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There are times when one is absolutely overwhelmed by a moment in a film, a shot or sequence done so well that only something very extreme would distract the viewer's gaze. Sometimes these shots or sequences are seemless, and only film students or critics would really notice the mechanics involved. Sometimes they even get overlooked because of their subtle success. And, of course, sometimes they are plain to see and go down in history as one of those iconic moments.

This thread is about ANY of them. I was inspired to start this thread because of a particular shot I saw in the film The Ides of March that is currently in theatres that really impressed me. The shot falls into that category of shots that will never go down in history, but was done so well that it acheived being the pivotal moment in the story that it was intended to be.

The shot in question involved a moment in the film where Ryan Gosling is sitting in a car after an extremely big reveal in the story. It is raining heavily outside. He is emotionally affected by the event, and his eyes are on the verge of welling up into tears. The tears don't quite come. Instead, we see the raindrops falling down the windshield silouetted against his face. This shot was sublimely suggestive. The silouetted raindrops suggests the character's desire to succumb to emotion in a world of high-stakes politics where every moment of his life must be spent carefully weighing even the tiniest of choices. In that moment, it is as if tears are rolling uncontrollably, yet simultaneously we see that in the actors eyes are only the slightest hint of tears that never come. I'm not saying that this technique has never been used. I'm sure it has. I'm just saying that it was perfectly pulled off in this example.

In the big scheme of things, this shot will probably not be mentioned by anybody. I was simply very struck by it sitting in the theatre.

In any event, this thread is dedicated to great shots and sequences, big or small, famous or forgotten, fantastic or subtle, in film.

I like those kind of scenes FJ, they add a little something extra to film.

The first scene that came to mind when I read the title of this thread was a scene from the movie The Protector, which I just watched the other day. It's a restaurant fight scene and is suppossedly the longest one take fight scene in film history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM2atZfn87M

A bit of a cliche, but it really is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4

A couple of examples.

The Shining (1980): I think most will agree that the steadi-cam shot following the kid on the bigwheel is amazing. So perfectly done and chilling, along with the sound, really demonstrates the emptiness and isolation of the family in the Overlook Hotel. The camera tracks the bigwheel so perfectly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSpbZiTx724

The Player (1992): Funny Rev should mention Touch of Evil. The Player has an opening tracking shot (posted below) that lasts 7:47 minutes. The shot was an intentional homage and the film even gets mentioned by one of the characters. Fred Ward is complaining that films these days are edited too heavily, always cut, cut, cut. Even with that hint, the average viewer may not pick up that there has been no cuts for almost 8 minutes. I can't even imagine how long it would take to prepare for such a shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epB5Z6ijpk

A lot of PTA's stuff, but the opening shot in Boogie Nights baffles me everything.

The scene where the first zombie shows up in LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE. The setup, attack and escape are just done great. Unfortunately this clip is missing the setup.

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first thing that comes to mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL2hVO5BRIQ

nice idea for a thread, I'll to make time to watch all the ones posted at some point

also the 'kitchen scene' from Goodfellas. amazing one take extended shot going from outside to the stand-up comedian starting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAWkwpHfBwY

 - and a bit of trivia, the only reason this exists is because the film crew wasn't allowed to go through the front entrance of the building as originally intended!

Fantastic shot, and I thought about that one too. Just didn't get around to posting it. Many of the examples posted are just what I'm talking about. They are the shots and sequences that are so good that they keep your eyes glued to the action. The Goodfellas stedi-cam shot does this.

There are other shots in that film that are great. There's another steadi-cam shot that goes from face to face in the restaurant they all hung out at, where Henry Hill is talking about all the wiseguys from the area. That's quite an extended single shot as well.

Another one is the slow-motion shot of Joe Pesci firing several shots of his semi-auto pistol. The slow-motion was slow enough that we see Pesci's cheeks quiver from the recoil of the gun, and the gun's slider moving back and forward.

That film is just jam packed with great shots.

This scene from The BIRDS....

gives me the creeps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydLJtKlVVZw&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM975_Ld9S0

Another perfect opening scene.  (Don't know why the uploader included the extra 30 seconds at the end).

I love Blue Velvet. I consider Mulholland Drive my favorite DL film, but Blue Velvet is so close that it's almost a tie. I don't know much about the technical side of filmmaking, don't know much about film stock or DP techniques, but there's just something about the way Blue Velvet was filmed that makes it so eerie and dreamlike. That entire scene with Dean Stockwell lipsyncing Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" is just mindblogglingly effective.

This is just one of those scenes that has always stuck with me.

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I love this surreal "drunk" scene from MEAN STREETS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQz32DByt5U

SVENGALI is agreat-and it seems little remebered film.

I like Toku's search for the grave in the GOOD,the BAD and the UGLY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObKgCaWyAig&feature=related

Day Of The Dead when all the zombies com in on the elevator thing. I can't find the clip on youitube, but you know which bit I'm on about.

Of course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v90KPJ6n4Ew

Stanley Kubrick is great at slow motion sequences. It's all over his work. The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, both of those have great slo-mo sequences.

I was a bit buzzed once when I watched 2001 and when this scene played the old light bulb lit up and I thought holy crap he's portraying Hal like the Frankenstein monster.

You have to go to youtube because I can't embed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbCsAlweJXk

Then I did a search and found this. It's pretty interesting.

http://cineprism.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/kubrick%e2%80%99s-frankenstein-hal-in-2001-a-space-odyssey/

just been watching all the clips posted, some really good stuff.

want to add this intro scene from Jaws. everyone knows it I'm sure, but it's really savage and eerie and a great sequence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrEvK-tv5OI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyaj2P-dSi8

1:58-onward.

The ending of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (when the credits roll).
I think they were trying to evoke the Vietnam war. With the grainy photos, the sound of people talking on walkie-talkies, the sound of helicopters flying over head, and all the carnage. Very grim.

Again, some jerk won't let me embed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmrxvtr9zOM