Greatest Film Moments and Scenes

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 47

V

Vampire's Kiss (1989)

The scene of bat vampire Rachel (Jennifer Beals) - a sultry figure wearing a garter belt, tight red dress and heavy mascara - entering the apartment of Manhattan yuppie literary agent Peter Loew (Nicolas Cage), biting his neck during love-making, and turning him into a vampire; the scene of his abusive behavior towards new secretary Alva Restrepo (Maria Conchita Alonso) when he shouts and berates her on top of her desk: "How do you misfile something? It's all alphabetical! It's just A, B, C . . ."; and the scenes of Peter swooping through the streets while boasting: "I'm a vampire" (with fake teeth), eating a live cockroach and pigeon, attempting to put a wooden stake through his own heart, and converting his sofa into a coffin, in director Robert Bierman's modern comedic, over-the-top vampire film

Vanilla Sky (2001)

The scene of wealthy millionaire publisher David Aames (Tom Cruise) running along an empty Times Square, his consultations with psychiatrist McCabe (Jeff Bridges) about his face disfigurement, and the concluding scene in which his life passes before his eyes through a sonic-speed, bizarre pop-culture montage of classic album covers (i.e., Bruce Springsteen's "The River" album), landmark news stories and personal snapshots, in director/co-writer Cameron Crowe's psychological thriller

The Vanishing (1988, Neth/Fr.) (aka Spoorloos)

College chemistry teacher and genial family man Raymond Lemorne's (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) creepy preparations to abduct a woman (i.e., a sling with a fake, removable cast, chloroform, a log of his pulse rate after approaching various prospective female victims, a formula connecting "dosage" with "minutes unconscious" and "miles", etc.), the scene of the mysterious disappearance of Saskia Wagter (Johanna ter Steege) at a gas station (by chloroforming her into unconsciousness, shown in flashback) while driving through France with lover Rex Hofman (Gene Bervoets), and the chilling shock-ending finale a few years later in which her abductor Raymond Lemorne (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) plans a similar hideous fate for Rex by drugging him and burying him alive in a coffin under the earth, in director George Sluizer's original and haunting Dutch thriller

Vera Cruz (1954)

The line of dialogue during a meal delivered by Danette (Henry Brandon) to n'er-do-well crude, and roguish adventurer Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster): "Be careful, senor. Some of it is getting in your mouth", and the final shoot-out between American adventurers Benjamin Trane (Gary Cooper) and grinning amoral Joe Erin, in director Robert Aldrich's western (produced by actor Burt Lancaster and one of Hollywood's first major pictures to be produced in Mexico) - a precursor to the 'spaghetti' westerns of Sergio Leone

Vertigo (1958)

The dazzling credits sequence, the opening rooftop chase scene, the dizzying trick camerawork (a reverse zoom, dolly-out) visualizing the vortex of vertigo and acrophobia (fear of heights) in opening shots and at the bell tower, retired SF police detective Scottie Ferguson's (James Stewart) first view of ethereal blonde Madeleine (Kim Novak) in the restaurant, Scottie's rescue of suicidal Madeleine at the Golden Gate Bridge and recovery at his apartment, the last dialogue between Scottie and Madeleine at the mission and the sequence in the mission tower, Scottie's vivid nightmares following Madeleine's death, the scenes of Scottie's obsession with reshaping and remaking raven-haired shopgirl Judy (also Kim Novak) into Madeleine, the magnificent dream-like scene in her hotel room when she emerges from the bathroom in a sickly neon green light - transformed completely into Madeleine as the camera swirls around them, and later Scottie's agonizing question as he drags Judy up the stairs of the tower: "Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do and what to say?", and the second final terrifying sequence at the mission in the bell tower and the last shot of a stunned Scottie standing on the belfry tower ledge as he stares down at Judy's dead body in the tragic ending, in director Alfred Hitchcock's perplexing, necrophiliac-tinged thriller about obsession

Victor/Victoria (1982)

The plan of opera singer Victoria Grant (Julie Andrews) and flamboyant cabaret singer Carroll "Toddy" Todd (Robert Preston) to pass Victoria off as "Count Victor Grezhinski" - a Polish drag queen (Victoria: "A woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman?"); Victoria's show-stopping production number "Le Jazz Hot" in a black gown with stringy bat-wing sleeves and a rhinestone headdress when she reveals herself as alter-ego Victor by ripping off her headdress; the character of wild, uncontrollable, coarse, sex-starved Norma Cassady (Leslie Ann Warren) with her irksome voice ("Kiiiiiiiiing! Pooooooooookie!") and her malaprop explanation for why her mob associate boyfriend King Marchand (James Garner) is unable to have sex with her anymore: ("Before you know it, you are impudent"); and Norma's defiant reaction when cut loose by King, and forced onto a train by King's bodyguard Mr. Bernstein (Alex Karras) - she opens her robe to reveal her skimpy underwear, and yells: "You ain't seen the last of me yet!", causing a distracted porter to stumble off the platform; and Norma's aggressively sexy song-and-dance "Chicago, Illinois" with other showgirls in baby-doll underwear; the scene of King sneaking into Victoria's hotel room to hide in her bathroom to voyeuristically see her true gender -- and the moment that King says to Victoria: "I don't care if you ARE a man", and kisses her passionately; Victor's torch song "Crazy Life"; and Norma's hilarious one-liner when she thinks she is to be assaulted by clothes-stripping Victor: "Wait a minute...lock the door first" - and her screeching at King after she sees Victor's true sex: "You two-timing son-of-a-bitch! HE'S A WOMAN!"; also the hilarious miscast performance of "The Shady Dame of Seville" by Toddy ("Some hit show!"), in Blake Edwards' screwball sex farce

Videodrome (1983)

The character of seedy cable TV director/producer Max Renn (James Woods) and his discovery of a pirated, ultra-violent underground snuff TV show called Videodrome - and soon develops an ability to insert videocassette tapes into a body opening slot in his abdomen; the scene of his assassination of political leader Harlan (Peter Dvorsky) by transforming his hand into a gun-grenade, and the killing of head of Convex Optical Barry Convex (Leslie Carlson) by shooting him with an organic gun and causing tumors to erupt from his torso and skull; also the bizarre scene of masochistic lover and self-help radio guru Nicki Brand (Deborah Harry or rock star Blondie) snuffing a burning cigarette out on her own breast ("Let's try a few things"), and the stupendous, surrealistic scene of Max kissing a hallucinogenic TV screen displaying a pair of giant seductive red lips that begins to suck him into the glass monitor, in director David Cronenberg's terrorizing tale of erotic sci-fi and "body horror"

Village of the Damned (1960)

The group of hyper-intelligent, telepathic, blonde-haired, glowing-eyed kids (an alien race) born in the British village of Midwich during a mist, and resident scientist Professor Gordon Zellaby's (George Sanders) face-off against the deadly-staring, mind-controlling robotic children and their own son David (Martin Stephens) in a brick schoolhouse, in director Wolf Rilla's scary B-movie horror film - loosely adapted from John Wyndham's sci-fi novel The Midwich Cuckoos

Viva Las Vegas (1964)

The many verbal duels, solos, and musical numbers during a Las Vegas talent show competition featuring the rockin' face-off song "C'mon, Everybody" between hip-swinging race-car driver Lucky Jackson (Elvis Presley) and shimmying red-headed bombshell swimming instructor Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret), in director George Sidney's best of the Elvis musicals

Voyage Dans La Lune (1902) (aka A Trip to the Moon)

The remarkable landing of the rocket ship projectile launched into the right eye of the pasty-faced Man in the Moon, in George Melies' early silent film

W

The Wages of Fear (1953, Fr/It) (aka Le Salaire de la Peur)

The depiction of the treacherous, death-defying mission by truck driver Mario (Yves Montand) and three others (for $2,000 wages) of driving two trucks with highly-explosive nitroglycerine across rough terrain and a tightly-angled road (with a rotting wooden back-up platform) in Central America - to put out an oil well fire 300 miles away, in director Henri-Georges Clouzot's suspenseful adventure thriller

Wait Until Dark (1967)

The shocking discovery of the dead body of Lisa (Samantha Jones) in a garment bag in a closet by amiable thug Mike Talman (Richard Crenna), the relentless search for the ragdoll with drugs inside, and the final battle of wits showdown in complete darkness between blind Susy Hendrix (Oscar-nominated Audrey Hepburn) ("the world's champion blind lady") and crazed and villainous Roat (Alan Arkin) when she tosses gasoline on him after asking: "Mr. Roat, are you looking at me?", and the exciting moment in which the knife-wielding killer jumps out of the dark, and Susy outwits him - with her slow emergence from behind the refrigerator door, in this classic claustrophobic thriller by director Terence Young

Waking Life (2001)

The many intelligent, explorative and surreal speeches on dreams, reality, the universe, life and death -- faced by 'The Dreamer' (Wiley Wiggins) and other lead characters including Celine and Jesse (Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke from Before Sunrise (1995)) - who discuss reincarnation; various segments include Steven Soderbergh's (Himself) interview on TV about an encounter between directors Louis Malle and Billy Wilder; also the idea that there's a similarity between sleep and death ("Doesn't it make sense that death, too, would be wrapped in a dream...except that, in the post-mortal state, you could never again wake up..."); Timothy ' Speed' Levitch's (Himself) rambling, spellbinding speech about identity and reality ("...And so many think because then happened, now isn't. But didn't I mention? The ongoing WOW is happening right NOW..."), and the Pinball Playing Guy's (director Richard Linklater) long, sublime speech about existence and God ("Behind the phenomenal difference there is but one story, and that's the story of moving from the 'No' to the 'Yes.' All of life is like, 'No thank you, No thank you, No thank you.' And then, ultimately, it's, 'Yes I give in, Yes I accept, Yes I embrace.'") and his advice to The Dreamer ("If you can wake up, you should, 'cause someday you won't be able to, so just um...but it's easy....just wake up") -- and the wonderfully ambiguous ending in which the Dreamer floats into the sky, never to return (is he waking up? is he dead?), in Richard Linklater's innovative, digitally shot, computer rotoscope-animated dreamy, existential, and spiritual cult classic

Waking Ned Devine (1998) (aka Waking Ned)

This tale was about the aftermath of the death of Ned Devine (Jimmy Keogh), an Irishman in the small village of Tullymore who instantly died of shock after learning that he had won the Irish National Lottery worth almost 6.9 million Irish pounds - and was still holding the winning signed ticket in his hand; two old friends Jackie O'Shea (Ian Bannen) and Michael O'Sullivan (David Kelly), believing that they were respecting Ned's generous wishes, plotted to claim the lotto prize money and split the winnings (130,000 pounds) with all 52 residents of the small town; after Ned died and his body was discovered, Jackie exclaimed: "Dear God. You'll be cursing in heaven tonight, Ned Devine," and dreamed of taking a boat ride with Ned and befriending him with a chicken dinner as he entered into the golden light of heaven, while Ned reassured ("The tide will bring us there safely"); also the scene of Michael forced to ride his motorcycle nude to quickly get to Ned's house to impersonate the dead man for lottery official Jim Kelly (Brendan Dempsey), and his assured way of providing identification information from the bathroom to the official as forms were filled out; also the heartfelt scene (during Ned's funeral service) of Jackie delivering a eulogy to Michael who was sitting in the front row, to avoid disclosing to the lottery official in attendance that Ned had died ("As we look back on the life of...Michael Sullivan was my great friend..."); and in the conclusion, the timely demise of uncooperative wheelchair-bound, witchy spinster Lizzy Quinn (Eileen Dromey) who was in a cliff-side phone booth (hit by the parish priest's van-truck avoiding the lotto representative's swerving car when he sneezed) while she was calling to inform lottery officials to expose the fraud and claim 10% of the prize - the booth sailed into the air and crashed far below on the cliff's shore - at the same time the townsfolk were celebrating and a violin string broke during the playing of a high note; also, the final joyous scene of the group toasting Ned Devine on the cliffside in the golden light with their glasses held high in the air ("Take a drink and remember the man. Then raise your spirits to the sky. Raise them to Ned Devine. God bless you, Ned and may we be forever in your debt") to the tune of "The Parting Glass" performed by Liam O'Maonlai as the camera spun into the misty air around them, in director Kirk Jones' charming, Irish working-class comedy

Walkabout (1971, Aus.)

The shocking scene of a suicidal Australian businessman (John Meillon) trying to murder his teen-age daughter (Jenny Agutter in her film debut) and six-year-old son (Lucien John) in the bush and then killing himself, their meeting with a teenaged aborigine boy (David Gulpilil) during his 'walkabout,' the awe-inspiring, natural scenes in the hostile outback terrain including the nude swimming sequence, and the stunning mating dance (in his own native fashion) that the native aborigine performs for the civilized girl - but that she ignores - with disastrous results, in Nicolas Roeg's haunting directorial solo debut film

Wall Street (1987)

The notorious "Greed is...good" monologue ("Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms.") delivered by predatory, slithery and ruthless, money-mad corporate financial trader Gordon Gekko (Oscar-winning Michael Douglas) to the annual shareholders' meeting of Teldar Paper, and the scene of young stockbroker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) questioning him about his exorbitant wealth ("So tell me, Gordon--when does it all end, huh? How many yachts can you water-ski behind? How much is enough?") and Gekko's reply about how he makes the rules in the free market: "It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game. Somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply, uh, transferred from one perception to another. Like magic. This painting here - I bought it 10 years ago for $60,000. I could sell it today for $600. The illusion has become real. And the more real it becomes, the more desperate they want it. Capitalism at its finest"; and the climactic scene when Gekko angrily rages at Bud and slaps him around - revealed later to be recorded by investigators: ("I took you in! A nobody! I opened the doors for you!...I showed you how the system works!...") when Bud is assured: "You did the right thing", in writer/director Oliver Stone's cautionary treatise on the Me-Decade of stock trading

The War of the Worlds (1953)

The scene in which the aliens invade a farmhouse and one of them places its creepy, tentacled hand on Sylvia Van Buren's (Ann Robinson) shoulder; also the scenes in which Los Angeles is set ablaze by Martian invaders, and the images of eerie green flying saucers with deadly heat rays; and the conclusion in which the aliens - attacking a church - are decimated by simple bacteria - as explained by narrator Cedric Hardwicke: ("The end came swiftly. All over the world, their machines began to stop and fall. After all that men could do had failed, the Martians were destroyed and humanity was saved by the littlest things, which God, in His wisdom, had put upon this Earth"), in director Byron Haskin's and producer George Pal's science-fiction cult classic - an updating of H.G. Wells' 1898 science-fiction novel and an Oscar winner for Special Effects; remade as Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (2005) with a post-9/11 mentality

Waterloo Bridge (1940)

The romantic sequence of WWI Capt. Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor) and ballet dancer Myra Lester (Vivien Leigh) waltzing in candlelight in the Candlelight Club to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" as groups of musicians extinguish their lights - and their first kiss, and then their lengthy parting scene in which he asks: "Please leave me first..." when he goes off to war; the difficult lunch scene in which Myra meets Roy's rich, socially-conscious mother Lady Margaret Cronin (Lucile Watson) just after reading Roy's name on a casualty list; and the scene of guilt-ridden Myra (now as a penniless prostitute) having an unexpected reunion at the train station with the returning Captain; their parting scene for the last time after she has confessed her profession to his mother; the sequence in which Myra's roommate/best friend Kitty (Virginia Field) reveals the truth of Myra's nightlife to Roy by taking him through one seedy bar after another; the scene of Myra's tragic end as she walks into oncoming traffic on the bridge, and Roy's flashback memory years later on the bridge of her words in the film's final melodramatic moments: "I loved you...I've never loved anyone else...I never shall" as the sound of "Auld Lang Syne" rises and he fingers her good-luck charm, in director Mervyn Leroy's melodramatic romance

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

V
Vampire's Kiss (1989)	The scene of bat vampire Rachel (Jennifer Beals) - a sultry figure wearing a garter belt, tight red dress and heavy mascara - entering the apartment of Manhattan yuppie literary agent Peter Loew (Nicolas Cage), biting his neck during love-making, and turning him into a vampire; the scene of his abusive behavior towards new secretary Alva Restrepo (Maria Conchita Alonso) when he shouts and berates her on top of her desk: "How do you misfile something? It's all alphabetical! It's just A, B, C . . ."; and the scenes of Peter swooping through the streets while boasting: "I'm a vampire" (with fake teeth), eating a live cockroach and pigeon, attempting to put a wooden stake through his own heart, and converting his sofa into a coffin, in director Robert Bierman's modern comedic, over-the-top vampire film
Vanilla Sky (2001)	The scene of wealthy millionaire publisher David Aames (Tom Cruise) running along an empty Times Square, his consultations with psychiatrist McCabe (Jeff Bridges) about his face disfigurement, and the concluding scene in which his life passes before his eyes through a sonic-speed, bizarre pop-culture montage of classic album covers (i.e., Bruce Springsteen's "The River" album), landmark news stories and personal snapshots, in director/co-writer Cameron Crowe's psychological thriller
The Vanishing (1988, Neth/Fr.) (aka Spoorloos)	College chemistry teacher and genial family man Raymond Lemorne's (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) creepy preparations to abduct a woman (i.e., a sling with a fake, removable cast, chloroform, a log of his pulse rate after approaching various prospective female victims, a formula connecting "dosage" with "minutes unconscious" and "miles", etc.), the scene of the mysterious disappearance of Saskia Wagter (Johanna ter Steege) at a gas station (by chloroforming her into unconsciousness, shown in flashback) while driving through France with lover Rex Hofman (Gene Bervoets), and the chilling shock-ending finale a few years later in which her abductor Raymond Lemorne (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) plans a similar hideous fate for Rex by drugging him and burying him alive in a coffin under the earth, in director George Sluizer's original and haunting Dutch thriller
Vera Cruz (1954)	The line of dialogue during a meal delivered by Danette (Henry Brandon) to n'er-do-well crude, and roguish adventurer Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster): "Be careful, senor. Some of it is getting in your mouth", and the final shoot-out between American adventurers Benjamin Trane (Gary Cooper) and grinning amoral Joe Erin, in director Robert Aldrich's western (produced by actor Burt Lancaster and one of Hollywood's first major pictures to be produced in Mexico) - a precursor to the 'spaghetti' westerns of Sergio Leone
Vertigo (1958)	The dazzling credits sequence, the opening rooftop chase scene, the dizzying trick camerawork (a reverse zoom, dolly-out) visualizing the vortex of vertigo and acrophobia (fear of heights) in opening shots and at the bell tower, retired SF police detective Scottie Ferguson's (James Stewart) first view of ethereal blonde Madeleine (Kim Novak) in the restaurant, Scottie's rescue of suicidal Madeleine at the Golden Gate Bridge and recovery at his apartment, the last dialogue between Scottie and Madeleine at the mission and the sequence in the mission tower, Scottie's vivid nightmares following Madeleine's death, the scenes of Scottie's obsession with reshaping and remaking raven-haired shopgirl Judy (also Kim Novak) into Madeleine, the magnificent dream-like scene in her hotel room when she emerges from the bathroom in a sickly neon green light - transformed completely into Madeleine as the camera swirls around them, and later Scottie's agonizing question as he drags Judy up the stairs of the tower: "Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do and what to say?", and the second final terrifying sequence at the mission in the bell tower and the last shot of a stunned Scottie standing on the belfry tower ledge as he stares down at Judy's dead body in the tragic ending, in director Alfred Hitchcock's perplexing, necrophiliac-tinged thriller about obsession
Victor/Victoria (1982)	The plan of opera singer Victoria Grant (Julie Andrews) and flamboyant cabaret singer Carroll "Toddy" Todd (Robert Preston) to pass Victoria off as "Count Victor Grezhinski" - a Polish drag queen (Victoria: "A woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman?"); Victoria's show-stopping production number "Le Jazz Hot" in a black gown with stringy bat-wing sleeves and a rhinestone headdress when she reveals herself as alter-ego Victor by ripping off her headdress; the character of wild, uncontrollable, coarse, sex-starved Norma Cassady (Leslie Ann Warren) with her irksome voice ("Kiiiiiiiiing! Pooooooooookie!") and her malaprop explanation for why her mob associate boyfriend King Marchand (James Garner) is unable to have sex with her anymore: ("Before you know it, you are impudent"); and Norma's defiant reaction when cut loose by King, and forced onto a train by King's bodyguard Mr. Bernstein (Alex Karras) - she opens her robe to reveal her skimpy underwear, and yells: "You ain't seen the last of me yet!", causing a distracted porter to stumble off the platform; and Norma's aggressively sexy song-and-dance "Chicago, Illinois" with other showgirls in baby-doll underwear; the scene of King sneaking into Victoria's hotel room to hide in her bathroom to voyeuristically see her true gender -- and the moment that King says to Victoria: "I don't care if you ARE a man", and kisses her passionately; Victor's torch song "Crazy Life"; and Norma's hilarious one-liner when she thinks she is to be assaulted by clothes-stripping Victor: "Wait a minute...lock the door first" - and her screeching at King after she sees Victor's true sex: "You two-timing son-of-a-bitch! HE'S A WOMAN!"; also the hilarious miscast performance of "The Shady Dame of Seville" by Toddy ("Some hit show!"), in Blake Edwards' screwball sex farce
Videodrome (1983)	The character of seedy cable TV director/producer Max Renn (James Woods) and his discovery of a pirated, ultra-violent underground snuff TV show called Videodrome - and soon develops an ability to insert videocassette tapes into a body opening slot in his abdomen; the scene of his assassination of political leader Harlan (Peter Dvorsky) by transforming his hand into a gun-grenade, and the killing of head of Convex Optical Barry Convex (Leslie Carlson) by shooting him with an organic gun and causing tumors to erupt from his torso and skull; also the bizarre scene of masochistic lover and self-help radio guru Nicki Brand (Deborah Harry or rock star Blondie) snuffing a burning cigarette out on her own breast ("Let's try a few things"), and the stupendous, surrealistic scene of Max kissing a hallucinogenic TV screen displaying a pair of giant seductive red lips that begins to suck him into the glass monitor, in director David Cronenberg's terrorizing tale of erotic sci-fi and "body horror"
Village of the Damned (1960)	The group of hyper-intelligent, telepathic, blonde-haired, glowing-eyed kids (an alien race) born in the British village of Midwich during a mist, and resident scientist Professor Gordon Zellaby's (George Sanders) face-off against the deadly-staring, mind-controlling robotic children and their own son David (Martin Stephens) in a brick schoolhouse, in director Wolf Rilla's scary B-movie horror film - loosely adapted from John Wyndham's sci-fi novel The Midwich Cuckoos
Viva Las Vegas (1964)	The many verbal duels, solos, and musical numbers during a Las Vegas talent show competition featuring the rockin' face-off song "C'mon, Everybody" between hip-swinging race-car driver Lucky Jackson (Elvis Presley) and shimmying red-headed bombshell swimming instructor Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret), in director George Sidney's best of the Elvis musicals
Voyage Dans La Lune (1902) (aka A Trip to the Moon)	The remarkable landing of the rocket ship projectile launched into the right eye of the pasty-faced Man in the Moon, in George Melies' early silent film
W
The Wages of Fear (1953, Fr/It) (aka Le Salaire de la Peur)	The depiction of the treacherous, death-defying mission by truck driver Mario (Yves Montand) and three others (for $2,000 wages) of driving two trucks with highly-explosive nitroglycerine across rough terrain and a tightly-angled road (with a rotting wooden back-up platform) in Central America - to put out an oil well fire 300 miles away, in director Henri-Georges Clouzot's suspenseful adventure thriller
Wait Until Dark (1967)	The shocking discovery of the dead body of Lisa (Samantha Jones) in a garment bag in a closet by amiable thug Mike Talman (Richard Crenna), the relentless search for the ragdoll with drugs inside, and the final battle of wits showdown in complete darkness between blind Susy Hendrix (Oscar-nominated Audrey Hepburn) ("the world's champion blind lady") and crazed and villainous Roat (Alan Arkin) when she tosses gasoline on him after asking: "Mr. Roat, are you looking at me?", and the exciting moment in which the knife-wielding killer jumps out of the dark, and Susy outwits him - with her slow emergence from behind the refrigerator door, in this classic claustrophobic thriller by director Terence Young
Waking Life (2001)	The many intelligent, explorative and surreal speeches on dreams, reality, the universe, life and death -- faced by 'The Dreamer' (Wiley Wiggins) and other lead characters including Celine and Jesse (Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke from Before Sunrise (1995)) - who discuss reincarnation; various segments include Steven Soderbergh's (Himself) interview on TV about an encounter between directors Louis Malle and Billy Wilder; also the idea that there's a similarity between sleep and death ("Doesn't it make sense that death, too, would be wrapped in a dream...except that, in the post-mortal state, you could never again wake up..."); Timothy ' Speed' Levitch's (Himself) rambling, spellbinding speech about identity and reality ("...And so many think because then happened, now isn't. But didn't I mention? The ongoing WOW is happening right NOW..."), and the Pinball Playing Guy's (director Richard Linklater) long, sublime speech about existence and God ("Behind the phenomenal difference there is but one story, and that's the story of moving from the 'No' to the 'Yes.' All of life is like, 'No thank you, No thank you, No thank you.' And then, ultimately, it's, 'Yes I give in, Yes I accept, Yes I embrace.'") and his advice to The Dreamer ("If you can wake up, you should, 'cause someday you won't be able to, so just um...but it's easy....just wake up") -- and the wonderfully ambiguous ending in which the Dreamer floats into the sky, never to return (is he waking up? is he dead?), in Richard Linklater's innovative, digitally shot, computer rotoscope-animated dreamy, existential, and spiritual cult classic
Waking Ned Devine (1998) (aka Waking Ned)	This tale was about the aftermath of the death of Ned Devine (Jimmy Keogh), an Irishman in the small village of Tullymore who instantly died of shock after learning that he had won the Irish National Lottery worth almost 6.9 million Irish pounds - and was still holding the winning signed ticket in his hand; two old friends Jackie O'Shea (Ian Bannen) and Michael O'Sullivan (David Kelly), believing that they were respecting Ned's generous wishes, plotted to claim the lotto prize money and split the winnings (130,000 pounds) with all 52 residents of the small town; after Ned died and his body was discovered, Jackie exclaimed: "Dear God. You'll be cursing in heaven tonight, Ned Devine," and dreamed of taking a boat ride with Ned and befriending him with a chicken dinner as he entered into the golden light of heaven, while Ned reassured ("The tide will bring us there safely"); also the scene of Michael forced to ride his motorcycle nude to quickly get to Ned's house to impersonate the dead man for lottery official Jim Kelly (Brendan Dempsey), and his assured way of providing identification information from the bathroom to the official as forms were filled out; also the heartfelt scene (during Ned's funeral service) of Jackie delivering a eulogy to Michael who was sitting in the front row, to avoid disclosing to the lottery official in attendance that Ned had died ("As we look back on the life of...Michael Sullivan was my great friend..."); and in the conclusion, the timely demise of uncooperative wheelchair-bound, witchy spinster Lizzy Quinn (Eileen Dromey) who was in a cliff-side phone booth (hit by the parish priest's van-truck avoiding the lotto representative's swerving car when he sneezed) while she was calling to inform lottery officials to expose the fraud and claim 10% of the prize - the booth sailed into the air and crashed far below on the cliff's shore - at the same time the townsfolk were celebrating and a violin string broke during the playing of a high note; also, the final joyous scene of the group toasting Ned Devine on the cliffside in the golden light with their glasses held high in the air ("Take a drink and remember the man. Then raise your spirits to the sky. Raise them to Ned Devine. God bless you, Ned and may we be forever in your debt") to the tune of "The Parting Glass" performed by Liam O'Maonlai as the camera spun into the misty air around them, in director Kirk Jones' charming, Irish working-class comedy
Walkabout (1971, Aus.)	The shocking scene of a suicidal Australian businessman (John Meillon) trying to murder his teen-age daughter (Jenny Agutter in her film debut) and six-year-old son (Lucien John) in the bush and then killing himself, their meeting with a teenaged aborigine boy (David Gulpilil) during his 'walkabout,' the awe-inspiring, natural scenes in the hostile outback terrain including the nude swimming sequence, and the stunning mating dance (in his own native fashion) that the native aborigine performs for the civilized girl - but that she ignores - with disastrous results, in Nicolas Roeg's haunting directorial solo debut film
Wall Street (1987)	The notorious "Greed is...good" monologue ("Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms.") delivered by predatory, slithery and ruthless, money-mad corporate financial trader Gordon Gekko (Oscar-winning Michael Douglas) to the annual shareholders' meeting of Teldar Paper, and the scene of young stockbroker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) questioning him about his exorbitant wealth ("So tell me, Gordon--when does it all end, huh? How many yachts can you water-ski behind? How much is enough?") and Gekko's reply about how he makes the rules in the free market: "It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game. Somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply, uh, transferred from one perception to another. Like magic. This painting here - I bought it 10 years ago for $60,000. I could sell it today for $600. The illusion has become real. And the more real it becomes, the more desperate they want it. Capitalism at its finest"; and the climactic scene when Gekko angrily rages at Bud and slaps him around - revealed later to be recorded by investigators: ("I took you in! A nobody! I opened the doors for you!...I showed you how the system works!...") when Bud is assured: "You did the right thing", in writer/director Oliver Stone's cautionary treatise on the Me-Decade of stock trading
The War of the Worlds (1953)	The scene in which the aliens invade a farmhouse and one of them places its creepy, tentacled hand on Sylvia Van Buren's (Ann Robinson) shoulder; also the scenes in which Los Angeles is set ablaze by Martian invaders, and the images of eerie green flying saucers with deadly heat rays; and the conclusion in which the aliens - attacking a church - are decimated by simple bacteria - as explained by narrator Cedric Hardwicke: ("The end came swiftly. All over the world, their machines began to stop and fall. After all that men could do had failed, the Martians were destroyed and humanity was saved by the littlest things, which God, in His wisdom, had put upon this Earth"), in director Byron Haskin's and producer George Pal's science-fiction cult classic - an updating of H.G. Wells' 1898 science-fiction novel and an Oscar winner for Special Effects; remade as Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (2005) with a post-9/11 mentality
Waterloo Bridge (1940)	The romantic sequence of WWI Capt. Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor) and ballet dancer Myra Lester (Vivien Leigh) waltzing in candlelight in the Candlelight Club to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" as groups of musicians extinguish their lights - and their first kiss, and then their lengthy parting scene in which he asks: "Please leave me first..." when he goes off to war; the difficult lunch scene in which Myra meets Roy's rich, socially-conscious mother Lady Margaret Cronin (Lucile Watson) just after reading Roy's name on a casualty list; and the scene of guilt-ridden Myra (now as a penniless prostitute) having an unexpected reunion at the train station with the returning Captain; their parting scene for the last time after she has confessed her profession to his mother; the sequence in which Myra's roommate/best friend Kitty (Virginia Field) reveals the truth of Myra's nightlife to Roy by taking him through one seedy bar after another; the scene of Myra's tragic end as she walks into oncoming traffic on the bridge, and Roy's flashback memory years later on the bridge of her words in the film's final melodramatic moments: "I loved you...I've never loved anyone else...I never shall" as the sound of "Auld Lang Syne" rises and he fingers her good-luck charm, in director Mervyn Leroy's melodramatic romance