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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.
Real life can’t have action? Hmmmm
Our dear friend, who climbed the cliffs at Point du Hoc that day, said the opening scene in Private Ryan was a perfect picture of what happened that day—except the smell. He said it was the worst smell he had ever experienced.
I cant believe “Enemy of the State” hasnt merited a mention:
The chase scene terminated by fire truck?
Or I blew up the building because you made a phone call?
One of the best action films… Like almost ever.
And just for kicks, we present Arnold’s take on Hamlet.
Can’t believe we got to comment #65 before this movie was mentioned. I was going to nominate the big ending chase scene that culminates in all the crashed police cars. That wasn’t CGI, right?
Final answer…..though I could live with Ben Hur or North by Northwest, too.
That was all real life (well, except for the scene where Henry Gibson and his colleague are falling through the air). According to Wikipedia (yes, I know), 103 cars were destroyed during production.
from IMDb trivia:
A world record 103 cars were wrecked during filming. The Junkman (1982) broke the record 2 years later, wrecking 150 cars and a plane. That record held for 2 decades, until over 300 cars were wrecked during the filming of The Matrix Reloaded (2003).
Before the falling Pinto scene could be filmed, the filmmakers had to get an “Air UN-worthiness certificate” from the Federal Aviation Administration for the car. This was done by conducting preliminary drop tests, to ensure that it would drop “like a brick” when dropped from a great height.
Well, if we’re going for The Blues Brothers trivia, part of it was filmed in my hometown:
(Not much of a surprise, given the one character was named for the city, or maybe its prison, and the other for one of our suburbs.)
My father was a policeman in Joliet. The police union had what the police officers referred to as “union jobs.” Basically, they could make money in their off hours by being hired as security for events around town. Many of the union jobs were things like helping to keep the MacDonald’s parking lot clear of loitering teenagers, etc. But every once in awhile, they would get something more interesting, like helping to provide security for a movie shoot. My father worked security in Joliet for the filming of The Blues Brothers.
I found this picture of then Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne and her daughter on the set. I swear I remember a picture of her sitting on top of one of those piles of wrecked police cars but no luck searching for it yet.
Collins Street.
Of course. Don’t know how many times I passed by there in my youth. Had a friend who had a girlfriend over on the East Side, so we would wind up over in that area frequently.
Did he meet Frank Oz?
(BTW, I see this scene and “She Caught the Katy” starts running though my mind.)
“The car’s got a lot of pick-up … Fix the cigarette lighter.”
No idea, and it’s too late to ask him.
Cato vs Clouseau: The Pink Panther Strikes Again. Final Answer.
The first time I watched this as a kid I laughed so hard I couldn’t breath. Two moments stand out: when Clouseau breaks his nunchucks by wrapping them around Cato’s head and the slow motion sound effects. Priceless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu1RZaFnkKs
Me too. It’s funny that there are several movies that were special events when they aired on network TV when I was a kid (Pink Panther, James Bond, Christopher Reeve Superman, etc) that just don’t generate any interest whatsoever in my own kids. I’m glad for teh internet and the democratization of media (I think), but I also lament 1) the loss of a common touchstone and 2) the advent of “Children’s Entertainment”.
It was before the advent of home video. When a big movie was broadcast, it might have been a few years since it had been available at all, unless someone rented a copy from the distributor. Disney re-released their big hits once every ten years or so. Mom took me to see “Bambi” which she saw when she was a little girl. “The Wizard of Oz” was shown once per year, and that was a media event, particularly when color TV had reached any penetration at all in the market. Network Premier of anything was a big deal.
Yes, I forgot about the Wizard of Oz – that was a big one. Sound of Music was a Spring/Easter tradition. I still look forward to The Ten Commandments.
I remember being at Disneyland and hassling my parents about having to leave because we were going to miss Tora! Tora! Tora!
Or skipping a trip to the beach because we didn’t want to miss V.
This one’s not even close. @imfine could gift @repmodad 10 likes and still not top Ben-Hur. Good job, IM Fine, you get to pick tomorrow’s question.
Probably not the 1907 Ben Hur, where the chariots run by a fixed camera.
I didn’t have an answer for this but the bus jumping the break in the freeway in Speed came to mind.