I just saw a promo for tomorrow night’s O’Reilly Factor show. Bill is going to reveal his top ten movie scenes of all time. I love movies and the ad prompted me to think about my favorite scenes. It might be hard to stop at ten, and the ones I list tonight might not be the ones I would list a month form now, but here are some of mine.
Number 1 for me is the chariot race scene from Ben Hur. I worked at the movie theater when it was released. On the nights I was off I went to the theater every night for three weeks to watch the race. It was spectacular!
There are several scenes from The Magnificent Seven that I love, but maybe the best is the first scene when Yul Brynner and the other six chased the forty bandits out of the little village.
In the Sons of Katie Elder, there is a scene when the bad guy, George Kennedy, is trying to find out some information from an associate of John Elder (John Wayne). He is holding the fella’s head under water in a tub. Wayne walks in on the scene and picks up an axe handle. He shouts to Kennedy, who turns to look and receives that axe handle across the bridge of his nose!
The scene in Marathon Man where the dentist, Lawrence Olivier, is trying to get information from the hero of the movie, Dustin Hoffman.
The scene in It’s A Wonderful Life where Jimmy Stewart & Donna Reed fall into the swimming pool at the dance.
The motorcycle scene in The Great Escape, featuring Steve McQueen, followed closely with his return to the cooler and bouncing his baseball off the wall.
In Old Yeller, when the older boy has to shoot the dog that he has grown to love.
In Shennandoah, when Jimmy Stewart’s youngest son walks into the church and is reunited with his dad, following having been mistakenly taken away as a prisoner of war.
The scene in Singin’ In The Rain where Donald O’Conner sings and dances “Make ‘Em Laugh”.
The scene in Field of Dreams when James Earl Jones’ character is in Iowa and gives his soliloquy. “They will come Ray. Baseball….”
What are some of your favorite scenes?
