Movies Defined By One Scene

[Classic Speedy]

- An Office & a Gentleman; the "I got nowhere else to go" line/scene is pretty famous and has been parodied a fair few times. Louis Gossett Jr's character was also kind of iconic at one point, and became the template for a lot of his own roles and other drill sergeant characters going forward

I feel like the "nowhere else to go!" line's almost become pop culture osmosis, since as you said, it's been parodied so much. When I saw this movie I said "Oh THAT'S where it came from."

Funny thing about Louis Gosset Jr's character: A couple of his bits (the infamous "Steers and...") were reused only a few years later by R. Lee Ermey's character in Full Metal Jacket. So people associate it with the latter film, even though the bits came earlier.

and what she says to the Pepsi-Cola board of directors, which I can't repeat here.

I'll admit, as much as I disliked that movie, that line was indeed hilarious.

 

[Dantheman]

The movie Under the Rainbow (a fictionalized version of the behind-the-scenes making of The Wizard of Oz) was probably best known to most 1980s kids as the movie where you see Princess Leia in her underwear (Yes, Carrie Fisher is seen wearing 1930s women's lingerie at one point, and that's probably the only thing the movie has going for it).

 

[Zorak Masaki]

The Nightmare on Elm Street films have lots of kills, but the ones everyone remembers are Johnny Depp's character getting sucked into a hole in his bed (and the blood stream that shoots out after), and, to a lesser extent, the "Welcome to Prime Time" scene in part 3.

 

[LinusFan303]

"Network" is one of my favorite movies, most people really only go with "The Mad as Hell" (hope that's alright) scene where a wet Howard Beale is telling people to yell out there windows "I'm mad as hell and I can't take it anymore!"

That's a good part of the movie, but I have other scenes I love more, myself.

 

[Dantheman]

"Network" is one of my favorite movies, most people really only go with "The Mad as Hell" (hope that's alright) scene where a wet Howard Beale is telling people to yell out there windows "I'm mad as hell and I can't take it anymore!"

That's a good part of the movie, but I have other scenes I love more, myself.

Ned Beatty's speech to Howard Beale about capitalism is pretty memorable.

 

[BigFatHairyDeal]

Kindergarten Cop can be defined by the "SHUT UP!" scene IMO.

For me, KC is most memorable for "It's not a tumor," but it's the line itself and not the scene.

...

Troll 2's infamous "Oh my god!!!!" scene comes to mind. It's literally the only part of the movie I've ever watched because I kept seeing memes of it. The awful delivery, how the actor didn't flinch when the fly landed on his face. This choice is some serious low-hanging fruit because of the meme it became, but this one scene really is the movie's lasting legacy.

 

[Pooky]

Troll 2 is one of the rare Z-grade films that's weird enough (and to be fair, creative enough) to be worth watching all the way through IMO. I would also recommend the retrospective documentary Best Worst Movie, which goes to some interesting places.

 

[Darklordavaitor]

My favorite Troll 2 scene is the hunger pains one. If you know, you know.

 

[harry580]

avatar - because of the navis using hair scene

 

[Pooky]

An odd one that just popped into my head; despite being the highest grossing film (in the US) of 1987, spawning a fairly successful sequel, running constantly on television for years and having a frequently parodied/referenced title, for a long time pretty much all anyone associated with 3 Men and a Baby was the urban legend that a ghost appeared in one scene.

 

[Classic Speedy]

An odd one that just popped into my head; despite being the highest grossing film (in the US) of 1987, spawning a fairly successful sequel, running constantly on television for years and having a frequently parodied/referenced title, for a long time pretty much all anyone associated with 3 Men and a Baby was the urban legend that a ghost appeared in one scene.

I have seen the movie, but it was probably thirty years ago and I don't remember a thing about it. Good example though.

 

[Zorak Masaki]

Scanners (1981) and the exploding head scene

And on a similar note, the laser to the head scene in "Chopping Mall".