Great Moments in Movies and Shows
From cartoons to live action, big screen to small, shorts to features, silent era to present day, here are some of my favorite screen moments, sung and unsung, in chronological order.
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- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceJackie CooganThe Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.The Kid (Jackie Coogan) reaches out desperately for The Tramp (Charles Chaplin) from the back of a truck as the social workers take him away.
- DirectorOtto MessmerFelix, hungry and looking for a meal, hears that food is plentiful down south, and decides to check it out. He finds out that the cotton association pays for cotton in chicken dinners, so he proceeds to go and pick cotton, only to get in trouble when he mistakes an old man's beard for a cotton plant.In a moment both bizarre and poignant, a grateful Felix the Cat returns the cottony hair, eyebrows and beard to the old black man he stole them from.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinMack SwainTom MurrayA prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.The Little Tramp (Charles Chaplin) makes the best of his meal: boiled shoe leather, even offering a bent nail to Big Jim (Mack Swain) as if it were a wishbone they could break. ~ In a dream, the Tramp entertains his guests by making ballerina feet out of a pair of rolls. ~ Georgia (Georgia Hale) sees all the party decorations and realizes how callous she has been. ~ The Tramp blames the tilting house on dyspepsia.
- DirectorClyde BruckmanBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarion MackGlen CavenderAfter being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.The excitement of the train chase does not prevent Annabelle (Marion Mack) from taking out a broom to sweep the dusty floor of the engine. An exasperated Johnnie (Buster Keaton) tells her to keep throwing wood into the fire. She takes a small stick and daintily puts it in. Johnnie sarcastically hands her a sliver, and she puts that in, too. Then Johnnie grabs her and half-throttles her before kissing her instead.
- DirectorVictor HeermanStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxMayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding.During the "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" number, Groucho asks with sublime irrelevance: "Did someone call me schnorrer?"
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.Hans (Peter Lorre) looks in the mirror at the back of his coat and sees the letter "M" written in chalk.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinVirginia CherrillFlorence LeeWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.The onetime blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) realizes who her secret benefactor really is.
- DirectorRobert F. McGowanStarsMatthew 'Stymie' BeardDorothy DeBorbaKendall McComasDickie throws a birthday party to try to raise money to buy his mother a birthday present.This "Our Gang" short contains what are perhaps the two most memorable moments in the series. Spanky (George McFarland) suggests to his brother Dickie (Dickie Moore) that they buy their mother a shotgun for her birthday. Dickie asks what would she do with a gun. Spanky replies, "Shoot papa!" ~ The pulsating cake in the oven makes its indescribable "Wee-OWWW!" sound.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsFay WrayRobert ArmstrongBruce CabotA film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), giving Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) a screen test, provokes her into screaming bloody murder at some giant unseen thing. Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot grabs the captain's arm and asks, "What's he think she's really gonna see?" ~ Kong reaches through a window in a high-rise building, picks a woman out of her bed and then callously throws her down into the street when he realizes she's not Ann. ~ Kong, on top of the Empire State Building, gently sets down Ann and pets her, resigned to his fate.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxRufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.Harpo's tattoo of a doghouse proves to have a real dog inside it.
- DirectorGus MeinsStarsWally AlbrightMatthew 'Stymie' BeardScotty BeckettThe gang decides to build their own fire engine.The camera pans along the gang's makeshift fire truck—an absurd, poignant monstrosity—showing it from the point of view of Wally's appalled sweetheart.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersEdward Everett HortonAn American dancer comes to Britain and falls for a model whom he initially annoyed, but she mistakes him for his goofy producer.Fred Astaire sings "Cheek to Cheek" to Ginger Rogers, telling her that he is in heaven. And so are we, especially when they start dancing.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsStan LaurelOliver HardySharon LynnStanley and Ollie are enlisted to deliver the deed to a goldmine in a small village, only for it to be stolen.As The Avalon Boys sing "At the Ball, That's All," Laurel and Hardy break into an impromptu soft-shoe dance, kicking off my pick for the all-time greatest movie scene.
- DirectorNorman FergusonT. HeeWilfred JacksonStarsDickie JonesChristian RubMel BlancA living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.Lampwick begins turning into a donkey as Pinocchio blames the strange sight on his cigar.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartMary AstorGladys GeorgeSan Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) walks over to his desk, turns around, slaps his hands together and laughs in contempt at Iva (Gladys George). ~ Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) tells Sam that he likes talking to a man who likes to talk. ~ Sam, after his calculated outburst against Gutman, is alone when he drops the act and notices with wry amusement that his hand is shaking. ~ Sam tells Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) that when he's slapped, he'll take it and like it. ~ Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.), with tears in his eyes, realizes what Sam and the rest are about to do to him. ~ Brigid (Mary Astor) laughs with nervous terror, desperately hoping that Sam is only kidding when he tells her what he is going to do.
- DirectorSamuel ArmstrongNorman FergusonWilfred JacksonStarsSterling HollowayEdward BrophyHerman BingRidiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential.The laughing hyenas laugh in their sleep during the "Baby Mine" number. ~ In the "Pink Elephants" sequence, the belly dancer dissolves as her belly turns into an giant eyeball. ~ During the circus climax, Timothy convinces Dumbo at the last second that he can fly without his magic feather. ~ During the reprise of "When I See an Elephant Fly," Dumbo flies into his mother's trunk and hugs her with his giant ears.
- DirectorRobert ClampettStarsMel BlancAfter reading a Dick Tracy comic, Daffy Duck has a surreal dream in which he is a P.I. pursuing an army of grotesque villains who stole every piggy bank in town, including his own.With absurd overconfidence, Daffy Duck declares to the pack of monstrous villains: "You're all under arrest!" before all of them roar in furious contempt.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenAlida ValliPulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.A shaft of light suddenly reveals Harry Lime (Orson Welles) standing in the doorway, as Anton Karas's jaunty zither score greets him, in what may be the most thrilling moment in the movies.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsMichael RenniePatricia NealHugh MarloweAn alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.Most memorable moment: Gort suddenly appears at the entrance of the spacecraft to the sound of Bernard Herrmann's eerie theremin music. Most exciting: Herrmann's music explodes into panic when the guards suddenly realize that Klaatu (Michael Rennie) has escaped. Most magical: Bobby (Billy Gray) silently follows the strange new boarder, who winds up at the spaceship.
- DirectorChristian NybyHoward HawksStarsKenneth TobeyMargaret SheridanJames ArnessScientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.Something is buried in the ice. The scientists and military men stand on the outline and discover that it's shaped like a giant saucer.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsEdward D. Wood Jr.Bela LugosiLyle TalbotA psychiatrist tells the stories of a transvestite (Glen or Glenda) and a pseudohermaphrodite (Alan or Anne).In Ed Wood's sublimely awful docudrama about transvestism, an irrelevant shot of stampeding buffalo dissolves into Bela Lugosi crying, "Pull the string! Pull the string!" You figure it out.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartGrace KellyWendell CoreyA wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.Jeff (James Stewart) and Stella (Thelma Ritter) watch helplessly from the opposite building as Lars (Raymond Burr) returns to his apartment, which an oblivious Lisa (Grace Kelly) continues to search.
- DirectorJoseph BarberaWilliam HannaStarsRed CoffeyWhen a duck hatches from the egg underneath Tom, he is convinced he is his mother. Tom thinks that he would like to eat the newborn duck, but Jerry shows him the truth while saving him from being eaten.The little duck realizes that his "mommy" (Tom the cat) wants to eat him and sadly resigns himself to it. "If my nice momma wants a duck dinner, my nice momma's gonna have a duck dinner." Happily, Tom has a change of heart. This absurd and shamelessly manipulative scene gets me every time.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancArthur Q. BryanElmer Fudd is again hunting rabbits - only this time it's an opera. Wagner's Siegfried with Elmer as the titular hero and Bugs as Brunnhilde. They sing, they dance, they eat the scenery.Elmer Fudd weeps over his tragic mistake as Bugs Bunny offers cold comfort to us in the audience.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsGregory WalcottTom KeeneMona McKinnonEvil aliens attack Earth and set their terrible "Plan 9" into action. As the aliens resurrect the dead of the Earth, the lives of the living are in danger.The condescending space alien, Eros (Dudley Manlove), petulantly complains, "You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!"
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesA former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) sees Judy (Kim Novak) bathed in green light as she enters the room fully transformed into Madeleine.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantEva Marie SaintJames MasonA New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.The sinister crop-dusting plane hits an oil truck as Bernard Herrmann's music explodes into a frenzy.
- DirectorTed PostStarsHoward DuffDavid WhiteFrank MaxwellA businessman sitting in his office inexplicably finds that he is on a production set and in a world where he is a movie star. Uninterested in the newfound fame, he fights to get back to his home and family.Arthur Curtis (Howard Duff) hears "cut," looks to the direction of the voice and sees that one of the walls of his office is missing and a movie crew is staring at him. His office has suddenly become a movie set, and Arthur Curtis has just entered... the Twilight Zone.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.Bernard Herrmann's music screeches in horror as "mother" rips back the shower curtain.
- DirectorRichard C. SarafianStarsTelly SavalasMary LaRocheTracy StratfordA frustrated father does battle with his stepdaughter's talking doll, whose vocabulary includes such phrases as "I hate you" and "I'm going to kill you".Erich (Telly Savalas) answers the phone and hears, "My name is Talky Tina, and I'm going to kill you."
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsMia FarrowJohn CassavetesRuth GordonA young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.Rosemary (Mia Farrow) sees her baby for the first time as Krzysztof Komeda's music lets us know just how shocking the sight is for her.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDuane JonesJudith O'DeaKarl HardmanA ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.Johnny (Russell Streiner): "They're coming to get you, Barbara." Little does he or Barbara (Judith O'Dea) know that the "man" lumbering near them in the graveyard really is coming to get them.
- DirectorHy AverbackStarsPeter FalkLeonard NimoyAnne FrancisA surgeon has an ingenious plan for murdering his partner in a research project, but a nurse catches onto the scheme.Columbo (Peter Falk) uses the murder weapon to crack open his hard-boiled egg. ~ The final shot (which I won't reveal here) provides for the most terrific Columbo ending of all.
- DirectorPhilip CassonTrevor NunnStarsIan McKellenJudi DenchJohn BownMacbeth (Ian McKellen) is a daring member of the Scottish military, who receives a revelation from three menacing sorceresses that he will someday become the King of Scotland. This information gives him a thirst for power, and with prompting from his wife, Lady Macbeth (Judi Dench), he kills the current leader in order to take the throne. But he must continue to commit murders to keep his actions a secret, and soon no one is safe.In the midst of her sleepwalking trance, Lady Macbeth (Judi Dench in the best on-screen performance of this great role) gives out the deepest, blackest cry of despair.
- DirectorBob SpiersStarsJohn CleesePrunella ScalesAndrew SachsWhen Mrs. Richards, a demanding woman who is hard of hearing, checks into the hotel, Basil, Sybil and Polly find themselves with a very difficult customer. Meanwhile, Basil bets on a horse that is sure to win, however he must not let Sybil find out.After Mrs. Richards (Joan Sanderson) bangs her head, Basil (John Cleese) picks a bit of something off the floor and asks, "Is this a piece of your brain?"
- DirectorRichard MarquandStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherAfter rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebel Alliance attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side.Luke (Mark Hamill) and Leia (Carrie Fisher) hop on a speeder bike to chase down a scout trooper in what gets my vote for the all-time greatest action scene.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsChristopher WalkenBrooke AdamsTom SkerrittA man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic ability to foresee future events.Johnny (Christopher Walken) breaks a vase with his cane and screams: "The ice is gonna break!"
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsMichael DouglasSharon StoneGeorge DzundzaA violent police detective investigates a brutal murder that might involve a manipulative and seductive novelist.Famous for the wrong reason, the interrogation scene is a masterly piece of filmmaking from director Paul Verhoeven and his team. The best moment: the camera suddenly races up to Catherine (Sharon Stone) as she repeats the alibi Beth (Jeanne Tripplehorn) predicted she would make.