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 49

W (continued)
The Wild Bunch (1969)	The extraordinary opening sequence (including an impressive presentation of the credits) of a Southwestern Texas border town (filled with parading Temperance Union rally participants) and robbery, leader Pike's (William Holden) chilling command in the bank office: "If they move, kill 'em," and the ambush of the Wild Bunch outlaws in a dusty town by bounty hunters with slow-motion, fast-edited, carnage and slaughter - paralleled with the images of children watching scorpions tortured by a blanket of red ants; the sight of a rider plunging through a storefront window on his horse; also the exciting action sequence of the train robbery (including the explosion of a bridge after Pike's magnificent hat salute), the shot of Dutch Engstrom (Ernest Borgnine) emerging from behind a gun barrel, the courageous, heroic march of the four remaining gang members to face ruthless General Mapache (Emilio Fernandez) and his army for a showdown, the brutal full-frontal view of the slitting of young Mexican gang member Angel's (Jaime Sanchez) throat, and the spectacular, climactic bloodbath in the open courtyard as the gang takes on an entire Mexican soldier regiment and commanders the big gun for awhile, in Sam Peckinpah's violent and controversial western
The Wild One (1953)	The opening credits sequence and the image of leather-jacketed, anti-hero Johnny Strabler (Marlon Brando), leader of the motorcycle group "The Black Rebels" approaching on the highway; the scene of the bikers dragging on the street for beers; the memorable scene in which Johnny responds to the question: "What are you rebelling against?" with "What've you got?"; the scene of a group of rival cyclists circling sheriff's daughter Kathie (Mary Murphy) and terrorizing her; Kathie's rescue and moonlit motorcycle ride on the back of Johnny's motorcycle and their scene in the park, in director Laslo Benedek's sub-genre-defining motorcycle gang film
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)	The memorable rendition of "The Candy Man" by Aubrey Woods ("Who can take a sunrise? Sprinkle it with dew. Cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two. The Candy Man! The Candy Man can!"); the thrilling moment when poor boy Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum in his only film role) discovers a Golden Ticket; and the character of the sweet but slightly wicked candy man Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder in a definitive role) and his chocolate factory in a fanciful land populated by orange-skinned, green-haired Oompa-Loompas workers; the factory tour given for the lucky, mostly bratty children (and the musical number "Pure Imagination") with Willy's insight: "Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation and 2% butterscotch ripple" - and the sight of all the sweets - marshmallow mushrooms, candy umbrellas, and other sweets with the scene in which tormenting, purple-clad Willy offers a boat ride down the Chocolate River to the kids and their parents - while hallucinatory, colorful, hellish and surreal images (a kaleidoscope of insects, a beheading of a chicken, a slimy worm on a face, etc.) are back-projected behind them while Willy provides strange commentary; and the fates of the "naughty" children - highlighted by Violet (Denise Nickerson) being transformed into a giant blueberry (!) - and the crowd-pleasing finale in which Willy Wonka makes Charlie his heir ("Charlie, don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted...He lived happily ever after!"), in director Mel Stuart's unlikely scary children's film adaptation of Roald Dahl's bizarre fairy tale - remade by Tim Burton as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), starring Johnny Depp as the famed chocolatier
Winchester '73 (1950)	The character of slightly mad, obsessed and vengeful frontiersman Lin McAdam (James Stewart) in relentless pursuit of villainous 'black sheep' brother Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally) who killed his father and possesses McAdam's prized, one-of-a-kind and rare Winchester '73 rifle that he won after a July 4th marksman shooting contest in Dodge City; the character of psychotic killer dandy Waco Johnny Dean (Dan Duryea); and the film's final chase and shootout in the rocky outcroppings of mountains between the two brothers, in director Anthony Mann's adult psychological western (the first of eight films with James Stewart)
The Wind (1928)	The stark realism of scenes of lengthy gusty, howling and gritty wind/sand storms; the wedding night scene that conveys naive bride Letty's (Lillian Gish) paralyzing fear with her new husband Lige (Lars Hanson) - by contrasting shots of her feet and his cowboy boots; the nightmarish scene of Letty's near-rape by Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love) and his accidental point-blank shooting, and her attempt to bury his body during a fierce wind and sandstorm, and her half-crazed reactions as she sees the body unearthed by the wind, with her final disappearance into the sandstorm - and the studio's distorting tacked-on upbeat and hopeful ending, in legendary Swedish director Victor Sjöström's (billed as "Victor Seastrom") masterpiece, and one of the last great silent films
Winged Migration (2001, Fr.)	One of the most beautifully shot documentaries ever made (almost completely without the use of visual effects), that followed the migration patterns of dozens of bird species, including one flying tern that traveled thousands of miles over oceans and continents during its migration; memorable scenes included ducks flying past the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty in New York City, birds fleeing an avalanche, and an old woman feeding cranes on her farm, as well as disturbing imagery, such as birds abruptly being shot down by hunters in mid-flight, an injured wader bird being stalked and then fed upon by dozens of hermit crabs, and a poacher's boat holding various parrots and toucans as well as a spider monkey, in Jacques Perrin's incredible documentary
Wings (1927)	The spectacular aerial photography and dogfight scenes (shot in the air and not in a studio) - including a sequence in which a German pilot was hit (blood spurted from his mouth) and his plane went into a fiery tailspin, and the final battle sequence (a full-scale reconstruction of the Battle of St. Mihiel); also the first on-screen male-male kiss on the lips when a handsome young soldier John "Jack" Powell (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) placed a lingering kiss on the mouth of his dying friend David Armstrong (Richard Arlen) in the aftermath of the battle, in the first Academy Award Best Picture winner by director William Wellman
Wings of Desire (1987) (aka Der Himmel über Berlin)	The plot regarding two earthbound, heavy flannel coat-wearing angels - sad-faced Damiel and Cassiel (Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander) who watch over Berlin (both modern-day and war-time) - with the accompanying image (drained of color because of their isolation from earthly life) of Damiel surveying Berlin from the wings of the Victory statue atop its column in the Konigsplatz; the early scene of the two angels conversing in an open automobile about what it would be like to be human (to crave weight and pain); and the many scenes of the angels who observe and listen in without judgment to the thoughts of commuting subway passengers and library patrons of differing nationalities - and to other's random thoughts and voices; the two scenes of the angel accompanying a motorcycle accident victim and a suicidal man; also the transcendent scene of Damiel lovingly observing trapeze artist Marion (Solveig Dommartin) in her trailer; and the way in which American movie star (Peter Falk) tempts Damiel with tactile and sensory sensations (drawing, coffee, cigarettes, the feel of cold on one's hands, etc.); and the moment that Cassiel sees that Damiel (after declaring his intention to join the earthly world) has left his footsteps in the sand on the East German side of the wall, in director and co-writer Wim Wenders' visually-affecting, moody and soaring film (remade as City of Angels (1998) starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan)
Witness (1985)	The film's opening scene of a brutal murder in a Philadelphia train station restroom witnessed by young Amish boy Samuel Lapp (Lukas Haas); the Amish community's raising barn scene; and the scene of young recently-widowed Amish woman Rachel Lapp's (Kelly McGillis) treatment of homicide detective John Book's (Oscar-nominated Harrison Ford) gunshot wound; the smoldering, forbidden love relationship between Book and Rachel displayed in their informal, awkward dance in the farm's barn (to the tune of the radio playing Sam Cooke's "(What A) Wonderful World") - lit by a car's headlights; and the scene in which an unembarrassed Rachel gives herself a sponge-bath and boldly turns to reveal her bare-breasted self to John, soon followed by their strongly passionate kiss in the twilight, in director Peter Weir's love story and meditation on violence and culture clash
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)	The playful banter between crafty barrister/defense attorney Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) and his nurse Miss Plimsoll (real-life wife Elsa Lancaster) (Sir Wilfrid: "If I'd known how much you talked, I'd have never come out of my coma!"), including the scene in which she reveals the forbidden cigars (causing Sir Wilfrid's heart attack) hidden in his cane; Sir Wilfrid's use of his monocle to extract truth from potential clients by reflecting light blindingly into their eyes; the seduction of elderly wealthy widow Emily Jane French (Norma Varden) by her accused murderer - American Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power in his last role before his death); the entrance of dignified, strong-willed Mrs. Christine Vole/Helm (Marlene Dietrich) in Sir Wilfrid's doorway; the scene of a vengeful, scarred, thick Cockney-accented mystery woman giving Sir Wilfrid critical evidence and showing him her disfiguration ("Want to kiss me, duckie?"), and the memorable moment on the witness stand when Christine screams at Sir Wilfrid - "Damn you, damn you!"; the startling surprise courtroom scene ending after defendant Leonard's acquittal when Christine admits that her husband Leonard had indeed killed Mrs. French, and the shocking moment when she stabs Leonard to death in the stomach for his double-crossing philandering with Diana (Ruta Lee); Sir Wilfrid's classic line after the stabbing when he corrects Miss Plimsoll: "Killed him? She executed him," in Billy Wilder's adaptation of the classic Agatha Christie murder mystery and courtroom drama
The Wizard of Oz (1939)	The quintessential scene of lonely Kansas teenager Dorothy Gale's (Judy Garland) singing of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," the first appearance of Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch (Margaret Hamilton) on a bicycle, the thrilling twister-tornado scene and Dorothy's hallucinations swirling and floating by in front of her, the transition from sepia-tone to full color as Dorothy enters the fanciful, Technicolored Land of Oz through the door, Dorothy's exclamatory statement to her dog Toto: "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," the lively Munchkin sequences, the green-faced Witch's appearance in a red puff of smoke, the Witch's attempt to seize the ruby slippers from Dorothy's feet, Dorothy's first steps on the Yellow Brick Road after receiving guidance from the Good Witch Glinda (Billie Burke); her first encounter with each of her companions - the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), the Tin Man (Jack Haley) and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), their journey with linked arms as they skip: "We're off to see the Wizard" down the Yellow Brick Road, their songs "If I Only Had a Brain" and "If I Were King of the Forest," the amazing, scary sequences of Dorothy and her friend's first encounter with the Wizard (Frank Morgan) - a disembodied head engulfed in flames, the Wicked Witch's taunting of the Scarecrow with fire ("How about a little fire, Scarecrow?"), her cackling threat: "I'll get you, my pretty - and your little dog, too!", and her subsequent "I'm melting" death scene that destroys her "beautiful wickedness," the scene of the pulling-aside of the curtain and the revelation of the Wizard, the presentation of awards scene, Dorothy's farewell scene in the land of Oz (and particularly her tearful goodbye to the Scarecrow), and the closing scene when Dorothy awakens from her fantastic dream in her own bedroom (where she is surrounded by family and friends) - she denies that she was only dreaming her adventures in the Land of Oz, and repeatedly exclaims: "There's no place like home", in Victor Fleming's immortal classic (of L. Frank Baum's novel)
The Wolf Man (1941)	The amazingly-effective transformation scene in which American-educated British heir Sir Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) becomes the werewolf - after being bitten by fortune-teller/ werewolf Bela (Bela Lugosi), and later being told by Bela's gypsy mother Mariva (Maria Ouspenskaya) that he is in danger ("Whoever is bitten by a werewolf and lives becomes a werewolf himself...Heaven help you!") - in the scene, Talbot grows fur and paws for feet; also the exciting climax in fog-shrouded woods when the werewolf during a full moon pursues pretty antique shopgirl Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers) and is hunted down, in this literate Universal Studios, moody black and white horror film classic from director George Waggner
Wolfen (1981)	The visually-creative, sped-up, low-angle, Steadicam and crane traveling shots - from the predatory wild creature's perspective - through deserted NYC slum lots; and the amazing optical printing techniques that subjectively demonstrated the wolves' sense of heat, movement, and smell as infra-red or solarized images of the hapless victims, in director Michael Wadleigh's horror thriller
Woman of the Year (1942)	International political columnist Tess Harding's (Katharine Hepburn) first baseball game with fellow NY sportswriter Sam Craig (Spencer Tracy) during which he has to explain the game and its rules; and her disastrous attempt to cook a decent breakfast and be a domesticated housewife for him - she fights with the kitchen appliances and makes a shambles of waffles as he watches in amazement, in director George Stevens' romantic drama (the first of nine films starring Tracy and Hepburn together)
The Woman in the Window (1944)	The scene in which law-abiding, mild-mannered, middle-aged and married Gotham College Professor Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson) meets beautiful, strange painting model and femme fatale named Alice Reed (Joan Bennett) - when she emerges as a reflection next to a painting in the window; the scene in which he becomes embroiled in a crime due to his unintentional self-defense murder (by stabbing his assailant to death in the back with a pair of scissors) when he is attacked by her burly and jealous boyfriend Frank Howard (Arthur Loft) who has accused her of infidelity; also his plottings with Alice when marked as the killer and blackmailed by Howard's crafty bodyguard Heidt (Dan Duryea) with evidence of a scratch on his hand and a case of poison ivy while dumping the body in the woods; also the tense scene of paranoid and increasingly-desperate Wanley's visit to the crime scene with District Attorney Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey); and the final comical sequence in which Wanley wakes up in the men's club to find that everything has been a dream!, in Fritz Lang's dark, noirish murder-melodrama masterpiece
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)	The increasing mental breakdown ("She's not crazy...she's unusual") experienced by lonely, eccentric, middle-aged, working-class housewife Mabel Longhetti (Best Actress-nominated Gena Rowlands); the spaghetti breakfast scene with her husband Nick (Peter Falk) and his construction co-workers, the scene of Mabel's angry accosting (and flipping up of her thumb) toward a finely-dressed women walking down an LA street who literally ignores her when asked the time of day, and the scene of Mabel's welcome-home party following institutionalization, in director John Cassavetes' heavy drama about madness
The Women (1939)	The opening credits that represent each of the leading lady stars as an animal before dissolving into a close-up; a Technicolor Fashion Show sequence; the Sylvia/Peggy (Rosalind Russell-Joan Fontaine) exercise/work-out scene; the sequence of a rough, dirty-fighting brawl (including a leg bite) at a dude (divorce) ranch in Reno between Miriam Aarons (Paulette Goddard) and Sylvia (Mrs. Howard Fowler); Mary Haines' (Norma Shearer) "women are equal" speech; and the acidic dialogue including golddigging shopgirl Crystal Allen's (Joan Crawford) final parting words: "...there's a name for you ladies, but it isn't used in high society, outside of a kennel", in director George Cukor's adaptation of Clare Boothe's legendary stage comedy with an all-female cast
Women in Love (1969, UK)	The scene of quiet, white-suited school master Rupert Birkin (Alan Bates) provocatively describing how to eat a fig during a picnic with free-spirited and artistic Gudrun Brangwen (Oscar-winning Best Actress Glenda Jackson) and her shy schoolteacher sister Ursula (Jennie Linden), and the famous extended, homoerotic fight scene of nude male wrestling in the light of a roaring fireplace in a locked room between local mine owner Gerald Crich (Oliver Reed) and Rupert, in extravagant director Ken Russell's sexually explicit, landmark X-rated film, adapted from D.H. Lawrence's 1920 novel
Woodstock (1970)	The experimental cinematography (cinema verite, multi-angle shots, and split-screens), various memorable performances on stage (Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix playing the "Star Spangled Banner", Richie Havens, The Who, etc.), the revolutionary love generation spirit of the event, and the rain-soaked chaotic denouement, in director Michael Wadleigh's innovative, documentary-style epic (originally X-rated due to brief glimpses of nudity) about the upper-state New York rock-music concert held on Yasgur's farm in the summer of 1969
Working Girl (1988)	The breathtaking, rotating opening shot of the Statue of Liberty as the Oscar-winning Carly Simon song "Let the River Run" plays; the character of ambitious and smart 30 year-old Manhattan brokerage firm secretary Tess McGill (Oscar-nominated Melanie Griffith) who is manipulated by her career-driven, icy female boss Katherine Parker (Oscar-nominated Sigourney Weaver), who steals Tess' business idea for a business merger; and Tess' flirtatious line of dialogue in a bar to handsome investment broker Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford in his first light comedy): "I have a head for business and a bod for sin. Is there anything wrong with that?"; and the brilliant final pull-back shot of Tess in her office, revealing her office to be just one of thousands in a single building in the whole of New York City, as the subtly subversive lyrics of "Let the River Run" undercuts the triumphant moment, in director Mike Nichols' Best Picture-nominated modern farcical romantic comedy about the workplace
Written on the Wind (1956)	The characterization of alcoholic, gun-loving Texas millionaire, oil heir and playboy Kyle Hadley by Oscar-nominated Robert Stack; the scenes of his jealous, promiscuous, unstable and nymphomaniacal sister Marylee (Oscar-winning Dorothy Malone) ("I'm filthy, period!") continually with Kyle's best friend and geologist Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson), and suggesting to Kyle that Mitch and Kyle's level-headed secretary/wife Lucy Moore Hadley (Lauren Bacall) are having an affair - and his mad and insane suspicion and attack on Lucy (because he has been stunned by a doctor's report that he has a low sperm count - in a scene in which he views a young boy on a rocking horse!) that it must be Mitch's child when Lucy becomes pregnant; the striking scenes of lustful Marylee's provocative mambo dance in her room (with a picture of Mitch in her arms) intercut with the elder Jasper Hadley (Robert Keith) having a heart attack and toppling down the spiral staircase to his death; and the phallic symbolism of Marylee gripping a miniature oil rig derrick with both hands at her father's desk (in front of his painted portrait), in Douglas Sirk's tempestuous, sordid and soap-opera-ish Technicolored melodrama
The Wrong Man (1956)	The early sequences in which Stork Club musician Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero (Henry Fonda) is questioned, arrested, and ultimately put in jail - (even though wrongly accused); and the astonishing match-cut scene in which the face of the actual look-alike robbery criminal is super-imposed onto Balestrero's face, and the final scenes of his strained wife Rose (Vera Miles) ending up institutionalized, in Alfred Hitchcock's film-noirish crime drama filmed in semi-documentary style
Wuthering Heights (1939)	The opening scene as a stranger staggers through a blizzard on the Yorkshire moors to find refuge at Wuthering Heights, the romantic scenes of Cathy (Merle Oberon) and Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) in their make-believe castle on windy Peniston Crag on the atmospheric moors where they profess their eternal love to each other; Cathy's realization: "I am Heathcliff," the tragically romantic death scene in Cathy's bedroom as Heathcliff is reuinted with her and carries her to the window for one last look at the moors in the distance as she dies in his arms; and the final memorable scene of the ghosts of Cathy and Heathcliff reunited on Peniston Crag on the moorlands, in director William Wyler's superb romantic drama - of Emily Bronte's novel about a haunted love story

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

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