GREAT MOMENTS and SCENES FROM THE GREATEST FILMS An extensive collection of the most famous, distinguished, unforgettable or memorable images, scenes, sequences or performances, many from the greatest films of all time Part 41

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Spellbound (1945)	Psychiatrist Dr. Constance Petersen's (Ingrid Bergman) love affair with her handsome yet delusional Green Manors mental hospital patient Dr. Anthony Edwardes/John Ballantine (Gregory Peck); the image of the parallel fork lines on the tablecloth, sled tracks and patterns on the bedspread (all lines on a white background that cause anxiety attacks for amnesia-suffering Ballantine due to a partial recollection of the murder of the real Dr. Edwardes on a ski slope); the scene in which the camera focuses on the straight razor carried in the hand of disturbed Ballantine as he approaches the old doctor; and the pivotal, brilliant nightmarish dream-remembrance sequence conceived by surrealist artist Salvador Dali; the blood-chilling sequence of Ballantine's vivid memory of his brother's accidental and tragic death by impalement on a spiked fence; and the subjective image of the jealous murderer Dr. Murchison (Leo G. Carroll) aiming his gun at Dr. Petersen - and then after she leaves slowly turning it toward the camera and firing it at himself - with a burst of red color gunflash (in a black and white film), in director Alfred Hitchcock's psychological mystery-thriller
Spider-Man (2002)	The believable character of high-school geek Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) who was bitten by a mutant, genetically-altered spider and then able to skip, jump, and leap across NY rooftops and combat his villainous arch-enemy the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) - in a set-piece in Times Square; and the widely-marketed image of teen sweetheart Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) pulling down Spidey's tight face mask for an upside-down kiss in the rain, in director Sam Raimi's great comic superhero blockbuster
The Spiral Staircase (1946)	The atmosphere of terror and suspense in an old dark mansion - a raging storm outside, dark shadows, a spiral staircase, the killer's menacing eyes, gusts of wind, flickering candlelights, creaking doors - tormenting a young victimized mute Helen (Dorothy McGuire), and the suspenseful climax of her scream at the moment of peril and speaking her first words since childhood with a phone call for a doctor, in director Robert Siodmak's suspenseful psychological drama
Splash (1984)	The scene of Manhattanite fruit/vegetable wholesaler Allen Bauer's (Tom Hanks) second rescue by a mermaid named Madison (Daryl Hannah) in the waters of Cape Cod, and her arrest for being naked on Liberty Island; her screeching pronounciation of her name that shatters store windows; and then the sprouting of a tail while taking a bath and having to hide her flipper from Allen, and the scene of the fish-woman's devouring of a live lobster (with its shell) in a restaurant, and their farewell scene when she kisses him before diving back into the water -- and Allen's last-second decision to join Madison underwater forever!, in Ron Howard's romantic comedy (and Disney's first Touchstone release)
Splendor in the Grass (1961)	The many appealing scenes of two love-struck teenage sweethearts in Kansas in the 1920s - Bud (Warren Beatty in his film debut) and Wilma Dean ("Deanie") (Oscar-nominated Natalie Wood), but repressed and sexually frustrated, the film's opening scene as they are necking in a car next to a raging waterfall, the image of an unsatisfied Wilma Dean on her bed wrapping herself around a pillow or grinding her hips into his and languishing on the floor, the scene of her walking down the school corridor with a radiant look of love on her face toward Bud, the school scene of her interpretation of the "splendor in the grass" Wordsworth's poem, the emotionally devastating sequence beginning with Deanie's steam bath (and her strict mother's (Audrey Christie) questioning about her being spoiled) and her rejected-love scene followed by her drowning suicide attempt, and the final sequence of her bittersweet reunion with Bud years later (who has since married an Italian waitress (Zohra Lampert)) while wearing a virginal white dress outfit and hat - and her recollection of the Wordsworth poem (in voice-over) and its meaning after being asked: "Do you think you still love him?", in Elia Kazan's romantic drama of William Inge's screenplay
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)	As in many James Bond films, the spectacular pre-credits opening stunt sequence - of a free-falling ski jump (by stunt man Rick Sylvester) off a snow-covered cliff (and the unveiling of the Union Jack parachute); and the henchman character of the gigantic, steel-toothed, shark-eating Jaws (Richard Kiel), Agent 007 Bond's (Roger Moore) Russian agent love interest Major Anya Amasova (or Triple-X) (Barbara Bach); the image of Bond's Lotus Esprit turning into an underwater vessel; and the famous closing exchange when the Minister of Defence Sir Frederick Gray (Geoffrey Keen) discovers Bond in bed with Anya (Gray: "Bond! What do you think you're doing?!" - Bond: "Keeping the British end up, sir") and the theme song by Carly Simon Nobody Does It Better, in director Lewis Gilbert's large-scale action film
Stage Door (1937)	The sparring scenes between roommates at the Footlights Club - the sexy, insult-slinging Joan Maitland (Ginger Rogers) and rich/refined Terry Randall (Katharine Hepburn), the realistic performances of other theatrical boardinghouse roommates, and the tearjerking scene of a depressed Kaye Hamilton (Andrea Leeds) ascending a staircase and hearing applause as she is about to commit suicide, followed by Terry's memorable tearful rendition of the "calla lilies are in bloom..." and her curtain call speech, in director Gregory La Cava's showbusiness-related comedy-drama
Stagecoach (1939)	Charismatic Ringo Kid's (John Wayne) specially-highlighted entrance scene in which a tracking shot zooms in as he is twirling and re-cocking his Winchester rifle in one hand; the great spectacular footage of Monument Valley, the character study of six passengers on a stagecoach and the seating of the group around a table at the Dry Fork way station - with prejudice shown toward fallen woman Dallas (Claire Trevor), the delivery of Lucy's (Louise Platt) baby, the great shot of the stagecoach dwarfed by Monument Valley and the quick pan to the left to an awaiting group of Apache Indians, the lengthy ferocious Indian attack/salt flats chase on the stagecoach as Ringo jumps onto the horses to steer the out-of-control coach (with great, often-imitated stuntwork by Yakima Canutt), the cavalry rescue, and the climactic three-against-one shoot-out with the Plummers (Ringo Kid blasts his gun directly into the camera) on the dusty streets of a town, in director John Ford's quintessential western
Stalag 17 (1953)	The scene in which suspected traitor Sergeant J.J. Sefton (William Holden) in a WWII POW camp receives his first clue as to the real villain's identity while on his bunk and under the shadow of a naked hanging lightbulb (serving as a signal - with a knot or loop in the cord) - while the others march around the barracks singing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", in director Billy Wilder's black comedy
Stand By Me (1986)	The opening voice-over narration by the Writer (Richard Dreyfuss) - introducing a flashback: "I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being. It happened in the summer of 1959 - a long time ago"; the quartet of young boys and their adventures, including the poignant campfire scene between two twelve year-old schoolboy buddies Chris Chambers (River Phoenix) and Gordie Lachance (Wil Wheaton) regarding how Chris was always labeled a 'low-life' due to his family's 'black-sheep' reputation ("That's the way they think of me") in their town of Castle Rock in Oregon, and the interesting question posed: "Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog, so what's Goofy?"; the train dodging scene, and also the film's last line (accompanied by Ben E. King's title theme song) in which the Writer laments as he types: ("Although I haven't seen him in more than ten years I know I'll miss him forever. I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anybody?"), in director Rob Reiner's coming-of-age film - an adaptation of a Stephen King story (The Body)
A Star is Born (1954)	The superior remake of the 1937 film of the same name, including the darkened nightclub scene (with stacked chairs all around) of aspiring Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester (Judy Garland) singing the jazzy "The Man That Got Away"; the extravagant production sequence "Born in a Trunk" (including various renditions of "Swanee"); the recorded proposal scene; the scene of boozing, washed-up actor Norman's (James Mason) intrusive entrance and interruption of Vicki's Oscar acceptance speech during the Academy Award banquet ceremony when he flings his arm out and accidentally strikes his wife while demanding recognition; the scene of Vicki singing the first chorus of "Lose That Long Face" followed by her breakdown in the dressing room confession scene with Oliver (Charles Bickford) and forcing herself to go back on stage to sing the song again; Norman's sunset swim-walk into the sea ("It's a New World"), and the unforgettable poignant ending and closing tribute line to her husband in front of a large audience (as she identifies herself: "This is Mrs. Norman Maine"), in director George Cukor's dramatic musical
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)	Enterprise Admiral James T. Kirk's (William Shatner) conversation with a gloating and vengeful Khan (Ricardo Montalban): (Khan: "I've done far worse than kill you, Admiral. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her: marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet, buried alive. Buried alive." Kirk (shouting): "KHAAANNNN! KHAAANNNN!"); the revelation of the Genesis Cave; the frightening scene of Khan's description of his new secret weapon - Ceti eels - to be placed into two crewmembers' ears: "...their young enter through the ears and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. Later as they grow follows madness and death"; and the great sacrificial death scene of pointy-eared Vulcan Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) from radiation poisoning to save the U.S.S. Enterprise when the venemous Khan decides to blow up his own spaceship and thereby also destroy the Enterprise - and Kirk's silent "No!" as he watches Spock die - and the intimate scene of Kirk's eulogy of Spock ("Of all the souls I have encountered, his was the most... human"), in Nicholas Meyer's superior sequel to the first installment
Star Wars IV: A New Hope (1977)	The crawling of the beginning credits ("A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."), and the dramatic opening of a star field and the appearance of a small rebel ship being pursued by the Empire's gigantic imperial destroyer spaceship, the spectacle of an exciting action story with landmark special effects and fanciful, unique characters, the commanding voice and first appearance of black clad-masked, heavy breathing Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) during the assault on the crippled ship, the anthropomorphic Laurel and Hardy-like robots or 'droids - the beeping R2D2 and gold-plated companion C-3PO when lost in the desert, the scene of the robots' capture by Jawas and their imprisonment in a sandcrawler with other droids, the scene at Mos Eisley and its outerspace cantina featuring bizarre and intimidating space creatures and aliens ("a wretched hive of scum and villainy"), the hot-shot mercenary flyer Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his Millennium Falcon - and the moment of their light-speed blast-off; also the scene of Wookie navigator Chewbacca at a chess game using tiny animated monsters as chess pieces; the iconic image of young hero Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) - gazing out at Tatooine's twin suns - and his meeting to learn the ways of the Force (to become a Jedi knight and wield a lightsaber) from the great Jedi master Old Ben or Obi-wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness); the scene in the Death Star's garbage bin crusher, Han's snarling words to Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher): "Look! Your Worshipfulness! Let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person. Me", the "laser" lightsabers duel between Vader and Kenobi, and the intergalactic final battle between the forces of good and evil - the planetary explosion of Alderaan, Han's unexpected reappearance with his Millennium Falcon to save the day ("You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home!"), the bombing raids by the X-wing rebels across the surface of the Evil Empire's enormous battle station the Death Star and down into a narrow trench toward the target, Obi-wan Kenobi's telepathic advice to Luke to use his intuition: "Use the Force, Luke" rather than his targeting computer when firing, and the climactic destructive explosion of the Death Star, in director George Lucas' sequel to the prequel-trilogy
Stardust Memories (1980)	The hysterical and nightmarish sequence on a train (the proposed ending of the protagonist's latest work, in which he is trapped) with a collection of hopeless Fellini-esque "grotesques" filmed in wide-angle closeup; the demanding groupies - at a reluctantly-attended weekend's retrospective film seminar held at the Stardust Hotel beach resort in New Jersey - who harrass successful, much-revered, and pretentious comedic filmmaker Sandy Bates (Woody Allen) with nonsensical questions ("Why are all comedians hostile or latent homosexuals?"), requests for autographs or sex ("I drove all the way from Bridgeport to make it with you") and proposals for ridiculous films ("It's a comedy based on that whole Guyana mass suicide!"); the studio's uplifting "Jazz Heaven" altered ending to one of his Berman-esque-like dramas; the fantasy sequence in the countryside of Sandy hearing a Martian alien advising him to stop taking himself so seriously and go back to making comedy films: ("And, incidentally, you're not Superman. You're a comedian. You want to do mankind a real service? Tell funnier jokes"); also, the scene of Sandy recalling his favorite loving and emotional moment one spring with former bipolar, neurotic and unbalanced lover Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling) accompanied by Louis Armstrong's recording of Stardust; and the disturbing scene (also a fantasy) in which an ultimately-adoring, fervent fan walks up and says: "Sandy? You know, you're my hero" and shoots him (eerily presaging the John Lennon murder by Mark David Chapman shortly thereafter); and the ending twist/plot device in which all of the characters leave the Stardust Hotel projection room - leaving Sandy alone with an empty screen and chairs -- the entire movie is a 'film-within-a-film' being screened at Bates' (or Woody Allen's?) film festival/charity event, in writer/director Woody Allen's self-indulgent, often incoherent, impressionistic and dark comedy - an homage to Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963) and Sturges' Sullivan's Travels (1941), with Gordon Willis' harsh and washed-out B/W cinematography
Starman (1984)	The scene of alien Starman's (Oscar-nominated Jeff Bridges) creation from Jenny Hayden's (Karen Allen) dead painter-husband Scott's DNA (from a hair strand in a photo album); the scenes of the Starman's ' ecstatic reaction to Dutch Apple Pie and his resurrection of a deer (and later Jenny); the wet sex scene in a train car with Starman pointing out his star to Jenny and telling her: "I have given you a baby tonight"; also the eloquent speech by the dying alien to scientist Mark Shermin (Charles Martin Smith) while trapped in federal custody in a restaurant: "We are... interested in your species...You are a strange species, not like any other -- and you would be surprised how many there are. Intelligent but savage. Shall I tell you what I find beautiful about you? You are at your very best when things are worst"; and Starman's farewell to hostage-turned-lover Jenny in the middle of the Arizona crater: (Jenny: "I'm never going to see you again, am I?"), and the final lingering shot of Jenny's face as Starman's ship departed to the sounds of Jack Nitzsche's swelling score, in John Carpenter's romantic science fiction film
Starship Troopers (1997)	The brutal, training process by drill instructor Zim (Clancy Brown) - one beefy recruit has his arm broken and another has his hand impaled by a knife; the infamous uni-sex shower scene with male and female soldiers (Dina Meyer) sharing the same open shower stalls; the large-scale, visceral, extremely gory battle scenes between humans and mobilized giant alien bugs; and the surprising, deeply satirical ending in which the entire film is revealed as a gung-ho recruitment ad for the futuristic military, in director Paul Verhoeven's science-fiction film
Startup.com (2001)	The following of co-founders of govWorks.com's Tom Herman and Kaleil Isaza Tuzman from their meteoric rise to a $50M company with over 200 employees (with no real product) in 1999, to its failure and dissolution due to company excesses and ego, along with their friendship, and the painful scenes in which Kaleil bars Tom from entering the building, in Jehane Noujaim's and Chris Hegedus' fascinating cautionary documentary tale about the dot.com collapse
State Fair (1945) (aka It Happened One Summer)	The lovely, long curly-haired, teen-aged ingenue Margy Frake's (Jeanne Crain) longings for love, and her first meeting with suave newspaper reporter Pat Gilbert (Dana Andrews) on the fair's rides - and their subsequent 3-day romance, in this Richard Rodgers' and Oscar Hammerstein II's filmed musical by co-directors Jose Ferrer and Walter Lang
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)	The comical sequence in which Steamboat Bill Jr. (Buster Keaton) tries on hats and his personality changes into a new character with each one, the tremendous special effects of a destructive tornado/cyclone, and the spectacular, beautifully-choreographed, extremely dangerous stunt of the front of a two-story house falling forward - its second floor window opening is perfectly positioned to fall over bewildered young Bill standing in front of the building, in director Charles "Chuck" Riesner's silent-era slapstick comedy
Steel Magnolias (1989)	The death scene of diabetic daughter Shelby (Julia Roberts), and the graveyard scene around the casket in which grieving, strong-willed and feisty mother M'Lynn (Sally Field) reacts to her daughter's death - raging and despairing angrily ("Why? Whhhyyyyy?", and "I don't think I can take this. I just want to hit somebody 'til they feel as bad as I do. I just want to hit something. I want to hit it hard") and Clairee's (Olympia Dukakis) offer of Ouiser (Shirley MacLaine) as a punching bag, in Herbert Ross' tearjerking romantic comedy
Stella Dallas (1937)	The touching, famous sequence of Stella (Barbara Stanwyck) and her daughter Laurel (or "Lollie") (Anne Shirley) waiting at her unattended birthday party - removing plates as regrets are received until they are the only ones, the train berth scene in which her caring teenaged daughter comes down to "cuddle" with her mother who has overheard criticisms (about being "a common looking creature for a mother"), a gauche Stella's self-sacrificing renunciation scene with Helen Morrison (Barbara O'Neil) in which she suggests giving up her daughter for a better life, the scene of Stella deliberately staging a vulgar appearance for her daughter in her showy, coarse and common style (reading a "LOVE" book, listening to loud music and smoking a cigarette); and the unforgettable final wedding scene and Stella's reactions as she is standing alone in the rain at the outer gate gazing lovingly and adoringly - with tears in her eyes (and biting a handkerchief in her mouth) - through the mansion's window at her daughter's high-society wedding as the gathering crowd is told by a policeman to move along - and afterwards, her joyful stride down the street as the film fades to black, in King Vidor's classic tearjerker
The Stepford Wives (1975)	The scene of new Stepford, Connecticut suburban wives Joanna Eberhart and Bobbie Markowe (Katharine Ross and Paula Prentiss) noting suspiciously that their seemingly-perfect neighbor housewives only clean house and bow to their husband's needs; the garden party among the housewives and malfunctioning Carol's (Nanette Newman) quote: "I'll just die if I don't get this recipe!"; the scene of the failed consciousness-raising session/discussion as the wives extol the virtues of Easy-On spray starch; and the scene of Bobbie acting robotically in the kitchen while serving coffee to Joanna - being stabbed to test her humanity ("Do you bleed?") - and going berserk due to severed wiring (twirling and repeating monotonously: "I was just going to give you coffee? How could you do a thing like that? I thought we were friends!"); the startling scene in which Joanna comes face to face with her semi-complete, sunken dark-eyed robotic double; also the image of the last scene - all of the flowery-dress-wearing wives pushing their shopping carts in the supermarket, in Bryan Forbes' great and shocking cautionary feminist sci-fi/horror cult tale (an adaptation of Ira Levin's novel)
The Sting (1973)	The ragtime music of Scott Joplin on the soundtrack, the introduction of con artist Henry Gondorff/Mr. Shaw (Paul Newman) to Johnny Hooker/Kelly (Robert Redford): "Glad to meet you, kid, you're a real horse's ass"; and the tricky "sting" heist that they orchestrate on racketeer mob boss Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw) in the film's conclusion - and the last lines of dialogue: (Henry: "You not gonna stick around for your share?" Hooker: "Nah. I'd only blow it"), in this Depression-Era, Best Picture-winning crime/comedy from director George Roy Hill
The Straight Story (1999)	The low-key reunion scene between 73 year-old Iowan widower Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) - after a long 6-week ride across Iowa and into neighboring Wisconsin on his lawn mower/tractor - and his sick brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) on the front porch, in director David Lynch's atypical drama

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Created in 1996-2008 © by Tim Dirks. All rights reserved.

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