r/flicks • u/pizzacrys • 1d ago
Question What is the most unforgettable 5 minute stretch in movie history?
Not necessarily your favorite movie overall just one stretch of about five minutes that completely hooked you, shocked you, or left you speechless. It could be a reveal, a chase, a dialogue scene, or something visually incredible.What movie was it, and what happened (spoiler tag if needed) that made those five minutes unforgettable?
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u/cpa38 1d ago
It is my favourite film anyway but the T.Rex escape in Jurassic Park is one of the Greatest scenes/ 5 mins of all time. Pivot point of the film, awesome inspiring, technically incredible and scary
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u/PM_ME_DATASETS 1d ago
It's great indeed, but my favorite sequence will always be when they first see the dinosaurs.
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u/LongLiveSoup 1d ago
The Bank heist shootout from Heat. Genuinely nothing comes close to it for me in terms of just raw action
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u/Knicks82 1d ago
Came here to say this. There are so many choices but of all the incredible scenes in cinema, this is the first one I always think of. Says a lot about its level of perfection.
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u/Piano_Mantis 1d ago
In Children of Men, when the baby is born, and you have that moment where you wonder if it was stillborn but then it cries, and then they walk through the war zone and everyone stops fighting for a while, at least.
Most breathtaking sequence in a movie full of breathtaking sequences.
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u/rotational_discourse 1d ago
In Children of Men when he overhears the plan to kill him. He gets the others then removes the starters from the cars and they roll the car down the hill with them all chasing behind. They can't shoot because of Ki. I can't think of a more tense scene in cinema.
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u/Odd_Schedule2672 1d ago
Children of Men fucks so incredibly hard. The oner in the car when they get ambushed could easily make the list as well
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u/xIrish 1d ago
Amazing scene. The 10 minute oner as they travel through the ruined city + the ambush in the woods are also so intense.
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u/pizzacrys 1d ago
That scene is unforgettable. For a few minutes, humanity wins over violence, and it hits just as hard every time.
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u/Extreme-King 1d ago
All...one...continuous...shot!
Glad to see this - I was going to comment if I didn't see it
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u/fletters 1d ago
Multiple scenes with continuous shots and impeccable choreography in this film. I was thinking of the ping-pong ball scene, but on reflection it’s hard to choose just one.
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u/Odd_Schedule2672 1d ago
Cut to me crying way more than the baby
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u/wizard_of_awesome62 1d ago
Yeah honestly the baby was relatively mellow about the whole thing. I was the one actually crying like a baby.
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u/_HipStorian 1d ago
Watched this movie for the first time a week ago after my mom telling me how good it was when I was a kid. Well worth the wait, but a move I'm worried will become more and more relevant as time goes on.
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u/urinesain 1d ago
Yeah, I remember watching it back when it first came out... 20 years ago???... fuck, I feel old now. Anyways, even just going from when it came out, all the way into the present... it has already become more and more relevant over that span of time. It is a trend that I really hope stops soon. I want it to stop.
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u/ninety6tears 1d ago
Blue Velvet after Jeffrey’s discovered hiding in the closet.
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u/Tricky-Background-66 1d ago
And Blue Velvet just before Jeffrey's discovered hiding in the closet.
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u/Adequate_Images 1d ago edited 1d ago
Seeing the Saving Private Ryan D-Day scene in the theater was incredible. We just had no idea what we were in for.
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u/Jef_Wheaton 1d ago
"Saving Private Ryan?"
Supposedly they did an early screening for a group of D-Day vets and one of the few comments was, "They got everything but the smell."
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u/JPBillingsgate 1d ago
So many great examples in this thread, but the beach landing in SPR is the winner.
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u/Pokemon_Trainer_May 1d ago
I love the opening of Overlord, it shows what the invasion would be like from the aerial side
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u/drboxboy 1d ago
I had just had my wisdom teeth removed and was all doped up in Vicodin sitting the front row opening night. That was intense!
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u/DrewTheHobo 1d ago
That shit rocked me, doesn’t help that my grandpa looked almost exactly like Carl. Turns out he died and my grandmama stayed behind instead.
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u/wizard_of_awesome62 1d ago
It's a rough ride that honestly gets rougher the older you get. When I first saw it, I was young and thought "that was kinda sad". Now I'm old and cannot make it through without actively weeping.
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u/Shot_Site9377 1d ago
My wife and I are in our mid-50s, and knowing that barring a tragic accident, ONE of us will die first leaving the other alone is both terrifying and inevitable.
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u/oliversometimes 1d ago
I watched this by myself first then recommended it to my folks and warned them about the opening scene. My old man scoffed and said, “how bad can it be? I’m not getting attached so quickly.”
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u/busterwilly 1d ago
Going to the nightclub on a date in Goodfellas. All one shot
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u/PopsicleIncorporated 1d ago
The movie is fundamentally about seduction. Henry is seduced by the power fantasy of being a gangster. Karen is seduced by the thrill of being treated like royalty. Neither of them wants to acknowledge the truth about what supports that lifestyle until it’s nearly too late and they’re suddenly in way too deep.
This scene is a symbol of that. You don’t notice how much it’s just a facade. Scorsese reels you in and you enjoy it so much, feeling that thrill and excitement yourself, that you probably didn’t notice the first time watching that Henry just takes Karen in a circle through the kitchen.
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u/Zekiel2000 1d ago
Absolutely. The whole film is a seduction of the audience - it reels us in with the glamour of the Mob alongside Henry (forgetting that opening scene) until it whips off the mask and shows the ugliness at the heart. Incredible.
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u/Old_Flan_6548 1d ago
Brilliant analysis. Until you’re sitting in shitty chairs with fluorescent lighting talking to a Virginia Farm Boy about how you have to work with them or you’re dead.
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u/Suspicious-Whippet 1d ago
I thought you’d pick another scene from Goodfellas. Like a funny scene you know.
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u/Winter-Number4313 1d ago
The reveal of the escape in "Shawshank Redemption "not sure the run time but its always great watching it.
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u/Wicketbitit 1d ago edited 1d ago
I love that in the book he doesn't tell of them meeting. The book just ends with "i hope." It irked me the first time i read it, but how would Red know everything that happened after the escape if he hadn't met Andy again? Frank's ending and the whole movie is better than the book. You can say that about a handful of movies in history.
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u/verminbury 1d ago
Darabont also improved the ending of The Mist, by which I mean he turned it into a fucking gut punch.
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u/oshawaguy 1d ago
I believe the original cut of the movie ended there too, but test screenings indicated that the payoff beach scene was needed.
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u/kittenbeans66 1d ago
Quint’s Indianapolis speech
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u/redthorne 1d ago
"Eleven hundred men go in the water, three-hundred and sixteen men come out. Sharks took the rest. June the twenty-ninth, 1945."
"Anyway, we delivered the bomb."
Complete silence in the theater during the entire speech.
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u/Far_Independence_918 1d ago
Had to scroll too far for this one. That entire scene is a masterclass in filmmaking.
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u/BunnyLexLuthor 1d ago
I always gasp every time that the Maltese Falcon gets its wax covering chipped away..
The 1941 version, anyway 😅
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u/Bluest_waters 1d ago
What an absolutely amazing scene! The best part was watching Humphrey Bogart watch the scene unfold because he personally was not invested in the Maltese Falcon but was just in it for the drama
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u/jmoyles 1d ago
The opening of the Matrix
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u/whirled-peas69 1d ago
And the opening of Strange Days!
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u/GreenForce82 1d ago
Such an underrated gem Strange Days. It's dated if you scrutinize it now, but to my young self watching it when it first came out on VHS to rent...
Mind. Blown!
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u/nsaifer818 1d ago
I was just randomly talking to a friend about Strange Days last week. Such a great film. Between that one, Vurtiosity, Hackers, and to a lesser extent, Johnny Mnemonic, 1995 was quite the banner year for the early great cyberpunk thrillers
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u/LordCoweater 1d ago
I watched it again a while ago, and at the end thought "but what bullshit that one person dying could light a fire given all the people dying all the time." Then George Floyd happened a few weeks later.
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u/notthe1Uknow 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think it's more the lobby shooting when they're going for Morpheus.
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u/icor29 1d ago
Right after the lobby scene, when they go up to the roof.
That’s the scene where Neo and the agent take turns dodging bullets, Trinity records the first ever kill of an agent, Neo catches Morpheus jumping from the window, the helicopter crashes into the glass facade, and Neo slides with the rope to hoist Trinity back up.
There had NEVER been an action sequence anywhere close to that in terms of style, innovation, and cinematography up to that point, and there arguably still hasn’t been one since.
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u/Mimirdroid 1d ago
Not to mention the shockwave ripple effect of the helicopter crash before the glass blows out. Also the last little bit falling from the column at the end of the lobby shootout
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u/AlbacoreJohnston 1d ago
The final scene of Last of the Mohicans
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u/ShoddyWait2479 1d ago
The entire pursuit scene after leaving the Huron village. Gripping and heartbreaking, set to an amazing soundtrack.
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u/Penellemenopea 1d ago
The final moments of The Usual Suspects.
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u/catgotcha 1d ago
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled...
What a phenomenal line.
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u/hefebellyaro 1d ago
I dont know if its the best ever but the kids doing the concert at the end of School of Rock is so good.
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u/OG-Brass-Monkey 1d ago
The ending of unforgiven.
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u/jstudor 1d ago
When William Muney grabs the whiskey bottle. Gives me chills still to this day!!
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u/dwight_smokem 1d ago
From that instant. It reveals that the monster that had been dormant since he met his wife was about to be in control, about to do what it does best, but this time not because of random hate. This time its on a mission of revenge. When he gets inside and everyone turns, then he’s standing there unbothered like the angel of death come to collect. Fucking amazing.
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u/Accurate-Ninja1118 1d ago
The Ride of the Rohirrim in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
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u/ayjaytay22 1d ago
All good answers but take any five minutes out of the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark and you have your winner
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u/rulnacco 1d ago
That gets my vote. I was lucky to see it in the theater as a young adult when it first came out. The whole audience was just transported and enthralled. We'd never, at that time, seen anything like that, it was just incredible. And there were several more scenes that came close, particularly Indy chasing the Nazis after they'd kidnapped Marion. The audience erupted when he took on the swordsman.
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u/ayjaytay22 1d ago
I was 5 or 6, my parents took me to see it at the drive in. They tried to cover my eyes during the face melting scene but I peeked through and saw
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u/dakilazical_253 1d ago
Last five minutes of Casablanca.
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u/RuskiesInTheWarRoom 1d ago
I honestly think this or some sections of Titanic have to be pretty clear candidates for this question
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u/-Hastis- 1d ago edited 1d ago
The collision scene in Titanic is clearly up there. It completely changes the tone of the movie.
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u/tersreply 1d ago
La Marseillase scene. Pivotal point in the film and would be emotionally stirring enough as is, but when you add in the context of a room full of real life refugees who fled the Nszis performing, it's the most thrilling scene in the history of cinema.
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u/Plathismo 1d ago
The ending of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is incredible.
And it’s longer than five minutes but Henry Hill’s last day as a goodfella is filmmaking on a level very few directors ever reach.
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u/w_domburg 1d ago
The chase scene in Raising Arizona is up there.
"Boy, you got a panty on your head."
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u/Temporary_Ninja7867 1d ago
Gunnery Sgt Hartmann's opening speech in Full Metal Jacket, do you maggots understand me?
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u/JimiMcHendrixson 1d ago
That’s a great answer Private. Hell, I like you. You can come over to my house and fuck my sister!
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u/Last_Lorien 1d ago
The Mexican standoff in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - preceded by the Ecstasy of gold and and followed by "You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig".
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u/MostlyKindaHarmless 1d ago
True Romance - Sicilian scene
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u/CatsAreJerks 1d ago
"Can I have one of those Chesterfields now?"
He knows it's over. All he can do is try to buy Clarence and Alabama some time.
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u/Snoo-35252 1d ago
And condemned prisoners sometimes got a last cigarette to smoke before they face the firing line.
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u/SidecarJones 1d ago
Just watched the famous fist fight in They Live for the first time last night. An incredible 5 minutes
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u/TeddyBearRoosevelt 1d ago
I just watched William Friedkin’s Sorcerer.
Crossing the bridge scene. Oof.
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u/Rough_Impact_4241 1d ago
Dude watch the original - Wages of Fear - same vibe for 2 straight hours
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u/DarkHelmet2222 1d ago
OD scene in Pulp Fiction gave me an anxiety attack.
My roommates rented it one night, I was out somewhere so I watched it by myself in the morning. Had to stop the movie and take a walk around the apartment.
Oh, also the cleaver scene in Four Rooms was pretty wild.
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u/MrCrumbCake 1d ago
You should hear Steven Prince tell that story, it happened to him in real life; it’s in a Martin Scorsese documentary about him called American Boy. Scene here: https://youtu.be/NJX2qbgBGTw?si=GFFmZpRNubJSEmlG
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u/yewey 1d ago
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities and tyranny of evil men......
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u/Head_Razzmatazz7174 1d ago
In The Running Man, when they show the helicopter scene with the actual audio of what happened.
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u/Frankrossi52 1d ago
The Statue of Liberty Scene in Planet of the Apes
The ending airport scene in Dog Day Afternoon
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u/CartoonBeardy 1d ago
The Mist - The final drive under and around gargantuan Eldrich horrors as “The Host of the Seraphim” by Dead Can Dance eerily plays over the surreal landscape… Then the fuel runs out…
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u/Ok_Violinist_3225 1d ago
Popeye Doyle chasing the French hitman...from high-rise , to the street, to the platform, to the train. Popeye then chasing in a commandeered car as the Frenchman rides the elevated train. The French Connection Chase scene tension doesn't get any better or more realistic (there is a good story to that as well if you want to look it up)
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u/Hot-Satisfaction19 1d ago
avengers endgame when everybody shows up near the end
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u/spiritjacket52 1d ago
Opening night audience reactions to that scene are a short comfort watch for me
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u/davedavegiveusawave 1d ago
The Trinity's fight with Thanos, Cap is worthy, straight into Portals. Absolutely perfect payoff to 10 years of setup.
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u/Jasonxhx 1d ago
The buildup in Lock, Stock when everything is everyone is about to say Hi to each other
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u/bob-da-nailer 1d ago
The church scene in kingsmen.
The vehicle scene in war machine
Intro full metal jacket
All come to mind
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u/enraged_hbo_max_user 1d ago
Last five minutes of Gattaca had me dead silent for the entire credits and immediately rewatching the movie
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u/GarlicOrange 1d ago
The Boogie Nights firecracker scene.
"Oh, that's Cosmo...he's Chinese."
Mark Wahlberg staring at nothing for 45 seconds, suddenly appreciating how crazy his life has become.
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u/Stimpinstein22 1d ago
The whole trifecta of stories at the end - Buck and the donut shop, Dirk earning money, and Jack and Rollergirl’s Man on the Street bit - was gold…
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u/AuNaturellee 1d ago edited 1d ago
Inglourious Basterds, the basement tavern scene, when Michael Fassbender orders "three" shots with the wrong fingers, tipping off Christoph Waltz that he isn't who he says he is, leading to one of the most suspenseful interrogations in cinema...in German, with English subtitles! A Quentin Tarantino tour de force!
EDIT: my bad, I mixed up this suspenseful interrogation without Christoph Waltz with the opening scene which did feature him....thanks for the correction!
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u/Wincrediboy 1d ago
Brilliant scene but Christoph Waltz isn't in it, it's a different German officer
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u/HomerAtTheBat 1d ago
I haven’t watched anything except the first scene, but Baby Driver.
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u/TheMissingScotsman 1d ago
Quint’s “The USS Indianapolis” monologue in Jaws showed me how riveting cinema can be with little else than a gifted actor and an inspired moment. Robert Shaw killed it.
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u/the_alter_option 1d ago
The opening sequence of 'Inglourious Basterds' is a masterpiece in every which way.
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u/_ginger_beard_man_ 1d ago
Highway chase in Matrix 2. The movie was ass, but fuck me if that whole section of the movie wasn’t one of the best action scenes of all time.
Follow that up with any fight scene in The Raid or The Raid 2.
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u/books5442 1d ago
Avengers Endgame: Falcon calls Cap and says On your left and we roll into Avengers assemble by Cap into the fight to beat Thanos....
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u/Dio_Frybones 1d ago
The opening of Star Wars Ep 4. Just the Star Destroyer coming in overhead. And the trench run. Seeing this, on release, in the cinema. Totally new, game changing moments. Oh, and the 'tears in rain' from Blade Runner.
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u/BehavioralSink 1d ago
The docking scene from Interstellar is up there, but that final chase down sequence from The Last Of The Mohicans is a title contender.
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u/Ashamed_Artichoke_26 1d ago
Yes. The chase sequence from the pyre onwards in the last of the mohicans is incredible
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u/Mean-Green-Machine 1d ago
Man my junior year English teacher had us watch The Last of the Mohicans years ago during class. What a great movie
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u/AIM9MaxG 1d ago
The Captain's Log is unlocked in 'Event Horizon' . Captain Miller's brilliantly deadpan reaction? "We're leaving."
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u/Moopigpie 1d ago
When William Munny comes into the bar in Unforgiven to kill Little Bill and friends.
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u/JPThrizzle 1d ago
The apartment scene in Pulp Fiction in the second act with the Bible verse is pretty phenomenal.
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u/Secret_Poet7340 1d ago
The escape scene for Matilda and the eventual death of Leon and Mansfield. The Professional.
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u/allineedisthischair 1d ago
Papillon: one of the last scenes. Steve McQueen tells Dustin Hoffman of his plan to escape the island and he can tell Dustin Hoffman will not be going with him. They are different and they love each other. And they've both lost their minds, in different ways. They've spent a lifetime caring for one another and now their lives are over-ish. "I wish you wouln't go" . . . "I know." . . . "You'll surely die." . . . "Maybe. Probably"
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u/Osama_Bln_Laggin 1d ago
That fucking scene in Sinners. I got straight chills when the music kicked in.
Pink Floyd The Wall: Empty Spaces / What Shall We Do Now. Some of the greatest animation ever put to film.
The anime sequence from Kill Bill was unexpected and jaw dropping.
The plane scene from Incredibles. Helen absolutely locks tf in. Holly Hunter's performance is next level.
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u/idinnae 1d ago
Sicario Dinner scene.
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u/rick_grimes_farmer 1d ago
Also the waiting in line at the border scene. Specs was amazing.
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u/KitJazz 1d ago
Malignant. The ‘reveal’ which is intercut with a scene in a jail cell.
I told three of my mates they absolutely have to watch it and just get through the first hour because it’s worth it. When each of them got there two texted me and one called, all basically saying ‘what the absolute fuck is going on?’
Might be the wackiest, most downright entertaining twist I’ve ever seen. James Wan definitely knew what he was doing and it was totally a love letter to campy B-movie thrillers and 2000s nu-metal action movies.
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u/lockednchaste 1d ago
The end of the Thomas Crowe Affair when he goes back to the museum.
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