100 Greatest Movie Moments - Part II

Here we go with part 2.

Ikiru (1952)
An old man sits on a swing in the snow, singing a song of lost love.

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Gene Kelley sings and dances in the rain.

From Here to Eternity (1953)
Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr kiss on the beach.

Shane (1953)
“Shane! Come back!”

On the Waterfront (1954)
Marlon Brando tells Rod Steiger, “I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody.”

The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The evil Robert Mitchum is terrorizing Lillian Gish’s house. She is standing guard with a shotgun. We can see his silhouette in the darkness outside the window. He sings “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” When he gets to the chorus, Gish joins in. One of Gish’s wards comes into the room with a lit candle. We are unable to see out the window with this new source of light. Gish quickly blows out the candle, but Mitchum is gone.

The Court Jester (1956)
“The pellet with the poison’s in the flagon with the dragon. The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.”

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
James Stewart and Doris Day try to stop an assassin at Albert Hall during a performance.

The Ten Commandments (1956)
Moses parts the Red Sea.

Touch of Evil (1958)
The opening tracking shot.

Ben-Hur (1959)
The chariot race.

North by Northwest (1959)
Cary Grant is accosted by a crop duster in the middle of nowhere.

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
The final footage of Bela Lugosi.

Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Maleficent spoils the baby princess’s christening.

Some Like It Hot (1959)
“Nobody’s perfect.”

Psycho (1960)
The shower scene.

Spartacus (1960)
“I am Spartacus!”

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
In the middle of the desert, a speck turns into a dot which becomes a blob which finally resolves itself into a man on a camel.
(This can only be fully appreciated in 70mm.)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The brainwashing scene.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
“Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passing.”

The Birds (1963)
Ravens collect on a jungle gym outside a school while the children inside sing a nonsense song.

The Great Escape (1963)
Steve McQueen kills time and annoys the Nazi guards by tossing his baseball against the wall while confined to the cooler.

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Jason has a sword fight with a bunch of skeletons.

The Sound of Music (1956)
The camera travels across the Austrian mountains and on top of one finds a lone nun twirling and singing.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
Good, Bad, and Ugly face off against each other in a three-man gunfight.

The pictures for To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Escape aren't exactly the images I was looking for (for one, they happen before the moment I am highlighting) but they were the best I could find on my internet image search.

100 Greatest Movie Moments - Part I

Recently I stumbled upon a list compiled by Roger Ebert of the 100 greatest moments in movie history. While his list was pretty good, it still had some glaring omissions and some erroneous inclusions. So I was inspired to create my own list, and here it is. Some moments are iconic while others are funny, emotional, or make the audience do a collective jaw drop due to pure cinematic bravura. For your added enjoyment, I've included an image from each moment (to the best of my abilities). I've tried to be spoiler-free as much as possible, but unfortunately some have still snuck in. Ye be warned. In the interest of keeping posts from getting too long and unwieldy, I'm breaking the list up into four parts. Expect the remaining installments to come over the next couple weeks.

(In chronological order)

Intolerance (1916)
The parade into Babylon.

Safety Last! (1923)
Harold Lloyd hang perilously from a clock face.

Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
Buster finds himself inside a movie, and much to his bewilderment the world keeps cutting to somewhere completely different while he remains still.

Battleship Potemkin (1925)
A baby carriage rolls down the Odessa steps unattended.

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Christine rips off the Phantom’s mask to reveal Lon Chaney’s skull-like visage.

The Jazz Singer (1927)
“Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”

Metropolis (1927)
The robot is brought to life.

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
A house falls on Buster. He remains unscathed since he is standing precisely where the open window is.

King Kong (1933)
Kong swats at airplanes atop the Empire State Building.

It Happened One Night (1934)
Clark Gable attempts to hitch a ride. Claudette Colbert succeeds.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The wicked queen drinks a potion and turns herself into an ugly old hag.

Gone With the Wind (1939)
Scarlett searches the streets of Atlanta that are filled with wounded and dying Confederate solders.

The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Dorothy steps out of her black and white house into the glorious Technicolor Oz.

Pinocchio (1940)
Lampwick turns into a donkey.

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
The djinn towers over Sabu after being released from his prison.

Citizen Kane (1941)

“Rosebud.”

Love Crazy (1941)
William Powell goes crazy and wreaks barefooted havoc at a dinner party.

Casablanca (1942)
Rick and Ilsa say goodbye.

Cat People (1942)
A woman taking a nighttime swim is terrorized by what may or may not be a giant cat.

Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Gene Kelley dances with Jerry Mouse.

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
George Bailey runs through the streets wishing everyone and everything a “Merry Christmas” after getting his life back.

On the Town (1949)
Three navy sailors tour “New York, New York.”

The Third Man (1949)
Joseph Cotten chases shadows through the streets of Vienna until he finds, almost by accident, the cherubic, mischievous face of Orson Welles.

White Heat (1949)
“Made it, Ma! Top of the world!”

Sunset Blvd. (1950)
“All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup.”