Favourite Cinematic Stirring Moments
goldberry1
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One of my favourite stirring moments in a film is from The Return Of The King:
Pippin, one of the Hobbits under instruction from Gandalf, lights the distress beacon at Minas Tirith - you see a relay of beacons being lit along the snowy mountain range - Aragorn on watch at Rohan sees the nearest beacon and runs up the steps to the Great Hall - he confronts Theoden and tells him that Minas Tirith calls for aid - Theoden pauses and says 'And Rohan will answer......muster the Rohirrim!
It's so dramatic and wonderful -it always brings a lump to my throat - absolutely brilliant.
What are your favourite dramatic moments in film?
Pippin, one of the Hobbits under instruction from Gandalf, lights the distress beacon at Minas Tirith - you see a relay of beacons being lit along the snowy mountain range - Aragorn on watch at Rohan sees the nearest beacon and runs up the steps to the Great Hall - he confronts Theoden and tells him that Minas Tirith calls for aid - Theoden pauses and says 'And Rohan will answer......muster the Rohirrim!
It's so dramatic and wonderful -it always brings a lump to my throat - absolutely brilliant.
What are your favourite dramatic moments in film?
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Also the bit in ET when the bikes fly over the police cars.
Just about any time the James Bond theme is played,
The President giving his speech in Independence Day. Pure cheese but fun.
My favourite is in Excaliber when Arthur has drunk from the Holy Grail and been renewed, especially when he and his knights ride out accompanied by Carmina Burana and the land begins to be reborn in their wake.
A big one recently is in The Avengers where the Hulk turns up for the final battle and takes down the monster with one hit.
(by the way in my first post - I think Aragorn said 'Gondor' calls for aid - Minas Tirith is a city in Gondor).
A Matter of Life and Death - The whole opening sequence, with the narrator, and the David Niven/Kim Hunter dialogue.
LOTR - Saruman describes the danger awaiting Gandalf in Moria, while turning the pages of an illustrated book. Also, the Last Alliance prologue in Fellowship.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - Most of it!
Master and Commander:The Far Side of the World - Aubrey's speech to the crew before their final battle.
Unforgiven - Will Munny finally starts drinking again.
The bit where the army throws all it's got at the machines on top of the hill is very stirring too.
- This is dumb, I know, but when Hard Boiled shows a snippet of a certain villain sailing away on a boat, I stood up and cheered. First and last time I did that at cinema.
- But the all-time favourite is, unfortunately, from a film friends and I still can't identify. Camera, from bird POV at high height, faces down to the edge of the waterfall. If I remember correctly, this scene shows a man - a secondary character - about to die.
The man, on the edge of a rock, peers over slightly at a massive waterfall. He lifts his arms up slightly and dives off the rock, swan-diving over the edge of the waterfall, down the waterfall as the sound of the waterfall increasingly roars. It stops abruptly the moment he enters into the white rushes of water. All in slow motion. Incredibly powerful.
His hair was slicked back, and he was wearing a white vest and light tan trousers, all in 1930s style. The film is in colour, though, so it's probably a 1990s/1980s film set during the 1930s. The cinematography is very much in style of Terence Malick. Rich palette with a lot of depth. I saw this film at Newcastle's independent cinema festival, but I had the flu so I didn't think to memorise the film title.
I thought it was The Power of One, but it isn't the one. Besides, the guy - although his face can't be seen in this scene - was brunette and possibly taller than Matt Damon (edit: oops, I meant Stephen Dorff). It's not The Mission either.
* This is actually a relatively harmless little number. The makers originally wanted to use the Nazi anthem Horst Wessel Lied but were worried that the German copyright holder would cause problems.:eek:
The first film that sprung to mind for the scene you describe above is a movie called Last Embrace, directed by Jonathan Demme as a homage to Hitchcock's thrillers, starring Roy Scheider. There is a major sequence on a waterfall, and the film did have a noir'ish, old fashioned feel to it.
It was released in 1979 and is something of an obscurity, and is probably the sort of movie that would indeed have been shown at film festivals,as it was highly critically acclaimed at the time.
The bit in Escape to Victory when the football crowd starts singing La Marseillaise is also pretty good.
Platoon and the death of Elias - So terrible. So beautiful. Perfect score. Made me full in love with classical music and that scene stays with me. I'm welling up a little just thinking about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue8VS-bcj88
Ending of the 1930 All Quiet on the Western Front from the butterfly to the faces over a graveyard - It says a hell of a lot about the movie in so little with no words. It's what's missing into today's films. The ability to convey without lots going on.
The Great Escape death of Eric Ashley-Pitt a very noble sacrifice.
Thanks. I had a look around for Last Embrace. I don't think it's the one. But thanks for accidentally directing me to an image I could use as an aid in my search.
While I was googling that, I stumbled across this Man on a Ledge DVD cover. The waterfall scene heavily resembles that image. The camera was about five feet higher and instead of the ledge, there was the waterfall edge. Instead of the road, there were white waterfall rushes. The actor in cover - same position, peering, similar figure and such. Great.
gets me in the gut every time.
also the opera on the prison tanoy system in The Shawshank Redemption.
I love the final scenes of Tale of Two Cities - I liked Dirk Bogarde's film too.
I could go on all night, and I may yet.