Leave the gun, take the cannoli

We'll always have Paris

The chase under the elevated train tracks in the French Connection

Great scenes in great movies are a dime-a-dozen. Easy to do. So let's name a few awesome scenes in not-so-great movies.

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I thought of this while grinding an online poker tournament when the 2001 lesbian comedy and indie hit, Kissing Jessica Stein came on. I remembered seeing it when it first came out, but hadn't thought of it since.

It's a perfectly fine little movie, with sexy, funny performances from the two leads, Jenifer Westfeldt and Heather Jurgensen. But really nothing special.

But there's one scene in it that just melts your heart. Westfeldt's character is a straight girl who has fallen for a girl. And she's miserable and worried what her family might think. But her traditional, Jewish mother knows something wrong, and give her daughter a little, heartfelt speech that lets Westfeltd know that her mother is accepting of whomever she might love.

The great and under-utilized actress Tovuh Feldshuh is amazing in this perfect, truly great scene:



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So what are some great scenes in so-so movies?

I'm going for the Darth Maul/Obi-Wan/Qui Gon Jinn fight in Phantom Menace...

The thread isn't "great scenes in total crap movies."

Any Marlon Brando scene in The Missouri Breaks.

Rolling Thunder...William Devane and early Tommy Lee Jones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Thunder_(film)
Former POW Devane is showing his ex’s new boyfriend how the VC used to torture him with a rope (“you learn to love the rope”). Partway through the boyfriend holding the rope breaks into a sweat and drops the rope.

A certain scene in Deep Blue Sea. Death and a shark are involved. Not going to spoil it.

That bit from The Expendables when Mickey Rourke shows up and delivers an inexplicably good monologue in the middle of a cheesy action flick. Always stayed with me because it was so unexpected.

lol that's such a good scene, it's bonkers. Hilarious that it's in that movie.

Always
Be
Closing

1991 film, Paradise, starring Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith.

Elijah Wood, staying with his aunt and uncle while his mother goes off to give birth, befriends a lonely girl, played by Thora Birch. There's a scene where they are swimming in a South Carolina river and talking about friendship....when Wood tells Birch that, yes, she's his best friend, her reaction is too beautiful for words.


(the second part of this clip)

I have a soft spot for this movie.

First thing that came to mind:

I'm having a hard time between so-so and good movies

And Anne Bancroft's only scene in the movie:

nice Malice pulls

woah malice is way better than so-so!!!

I'm sure I'll have lots of other nominations but first thing that popped into my head was every scene with the dad (larry miller who is awesome) in 10 things I hate about you.

Yeah, Malice is really good.

I like it a lot myself but seems to be thought of as so-so among most. "What does everyone want? I want the Red Sox to win the World Series."

I used to think True Romance was a great movie, but over the years I see it as too uneven to be great (although arguably better than 'so-so').

But this scene!

I'd agree re: True Romance. Also the Drexl scene is really good.

When the Mommy Dinosaur died in the land before time.

There is a scene in the Paul Walker movie Running Scared, involving a pedophile couple, that is super unnerving and literally the only reason to remember it.

if true romance is gonna count as so-so then this thread has no purpose and is just going to be "post great scenes".

now I have no problem with a "post great scenes" thread, but it's much different than what this thread was meant to be.

next thing you know someone is gonna post one of the many amazing scenes in dumb and dumber.

Uhhhhh

GGR is a great and infinitely rewatchable movie

Probably true for most Tarantino. HOWEVER.

Django Unchained is uneven and poorly edited, but Leo elevates every scene he's in.

Rbk is correct.

The walken/hopper scene is one of the great cinematic scenes of all time and Drexel (who or what is a Drexel anyway?) Character is Gary Oldmans best work which says A LOT. those two being in the movie alone elevate it above "so-so "