bird over to Mitch's house by boat, it's a long and silent scene (in The Birds)
  • tombigbeetombigbee Posts: 4,639
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    There's nothing spoken for the first five minutes or so of There Will Be Blood.
  • YuffieYuffie Posts: 9,864
    Forum Member
    The beg inning of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has no dialogue.
  • QuixoticQuixotic Posts: 668
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Wendy and Lucy
    Meek's Cutoff
    The American
    Somewhere
    The Illusionist
    Bill Douglas Trilogy
Sign In or Register to comment.