50 Greatest Movie Scenes Ever
18. Binary Sunset - Star Wars
Pretty much everything you need to know about Star Wars can be summed up in this one scene. The sight of Luke Skywalker, our young hero, walking across the desert and staring out at the twin sunset, as John Williams' score swoons around him, is still, 40+ years on, the most beautiful imagery in the entire saga.
It's here we get a taste of how Williams' music can elevate all around it. Where we get a sense of how this world is simultaneously familiar and different to our own, and that while the creatures and names might differ, so many of the struggles are actually relatable. At the heart of it all is Luke, the fresh-faced farm boy who is dreaming of bigger, better things.
In this instant, we understand who he is and what he wants. The binary sunset captures all of that longing and dreaming, all of that promise and potential, and takes us along on the ultimate hero's journey. This scene represents the power of Star Wars, and the nature of human life. 40 years on, and here we are, still staring at the sky, dreaming of something better, hoping to figure out our place in it all. If someone ever asks 'What is Star Wars?', simply show them this scene.
[JH]
17. Crop Duster Chase - North By Northwest
Unknowingly betrayed, Carey Grant's Roger Thronhill waits at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere to meet with the woman and confidante he's struck up a relationship with, while on the run from a bunch of goons who want him dead. She, of course, does not arrive, and what ensues is one of the most suspenseful, intense chase sequences in modern cinema.
Hitchcock sets the scene perfectly; Thornhill's growing understanding of what's actually happening, the silence and vacancy of the flatlands, leaving Thornill as vulnerable and isolated as he can get, and an ominous plane flying in the distance that seems to be getting closer. When the plane tries to ram him off the road, it's disorientating, soundtracked only by the propellor spinning ever closer to Thornhill's noggin.
Hitchcock was the master of suspense, and this sequence alone proves why. The director didn't need a bunch of visual tricks or gimmicks, just an inspired backdrop, a plane, an actor, and a death-defying explosion to cap everything off.
[JB]