Sometimes a scene from a movie stays in your head.  Some examples…

Amadeus (1984)

Besides containing some of the most beautiful music ever composed, it perfectly casts Tom Hulce as Mozart and F. Murray Abraham as Salieri.  (Both nominated for Best Actor, Abraham won the Oscar.)

What’s so hilarious and so tormenting is how Mozart insults Salieri without knowing it.  He describes his earlier work to him as “a funny little piece”.  Mozart then replays Salieri’s music, changing it, drastically improving it, while Salieri’s face falls, realizing that he himself isn’t the great composer he thought he was.  (Video is from crazyman4985 on YouTube.)

https://youtu.be/-ciFTP_KRy4

Ordinary People (1980)  Contains spoilers.

Towards the film’s conclusion, Calvin Jarrett (Donald Sutherland) has to tell his wife Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) that he doesn’t love her anymore.  There’s tragedy in this, but there’s something brilliant about it.  It could easily have fallen into soap opera mode, but doesn’t.  Why?  Because of a very real performance by Sutherland and those magnificent words by author Judith Guest, adapted by Alvin Sargent.  “You’re so cautious, but your not strong.  Do you love me?  Do you really love me?”  (Video is from sagn on YouTube.)

The Birds (1963)

The birds are already on the rampage.  After an attack, Mitch and Melanie (Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren) go looking for his little sister, Cathy.  (Veronica Cartwright.)  They find her in her teacher’s house, crying.  Her teacher, Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette) is lying nearby dead, mutilated, her eyes pecked out.  Taking Cathy away in the car, she tells them what happened.  “The birds came and she pushed me in the house.  And the birds covered her…”  It’s made even more sad, because Annie is one of Mitch’s castoff girlfriends.

Text © 2018 – ERN