Great Moments in Movies and Shows
by J. Spurlin | created - 09 Oct 2010 | updated - 07 Apr 2019 | PublicFrom cartoons to live action, big screen to small, shorts to features, silent era to present day, here are some of my favorite screen moments, sung and unsung, in chronological order.
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1. The Kid (1921)
Passed | 68 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jackie Coogan, Carl Miller
Votes: 134,838 | Gross: $5.45M
The Kid (Jackie Coogan) reaches out desperately for The Tramp (Charles Chaplin) from the back of a truck as the social workers take him away.
2. Felix Gets His Fill (1925)
4 min | Animation, Short
Felix, hungry and looking for a meal, hears that food is plentiful down south, and decides to check it out. He finds out that the cotton association pays for cotton in chicken dinners, so ... See full summary »
Director: Otto Messmer
Votes: 33
In a moment both bizarre and poignant, a grateful Felix the Cat returns the cottony hair, eyebrows and beard to the old black man he stole them from.
3. The Gold Rush (1925)
Passed | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman
Votes: 118,653 | Gross: $5.45M
The Little Tramp (Charles Chaplin) makes the best of his meal: boiled shoe leather, even offering a bent nail to Big Jim (Mack Swain) as if it were a wishbone they could break. ~ In a dream, the Tramp entertains his guests by making ballerina feet out of a pair of rolls. ~ Georgia (Georgia Hale) sees all the party decorations and realizes how callous she has been. ~ The Tramp blames the tilting house on dyspepsia.
4. The General (1926)
Passed | 78 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
After being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.
Directors: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley
Votes: 98,152 | Gross: $1.03M
The excitement of the train chase does not prevent Annabelle (Marion Mack) from taking out a broom to sweep the dusty floor of the engine. An exasperated Johnnie (Buster Keaton) tells her to keep throwing wood into the fire. She takes a small stick and daintily puts it in. Johnnie sarcastically hands her a sliver, and she puts that in, too. Then Johnnie grabs her and half-throttles her before kissing her instead.
5. Animal Crackers (1930)
G | 97 min | Comedy, Family, Musical
Mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding.
Director: Victor Heerman | Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, The Marx Brothers
Votes: 15,270 | Gross: $0.91M
During the "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" number, Groucho asks with sublime irrelevance: "Did someone call me schnorrer?"
6. M (1931)
Passed | 99 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke
Votes: 168,485 | Gross: $0.03M
Hans (Peter Lorre) looks in the mirror at the back of his coat and sees the letter "M" written in chalk.
7. City Lights (1931)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
With the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers
Votes: 196,068 | Gross: $0.02M
The onetime blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) realizes who her secret benefactor really is.
8. Birthday Blues (1932)
Approved | 20 min | Comedy, Family, Short
Dickie throws a birthday party to try to raise money to buy his mother a birthday present.
Director: Robert F. McGowan | Stars: Matthew 'Stymie' Beard, Dorothy DeBorba, Kendall McComas, George 'Spanky' McFarland
Votes: 240
This "Our Gang" short contains what are perhaps the two most memorable moments in the series. Spanky (George McFarland) suggests to his brother Dickie (Dickie Moore) that they buy their mother a shotgun for her birthday. Dickie asks what would she do with a gun. Spanky replies, "Shoot papa!" ~ The pulsating cake in the oven makes its indescribable "Wee-OWWW!" sound.
9. King Kong (1933)
Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Horror
A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.
Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher
Votes: 90,973 | Gross: $10.00M
Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), giving Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) a screen test, provokes her into screaming bloody murder at some giant unseen thing. Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot grabs the captain's arm and asks, "What's he think she's really gonna see?" ~ Kong reaches through a window in a high-rise building, picks a woman out of her bed and then callously throws her down into the street when he realizes she's not Ann. ~ Kong, on top of the Empire State Building, gently sets down Ann and pets her, resigned to his fate.
10. Duck Soup (1933)
Not Rated | 69 min | Comedy, Musical
Rufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx
Votes: 62,745
Harpo's tattoo of a doghouse proves to have a real dog inside it.
11. Hi'-Neighbor! (1934)
Approved | 17 min | Family, Comedy, Short
The gang decides to build their own fire engine.
Director: Gus Meins | Stars: Wally Albright, Matthew 'Stymie' Beard, Scotty Beckett, Tommy Bond
Votes: 282
The camera pans along the gang's makeshift fire truck—an absurd, poignant monstrosity—showing it from the point of view of Wally's appalled sweetheart.
12. Top Hat (1935)
Not Rated | 101 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
An American dancer comes to Britain and falls for a model whom he initially annoyed, but she mistakes him for his goofy producer.
Director: Mark Sandrich | Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes
Votes: 20,709 | Gross: $3.88M
Fred Astaire sings "Cheek to Cheek" to Ginger Rogers, telling her that he is in heaven. And so are we, especially when they start dancing.
13. Way Out West (1937)
Passed | 66 min | Comedy, Family, Western
Stanley and Ollie are enlisted to deliver the deed to a goldmine in a small village, only for it to be stolen.
Director: James W. Horne | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sharon Lynn, James Finlayson
Votes: 8,993
As The Avalon Boys sing "At the Ball, That's All," Laurel and Hardy break into an impromptu soft-shoe dance, kicking off my pick for the all-time greatest movie scene.
14. Pinocchio (1940)
G | 88 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.
Directors: Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Dickie Jones, Christian Rub, Mel Blanc, Don Brodie
Votes: 159,887 | Gross: $84.25M
Lampwick begins turning into a donkey as Pinocchio blames the strange sight on his cigar.
15. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
San Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
Votes: 166,595 | Gross: $2.11M
Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) walks over to his desk, turns around, slaps his hands together and laughs in contempt at Iva (Gladys George). ~ Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) tells Sam that he likes talking to a man who likes to talk. ~ Sam, after his calculated outburst against Gutman, is alone when he drops the act and notices with wry amusement that his hand is shaking. ~ Sam tells Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) that when he's slapped, he'll take it and like it. ~ Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.), with tears in his eyes, realizes what Sam and the rest are about to do to him. ~ Brigid (Mary Astor) laughs with nervous terror, desperately hoping that Sam is only kidding when he tells her what he is going to do.
16. Dumbo (1941)
G | 64 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Ridiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential.
Directors: Samuel Armstrong, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen, John Elliotte | Stars: Sterling Holloway, Edward Brophy, Herman Bing, Billy Bletcher
Votes: 142,097 | Gross: $1.60M
The laughing hyenas laugh in their sleep during the "Baby Mine" number. ~ In the "Pink Elephants" sequence, the belly dancer dissolves as her belly turns into an giant eyeball. ~ During the circus climax, Timothy convinces Dumbo at the last second that he can fly without his magic feather. ~ During the reprise of "When I See an Elephant Fly," Dumbo flies into his mother's trunk and hugs her with his giant ears.
17. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
After reading a Dick Tracy comic, Daffy Duck has a surreal dream in which he is a P.I. pursuing an army of grotesque villains who stole every piggy bank in town, including his own.
Director: Robert Clampett | Star: Mel Blanc
Votes: 2,284
With absurd overconfidence, Daffy Duck declares to the pack of monstrous villains: "You're all under arrest!" before all of them roar in furious contempt.
18. The Third Man (1949)
Approved | 93 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard
Votes: 181,849 | Gross: $0.45M
A shaft of light suddenly reveals Harry Lime (Orson Welles) standing in the doorway, as Anton Karas's jaunty zither score greets him, in what may be the most thrilling moment in the movies.
19. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
G | 92 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
An alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe
Votes: 85,772
Most memorable moment: Gort suddenly appears at the entrance of the spacecraft to the sound of Bernard Herrmann's eerie theremin music. Most exciting: Herrmann's music explodes into panic when the guards suddenly realize that Klaatu (Michael Rennie) has escaped. Most magical: Bobby (Billy Gray) silently follows the strange new boarder, who winds up at the spaceship.
20. The Thing from Another World (1951)
Approved | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Scientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.
Directors: Christian Nyby, Howard Hawks | Stars: Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, James Arness, Robert Cornthwaite
Votes: 33,363
Something is buried in the ice. The scientists and military men stand on the outline and discover that it's shaped like a giant saucer.
21. Glen or Glenda (1953)
PG | 65 min | Drama
A psychiatrist tells the stories of a transvestite (Glen or Glenda) and a pseudohermaphrodite (Alan or Anne).
Director: Edward D. Wood Jr. | Stars: Edward D. Wood Jr., Bela Lugosi, Lyle Talbot, Timothy Farrell
Votes: 9,191
In Ed Wood's sublimely awful docudrama about transvestism, an irrelevant shot of stampeding buffalo dissolves into Bela Lugosi crying, "Pull the string! Pull the string!" You figure it out.
22. Rear Window (1954)
PG | 112 min | Mystery, Thriller
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter
Votes: 522,166 | Gross: $36.76M
Jeff (James Stewart) and Stella (Thelma Ritter) watch helplessly from the opposite building as Lars (Raymond Burr) returns to his apartment, which an oblivious Lisa (Grace Kelly) continues to search.
23. That's My Mommy (1955)
Approved | 6 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
When a duck hatches from the egg underneath Tom, he is convinced he is his mother. Tom thinks that he would like to eat the newborn duck, but Jerry shows him the truth while saving him from being eaten.
Directors: Joseph Barbera, William Hanna | Stars: Red Coffey, William Hanna
Votes: 834
The little duck realizes that his "mommy" (Tom the cat) wants to eat him and sadly resigns himself to it. "If my nice momma wants a duck dinner, my nice momma's gonna have a duck dinner." Happily, Tom has a change of heart. This absurd and shamelessly manipulative scene gets me every time.
24. What's Opera, Doc? (1957)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Elmer Fudd is again hunting rabbits - only this time it's an opera. Wagner's Siegfried with Elmer as the titular hero and Bugs as Brunnhilde. They sing, they dance, they eat the scenery.
Director: Chuck Jones | Stars: Mel Blanc, Arthur Q. Bryan
Votes: 10,506
Elmer Fudd weeps over his tragic mistake as Bugs Bunny offers cold comfort to us in the audience.
25. Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)
Not Rated | 79 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Evil aliens attack Earth and set their terrible "Plan 9" into action. As the aliens resurrect the dead of the Earth, the lives of the living are in danger.
Director: Edward D. Wood Jr. | Stars: Gregory Walcott, Tom Keene, Mona McKinnon, Duke Moore
Votes: 40,412
The condescending space alien, Eros (Dudley Manlove), petulantly complains, "You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!"
26. Vertigo (1958)
PG | 128 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore
Votes: 426,988 | Gross: $3.20M
Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) sees Judy (Kim Novak) bathed in green light as she enters the room fully transformed into Madeleine.
27. North by Northwest (1959)
Approved | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis
Votes: 346,242 | Gross: $13.28M
The sinister crop-dusting plane hits an oil truck as Bernard Herrmann's music explodes into a frenzy.
28.
The Twilight Zone (1959–1964)
Episode:
A World of Difference
(1960)
TV-PG | 25 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A businessman sitting in his office inexplicably finds that he is on a production set and in a world where he is a movie star. Uninterested in the newfound fame, he fights to get back to his home and family.
Director: Ted Post | Stars: Howard Duff, David White, Frank Maxwell, Eileen Ryan
Votes: 3,627
Arthur Curtis (Howard Duff) hears "cut," looks to the direction of the voice and sees that one of the walls of his office is missing and a movie crew is staring at him. His office has suddenly become a movie set, and Arthur Curtis has just entered... the Twilight Zone.
29. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 718,394 | Gross: $32.00M
Bernard Herrmann's music screeches in horror as "mother" rips back the shower curtain.
30.
The Twilight Zone (1959–1964)
Episode:
Living Doll
(1963)
TV-PG | 26 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A frustrated father does battle with his stepdaughter's talking doll, whose vocabulary includes such phrases as "I hate you" and "I'm going to kill you".
Director: Richard C. Sarafian | Stars: Telly Savalas, Mary LaRoche, Tracy Stratford, June Foray
Votes: 3,745
Erich (Telly Savalas) answers the phone and hears, "My name is Talky Tina, and I'm going to kill you."
31. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 235,228
Rosemary (Mia Farrow) sees her baby for the first time as Krzysztof Komeda's music lets us know just how shocking the sight is for her.
32. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Thriller
A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman
Votes: 139,163 | Gross: $0.09M
Johnny (Russell Streiner): "They're coming to get you, Barbara." Little does he or Barbara (Judith O'Dea) know that the "man" lumbering near them in the graveyard really is coming to get them.
33.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
A Stitch in Crime
(1973)
Not Rated | 74 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A surgeon has an ingenious plan for murdering his partner in a research project, but a nurse catches onto the scheme.
Director: Hy Averback | Stars: Peter Falk, Leonard Nimoy, Anne Francis, Nita Talbot
Votes: 3,294
Columbo (Peter Falk) uses the murder weapon to crack open his hard-boiled egg. ~ The final shot (which I won't reveal here) provides for the most terrific Columbo ending of all.
34. Macbeth (1979 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 145 min | Drama
Macbeth (Ian McKellen) is a daring member of the Scottish military, who receives a revelation from three menacing sorceresses that he will someday become the King of Scotland. This ... See full summary »
Directors: Philip Casson, Trevor Nunn | Stars: Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, John Bown, Susan Dury
Votes: 915
In the midst of her sleepwalking trance, Lady Macbeth (Judi Dench in the best on-screen performance of this great role) gives out the deepest, blackest cry of despair.
35.
Fawlty Towers (1975–1979)
Episode:
Communication Problems
(1979)
TV-PG | 31 min | Comedy
When Mrs. Richards, a demanding woman who is hard of hearing, checks into the hotel, Basil, Sybil and Polly find themselves with a very difficult customer. Meanwhile, Basil bets on a horse ... See full summary »
Director: Bob Spiers | Stars: John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs, Connie Booth
Votes: 2,338
After Mrs. Richards (Joan Sanderson) bangs her head, Basil (John Cleese) picks a bit of something off the floor and asks, "Is this a piece of your brain?"
36. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebel Alliance attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side.
Director: Richard Marquand | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 1,121,592 | Gross: $309.13M
Luke (Mark Hamill) and Leia (Carrie Fisher) hop on a speeder bike to chase down a scout trooper in what gets my vote for the all-time greatest action scene.
37. The Dead Zone (1983)
R | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic ability to foresee future events.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom
Votes: 77,330 | Gross: $20.77M
Johnny (Christopher Walken) breaks a vase with his cane and screams: "The ice is gonna break!"
38. Basic Instinct (1992)
R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A violent police detective investigates a brutal murder that might involve a manipulative and seductive novelist.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza, Jeanne Tripplehorn
Votes: 219,188 | Gross: $117.73M
Famous for the wrong reason, the interrogation scene is a masterly piece of filmmaking from director Paul Verhoeven and his team. The best moment: the camera suddenly races up to Catherine (Sharon Stone) as she repeats the alibi Beth (Jeanne Tripplehorn) predicted she would make.
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