You know what I mean, those moments in your favorite films that make you smile involuntarily, or give you a physical feeling of pleasure up your spine, or make the hair on your arms and back of your neck standup. We've all had them. It might be a line, a scene, a sequence, it's those moments that give you a high that you're jonesing for forever after - those moments that remind you just why you love the shit out of movies in the first place and are always looking for your next fix of.
Maybe certain film-makers stylistic moments or flourishes do it for you, maybe it's screenwriters and their turn of phrase or maybe it's an actors performance - or maybe it's just a wonderful combination of factors.
I was watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid last night for the umpteenth time and that film never ceases to give me quite literally about a dozen of those moments, which is what puts it into my top 2 or 3 films of all time. Butches knife fight with Logan and it's leadup, the bank robbing montage in Bolivia, Newman and Redfords incredible chemistry with Bill Goldmans words in their mouths. The film is a true feast of pleasures for me and I get that tingle quite a few times.
I'm wondering what other peoples are. Remember too these aren't just 'my favorite moments in my favorite movies', they need to give you that zing that sets the moments apart, that chemical rush to the brain that only another cinephile gets from watching the very best that film has to offer.
Some of my other favorite tingle moments:
Blade Runner: Roy Battys final speech on the rooftop
God damn if I have any idea what he's talking about, but Hauer sells it so fucking beautifully, the moment is so visually stunning, Vangelis score punctuates the emotion of the scene and everything comes together that I find myself swelling with emotion and tingling all over each and every time I watch it.
The Thing: after the blood test and it's aftermath
"I know you gentlemen have been through a lot. But when you find the time... I'd rather not spend the rest of the winter tied to this fucking couch! " - such a gorgeous moment of levity after the tightly wound tension leading up to it - just perfect
The Godfather: Sonnys beatdown of Carlo
Many people prefer Henrys beatdown of the preppie in Goodfellas, but for me this is just a pure visceral experience that I really shouldn't enjoy as much as I do every time I see it. There's no way not to love Sonny after that and every time it finishes I feel like I need a cigarette.
True Romance: Gary Oldmans Drexyl
While this film has paled a bit for me as I've gotten older and I find Tony Scotts bombastic style to be a terrible distraction from Tarantinos story, the one scene I still adore as much as the day I first saw it is Gary Oldmans entire scene with Christian Slater as Drexyl. Maybe it's because this for me was the moment of awakening where, upong realising that this was the man who'd also played both Lee Harvey Oswald and Dracula, I realised I'd be hard pressed to find a better actor as long as I lived - a view I still hold to this day - but Oldman is so incredibly playful in his short amount of screentime, so obviously relishing playing such an outlandish character that the joy of watching such a great actor chew the shit out of the scenery, always leaves me tingling with enjoyment.
JFK: Jim Garrison sums up
The last ten minutes of this film is quite simply the greatest film acting Kevin Costner has ever done. As Jim Garrison sums up and essentially pleads to the courtroom, the film audience, America and the world his case with his voice finally cracking near the end, I have a hard time believeing people don't get as lost in the moment as I do every time.
The Princess Bride: The duel
A simple and maybe obvious choice, but Goldmans words punctuaing what is one of my favorite sword fights on film is just every reason this film is so utterly beloved. The fact that Elwes and Patinkin are so good both physically and verbally just sends it into the startosphere. A pure tingle sequence for me.
Raising Arizona: The first ten minutes
So hard to pick from Coen Brothers moments because almost all their films give me a minimum of two or more truely great tingles (one of the best reasons that they're so special to me), but this one holds a special place in my heart being just about the greatest opening to a film and story setup ever. From "My name is H.I.McDonaugh - call me Hi" to the opening credits there's a special joy in the sequence that gives me a good ten minute tingle every time I've watched it.
Inglourious Basterds: The lead up to the farmhouse scene
While the entirity of the scene of Landa in the farmhouse that opens this film is simply purest cinematic poetry in anyones language, it's the opening for me, with Morricones score kicking in, the germans driving down the road and the farmer sending his daughters into the house that sets my tingles into positive vibrations. This opening moment set's the entire mood for what is one of the best films I've seen in the last decade and just drips down my spine like pure concentrated cinema.
Ben-Hur: the chariot race
Yeah yeah, it's a bit of a cliche I know, but the absolute on-the-edge-of-my-seat elation I get for this entire sequence goes a long way to explaining why I used to name it my favorite film as a kid. What's so impressive is that I still to this day get the same feeling for the entire ten minutes of this sequence, it is truely one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed, and as we get further and further away from practical effect works in this day and age, it's amazing how a scene as old as this one can still remind me why the practical is superior. I always have sore fingers from digging them into whatever is nearest when I watch this sequence. I always jump and hold my breath at the same points. It's just about the most effective scene of it's kind ever made.
There are more moments, so many more, some because of other film-makers I adore but haven't mentioned yet or actors or what have you - but I don't want to write a thesis, I want to start a conversation. I'll pop in with more down the line, but lets all revel in what we love most about the movies - what are those moments that give you an actual visceral thrill, a physical moment of joy and pleasure, that remind you why you love the movies so much, that remind you why you come to the best damn film chat board on the internet?
Maybe certain film-makers stylistic moments or flourishes do it for you, maybe it's screenwriters and their turn of phrase or maybe it's an actors performance - or maybe it's just a wonderful combination of factors.
I was watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid last night for the umpteenth time and that film never ceases to give me quite literally about a dozen of those moments, which is what puts it into my top 2 or 3 films of all time. Butches knife fight with Logan and it's leadup, the bank robbing montage in Bolivia, Newman and Redfords incredible chemistry with Bill Goldmans words in their mouths. The film is a true feast of pleasures for me and I get that tingle quite a few times.
I'm wondering what other peoples are. Remember too these aren't just 'my favorite moments in my favorite movies', they need to give you that zing that sets the moments apart, that chemical rush to the brain that only another cinephile gets from watching the very best that film has to offer.
Some of my other favorite tingle moments:
Blade Runner: Roy Battys final speech on the rooftop
God damn if I have any idea what he's talking about, but Hauer sells it so fucking beautifully, the moment is so visually stunning, Vangelis score punctuates the emotion of the scene and everything comes together that I find myself swelling with emotion and tingling all over each and every time I watch it.
The Thing: after the blood test and it's aftermath
"I know you gentlemen have been through a lot. But when you find the time... I'd rather not spend the rest of the winter tied to this fucking couch! " - such a gorgeous moment of levity after the tightly wound tension leading up to it - just perfect
The Godfather: Sonnys beatdown of Carlo
Many people prefer Henrys beatdown of the preppie in Goodfellas, but for me this is just a pure visceral experience that I really shouldn't enjoy as much as I do every time I see it. There's no way not to love Sonny after that and every time it finishes I feel like I need a cigarette.
True Romance: Gary Oldmans Drexyl
While this film has paled a bit for me as I've gotten older and I find Tony Scotts bombastic style to be a terrible distraction from Tarantinos story, the one scene I still adore as much as the day I first saw it is Gary Oldmans entire scene with Christian Slater as Drexyl. Maybe it's because this for me was the moment of awakening where, upong realising that this was the man who'd also played both Lee Harvey Oswald and Dracula, I realised I'd be hard pressed to find a better actor as long as I lived - a view I still hold to this day - but Oldman is so incredibly playful in his short amount of screentime, so obviously relishing playing such an outlandish character that the joy of watching such a great actor chew the shit out of the scenery, always leaves me tingling with enjoyment.
JFK: Jim Garrison sums up
The last ten minutes of this film is quite simply the greatest film acting Kevin Costner has ever done. As Jim Garrison sums up and essentially pleads to the courtroom, the film audience, America and the world his case with his voice finally cracking near the end, I have a hard time believeing people don't get as lost in the moment as I do every time.
The Princess Bride: The duel
A simple and maybe obvious choice, but Goldmans words punctuaing what is one of my favorite sword fights on film is just every reason this film is so utterly beloved. The fact that Elwes and Patinkin are so good both physically and verbally just sends it into the startosphere. A pure tingle sequence for me.
Raising Arizona: The first ten minutes
So hard to pick from Coen Brothers moments because almost all their films give me a minimum of two or more truely great tingles (one of the best reasons that they're so special to me), but this one holds a special place in my heart being just about the greatest opening to a film and story setup ever. From "My name is H.I.McDonaugh - call me Hi" to the opening credits there's a special joy in the sequence that gives me a good ten minute tingle every time I've watched it.
Inglourious Basterds: The lead up to the farmhouse scene
While the entirity of the scene of Landa in the farmhouse that opens this film is simply purest cinematic poetry in anyones language, it's the opening for me, with Morricones score kicking in, the germans driving down the road and the farmer sending his daughters into the house that sets my tingles into positive vibrations. This opening moment set's the entire mood for what is one of the best films I've seen in the last decade and just drips down my spine like pure concentrated cinema.
Ben-Hur: the chariot race
Yeah yeah, it's a bit of a cliche I know, but the absolute on-the-edge-of-my-seat elation I get for this entire sequence goes a long way to explaining why I used to name it my favorite film as a kid. What's so impressive is that I still to this day get the same feeling for the entire ten minutes of this sequence, it is truely one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed, and as we get further and further away from practical effect works in this day and age, it's amazing how a scene as old as this one can still remind me why the practical is superior. I always have sore fingers from digging them into whatever is nearest when I watch this sequence. I always jump and hold my breath at the same points. It's just about the most effective scene of it's kind ever made.
There are more moments, so many more, some because of other film-makers I adore but haven't mentioned yet or actors or what have you - but I don't want to write a thesis, I want to start a conversation. I'll pop in with more down the line, but lets all revel in what we love most about the movies - what are those moments that give you an actual visceral thrill, a physical moment of joy and pleasure, that remind you why you love the movies so much, that remind you why you come to the best damn film chat board on the internet?
