10 Amazing Improvised Movie Moments

4. The Shining - "Here's Johnny!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDpipB4yehk I may have made a big deal about Stanley Kubrick not being a fan of improvisation, but hey, here he is again with his classic horror flick The Shining, and the immortal line psychotically spouted by Jack Nicholson's crazed Jack Torrance. As if the scene wasn't already terrifying enough, with Jack in the full thrall of some cabin fever-induced madness, using an axe to break down the bathroom door which his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) is using to make her escape, Nicholson then makes sure to peer his head through the hole he's just made and, with a maniacal grin, shout "Heeeeeere's Johnny!". At once horrific and darkly hilarious, it's a perfectly-judged moment, and another instance of Kubrick knowing when to let go of his fastidious methods and accept some other contributions. Though the majority of audiences - especially outside of the US - don't know that Torrance is referencing former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, and are therefore probably a bit confused about why he's referring to himself as Johnny, it doesn't even matter - if anything, it makes him seem even more crazy.