Top Ten Tuesday: Greatest Movie Scenes Of All-Time

With the #WhiteWolfMovieBracket down to the final 16 movies, this week’s Top Ten Tuesday sticks with the movie theme. We’re going over the best movie scenes of all-time. There are dozens of scenes—including action sequences from movies like The Matrix and just regular conversation scenes from movies like Pulp Fiction—that easily could have made the list. These are among the great ones that are most familiar to average movie fans.

 

[Editor’s Note: A few scenes are NSFW, and obviously this article contains spoilers, so watch the movie before reading about and watching the moment.]

 

10. Years of tapes (Interstellar)

Looking over tapes that spanned 23 years while he barely aged away from earth, Cooper was overcome with emotion—and when his daughter Murph finally checked in with him, he just broke. Matthew McConaughey didn’t say a word, but his performance made the key Interstellar scene one of the most heartbreaking in history. A sad scene had to make it someplace in the top ten.

 

 

9. “Are you not entertained?” (Gladiator)

A few of the remarkable scenes on this list include simple four-word phrases or questions, and aside from the No. 1 movie on the list, this might top them. Gladiator is widely considered among the top films of all-time, and Maximus cutting through several adversaries—ending with a beheading—before basically taunting the crowd (and then getting loudly cheered) is probably the most memorable part of the movie.

 

 

8. The end (The Dark Knight Rises)

While there was talk about the auto-pilot feature on the “The Bat” sprinkled throughout The Dark Knight Rises, the obvious assumption was that Batman died by getting the bomb out over the harbor and saving Gotham City. With the private funeral for Bruce Wayne, the unveiling of the Batman statue, and the reveal of “Robin”, everything came full circle perfectly—but the ultimate cherry on top was that Batman had actually survived via the auto-pilot feature he fixed without Lucius Fox knowing. Bruce and Alfred saw each other at the café in Florence, and a simple nod was all they needed to know that the crime-fighting billionaire had made it.

 

 

7. “Funny guy” (Goodfellas)

Plenty of Martin Scorsese scenes could’ve made the cut, but this scene from Goodfellas gives a little bit of everything. As Scorsese does incredibly well, the conversations and interactions between characters have subtle things to make them seem as realistic as possible. Tommy tells a hilarious story, then acts like he’s getting serious, then really gets serious—and it makes the viewer laugh, then get tense, then feel bad for the restaurant owner Sonny, then laugh again all in a few minutes.

 

 

6. “King Kong ain’t got…” (Training Day)

Denzel Washington obviously carried this climactic Training Day scene with an extraordinary performance. Lonzo goes from thinking he’s unstoppable, delivering some grand lines before you can see in his face the realization that his life is over.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KrNpxODiDA

 

5. End-scene flashback (The Godfather: Part II)

As Michael Corleone contemplates what he’s done over the years—including killing his brother Fredo—there was a surprising flashback scene showing an earlier birthday party for Vito Corleone taking place sometime before Part I. Marlon Brando didn’t appear in the scene, but seeing James Caan back as Sonny Corleone was fantastic. The entire scene is just classic, and it helps the story and downfall of Michael come full circle.

 

 

4. “Is it true?” (The Godfather)

Back-to-back ending scenes from the first two parts of The Godfather saga make the top five. The opening scene of the The Godfather and the hit on the four other heads of the major crime families (and Moe Green) also could’ve been included here, but the final few moments—with Michael giving Kay one chance to ask him about his business, which he utilizes to tell a boldfaced lie—is masterful. The final shot of Kay’s realization of what her husband has become is one of the best in history.

 

 

3. Interrogation (The Dark Knight)

A number of scenes from The Dark Knight also could’ve been in this Top Ten Tuesday, including the opening bank robbery scene, the prison transport scene and takedown of the Joker (with the revelation that Jim Gordon was alive), the final showdown between Batman and the Joker, and the final scene with Harvey Dent (and then Batman having to run away)—The Dark Knight was pretty good, huh? But the interrogation scene is awesome because you get some insight into Batman and the Joker, and it juxtaposes the two characters by showing that physically, the Joker has nothing on Batman—yet he still nearly pushes the Caped Crusader to the limit.

 

 

2. “What’s in the box?” (Se7en)

Like the four-word question in Gladiator, the four-words “what’s in the box?” mean one thing only when spoken with the tone and emotion Brad Pitt delivers as David Mills at the end of Se7en. Morgan Freeman did an excellent job as Detective Lieutenant David Somerset, who did his best to keep an unthinkable situation under control, in the scene. The twist ending is undoubtedly one of the best ever.

 

 

1. “I am your father.” (Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back)

Finally, there might never be a bigger plot twist in a movie than there was in the middle of the Skywalker saga, with Darth Vader revealing he is Luke Skywalker’s father in The Empire Strikes Back. Many consider it the top moment in the history of cinema, and even before Lord Vader uttered the words “No, I am your father,” it was lofty scene with the lightsaber battle between good and evil.