10. Study Montage - Back To School
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcLF6vLFxxc Montage Type: Cramming For A Test In An Absurdly Short Amount Of Time Back To School showcases one of the most famous rules associated with pretty much every montage made in the '80s: if you show us somebody doing something over and over again, movie-goers will accept that they are now awesome at whatever skill it is they're honing (bonus points if you can show them doing it in different locations). In this movie, Rodney Dangerfield goes back to college and ends up cramming for a test one night. This is basically one of the most ridiculous montages I've ever seen, but I still probably think about it once a week. Anyway, a montage is really the only true way to show that Dangerfield's character, rich but uneducated, might possibly study enough as to pass an exam and win the movie. As a result, we get Dangerfield studying in all kinds of weird places, like at night, in the dark, when the library's closed, and oh my, he's using a lighter to see. Now that's dedication. Which is precisely what this 86 seconds of sublime filmmaking wants you to know. It's kind of cheating really (aren't all montages cheating?), but the kooky instrumental backing track makes it so that's okay.