10 Greatest Moments In Paul Thomas Anderson Movies

8. The Basket Scene (There Will Be Blood)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzpxTmlWOC4 This is not only one of the greatest scenes in There Will Be Blood, but one of the most heartbreaking scenes in film history. This scene comes very close to the end of the film when a grown H.W. has returned to tell his surrogate father, Daniel Plainview, that he is going into the oil business himself which causes Daniel to brand him as his enemy and tell H.W. all he is is a bastard from a basket. Therein lies the heartbreak of the scene since the entire two hours before this had shown Daniel being a loving father to his adopted son and even making a very tough decision to send him away to get help when he is deafened. The film leads you to believe that Daniel did have genuine love for H.W. yet this scene reveals Daniel to be a horrible, corrupted man who would forsake his own son for monetary reasons.