17. "You Bow To No One" - The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
There are many who like to complain that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King suffered from an over-bloated, exhaustive, entire movie-within-a-movie of an ending, one that didn't know when to tie itself up and went on and on and on and on and on (are you starting to know what that feels like?). But consider the length of the entire trilogy as if they were one continuous motion picture experience, and a forty minute "ending" doesn't seem too long in the grand scheme of things. There are a ton of wonderful moments scattered throughout The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - the epic, blockbuster behemoth that it is - but for our money, the most iconic - and therefore most "touching" - moments comes towards the very end, as the Hobbits - Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin - turn up at Minis Tirith to watch Aragorn as he's crowned king. As he approaches them, the four heroes bow, only to be told by the bearded ranger: "My friends... you bow to no one." You know, 'cause of all that world-savings stuff they did.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
