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Part 5 |
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Part 5 |
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(chronological, by film title) - Part 5 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 |
| Movie Title and Film Character | Brief Scene Description | Example |
The Fly (1986) Seth Brundle |
The film opened on teleportation scientist Seth Brundle's (Jeff Goldblum) wide-eyed face, as he flirted with beautiful reporter Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) during a scientific convention: "What am I working on? Uh, I'm working on something that will change the world, and human life as we know it... What, you want me to be specific here, in this room, with, uh, half the scientific community of North America... eavesdropping?" When Veronica demured, he insisted: "I think you're making a mistake. I think you really want to talk to me... Yeah, but they're not working on something that'll change the world as we know it." When Veronica replied: "They say they are," Seth said with confidence: "Yeah, but they're lying. I'm not" | 
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Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Lee |
The first shot of the film was
an extended, medium shot of the ravishing, youthful Lee (Barbara Hershey)
in her grey sweater, the object of desire for Elliot (Michael Caine) -
the bored husband of her sister Hannah (Mia Farrow); in voiceover, he
pined for her, as the camera (representing Elliot's point-of-view) followed
her around the room: "God, she's beautiful. She's got the prettiest
eyes, and she looks so sexy in that sweater. I just want to be alone with
her and hold her and kiss her and tell her how much I love her and take
care of her. Stop it, you idiot. She's your wife's sister. But I can't
help it! I'm consumed by her. It's been months now. I dream about her.
I, I, I think about her at the office. Oh, Lee..." When she squeezed
by him in a doorway with a tray of hors d'oeuvres, he admitted: "...When
she squeezed past me in the doorway, and I smelled that perfume on the
back of her neck... Jesus, I, I thought I was gonna swoon!" |
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Howard the Duck (1986) Howard
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In the clever opening credits sequence set to bluesy music reminiscent of the neo-noir film Body Heat (1981), the setting was Howard T. Duck's Marshington DC apartment (3636 Lakeside Dr.) located on a "duck" egg-shaped version of Earth; the anthropomorphic title character entered his apartment and placed his keys (only his feathered white duck wing was visible) on a table with framed duck family photographs; the camera followed him around his home, with duck-versions of everything (a My Little Chickadee film poster starring Mae Nest and W.C. Fowls, a film poster for Breeders of the Lost Stork with Indiana Drake, a copy of "Rolling Egg" Magazine, a photo of Howard playing in his band Howard the Heartbreakers, and a Splashdance film poster); eventually, the camera showed Howard sitting in his armchair smoking a cigar and drinking a beer while watching TV (and clicking with his remote through the channels, including duck versions of the $64,000 Pyramid, soap operas and commercials), and removing the latest issue of Playduck Magazine from a brown-wrapper to look at the nude duck centerfold Miss October ("My little airbrushed beauty"); suddenly after feeling quaking, he was expelled from his armchair through the length of his building (through the hallway and other people's residences, including through a bathroom with a topless duck in a bathtub) into outerspace - and eventually landed in Cleveland |   
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Broadcast News (1987) Tom Grunick
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The film's ironic prologue that introduced the formative childhoods of the Oscar-nominated trio of future broadcast news professionals: the good-looking, airhead news anchor Tom Grunick (William Hurt) ("What can you do with yourself when all you can do is look good"), the insecure, serious, intelligent news reporter Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks) who graduated high school at 15, and the fussy, driven, and strident network news producer Jane Craig (Holly Hunter) with a wordy argumentative discussion with her father over the word 'obsessive' |  
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Full Metal Jacket (1987) Da Nang Hooker |
The striking entrance of a hip-swiveling, mini-skirted Vietnamese prostitute/hooker (Papillon Soo) in Da Nang (viewed from behind as she walked down the street) to the tune of Nancy Sinatra's feminist song: "These Boots Are Make For Walkin'" - she approached Stars & Stripes correspondents Pvt. Joker (Matthew Modine) and Pvt. Rafterman (Kevyn Major Howard) drinking beers at an outdoor cafe and propositioned them: "You got girlfriend (in) Vietnam?...Well, baby. Me so horny. Me so horny. Me love you long time" | 
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Raising Arizona (1987) Leonard Smalls, the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse
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During a nightmarish and sweaty dream, petty crook and baby-kidnapper H.I. "Hi" McDunnough (Nicolas Cage) had a "haunting vision" of "the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse," a menacing, heavily-armed, almost supernatural bounty hunter named Leonard Smalls (Randall 'Tex' Cobb), who brought impending doom and justice; he emerged from a blazing, orangish-yellow fireball on his motorbike, with two rifles strapped across his back, and left in his wake a scorched Earth trail as he flew forward; the combination Hell's Angel biker and horseman of the Apocalypse "was horrible... a man with all the powers of Hell at his command, he could turn the day into night and laid to waste everything in his path"; he had a tattoo of a skull on his arm emblazoned: "MAMA DIDN'T LOVE ME", and as he rode by an unsuspecting cottontail rabbit by the side of the road, he blew it up with a hand-grenade and shot at a lizard ("He was especially hard on the little things, the helpless and the gentle creatures. He left a scorched earth in his wake befouling even the sweet desert breeze that whipped across his brow. I didn't know where he came from and why. I didn't know if he was a dream or vision, but I feared that I myself had unleashed him. For he was the fury that would be as soon as Florence Arizona found her little Nathan gone") |   
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The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) Venus |
One of the most breathtakingly romantic and sensual entrances was this one -- the entrance of Venus with homage to the famous The Birth of Venus painting of 1482 by Sandro Botticelli with a live-action recreation; in the scene, a giant closed clamshell was slowly brought up from a watery pool by two angels and when opened, it revealed a fully nude, angelic-faced Venus (Uma Thurman) in the same pose as her counterpart from the painting; her long tresses and left hand covered her crotch and one arm covered her breasts; she gazed at the visiting Baron Munchausen (John Neville) and his friends, and greeted simply with a melodic voice: "Hello" - the two angels then flew to her and wrapped her in strands of pinkish silk to form her new dress; Roman god Vulcan (Oliver Reed) then nervously and jealously introduced her after giving her air kisses -- telling the overwhelmed Baron: "This is, uh, Venus. The goddess. My wife." |   |
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Jessica Rabbit |
In one of the high points of the film, out from behind a spotlight on blue curtains emerged the throaty, smokey blues sound of Jessica Rabbit singing (voice of Amy Irving) Why Don't You Do Right? Her sexy leg and ample breasts appeared first - from behind the curtain - as she began her song and stepped out. Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) was transfixed and entranced by the beautiful Toon (voice of Kathleen Turner) - her bright pink, slinky, high-cut gown sparkled and shimmered brilliantly. Looking very little like a rabbit and more like a cartoon-animated movie star, a combination Playboy bunny, Lauren Bacall and 40's peek-a-boo blonde actress Veronica Lake, the buxom, red-haired chanteuse swept out onto the stage and soon slinked into the audience while singing - the patrons hooted and whistled at her. Jessica reached her fingers inside Eddie's trenchcoat, removed his fedora, seductively tantalized him, sat on his table with her statuesque chest bursting out in front of him, leaned closer to him, and pulled his necktie toward her as she finished her song, cooing: "Why don't you do right? Like some other men do" |
  
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Batman (1989) The Joker |
The first full view of the newly-transformed mob enforcer Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson) - now known as the Joker - after falling into a large vat of acidic toxic chemicals in a factory during a set-up; he entered boss Carl Grissom's (Jack Palance) office, hidden in the dark, where he accused Grissom of a frame job: "You set me up over a woman! A WOMAN!" and muttered (ironically): "You must be insane." When Carl realized Jack meant to kill him, he angrily shouted out: "Your life won't be worth spit!" The Joker replied musingly: "I've been dead once already. It's very liberating, if you think of it as, uh, therapy." When Carl tried to reason with him: "Jack, listen, maybe we can cut a deal," the Joker answered acidly: "Jack?" and stepped into the light for the first time, revealing his grotesquely transformed visage -- a deathly, pure white face, green hair and an impossibly wide, hideous, permanent grin with blood-red lips. The Joker announced ominously: "Jack is dead, my friend. You can call me... Joker! And as you can see, I'm a lot happier!" The Joker then clownishly shot Carl repeatedly, bouncing and hopping balletically, and twirling around. After killing his former boss, the Joker sighed nonchalantly: "Oh, what a day!" |
  
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Shoeless Joe Jackson |
The memorable mystical appearance or materialization of disgraced ballplayer Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) occurred in a baseball field built in an Iowa cornfield by farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) - it came after Ray's daughter Karin (Gaby Hoffman) told him: "Daddy?... There's a man out there in your lawn"; also there was the secondary appearance of Ray's father John Kinsella (Dwier Brown), and Ray's reaction: "Oh my God. It's my father... My God..." |
  
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Henry V (1989) Henry V |
This film had one of the most spectacular Shakespearean entrances in film history. When the music swelled (both ominous and grand at the same time), a black silhouette of a figure appeared, framed through towering portal doors of the palace that swung open; it was the king, Henry V (Kenneth Branagh), dramatically backlit and wearing a flowing black cape - reminscient of Darth Vader's entrance in Star Wars (1977). His bishops and courtiers gazed at the distant monarch in absolute, rapturous awe, as if he was godlike, as he approached (directly toward the camera until blackening the doorway), passed by and sat on the throne. Then shortly after, with the camera on his face, Henry V addressed the council and summoned the Archbishop of Canterbury (Charles Kay), telling him: "...For never two such kingdoms did contend without much fall of blood" |
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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Dr. Henry Jones, Sr.
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The father of young "Indy" Jones (River Phoenix), Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. (Sean Connery), was first seen absorbed in his medieval studies work in his small-town home in 1912 - although his face wasn't revealed when Indy interrupted him holding the Cross of Coronado; that came much later in the film when adult "Indy" Jones (Harrison Ford) in 1938 went looking for his kidnapped father, project leader for recovery of the Holy Grail, who was held by Nazis at Brunwald Castle on the German/Austrian border; "Indy" crashed through the wooden shutters of the room's window where his father was imprisoned; a large antiquities vase (from the late 14th century, Ming Dynasty) was smashed over his head - his father had protectively broken the rare vase without knowing it was his son coming to the rescue; he stepped out of the shadows and asked: "Junior?", answered reflexively by Indy: "Yes, Sir," although he added with an irritated tone: "Don't call me that, please!" |   
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The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Dr. Hannibal Lecter |
This Best Picture winner was most memorable for novice FBI agent trainee Clarice Starling's (Jodie Foster) introduction scene to the notorious, satanic, cannibal-psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins); she took a tense walk along a dank row of medieval, high-security underground prison cells on her left to meet him - before meeting him, she was confronted by Lecter's neighboring cell-mate named Miggs (Stuart Rudin), who mashed his face against the bars and hissed charmingly with some verbal abuse: "I c-can sssmell your c--t!"; the brilliant Lecter was imprisoned in a windowless, glassed-in, dungeon-like cell, decorated with his own charcoal or crayon drawings of European cityscapes; filmed from her point of view, the notorious psychiatrist and insane criminal monster made a dramatic film entrance - he first appeared standing, ironically still and at attention in his cell, watching her with twinkling, chillingly-dead, blue eyes. His hair was closely-cropped and his head was tilted slightly in her direction. He urged -- with a slightly mocking tone -- the clever, intelligent, but inexperienced Clarice to step closer to his cell to show him her ID credentials: "Closer, please. Clo-ser" |
  
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Terminator T-800
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In this classic film entrance, electrical arcs of blue-white light snapped and sparked behind two parked tractor-trailers in an all-night truck stop. A global time-machine delivered the figure of a naked man, a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) - a replica of the Terminator model T-800 from the original film - with a muscle-bound frame and a perfect physique; he scanned his surroundings without any emotion, and his computerized brain registered the results of a digitized, electronic scan of the Harley-Davidson motorcycles parked outside a bikers' hangout called The Corral; in the amusing scene, he calmly strolled stark-naked into the country-western cafe to do further scans and make a MATCH for clothing, requesting calmly from the bearded pool player: "I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle" before assaulting him and other resistant bikers; in the next scene, a direct cut, the Terminator was already outside - from a boots-eye view - to the tune of George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone," the camera panned up showing him fully dressed after 'borrowing' leather clothes from a bruised biker - and then snatching a shotgun and sunglasses from another biker before cruising away |
     
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Terminator T-1000
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As in the first film, there were two back-to-back entrances from the future; a blue-white glare and more crackling electrical arcs appeared in the air; another menacing, lean naked cyborg - the second Terminator time traveler, a T-1000 model sent from the future, attacked an investigating policeman, and then changed into the man's uniform and sat in his squad car, searching on the computer for the object of his mission - John Connor (Edward Furlong), living with his foster parents in Reseda, California |  
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Sarah Connor
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29 year-old Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) was revealed in sharp contrast to her character from the first film; now in the year 1995, she was first seen doing sweaty pull-ups in her Pescadero State Hospital cell, where her doctor, Dr. Peter Silberman (Earl Boen) introduced her to his pre-med students through her door's window; she greeted him with the intriguing question: "How's the knee?" (it was learned that she had stabbed him in the kneecap with his pen a few weeks earlier); she was more tough and vigilant, and shown as a muscle-bound warrior-woman; Sarah had been institutionalized for acting delusional and insane over thoughts of an impending nuclear apocalypse (flash-forwarded and seen in 1997); she had been arrested for attempting to blow-up Cyberdyne Systems (and its SkyNet labs) that she forecast would lead to the world's annihilation | 
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Jurassic Park (1993) The T. Rex |
The entrance of the monstrous T. Rex was prefaced by the chaining of the leg of a bleating goat to a stake in the middle of a field in order to tempt the dinosaur to appear. Later, during a nighttime torrential rainstorm, the goat suddenly stopped bleating, and had disappeared from the stake, causing teenage computer hacker Lex (Arianna Richards) to wonder: "Where's the goat?" That cued a disembodied goat leg to startlingly drop onto the Plexiglass roof of the Explorer jeep. Off to the side of the road, the T. Rex appeared, gulping down the goat in a single swallow. The T. Rex, sensing more prey, then proceeded to harrass the two jeeps, dominantly staking its claim by roaring frighteningly |
 
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Introduction: One of the
most striking elements in any film is the sudden or memorable appearance
of one of the main characters or stars. Often, film entrances are not
very extraordinary, but now and again, there are some that are very
spectacular and skillfully executed. Although it would be impossible
to compile a list of every single memorable movie entrance ever screened,
this collection moves toward that goal. The following illustrated list in the next few web pages,
in unranked chronological order, presents a solid collection of the
most classic movie entrances or bows of film characters in cinematic
history. These include film scenes from the silent era, the classic
film period, and modern-day. 