Favorite movie climactic scenes
These are my personal favorite movie climaxes: exciting chases, dramatic one-on-one confrontations, or sometimes pure anti-climax. No particular order.
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- DirectorTerence YoungStarsAudrey HepburnAlan ArkinRichard CrennaA recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin-stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment.Blind Audrey Hepburn versus a psychopathic Alan Arkin. The weapons are a box of matches and a kitchen knife. This final fifteen minute confrontation is suspenseful and terrifying, one where the viewer never knows who's going to have the upper hand at any given moment.
- DirectorRon ClementsBurny MattinsonDave MichenerStarsVincent PriceBarrie InghamVal BettinBasil, the rodent Sherlock Holmes, investigates the kidnapping of a toy maker and uncovers its link to his archenemy, Professor Ratigan.Atmospheric and tense, the final battle between Basil and Rattigan is magnificent. The best part is when Rattigan sheds his civilized persona and goes feral, beating Basil half to death in one of the most savage moments in a Disney movie!
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsYasuo YamadaEiko MasuyamaKiyoshi KobayashiA dashing thief, his gang of desperadoes and an intrepid cop struggle to free a princess from an evil count, and learn the secret of a treasure that she holds part of the key to.Though the opening car chase is the most referenced and influential scene in Cagliostro, the clock tower battle between Lupin and the Count also has its reverberations throughout pop culture, particularly in The Great Mouse Detective and Batman the Animated Series. Part Hitchcock and part Chaplin, it's suspenseful and quirky-- that is, until the Count ups the stakes outside the tower. A great sequence in a movie filled to the brim with them!
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsRyan O'NealMarisa BerensonPatrick MageeAn Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.The last duel between Barry and his stepson is as close as anyone gets to a moment of grace in a post-Strangelove Kubrick movie. After having acted like a tyrant for years, Barry tries for a moment of compassion. It does not work out the way he planned...
- DirectorRalph BakshiStarsBob HoltJesse WellesRichard RomanusOn a post-apocalyptic Earth, a wizard and his faire folk comrades fight an evil wizard who's using technology in his bid for conquest.This movie's climax goes against our expectations of what a final battle between a hero and villain should be like. Some people find the blatant anti-climax annoying, but I think it's brilliantly hilarious.
- DirectorNorman FergusonT. HeeWilfred JacksonStarsDickie JonesChristian RubMel BlancA living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.In a movie where none of the several villains are defeated, Monstro is the ultimate symbol of evil. Notice how Pinocchio and company don't even try to fight him-- all they can do is run. Combined with gorgeous animation and effects, this is the best Disney climactic scene IMO.
- DirectorIrvin KershnerStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherAfter the Empire overpowers the Rebel Alliance, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda. At the same time, Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett pursue his friends across the galaxy.
- DirectorJohn G. BlystoneBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonNatalie TalmadgeJoe KeatonA man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.Buster to the rescue! Even ninety plus years onward, this is one tense scene, full of Keaton's athletics and his often underrated dramatic abilities.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsCliff RobertsonGeneviève BujoldJohn LithgowA wealthy New Orleans businessman becomes obsessed with a young woman who resembles his wife.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRichard BarthelmessMrs. David LandauA naive country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock.Richard Barthlelmess rescuing the unconscious Lillian Gish from the ice flow is one of silent film's most iconic sequences. As crude as the melodrama might seem to some, you cannot deny the effectiveness of this scene, both because of the editing and the fact that the actors' lives actually were in danger due to the sequence being filmed on-location. Barthelmess's anxiety isn't acting here!
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsMayumi TanakaKeiko YokozawaKotoe HatsuiPazu's life changes when he meets Sheeta, a girl whom pirates are chasing for her crystal amulet, which has the potential to locate Laputa, a legendary castle floating in the sky.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJonathan PryceKim GreistRobert De NiroA bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherLuke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.
- DirectorJames AlgarSamuel ArmstrongDavid HandStarsHardie AlbrightStan AlexanderBobette AudreyThe story of a young deer growing up in the forest.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRichard BarthelmessDonald CrispA frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronMae MarshThe story of a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsAnton WalbrookMarius GoringMoira ShearerA young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.
- DirectorVíctor EriceStarsFernando Fernán GómezTeresa GimperaAna TorrentIn 1940, after watching and being traumatized by the movie Frankenstein (1931), a sensitive seven year-old girl living in a small Spanish village drifts into her own fantasy world.
- DirectorIrvin WillatStarsHobart BosworthJane NovakJames GordonA German-American naval officer takes revenge against the German submarine commander who brutalized his wife.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsSissy SpacekPiper LaurieAmy IrvingCarrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
- DirectorJoe CarnahanStarsLiam NeesonDermot MulroneyFrank GrilloAfter their plane crashes in Alaska, six oil workers are led by a skilled huntsman to survival, but a pack of merciless wolves haunts their every step.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsBarbra StreisandRyan O'NealMadeline KahnThe accidental mix-up of four identical plaid overnight bags leads to a series of increasingly wild and wacky situations.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsLeonardo DiCaprioBrad PittMargot RobbieAs Hollywood's Golden Age is winding down during the summer of 1969, television actor Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth endeavor to achieve lasting success in Hollywood while meeting several colorful characters along the way.