25. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
Harry Lime
It’s very typical of Orson Welles to keep a film waiting until the halfway mark to turn up, and then to announce himself with a moonlight smirk and a street chase so beautifully shot which it’s become a landmark of noir cinema.
24. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
Bed head
The shock’s half-numbed through countless retellings and pastiches, but the wetness of this classic piece of mob ‘persuasion’ is still icky as heck: under dry, cosy sheets, there’s a slick, sick river of red.
23. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
Do not disturb
Even if he's taken you to an isolated out of season hotel and is only communicating in terse growls, you can never be sure your husband's suffered a psychotic break until a moment like this: finding hundreds and hundreds of pages of his 'work', neatly and dedicatedly saying the same thing: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Or, “Honey, I've gone nuts and I'm totally going to murder you.”
22. The Matrix (The Wachowski Brothers, 1999)
The sound of inevitability
The Matrix plots an unswerving course from 'What's all this?' to 'Awesome!' and this moment is what's at the top. Right after the breathless rescue of Morpheus (the falling bullets and helicopter window-crash) Keanu Reeves' pasty messiah is cornered in a subway station, facing up to the relentless Agent Smith in modern cinema's best punch-up.
21. Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955)
Dead in the water
A hint of the supernatural haunts this Hitchcock-style thriller. A wife and mistress murder their shared man by drowning, but his corpse disappears. He reappears here, rising lifelessly from the bath to shock (and deliberately kill) his terrified wife – the real target of he and his mistress all along. Clip from 06.10.
Next: 20 - 16
Comments
snooochies
Nov 24th 2009, 4:06
Oh dear! Close Encounters is actually post-Star Wars, having been released in November of '77. Awesome list though, missing the T-1000 though or even Arnie being good from T2
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NDitum
Nov 24th 2009, 9:30
Oh man, headslapping mistake. Had 1975 in my head. Obviously. I'll see if I can have a tinker... Terminator a good shout - there is a space left!
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ChristoLaurent
Nov 24th 2009, 10:55
I'd like to nominate Ichi The Killer (...any number of scenes!) and also Gozu, the ending is pretty out there, although I love the actual "Cow head" scene too. Dead of Night (Ealing) has the great ending, especially the moment with the dummy. Although not a great film, but passable, the ending of The Entity..."Welcome Home C**t"
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Pokoboy
Nov 24th 2009, 11:58
My jaw dropped when Bill Murray played himself in Zombieland. That was a pretty special moment in a mediocre zombie comedy.
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chenneye
Nov 24th 2009, 14:44
This should have had usual suspects at no.1 and surprised that the kerb scene from American History X is missing.
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BlueRyan
Nov 24th 2009, 18:48
For that golden 100th place i believe the "I have a Milkshake" scene from There will Be blood should own it. Considering it's one of the most bizzar and subliminal pieces of film in the past decade it should rightfully take the 100th place.
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Agent69
Nov 24th 2009, 21:26
That Irreversible scene scared me for life.
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Pokoboy
Nov 25th 2009, 22:49
Is this the same Nathan Ditum thats the reviews editor for official playstation magazine? 10/10 f0r uncharted 2!!! 11/10 surely?
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joVceski
Nov 26th 2009, 21:30
You have to watch Pascal Laugier's Martyrs, I couldn't pick up my jaw from start to finish, it's so f..... up.
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mark912smith
Nov 27th 2009, 12:06
Great list and good call no. 5 on the kerb scene from American History X. I thought that the 'tree-rape' scene from the Evil Dead might have placed somewhere?!?
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jrod85
Nov 27th 2009, 14:39
Thanks Pokoboy, some people haven't seen Zombieland yet. Way to ruin the surprise. Well done, j*****s
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Pokoboy
Nov 28th 2009, 7:47
ah my bad, apologies.
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NDitum
Nov 30th 2009, 0:49
Yes, same me as from OPM :) Seen Matyrs. Kinda hated it. It's nasty like falling over. Kerb scene - we had it in the recent shocking moments feature. I guess the shock had worn off...
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Hadouken76
Dec 1st 2009, 13:09
Whys is there a complete absence of John Carpenter movies? Like the girl asking for an ice cream in Assault on Precint 13? The little boy at the the start of Halloween? The doctor losing both arms in The Thing or the head spider?
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starwars4life
Dec 3rd 2009, 20:49
Awesome list, really, and yes; everything on this list has good value to be in the 99, BUT there is one film which I would personally place at number one and it was very surprising that you didn't include it: The Machinist!!!! It has one of the most awesome twists and jaw-dropping moments EVER in the history of film! Please amend the list and get it in there, it REALLY deserves it :)
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starwars4life
Dec 3rd 2009, 20:55
Almost forgot, not nearly as important as the machinist but Lucky Number Slevin deserves a place, it really has the shock factor and I would also say the scene in 'The Phantom Menace' where Maul ignites the double-bladed saber deserves a place further down becaus; although it may not seem like much now and television adverts probably ruined it, it is obviously a big reveal as he only uses one blade earlier and it must have been epic for the ignorant star wars fan at the time!
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RazorbalNL
Dec 9th 2009, 15:39
GREAT ARTICLE!!!
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littlebocuk
Jan 8th 2010, 21:39
Some of these moments really had me but I would like to see "Terminator removing his eye" thing in this list.
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