Mogambo (1953)

In director John Ford's remake romance/adventure film (twenty-one years after Red Dust (1932)) shot mostly on location in Africa:

• Clark Gable reprising his role as African animal trapper and safari leader Victor Marswell (opposite Best Actress-nominated Ava Gardner as stranded, provocative wisecracking good-time-girl Eloise "Honey Bear" Kelly, and Best Supporting Actress-nominated Grace Kelly as Linda Nordley - a cool and prim but lustful wife of a British anthropologist Donald (Donald Sinden))
• the scene of Marswell's first encounter with "Honey Bear" taking an outdoor shower at his home
• the scenes of the love triangle that develops between the two women and Marswell
• the final scene in which Mrs. Nordley was enraged when she found Eloise in the arms of a drunken Marswell - thereby ending their affair when she wounded him
• the happy ending in which Eloise decided to leave her departing boat and enjoy a closing embrace with Marswell on the river's edge

Mommie Dearest (1981)

In Frank Perry's camp classic biopic based on Christina's scandalous memoirs:

• the long title sequence with the final revelation of a full-closeup view of the monstrous movie-star Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway)
• her over-the-top performances in various scenes in which she attacks her adopted daughter Christina (Mara Hobel) - she chops off her blonde hair with scissors, enters her daughter's closet and abusively screams -- "NO MORE WIRE HANGERS!!" when she sees a dress hanging there on a cheap wire hanger, and then throws a can of powdered cleanser at her while they are both on their knees scrubbing the already-clean bathroom tile floor
• also the scene of Joan's axe-wielding/evening-gowned rampage in her rose garden ("Tina! Bring me the axe!") after being fired from MGM
• her notorious face-down with the Pepsi-Cola board in the boardroom ("Don't f--k with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo")
• the final scene in which adult-aged Christina (Diana Scarwid) vengefully implies that she would have the "last word" by writing a tell-all memoir-expose after a lawyer reads that she is to be left out of her mother's will

Monkey Business (1931)

In the Marx Brothers' third film - and their first film made in Hollywood:

• the classic opening scene of the stowaway brothers singing "Sweet Adeline" in barrels located in the forward hatch and labeled kippered herring
• Harpo pretending to be a puppet and delighting an audience of children during a Punch and Judy show
• the barbershop scene when Chico and Harpo shave off the handlebar mustache of one of the ocean liner's crew members
• Groucho's tango and attempted romancing with gangster wife Lucille (Thelma Todd)
• the Marx Brothers' all impersonating French actor/singer Maurice Chevalier when leaving the ship to get past customs

Monster's Ball (2001)

In Marc Forster's compelling drama:

• the remarkable characterizations of hard-drinking, racist, emotionally-drained Georgia prison (death-row) guard Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton) and his relationship with estranged single-mom, African-American waitress Leticia Musgrove (Oscar-winning Halle Berry) - the emotionally-devastated widow of executed prisoner Lawrence (Sean Combs)
• their scene of volatile, raw, animalistic and intense sexuality when she begged Hank to: "Make ... me ... feel ... good" before love-making -- remarkable for a mainstream Oscar-winning film

Monsters, Inc. (2001)

In Pixar's-Disney's (their fourth collaboration) CGI animated comedy:

• the intriguing plot premise for the film - monsters in Monstropolis (powered by Scream Heat fueled by the collective screams of human children), whose job is to emerge from closet doors at night and scare children, are themselves scared of children - thinking they are toxic
• the delightful characters of giant, furry blue monster James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (voice of John Goodman) and his assistant, one-eyed Mike Wazowski (voice of Billy Crystal) - both employed by Monsters, Inc. - a major scream refinery in the monster world
• the restaurant named Harryhausen's (in tribute to the famed stop-motion animator of monsters)
• the amazing sequence of the wild roller-coaster chase involving hundreds of closet doors on an endless conveyor line
• the final poignant shot in which "Sulley" reacts to seeing 3 year-old human toddler Boo/Mary (Mary Gibbs) again

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

In the second irreverent Monty Python feature film - from co-directors Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones that skewered religion, medieval epics, the Middle Ages and the Arthurian legend, Camelot and a host of other topics:

• the opening view of King Arthur (Graham Chapman) galloping over a hill - with an imaginary stallion (announced by the clopping sound of approaching hooves) - next to the King was his hunchbacked lackey (Terry Gilliam) banging two cocoanut shells together
• the outrageous scene of the collection of corpses (for ninepence apiece) by the Dead Collector (Eric Idle) on his rounds through a muddy medieval village as he cries out: "Bring Out Your Dead!" and the argument with a Large Man (John Cleese) over a half-dead candidate
• the French sentry's words to King Arthur: "I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries"
• the tree-shaped Knights Who Say 'Ni' - who make a request of Arthur to find them shrubbery: ("One that looks nice... and not too expensive")
• King Arthur's encounter with the Black Knight who persistently insists on combat even after all of his limbs have been hacked off and he has been reduced to a head and torso: ("It's just a flesh wound!")
• jokes about the Fierce Killer Rabbit and the Holy Hand Grenade scenes
• the bridge scene with the creepy soothsayer / bridgekeeper (Terry Gilliam)
• the French Castle scene with the flying cow, and many other favorite segments

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

In Terry Gilliam's controversial religious satire:

• the opening animated title sequence featuring a James Bond-like musical number
• the "I love sheep!" scene with three Shepherds
• the scene in which Three unwise Kings erroneously visit infant Brian Cohen's (Graham Chapman) stable manger thinking he is the Messiah, bringing myrrh to an ungrateful Virgin Mandy (Terry Jones) - and after realizing their mistake - take their presents back
• Mandy's assertion: "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
• the famous scene in which listeners are too far away to hear Jesus Christ clearly when he delivers his Sermon on the Mount ("Blessed are the cheesemakers" and "The Greek shall inherit the Earth")
• the hysterical "stoning" skit in which a group of women (disguised as men) anxiously await permission to stone a prisoner (for saying God's name Jehovah) from an annoyed, weary Jewish Official (John Cleese) (and end up stoning the official with a massive boulder!)
• the "PFJ" scene ("Are you the Judean People's Front?!...We're the People's Front of Judea!")
• the scene in which a Roman Centurion (Cleese) provides lessons in Latin graffiti and corrects Brian's anti-Roman graffiti written on the palace wall
• lisping, effeminate Pontius Pilate's (Michael Palin) discussion of his friend Biggus Dickus (Chapman) to his sniggering guards ("I have a vewy good fwiend in Wome named 'Biggus Dickus'")
• Brian's encounter with aliens
• the scene in which Brian is mistaken for a prophet, and the subsequent, insanely devoted worship of Brian as the Messiah (one group worships a gourd he used, while another a sandal he lost while being chased) and Brian's futile attempts to get rid of his followers ("Now f--k off!" "How shall we f--k off, O Lord?")
• the famous male full-frontal nudity scene in which a nude Brian is rudely greeted by thousands of followers
• the final crucifixion scene in which Brian is crucified next to others who, led by Mr. Frisbee (Eric Idle), sing the upbeat song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)

In director Terry Jones' comedy:

• the various skits about the 'meaning of life - and death,' including the fantastic short film The Crimson Permanent Assurance (1983) preceding the movie
• the scene of the class in which sex education and proper foreplay is taught by Prof. Humphrey (John Cleese) by copulating with his wife in front of class ("Nibbling the earlobe, uhh, kneading the buttocks, and so on and so forth. So, we have all these possibilities before we stampede towards the clitoris, Watson")
• the "Every Sperm is Sacred" song lyrics ("Hindu, Taoist, Mormon, Spill theirs just anywhere; But God loves those who treat - their semen with more care; Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate")
• the scene of a poverty-stricken Catholic family having a stork repeatedly delivering babies
• the gory "Live Organ Transplants" sequence and the great "The Galaxy Song" with an animated constellation - a pregnant woman
• the oft-remembered scene of the gruesome, slovenly, massively overweight, constantly-vomiting character of Mr. Creosote (Terry Jones), culminating in his explosion from overeating a rich, 700 course meal when he chews and swallows a thin mint, and his fat-coated, still-beating heart is revealed
• the scene of Arthur Jarrett (Graham Chapman) as a criminal who dies by being chased by naked women off a cliff
• the bizarre Christmas in Heaven segment with Santa Claus-dressed angels wearing plastic breasts
• and "The End of the Film" in which a Queen Elizabeth-look-alike Lady Presenter (Michael Palin) speaks to the audience: ("...here are some completely gratuitous pictures of penises to annoy the censors")

Moonstruck (1987)

In Norman Jewison's quirky romantic comedy based on John Patrick Shanley's Oscar-winning screenplay:

• the Brooklyn-Italian Castorini family, including repressed 37 year-old Italian widow Loretta Castorini (Best Actress Oscar-winner Cher), her parents: a cheating father Cosmo (Best Supporting Actor nominee Vincent Gardenia) and philosophical mother Rose (Best Supporting Actress winner Olympia Dukakis), and her crusty Italian-speaking, dog-loving Grandfather (Fiodor Chaliapin)
• the scene of never-married, one-handed baker Ronny Cammareri (Nicolas Cage) having a steak dinner with recently-engaged Loretta, in which she offers unsolicited advice to him about his life (calling him a wolf), and ending with a very passionate kiss between the two of them and his carrying her to his bed for more kisses and an overnight stay
• Ronny's proclamation and confession of love to Loretta the next morning - and her immediate reaction: two tremendous slaps across the face and the screaming of "Snap out of it!"
• after seeing La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera with her, Ronny's declaration of his cynical views on love ("We're not here to make things perfect. Snowflakes are perfect, stars are perfect. Not us! Not US! We are here to ruin ourselves and...and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and...and DIE") and his pleading to Loretta to come upstairs with him ("Now I want you to come upstairs and...and GET in my bed...")
• in the climactic breakfast proposal scene, Loretta's angry remark when Ronny's brother, Momma's boy Johnny (Danny Aiello), breaks off their engagement and reassures her: "In time, you will see that this is the best thing" and her retort back: "In time, you'll drop dead and I'll come to your funeral in a red dress!"
• then, when Ronny proposes to Loretta (who tells her mother: "I love him awful"), Johnny utters a stunned "WHAT?!"

The More The Merrier (1943)

In George Stevens' pleasant romantic comedy:

• the hilarious morning schedule scene
• the double-take Connie (Jean Arthur) does upon noticing another apartment roommate Joe Carter (Joel McCrea)
• elderly tenant Mr. Dingle's (Oscar-winning Charles Coburn) attempts to play matchmaking Cupid to bring his fellow housemates together
• the sexually-exciting apartment front steps kissing scene on a summer night between Connie and Joe followed by their own version of the "Walls of Jericho" bedroom scene (from It Happened One Night (1934))

Morning Glory (1933)

In director Lowell Sherman's show-business-related drama:

• the scene of small-town theatre actress Eva Lovelace's (Oscar-winning Katharine Hepburn) drunken rendition of Hamlet's soliloquy and the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene in front of startled party guests
• the aspiring Broadway star's curtain-closing (last lines) statement: "I'm not afraid of being just a morning glory. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. Why should I be afraid? I'm not afraid"

Morocco (1930)

In Josef von Sternberg's melodrama:

• sultry seductress and bewitching singer Amy Jolly's (Marlene Dietrich in her American film debut) famous gender-challenging cigarette-smoking, tuxedo-clad androgynous cabaret act in Lo Tinto's North African cabaret
• in this early scene, she sang "Quand L'amour Est Mort" with smoky eroticism, took a flower from the hair of a young lady in the audience (asking: "May I have this?"), inhaled it suggestively, and then kissed the woman full on the mouth - one of the earliest (if not the first) female-to-female kisses
• after wild applause, the bisexual chanteuse tossed the flower to admiring foreign legionnaire Tom Brown (a young Gary Cooper) in the audience
• in a slightly later scene, the seductive Dietrich, wearing a skimpy black dress and with a feathery boa draped over her shoulders, also performed "What Am I Bid for My Apple?": ("An apple they say, keeps the doctor away, while his pretty young wife has the time of her life, with the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, oh what am I bid for my apple?") - she sold one to Tom, who bit it lustily (filmed in closeup during his third bite), and asked her to sit in his lap
• afterwards, she discreetly gave him her room key for a later "hot" rendezvous (where she demurely told him: "You'd better go now, I'm beginning to like you" - to which he responded: "I wish I'd met you ten years ago")

The Most Dangerous Game (1932) (aka The Hounds of Zaroff)

In co-directors Irving Pichel Ernest B. Schoedsack's adventure chase-thriller:

• the scene of the flight of big-game hunter Bob Rainsford (Joel McCrea) and Eve Trowbridge (Fay Wray) into the misty jungle
• their hunt and pursuit by a vicious, bloodthirsty pack of Great Dane hounds sent after them by mad Russian Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks)

Moulin Rouge (2001)

In Baz Luhrmann's dazzlingly colorful and kinetic modern musical set in 1900 Paris - the first Best Picture-nominated musical since Beauty and the Beast (1991) and first non-animated musical since Cabaret (1972):

• the scene of the star attraction of the Moulin Rouge Satine (Oscar-nominated Nicole Kidman) swinging above an audience of top-hatted gentlemen
• the scenes between the smitten lovers: tuberculosis-afflicted courtesan Satine and the penniless but lovelorn writer/poet Christian (Ewan McGregor) in an ultimately-doomed love affair -- singing the "Elephant Love Medley" (featuring over a half-dozen love songs) on a Parisian rooftop under a heavenly blue sky
• Satine's death from tuberculosis
  

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

In director William Wyler's Best Picture-winning war drama:

• the dramatic footage of the night-time Dunkirk evacuation
• the tense scene of middle-class Englishwoman Mrs. Kay Miniver's (Oscar-winning Greer Garson) encounter with a downed and escaped wounded German flier who holds her at gunpoint in her house and demands food and clothing before collapsing
• the scene of husband Clem Miniver's (Oscar-nominated Walter Pidgeon) return home after the evacuation and his reunion with his wife
• the scene of the couple in a bomb shelter reading Alice in Wonderland to her children during a terrifying Nazi air bombing - as they both shield the frightened and crying children
• the final scene that includes the powerful and moving, dynamic speech delivered by the town's vicar (Henry Wilcoxon) ("This is the people's war! It is our war! We are the fighters! Fight it then! Fight it with all that is in us, and may God defend the right!") and the singing of "Onward Christian Soldiers" in the bombed-out ruin of a church