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| The Asphalt Jungle (1950) The scene of mastermind criminal Doc's (Sam Jaffe) explanation of his proposed robbery, the realistic depiction of all the criminals and their motivations in the crime, the actual jewel robbery and the clinically-delineated details of the tense heist (the nitro bottle, the alarm system), the minor memorable cameo role of a blonde, voluptuous mistress Angela (Marilyn Monroe) with corrupt lawyer Emmerich (Louis Calhern) - noted for his line: "Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor", Doc's being caught by police because he obsessively (and voyeuristically) watches a young girl dance to jukebox music and delays his departure, and the final scene of a bleeding Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden) stumbling from his car into Hickory Wood Farm - a sunny, Kentucky horse pasture, in director John Huston's crime caper |      |
| Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) A gang sniper's infamous shooting of a defenseless little girl named Kathy (Kim Richards) at an ice cream van (as she complains to her father about the erring ice-cream man: "I wanted vanilla twist!"), and the long siege and first attack on an abandoned Los Angeles police station by a violent, multi-racial urban street gang with guns that are silenced, in John Carpenter's gripping, cult classic horror-action film |  |
| Atlantic City (1981) To the cassette tape playing Bellini's operatic Norma - the voyeuristic scene of seafood counter (oyster bar) casino worker Sally Matthews (Susan Sarandon) (who dreams of being a croupier in Monte Carlo), after work in a white tank top, rinsing her arms, throat and breasts with lemon juice at her kitchen sink to remove the fishy smell - while being watched in her apartment window from across the way by aging, numbers runner and petty crook Lou Pascal (Burt Lancaster); Lou's reminiscence to Dave Matthews (Robert Joy) on the boardwalk about the old days: "Yes, it used to be beautiful - what with the rackets, whoring, guns... The Atlantic Ocean was something then. Yes, you should have seen the Atlantic Ocean in those days"; also the motel room scene after Lou's killing of two gangland hoods to protect Sally (during a sour drug deal) - when he admits he had an exaggerated life: "I never killed anybody in my life...But I did tonight. You saw it," and his gleeful response to the TV news story of the murder: "Hey, that's me!...This story is going to be big all over the country: 'Gangland slaying rips apart Atlantic City!'"; and Lou's final promenade down the Boardwalk with broken-down gangster widow Grace Pinza (Kate Reid) - with a panning shot up to a view of a wrecker's ball smashing into an apartment before the closing credits, in director Louis Malle's drama |    |
| Atonement (2007) The three scenes of fantasy-prone 13 year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) witnessing and misunderstanding sex: (1) between lithe older sister Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley) and her 'secret' boyfriend, servant/cook son Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) when Cecilia was at an outdoor fountain and dove underwater to retrieve a broken piece of a family heirloom vase - and emerged almost naked in front of Robbie with her soaked and transparent dress, (2) their passionate love-making scene in the library, and (3) the 'rape' scene between house-guest Paul Marshall (Benedict Cumberpatch) and her 15 year-old cousin Lola Quincey (Juno Temple) - all acts which she misunderstood with unfortunate circumstances, by wrongly accusing Robbie of 'raping' Lola; also the bravura extended tracking shot (5 minutes and 30 seconds) of Robbie walking along the French beach during the Dunkirk evacuation - where stranded show horses were being executed, as the camera glided down the beach (amidst a beached barge and a spinning ferris wheel) and then around a choir of wounded infantrymen, and ended finally in a bar; and then at film's end, the interview scene with older, terminally-ill (with vascular dementia) novelist Briony (Vanessa Redgrave) about her latest and last book - an autobiographical work titled Atonement - when she confessed as an act of penance that much of the end portion of the novel was fabricated about their reconciliation, since both Robbie and Cecilia died during the war; and the final idealized scene of the lovers cavorting on the beach near a beach house, as Briony stated: "So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I'd like to think this isn't weakness or evasion, but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness," in director Joe Wright's epic film of thwarted romance |       |
| Audition (1999, Jp.) The latter scenes of sadistic, torture and dismemberment revenge that seemingly-demure and dutifully-humble 21 year-old 'auditioned' bride-to-be Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina) exacts on middle-aged widower Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) with syringes, acupuncture needles, and piano wire; and the scene with the suddenly-lurching big burlap sack in the center of her living room as her phone rings, in director Takashi Miike's horrific romantic drama |   |
| Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) The scenes of actor Mike Myers as a cryogenically frozen 60s spy who battled his villainous arch-enemy Dr. Evil (Myers also), who gave an initial inflation-challenged ransom of "One... MEEE-llion dollars!"; Evil's bizarre relationship with cloned son Scott Evil (Seth Green), including the scene in which he keeps shushing Scott: ("Let me tell you a little story about a man named Sh!") and the inappropriate Family Counseling speech by Evil to his therapist: ("The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin?...At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking - I highly suggest you try it"); in one classic honeymoon scene, Austin Powers cavorted naked with Elizabeth Hurley as glamorous "shagadelic" Vanessa Kensington with their private parts teasingly hidden by strategically-placed objects; there were "fem-bots" with guns in the tops of their bikinis who attempted to seduce Austin Powers, catchphrases such as: "Bee-have", "Sake it to me baby!", "Yeah, baby, yeah", "Do I make you horny, baby?" and "Shall we shag now or shall we shag later?", and Powers' denial (easily refuted) that a Swedish-made penis enlarger is "his bag", in this fast-paced comedy (filled with gags, both verbal and visual) - the first of the PG-rated series of James Bond spoofs with Mike Myers |      |
| Away From Her (2006, Canada) The film's opening scene of the closeness in the long-term relationship of 44 years - exemplified by cross-country skiing in secluded, rural northern Ontario, Canada - between devoted retired college professor Grant Andersson (Gordon Pinsent) and his beloved, increasingly-disoriented, silver-haired wife Fiona (Best Actress-nominated 65 year-old Julie Christie) who is on the verge of Alzheimer's disease; and Grant's frequent recollections of a younger 18 year-old Fiona (Stacey LaBerge) and how she proposed to him (voice-over: "I never wanted to be away from her. She had the spark of life"); also the scenes of an introductory tour of the Meadowlake retirement center by its chirpy, smooth-talking director Madeleine Montpellier (Wendy Crewson) and the steadfast visits (after an initial 30 days of absence) of Grant to see Fiona - although she becomes increasingly attached and doting to mute, wheelchair-bound patient Aubrey Bark (Michael Murphy) and tells persistent, slightly jealous and bewildered visitor Grant: "He doesn't confuse me at all" - possibly as 'punishment' for her husband's extra-marital indiscretions with students during the early years of their marriage; and the scenes in the nursing home during Grant's frequent visits when he speaks to sympathetic, friendly and plain-spoken nurse Kristy (Kristen Thomson) who offers her pager number, and with an understanding punk teenager named Monica (Nina Dobrev) who is visiting her grandfather, complimenting Grant during a visit about his devotion: "I should be so lucky"; also the scene of Grant reading to Fiona from the book "Letters From Iceland," and the final scene of unconditional love when Fiona briefly remembers her husband and his self-less care for her ("I'm a very lucky woman") - after he has begun an affair with Aubrey's abrasive, pragmatic and outspoken wife Marian (Olympia Dukakis) - as the camera spins around the embracing couple to the tune of K.D. Lang singing Neil Young's "Helpless"; in 28 year-old actor/writer Sarah Polley's marital drama - her remarkable debut feature film |         |
| The Awful Truth (1937) The scene of the disruption of Lucy's (Irene Dunne) song recital, and the scene of Lucy pretending to be Jerry's (Cary Grant) drunk sister at the home of his new fiancee - and her rowdy rendition of a vulgar nightclub routine and song, My Dreams Are Gone With the Wind, the image of the two of them riding motorcycles in evening dress, and the final connecting-bedrooms scene and the image of reunited, male and female cuckoo-clock figurines entering the same opening, in director Leo McCarey's great screwball comedy - one of the best of all time |   |
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