50 Greatest Movie Scenes Ever
41. Peter's Confession - Spider-Man 2
The low-key confrontation between Aunt May and Peter Parker isn’t the kind of scene you expect to see in a superhero film. It’s not as spectacular as two mortal enemies fighting on the side of a moving train. Not as breathtaking as watching Spider-Man realistically swing through New York City. Not as instantly satisfying as seeing your favourite villain respectfully make the leap from the page to the screen. But that’s exactly why it’s so memorable.
Peter Parker has remained such a popular hero for so many decades because, while he spends his time fighting eight-armed monsters at night, his problems are deeply human. His problems are our problems, rooted in his love life, his relationships, his money issues and, of course, the guilt he feels over contributing to Uncle Ben’s death.
Spider-Man 2’s best scene shows Peter finally confessing this fact to Aunt May, at their kitchen table after visiting Ben’s grave. He confesses he wasn’t where he was supposed to be the night Ben died, and that’s why her husband was killed. Heartbreakingly, instead of consoling him, May acts how anyone would, and leaves to process the information.
The power is in the little details; the way she pulls her hand away from Peter's, the lack of closure lingering in the room, the wide shot as May leaves to go upstairs. This is a situation that super strength and web-spinning can’t solve, and one more superhero movies need more of.
[JB]
40. Johnny B. Goode - Back To The Future
Many people will tell you that the 1970s was the greatest era for cinema, however, those people are obviously wrong, because it's clearly the 1980s. The 80s was when movies remembered they're allowed to have fun after New Hollywood, and there's no more perfect representation of that renewed sense than Back To The Future.
Within that, there's no more perfect scene in the movie than when Marty McFly performs Johnny B. Goode at the Enchantment Under The Sea dance alongside Marvin Berry and the Starlighters.
The sequence is the best showcase of Michael J. Fox's charm, and I'm not sure anyone in a movie has ever enjoyed filming a scene as much as him in this. It's an infectious delight, plays into McFly's hero moment, and it's basically a celebration of the entire movie. The song, and McFly's stage presence, are an absolute blast, taking rock'n'roll and turning it into a movie scene. Your kids are gonna love it.
[JH]
39. Reunited And It Feels So Good - Paris, Texas
Paris, Texas, Wim Wenders' winding American road movie, is essentially about the redemption of Harry Dean Stanton's Travis, a man who travels across the country to reunite his estranged wife, Jane, with their son, who's currently living with Travis' brother. After a long period of figuring out where she disappeared to, Travis and his son track her down to a seedy peep-show, where she works.
After over two hours, the final scene features the two characters reuniting for the first time in years, with Wenders doing an impeccable job of conveying their fractured reconnection, all told through two sides of a screen.
It's essentially two characters talking in tiny rooms, but the way Wenders manipulates the emotional tenor of the scene is entirely through the way the emotion of this exchange is visualised. To begin with, Jane doesn't even recognise her former lover, mistaking him for another client. Once the penny drops, Wenders frames both their faces together, merging into one in the screen's reflection.
It's superbly subtle, and brilliantly acted by both Harry Dean Stanton and Nastassja Kinski, and it all builds to one of the most affecting endings in American cinema.
[JB]