The Usual Suspects Tops List of Memorable Film Moments
We all love reading lists right? Well here’s a weird one that may be worthy of some discussion. It seems British news site Guardian Unlimited polled their readers about the most memorable movie moments of all-time. And guess what movie topped the list, compiled from some 15,000 votes? Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects. That’s right, apparently that twist ending is still blowing people’s minds 12 years later. I was certainly surprised to find anyone still remembered the movie at all, as I think in retrospect it may have gotten a little more credit than it deserved. But maybe I’m wrong there. It’s also one the more recent movies on the list, which seems to consist of a lot of older classics. Here’s a rundown of the Top 20 moments; you can read the rest at the Guardian site (linked below). Which ones do you agree with? Which ones do you disagree with?
1. The Usual Suspects – Keyser Soze revelation
2. Psycho – The shower scene
3. The Third Man – Harry Lime appears
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey – Flying bone to space ship transition
5. Apocalypse Now – Dawn helicopter attack
6. Blade Runner – Batty’s dying speech in the rain
7. The Great Escape – The Cooler King escapes on his motorbike
8. Casablanca – Rick and Ilsa say goodbye at the airport
9. Planet of the Apes – Statue of Liberty discovery
10. Some Like It Hot – “Well, nobody’s perfect.”
11. Singin’ In The Rain – Gene Kelly singin’ in the rain
12. The Deer Hunter – Russian roulette
13. Ben Hur – Chariot race
14. Don’t Look Now – The hooded figure
15. Saving Private Ryan – Normandy landing
16. The Birds – Crows gather outside the school
17. Platoon – Sergeant Elias staggers out of the jungle
18. Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Mothership appears
19. Lawrence of Arabia – Entrance of Sherif Ali
20. Taxi Driver – “You talkin’ to me?”
Comments (7)
of the ones on the list, i would have voted for the Deer Hunter Russian Roulette scene.
but the Usual Suspects twist still stands out, for many it was genuinely surprising, but more importantly the execution of the scene is so amazingly iconic.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/id/455839492\
btw. watch this SNL parody
Posted by Goon on June 28th, 2007Is it just me or is this list all over the place? A lot of the choices just don’t seem all that memorable to me. But to each his own.
I’d have chosen the birth of the alien from Alien as my #1. The reveal at the end of Fight Club is another that I’d choose.
Posted by Rian on June 28th, 2007Glad to see that The Third Man , 2001, and Apocalypse Now are near the top!
Posted by Glenn on June 28th, 2007Most of the scenes on this list is a crock.
The shameful thing about these top “Lists” are the ones who compile the data or more importantly the ones put in their votes tend to choose scenes (in my opinion) that they are “aware” of, in the sense that, we all know about the psycho shower scene, but i couldn’t give to shits you know? i’ve seen way more memrable moments in film. How about The ending of Back to the future? “Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads.” OR how about Total Recall, When Quaid (arnie) is in the fat woman suit and it malfunctions revealing the arnie in disguise? OR Fight CLub (To many classic scenes in that to mention here).
My point is, quite a few on that list there are scenes that the majrity of film fans even if they do love it, have seen or experienced much more memorable sequences in film since.
Hell, maybe i’m just a product of my generation. born in 86, i guess i have a biased opinion. I’ve seen 2001 too many times to mention and I must say, the bone cut was done dreadfully. i’m sorry Kubrick, but I can honestly say that i could’ve edited that scene better visually. and how could the bone cut make it on this list. didn’t the idiots who voted remember anything else in the film. it’s such a beautiful film, and they choose THAT? puh-lease. it’s nothing more than pretentious pricks who think they know all about film, when really they’re just hanging on to the memory of some ‘cool’ moments in outdated, no longer relevent films.
so many types of story telling techniques have been explored that not only shows how boring the old school was but how much better our generation can do it.
wow, am i having a bad morning. sorry for the rant. needed to vent.
Posted by Daniel on June 28th, 2007Hey Daniel,
I don’t think the ‘bone cut’ is memorable for the technical aspects of the edit, but rather than the idea of a visual cut that represents the passage of thousands of years so simply and creatively. You have to remember that this film is fourty years old now, and at the time, such techniques were not as common as they are now. Just think of it…where most other films would have a title card reading ‘1 million years later…’, Kubrick summed up the gap with one simple cut.
I think it still holds up today.
Posted by Jay C. on June 28th, 2007However, i’ll agree there are many other worthy moments in the film. The star child, the ‘ultimate trip’…
As for your comment: “so many types of story telling techniques have been explored that not only shows how boring the old school was but how much better our generation can do it.”
? I think i need some examples here. The old school was boring?? I don’t know if i agree with you at all on this one. Does that make me pretentious?
Posted by Jay C. on June 28th, 2007Easy Rider – “We blew it” (they get shot by some rednecks)
Posted by bertom on June 29th, 2007I think there are a lot of war movies in this list.
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