Favorite movie scenes

[Yupo]

A lot of the best scenes from my favorite movies and/or really good movies have been shared already. But there are so many good movies from all decades and from so many countries that we might not have seen yet!

Here is an iconic scene from a great French movie "Cinema Paradiso" starring Philippe Noiret, an actor I love. But, in order to understand its meaning and how touching/emotional this scene is, one must have watched the whole movie. So it's a spoiler if you watch this ending before having seen the movie.

(A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.)

Try to see the director's cut!

 

[hiker]

The Shawshank Redemption is a truly great film. I have seen it multiple times, but nothing can beat experiencing it at the cinema for the first time (in 1995), having known nothing about the plot beforehand.

It is probably the most powerful moviegoing experience that I have ever had; by the end of it, I was so blown away that I sat in stunned silence until the end credits had run through. (It was a small theater, and there was just one other person in the audience, sitting several rows before me; incidentally, she too stayed glued in place till the projector was turned off.)

It’s a masterclass of moviemaking in every sense, but what made the strongest impression on my young mind (at least how I personally interpreted it), was the feeling that there is something ”more” out there, and you can ”escape” the mundane everyday existence through improving yourself, being patient, gathering information, and so on. (The realization was somehow so prominent that it almost felt like a semi-spiritual experience.)

An interesting anecdote about the ending of the movie: originally, it was meant to conclude with Red, played by Morgan Freeman, taking the bus across the border to meet Andy (Tim Robbins) in Mexico. But when the producer Liz Glotzer saw the rough cut of the flick, she insisted that the writer/director Frank Darabont extend the ending, and add a scene of Red and Andy meeting each other on the beach, elaborating that after all that they have endured, the audience wants to see them reunited.

The beach reunion was test audiences' favorite scene; both Freeman and Robbins felt it provided the necessary closure. Darabont agreed to include the scene after seeing the test audience reactions, saying: "I think it's a magical and uplifting place for our characters to arrive at the end of their long saga…

I fully concur: the addition improved the movie even further!