A list:
@ The scene in The Untouchables with the baby carriage in the train station. The first time I saw that scene play out it stunned my heart into immobility for half a minute, at least, before it started again. It was amazing. I also love the baseball bat scene and the culminating rooftop scene--you probably know what I mean if you've seen it.
@ In L.A. Confidential, Kevin Spacey saying "Rollo Tomasi" and then going still, eyes open. And the scene where they dangle the guy out the window. And the one where White and Exley fight in the file room. God. It's all good.
@ The bit in Aliens where Ripley grabs control of the ATV and drives it into the complex to rescue the Marines and then back out again, crushing the alien on the way and then smashing the vehicle straight out the closed doors before grinding to a stop. Why aren't there more women action heroes? Jesus fuck, what a rip.
@ The Usual Suspects--weirdly, the airplane coming in for a landing with jump cuts. I can't even say exactly why. But also the bit when we're seeing Verbal walking along the street, limping, and then his limp bit by bit disappears. Fucking A.
@ The scene, which I'm pretty sure is in the first and not the second Kill Bill movie, where O-Ren and her entourage arrive at the restaurant, grandly sweeping through with the owners obsequiously skipping alongside--we realize that she's a different kind of mob boss, one who cultivates a very traditional persona to weirdly charismatic and powerful effect. Then of course there's the sword fight in the snow, which is gorgeous.
@ The hallway scenes in The Shining, where the kid is riding his Big Wheels down the carpets and the tension ratchets up until suddenly those creepy twin girls appear. Gah.
@ Sarah Connor in Terminator 2, when she frees herself from the mental asylum in one brutal, cunning rush of glory and then sees the Terminator coming toward her and you can just *see* her mind blowing inside out with terror as she skids to a stop and runs the other way.
@ The end of Back to the Future, when Marty finds out that his whole life has been reinvented because of what he did in the past.
@ The scene in Miller's Crossing where Tom takes Bernie out into the woods and the mirroring scene at the end of the movie. "Look into your heart!" Tom: "What heart?" Gah. That movie is wonderfully bleak and I love the soundtrack so much.
@ The very last scene in Hannah and Her Sisters when Holly and Mickey are alone in the dim dining room and Holly tells him she's pregnant. God, I love that. So. Much.
@ In License to Kill where Timothy Dalton's Bond wakes up in Sanchez's mansion. In a big bed. In, if I recall correctly, silk pajama bottoms. And looks around in confusion, scrambling as if to say, "What or *who* did I *do* last night?" And then Sanchez comes in, and it turns out that Bond--while undercover--has earned his gratitude and trust and Sanchez has rescued him from torture and certain death and brought him home. Heee.
@ The final scene in An Officer and a Gentleman. Shut up. Sniff.
@ Chasing Amy: Holden sits Banky and Alyssa down on the couch and analyzes at length why their relationships are dysfunctional, with the antagonism and homoerotic tension--and Banky's like, what do you mean, homoerotic tension, you are so full of shit, so Holden shuts him up by kissing him, and while Banky is sitting there stunned, Holden decisively tells them that he knows how they should resolve their issues: "We've all got to have sex together." And after another long speech by Holden, and a lot of silence, Banky finally says. "...sure." And then Alyssa tells him no and Banky is like, "Thank *Christ*." Hee.
@ Four Weddings and a Funeral: Matthew giving the funeral speech for his lover Gareth, when he quotes from Auden:
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
There are more, but that seems like a good one to end on.
ETA: Oh god, I forgot to mention the car crash scene in Fearless! See me cry hysterically. Seriously. And then the actual flight that they show nearly at the end of the movie, when we see it all happen. I swear to god, whenever I see that movie, I nearly have a breakdown. Even worse than the way I used to get at the end of Hair.