Movie Moments Worth Paying For
The best bits are worth a bob or two…
Who can forget the teeming armies clashing at Helm’s Deep? Or the Millennium Falcon jumping to lightspeed? Or the Dark Knight swooping between skyscrapers? These are great film moments worth paying for, best seen as their makers intended on 30-foot cinema screens, in pin-sharp Blu-ray on a TV that’s as big as you are, or online via official streaming and downloading services.
Since the first black and white film in 1895, cinematic innovation after innovation has been possible thanks to the paying public. Colour, sound, widescreen and 3D… today it feels as if we’re light years ahead. But in all that time, one principle has stayed the same. When we pay for great film moments, we get millions more moments worth paying for. Below, we select our own…
DANNY TAKES A TRICYCLE RIDE (THE SHINING, 1980)
Terror comes on three wheels in Stanley Kubrick’s majestic hotel horror, as psychic tyke Danny Torrance takes a tour of the Overlook Hotel on his trike. Tension mounts as Danny traverses endless corridors, until he finally rounds the wrong corner. “Come and play with us. Forever and ever and ever,” whisper little dead girls in their Sunday best. “I’m scared,” says Danny, hand slammed over his eyes. Us too…
ET GOES HOME (ET: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, 1982)
“Ouch!” ET tells his human buddy Elliott, before wobbling off up the gangplank of his spaceship and breaking a little boy’s heart (and ours) by returning to his home planet. Even on multiple viewing this parting moment lodges a lump in throats, inducing blubs so big and wet they threaten to drown out John Williams’s soaring, spine-tingly score. Ouch indeed.
INDY FLEES THE BOULDER (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, 1981)
Forget Mick, Keef and the rest of them – the greatest rolling stone of them all is the super-sized boulder that chases Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) out of a booby-trapped temple in Raiders’ classic opener. Can the good doctor make it to the exit before he becomes history? Even though you know the answer, Spielberg rolls out the suspense every time.
WRITER’S BLOCK (MANHATTAN, 1979)
Woody Allen’s romanticdrama opens with Woody’s fretful writer, Isaac, trying out openings for a novel. It’s fifth time lucky: “Chapter One: ‘He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat.’ Oh, I love this…” The voiceover is hilarious while the gleaming New York montage set to Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ is cinematic poetry.
COMPETITION!
What’s the moment from the history of cinema that most rocks your world?
Write us a 50-word summary and we’ll select the best entries for publication. What’s more, our favourite entry will win a year’s subscription to Review! To enter, simply leave us a comment below containing your favourite moment. Closing date: 2 August 2011
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Posted on Monday, July 4th, 2011 at 8:27 am under Competitions, Features. You can subscribe to comments. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.
Tags: et, findanyfilm.com, hot, manhattan, Movie Moments Worth Paying For, raiders of the lost ark, the shining
