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September 06, 2003
I said a 10 second car, not a 10 minute car
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I have a downer entry ready. Sort of. I'm having trouble finishing it. It's so extraordinarily negative that it bums me out just to write it.

So in the meantime, I have a meaningless list for you.

My all-time favorite movie scenes

  • Sense and Sensibility. Emma Thompson, after being the proper, reserved pillar of propriety in her family, finds out Hugh Grant's marital status and flips out.

  • Almost Famous. The "Tiny Dancer" scene. If this doesn't make you smile, you have a heart of granite.

  • Fargo. The very last scene, when Marge and her husband are about to fall asleep and he tells her his stamp didn't get chosen but she reassures him.

  • Memento. Pretty much the whole movie, but especially when you realize that Natalie has something up her sleeve and takes advantage of Lenny's condition

  • Grease. The "Sandra Dee" scene


Comments

Great list! I was surprised by the first three; not because they aren't great choices, but because they're not obvious choices and they'd probably be on my list, too.

The _Almost Famous_ scene was wonderful because it was unexpected and very, very believable. I love that it happened at that moment, and I love that it was that song, and I love that everybody knew the lyrics to the song (everyone would, of course) and that everyone probably resisted the urge to sing along at that awkward moment, but that their love for rock and roll sort of overrode their squabbles and united them, at least for that moment. In a way, each character was in that spot at that moment because of "Tiny Dancer" and hundreds of other songs like it. Cameron Crowe knows how to write a believable scene, I'll tellya.

Scenes like this exist in millions of movies, but this was one of the very, very, very few that rang true for me, that emerged naturally from the characters and setting, rather than being contrived in order to satisfy some plot requirement that the writers didn't know how else to accomplish. In other films, it seems cheap. In this one, it seems just right.

As for _Fargo_, what that final scene reminds me of is the fact that the film is not about what I (and lots of others, I'd guess) am tempted to think it's about. It is such a quiet, gentle contrast to so much of the rest of the film that it took me completely by surprise the first time I saw it. Just terrific.

I am extremely anti-_Grease_ lately, and can't make myself sit through that movie anymore, but if I were to choose one scene from it, I guess the Sandra Dee scene is as good a pick as any. I keep forgetting what a cutie Olivia Newton-John was.

Anyway, thanks for that. Gave me some great ideas.

Posted by: Lone Iguana at September 10, 2003 11:14 PM

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