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Ricochet Movie Fight Club: Question 23
Last week we had dozens of fantastic death scenes to sort through before settling down on a top four. A two-vote lead was all that mattered in the end as we saw a baby xenomorph burst forth, killing its host and securing Repmodad victory, and the right to ask: What is the greatest action scene in movie history?
The Rules:
- Post your answer as a comment. Make it clear that this is your official answer, one per member.
- Defend your answer in the comments and fight it out with other Ricochet member answers for the rest of the week.
- Whoever gets the most likes on their official answer comment (and only that comment) by Friday night wins the fight.
- The winner gets the honor of posting the next question on Saturday.
- In the case of a tie, the member who posted the question will decide the winner.
Notes:
- Only movies will qualify (no TV shows) however films that air on television (BBC films, a stand-alone mini-series) will qualify.
- Your answer can be as off-the-wall or controversial as you’d like. It will be up to you to defend it and win people to your side.
- Fight it out.
Movie Fight Club Questions by Week:
- What is the best film portrayal of a book character? Winner: Charlotte with 18 likes for Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies.
- What is the best motion picture comedy of the 21st century? Winner: split decision. In an exemplary display of genuine sportsmanship, Randy Webster conceded the fight to Marjorie Reynolds’ pick Team America: World Police.
- What film provides the most evocative use of location? Winner: Taras with 21 likes for Lawrence of Arabia. Wasn’t even close.
- What is the best film that utilizes or is inspired by a work of William Shakespeare? Winner: Dr. Bastiat with five likes for The Lion King, a film inspired by Hamlet.
- Which movie has the best surprise ending, or unexpected plot twist? Winner: Repmodad with 18 likes for The Sixth Sense.
- What pre-1970s black-and-white movie would be most enjoyed by a modern 18- to 25-year-old audience? Winner: E J Hill with 9 likes for a Casablanca. (He didn’t exactly designate it his official answer, and most of the likes may have been for the modern Casablanca trailer rather than for it as an answer to the question, but nobody seemed to dispute it on those grounds, so that’s how the cookie crumbles.)
- What movie did you go to based on the trailer, only to have felt cheated? (i.e., the trailer was 10x better than the movie?) Winner: Back to back wins by E J Hill with 9 likes for Something to Talk About.
- Name the worst movie portrayal of your profession (where applicable.) Winner: LC with 8 likes for Denise Richards’ Dr. Christmas Jones in The World is Not Enough.
- What is the worst movie that claims to be based or inspired by a true story? Winner: Tex929rr with 16 likes for the, “…terrible acting, and countless deviations from history,” in Pearl Harbor.
- What is your favorite little known movie? Winner: A last-minute rally for Tremors made the difference as Songwriter took the week 10 win!
- What is the best movie that you never want to watch again? Winner:
HitlerCharlotte with 15 likes for Schindler’s List. Sorry, Richard Oshea but Jesus won the real fight.
Week 11.5 Exhibition Match (as a make-up of sorts, since Songwriter didn’t get the week 11 question submitted in time) Name the best movie theme song ever? No winner declared but I’m pretty sure it was I.M. Fine with “Moon River.” - Name the best animated feature-length movie of all time. Winner: I.M. Fine with 10 likes for Pinocchio, and justice for I.M. Fine prevailed.
- What is the worst acting performance in an otherwise good film? Winner: In one of the most brutal fights we’ve seen yet Repmodad fended off a furious 12th-round onslaught by Gary McVey to give Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves the win with 20 likes.
- What is the quintessential American movie? Winner: Miffed White Male pulled off the comeback with 20 likes for The Right Stuff. There was a two-way tie at 19 for second place as well.
- What’s the most entertaining movie set during WWII? Winner: Arahant clearly won with Casablanca’s walloping 30 likes despite the withering onslaught by Sisyphus on the final day.
- What is the best movie love story? Winner: Songwriter with 20 likes for The Princess Bride with 20 likes. Up managed to make a strong showing and Dr. Bastiat is still conducting recounts trying to “find” some uncounted votes.
- What’s the best’ buddy’ movie? Winner: Brian Watt wins with 12 likes for The Man Who Would be King.
- What is the worst movie (not a made-for-TV movie) ever made? Brian Watt joins E.J. Hill as the only other back-to-back winner with 16 likes for Barbarella. Brian will get another crack at it by choosing the week 19 question. Can he make it three?
- What is the most frightening non-bloody film you’ve ever seen? The winner: J D Fitzpatrick with Wait Until Dark, starring the lovely Audrey Hepburn getting terrorized over a doll, sort of.
- Which movie has the best duel? Winner: Split decision between Philo for The Princess Bride and Songwriter for Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The winner as decided by week 19 champion, JD Fitzpatrick, was The Princess Bride.
- Which movie based on a true story is the most accurate depiction of those events? Winner: I M Fine with a runaway victory for Apollo 13 with 27 likes.
- What is the most memorable death scene in a film? Winner: Repmodad with the dual birth/death scene from Alien.
Terminator 2, Judgment Day, truck-motorbike chase. Official Answer.
The greatest scene has got to feature cinema’s greatest action hero. Plus a semi cab crashing into the LA River canyon.
D-Day landings in Saving Private Ryan.
Official answer.
Every war film since has been compared to it.
Casino Royale – Opening scene – Final Answer:
Hey Vince, I’m sure you’ve answered this before, but what’s your thinking on votes? Can we vote for more than one? At least two of the current final answers are my top choice too! Maybe all three so far…
The rooftop scene in Die Hard:
Official answer.
Added:
It was discussed last week. Go Chicago-style. Vote early and often.
Die Hard is apparently the New Princess Bride and the New Casablanca.
Sweet! Thank you…
Obligatory Jackie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwDU3IOBEIk
Official answer
First one I thought of, too.
The chariot race in Ben-Hur (1959). Official answer.
It took a year to plan and over five weeks to film. 7,000 extras. 76 horses. Eleven minutes long. (The clip is the final 4.5 minutes.) Flawless editing and camera work. And not only is it thrilling action — it provides a stunning climax to the emotional rivalry plot of the film. Long before all the computers and smoke and mirrors, it remains the gold standard. (And no, in spite of the enduring legend, one of the stuntmen was not killed in the filming. Those are all dummies being trampled by the very real horses.)
I’m a fan of the Galleria scene:
Call me old school, but I say the meadow scene from the John Wayne version of True Grit.
Official Answer
No fancy special effects, but a great scene.
Official Answer: The final chase from The Road Warrior.
The Raiders of the Lost Ark opening scene with Indiana Jones escaping poison darts, booby trapped floors, and a giant boulder set the mood for the most rollicking and fun action movie ever. Iconic, rip-roaring fun.
Car chase scene in Bullitt. Can’t go wrong with Steve McQueen.
Final answer.
However, for a strong second I like the ski chase scene at the beginning of The Spy Who Loved Me.
And, as Honorable Mention, the “showdown” at the end of Straw Dogs. I can still remember, at the end, when the lights came on, everyone just sort of sat in their seats unable to move. Sam Peckinpah at his violent best…
I want to mention another scene – not an official answer. The Package was a little known for 1989 Cold War thriller with a great cast, editing and directing and big gaping plot holes. The bar shootout was so tense that when one of the characters asked if they had gotten all the bad guys, I actually blurted our loud “there’s one more” in the theater. I don’t know if it’s just the scenes itself or if it has to be seen in context.
I’m pretty sure everyone in the theater gasped out loud when the stunt man skied off of that cliff.
Both suffer from the same problem. In several places in Bullitt, you can see the skidmarks from a prior take/rehearsal. In the ski jump scene of The Spy Who Loved Me, you can see all the ski tracks:
Glory – the final assault on Ft. Wagner, after Denzel Washington and Ferris Bueller’s great-great grandfather are killed. Final answer.
It’s an amazing scene, especially with the music. Hard to fully appreciate by itself without watching the rest of the movie, but here is a clip:
Sorry, I don’t see either movie as “suffering” from a problem. If I’m going to ski off a cliff, I think I might want to hit the right place to go off.
Aliens, when Ripley goes it alone to rescue Newt. It was the single greatest act by the most bad*** female character in film history.
That’s because she’s a replicant.
No question.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakima_Canutt#Ben_Hur
@vinceguerra, the photo you chose for this post is one of my favorite scenes ever. I was just about the age of those kids when Red Dawn came out – maybe a little younger – and watching those paratroopers float in behind them as they sat at their desks made me feel something I’ve never quite felt in a movie before. I don’t even know how to describe it – it was just a deep-down discomfort and worry. Not quite fear – but that’s probably because even at that age and before seeing the rest of Red Dawn, I knew we’d beat the Commies if they tried anything like this.
As much as I love Aliens, I always found it funny that the machine guns were so long, heavy, and awkward. The rifles had caseless ammunition and compact grenade launchers, but the two machine gunners would have needed rotator cuff surgery after a deployment. I expect better by 2122. Watch them (try to) go around corners in the power plant scene. And Michael Biehn pulls out a cutoff Ithaca model 37 12 gauge. I’m sure there will be lots of those in pawn shops in 2122.
Favorite scene:
The space shuttle landing scene in The Core:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG1RwE_x6Vg
Little Miss Anthrope nominates the fight scene between Cap and the Winter Soldier: