20 Dialogue-Free Movie Scenes to Remember

[Philosophe_rouge]

Bonnie and Clyde is an excellent scene, can't complain about 2001 either... I agree, very difficult just to choose one scene from the film, I 'm actually pleased you chose something I wouldn't have expected.

[MadMan]

#15 is just goddamn beautiful, and yes John Williams score for it is magnificent.

I agree with #14 being pretty chilling. It does feed into the scary thought that when your in the hands of a machine that machine can go crazy and decide to kill you right then and there.

As for the scene where HAL reads Dave and Frank's lips I like that there's no audio when HAL is watching, as it gives his point of view. Through that we almost feel his paranoia growing, as we wonder first along with him what the two are plaining, and then share in his realization as to what they are going to do. Pretty cool stuff, well to me anyways.

[Grouchy]

You got two #15s. Heh.

All excellent choices, specially 2001 and Bonnie and Clyde moments. Well, I'd put any of the honorable mentions in the last spot and throw Notting Hill into a shitpile where it belongs, but that's just me.

[Fezzik]

You got two #15s. Heh.

Doh! You're right. I fixed it. Thanks for the heads up.

[Fezzik]

-= #12 =-

The Usual Suspects (1995)

[

Show Spoiler

The Un-Cripple

]

Description: There is only one reason why this scene is not higher on the list - I kinda feel like I'm cheating by including it. Although there is no original dialogue in the scene, most of it has a playover - flashback style - of dialogue from earlier in the film. Although that kinda/sorta fits the rule of "stuff being sung in the background" I still feel a little dirty for including it.

(The rest is in SPOILERS below)

[

Show Spoiler

But how could I not? In my opinion, it ranks as the greatest twist ending in movie history and it wasn't just the twist that I remember, it was how that twist was revealed which sticks with me.

Slow realization by Kugan, remembrances of things said previously, the crashing coffee cup, Kint limping down the street and then suddenly his limp diminishing until it was gone...the flexing of the hand and the lighting of the cigarette with the gold lighter...the final look back...just...damn, just thinking about it makes me smile.

]

[Sven]

You may want to include a spoiler alert and hide some of that text. I don't really mind, and I'm pretty sure there isn't a soul now that either hasn't seen that movie or doesn't know how it ends. But still.

[Philosophe_rouge]

You may want to include a spoiler alert and hide some of that text. I don't really mind, and I'm pretty sure there isn't a soul now that either hasn't seen that movie or doesn't know how it ends. But still.

I don't and haven't, didn't read the blurb though.

[Qrazy]

I don't and haven't, didn't read the blurb though.

Philosophe you should PM and hassle BadLieutenant to come to match-cut. He's wasted on RT.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Philosophe you should PM and hassle BadLieutenant to come to match-cut. He's wasted on RT.

It's really not in my nature to hassle. I may send him one PM though.

[Qrazy]

It's really not in my nature to hassle. I may send him one PM though.

I'll hassle it into your nature.

[MadMan]

Philosophe you should PM and hassle BadLieutenant to come to match-cut. He's wasted on RT.

I wondered what happened to BL. I think he'd love it here. So yeah I agree with Qrazy. Force him to migrate here.

Also I think The Usual Suspects is awesome to begin with, but that twist puts it over the top. Really brilliant stuff I think, although I know many on the site actually don't like the film.

[Fezzik]

-= #11 =-

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Mourning Gandalf

Description: "Fly You Fools." And then he was gone. What followed surprised me. I'd read Tolkein multiple times by the time the films came out, so I knew what was coming. What I didn't expect is to be effected by the scene as much as I was - especially considering that I was expecting it.

But after Frodo screams and the voices begin to fade out, leaving only the sounds of arrows striking rock and Howard Shore's elegiac "Gandalf Falls," the film's weight seems to double before our eyes.

The escape from Moria, coupled with the heartbreaking montage of reactions from the other Fellowship members...Sam crying into his hands, a delirious Gimli being held by Boromir, Legolas' stunned far off look and Merry cradling Pippin while he lies in a fetal position, shook the film audience.

I learned most of this after the fact from people who'd never read the books before seeing the films. Before this scene, a lot of them felt they were in for a happy-go-lucky fantasy film with some really cool fight scenes. Once Gandalf fell, however, they felt like they'd been punched in the gut, and the entire trilogy changed for them at that point. If Jackson had flubbed this scene even a little bit, it would have been a disaster. Thankfully, he didn't.

[Ivan Drago]

This scene (and the power of Williams music) was spoofed in the recent "Family Guy" Star Wars Episode, when during the show's version of this scene, the character of "Luke" (Chris Griffin, in this case) turns to the 'camera' mid-scene and waves his arm to an orchestra just off screen and says "John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra, everybody."

Quite possibly one of the worst Family Guy episodes in recent memory.

[

Show Spoiler

"Luke, don't tell your uncle that your father is Darth Vader!"

]

[MadMan]

#11 is one of the most emotionally powerful moments in the trilogy. Its packed quite a punch on each of my multiple (I think 11) viewings of the first flick. Great choice.

[Spinal]

Fezzik, I added an additional spoiler tag to the title of your Usual Suspects entry.

EDIT: added spoiler tags to 2001 as well.

[Fezzik]

-= #10 =-

Mulan (1998)

Mulan's Decision

Description: The first of three scenes in my list from animated films (all of them American ones, sorry guys ), this montage follows Mulan as she makes her decision to disguise herself as a man in order to take her father's place in the Imperial army and then her actions as she follows through.

Jerry Goldsmith's music is damn near hypnotic in this scene, especially the one more "modern" sounding cue that transports you out of the movie for a few moments as you follow Mulan's path through her house, from taking her father's conscription letter (the small smile she flashes at his sleeping form before leaving the room is my favorite part of this scene), the procuring of her father's armor and sword, the cutting of her own hair and final prayer before taking the family's horse and leaving.

A sometimes forgotten scene in what I consider to be an underrated film.

[lovejuice]

i love mulan, but somehow that scene never stood out for me. guess it's time to rewatch the thing.

[Sycophant]

-= #10 =-

Mulan (1998)

Mulan's Decision

Description: The first of three scenes in my list from animated films (all of them American ones, sorry guys ), this montage follows Mulan as she makes her decision to disguise herself as a man in order to take her father's place in the Imperial army and then her actions as she follows through.

Jerry Goldsmith's music is damn near hypnotic in this scene, especially the one more "modern" sounding cue that transports you out of the movie for a few moments as you follow Mulan's path through her house, from taking her father's conscription letter (the small smile she flashes at his sleeping form before leaving the room is my favorite part of this scene), the procuring of her father's armor and sword, the cutting of her own hair and final prayer before taking the family's horse and leaving.

I remember seeing this scene in a preview with the same song underscoring it, but with a different arrangement that was decidedly less "modern" and that I liked significantly more. But I was 15 at the time, so who knows if I'd agree with myself now.

A sometimes forgotten scene in what I consider to be an underrated film.

Mulan is probably one of my favorite Disney films from that specific era, but I'd imagine its reputation is somewhere around respectable-if-nothing-spectacular, which I believe suits it.

[Fezzik]

-= #9 =-

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

In the Dark

Description: A routine stop-in to ask some questions turns into a nightmare as FBI agent Clarice Starling finds herself face to face with the man she's been hunting, Jame Bumb, aka Buffalo Bill.

She follows him into the basement and locates the missing senator's daughter, then is suddenly goes dark. Only the whine of Jame's night vision goggles powering up can be heard.

The predator has become the prey with a single flip of the lightswitch. Jame continues to toy with Clarice even though she can't see him, reaching out on multiple occasions to almost touch her face.

A chilling scene through the eyes of the criminal.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Great scene.

[Ezee E]

That's one of the first scenes that wowed me when I was young. Nice choice.

[Fezzik]

-= #8 =-

The Lion King (1994)

Stampede!

Description: Tricked by his Uncle Scar to wait in the ravine for his father, Simba practices his roar, then notices a pebble bouncing around. A couple of seconds later, he spies some birds flying over the edge of ravine and...is that a cloud of dust?? Then, with almost no more warning, a herd of wildebeest flow down into the ravine like a tidal wave. As Hans Zimmer's frenetic score kicks into high gear, Simba does his best to survive the hundreds of thundering hooves.

I remember well the first time I saw The Lion King back in 1994 and I also remember literally almost choking on my soda when I saw the wildebeest storm into the ravine. Disney Animation had to build a new computer to handle the Flocking Algorithm they used to create the wildebeest stampede - it was the first time that I can remember that motion-intensive CGI was used in a 2D animated film with such incredible effect.

[lovejuice]

this reminds me of lion king the musical in which taymor has to resource to all the tricks in her bag in order to pull this scene off. :P

[Fezzik]

-= #7 =-

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)

Chess in the Rain

Description: Playing hide and seek at his birthday party, John Waitzkin stumbles onto a group of men playing board games in the park. Despite his mother's insistence that he return before the rains start, he is enraptured by the sights and sounds he witnesses. Soon, the rain does start, and as the rain speeds up, so does the chess, with the clacks of the pieces and chess timers blending with the sound of raindrops hitting the boards and benches.

I won't try to hide that Searching for Bobby Fischer is one of my favorite films ever, and I credit this sequence (the opening) with hooking me. The cinematography along with the sound design and editing, gave the game of chess a mystique it never had for me before. Well done, sirs!

[Ivan Drago]

:crosses fingers for the final scene of In The Mood For Love: