Best Non speaking moments

[The Duskblade]

Well I'm sure we can all list our favorite quotes off by heart but how about moments where there isn't speaking?

In The Firefly Episode Jaynestown Jayne's little wimple when he pulls off the tape holding a gun to his stomach at Mal's order was a classic.

So what have you guys got?

[bigbaddragon]

Indiana Jones (can't remember which movie though). Remember the moment when that guy in robes comes in front of him and starts displaying his skill with swords and Indy shrugs his shoulders, pulls out a gun and shoots him.

[Telonius]

Excluding the silent film era ...

Darth Vader's entrance in Episode 4.

[GimliFett]

Along Darth Vader lines: Him standing on the bridge of Executor after the escape from Cloud City, looking out the front view. Needa and his underlings look at each other like "Aw, crap." That scene still gives me chills.

Also from Empire Strikes Back, the final scene where Luke puts his arm around Leia's shoulder as they (and Threepio and Artoo) look out on the Millenium Falcon soaring off in search of Boba Fett and Han.

[Quincunx]

Knight's Tale. Chaucer introduces himself to the knight and his servants:

"I'm a writer."
(three blank stares)
". . .I write things?"
(three blank stares continue)

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Indiana Jones (can't remember which movie though). Remember the moment when that guy in robes comes in front of him and starts displaying his skill with swords and Indy shrugs his shoulders, pulls out a gun and shoots him.

Incidently there was supposed to be a massive sword/whip fight there, but Harrison Ford was sick that day. The director loved his little ad-libbed shot so much that it made the final cut :smallbiggrin:

Back to this though...

Firefly: First episode, Mal's suddenly shooting the federal agent. Priceless :smallbiggrin:

V for Vendetta: When V reaches down and plucks the last domino from the giant V, causing the rest to finally fall over. That moment alone was worth more than all the dialogue in that movie. Which is saying something.

[Telonius]

In O Brother, Where Art Thou.

"We thought you was a toad!"

The reaction on the guy's face was just priceless.

[Midnight Son]

Almost the entirety of the episode "Hush" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[GimliFett]

Almost the entirety of the episode "Hush" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Ooh. Well said, Midnight Son. Well said, indeed. That was a GREAT episode!

[Hoggy]

Fight between the two funny blokes at the end of House Of Flying Daggers.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Firefly had a couple of great blank stare moments. To wit:

Saffron: "Mr. Reynolds, sir...I'm your wife."
Mal: "..."
Mal: inarticulate mouth opening
Mal: "..."
Cut to commercial

[bigbaddragon]

FIrefly really had its moments, both silent and non silent. Remember the one when River saw Shepard with his hair loose or the one when Jayne was wearing some silly hat his mother made for him so he doesn't get cold.

Anyway, I would really like to know which moron canceled Firefly after only one season?

[Raven T.]

One more from The Empire Strikes Back:

The entire series of shots where the Executor is first introduced, coupled with John Williams' music...sends chills down my back every time.

And it's Piett, not Needa. Needa is dead.:smalltongue:

[Rob Knotts]

Some action scenes:

Selene's balcony perch/leap/landing from Underworld.

Mani's stick fight in the mud at the beginning of Brotherhood of the Wolf.

Neo pulling a bullet out fo the air in The Matrix.

Draven feeling out his new strength by sprinting across rooftops in The Crow.

The knockdown-door gun kata scene from Equilibrium.

(Brad Pitt) Mickey's "Golden Brown" knockout scene from Snatch.

Edit: Of course, great non-speaking scenes also make up at least a quarter of every John Woo gangster movie:smallwink:

[CorvinMarkellus]

In Grindhouse, when Stuntman Mike turns and smiles at the camera...my personal favorite moment in the movie.

[Grod_The_Giant]

all those times in The Blues Brothers when Jake and Elwood just pick themselves up off the ground after a huge explosion, brush off their suits, and continue whatever it was they were doing without missing a beat.

[Cyrano]

Not a MOVIE, but any scene right after the obligatory "Steve Carell Makes An Ass of Himself" scene in any episode of the Office. You are GUARANTEED at least 10 seconds of awkward feet shuffling.

[SurlySeraph]

In season 5 of 24, Jack's facial expression when he melts his plastic handcuffs off. It's amazing how much pain Kiefer Sutherland can convey just by blinking.

[Eldritch Knight]

Personally, I like the scene from Braveheart where wallace rides into town, and raises his hands to demonstrate that he is unarmed, and then pulls this massive morningstar (I think) from his back and CLOBBERS one of the English goons...

[Hell Puppi]

The part where legolas stabs an orc with an arrow, then shoots another orc with the same arrow.

It's cheesy after a while, but c'mon the first time you saw it almost everyone thought that was b'dass

[Zmek]

House of 1000 Corpses, pretty much the whole cop killing spree. But expecaly the final cop, where is is on his knees and the camera pulls skyward then POW.

Zmek

[bosssmiley]

"Hero", the lake fight, or "Hero", Nameless leaving the An-Fang Palace

or

The closing scene of "History of Violence" :smalleek:

[GimliFett]

And it's Piett, not Needa. Needa is dead.:smalltongue:

Yeah, I knew when I was typing it that something didn't seem right. I went with it w/o looking up. Oh, well.

Yet one more from The Empire Strikes Back:
My absolute favorite moment from ANY SW movie- When Luke and Vader are facing off in the carbon freeze chamber. The moment when Luke reaches the top of the platform and he and Vader are basically silhouetted by the dim reds and oranges of the chamber.

From Episode I: As the Groups are about to split up when the double doors open and THERE IS MAUL!
DUHDUHDUUUH DUH DUH DUH!

I'm OUT!

[Jimp]

"Hero", the lake fight

This scene gets my vote.

[Saithis Bladewing]

I'm gonna have to go for Family Guy, the episode where Brian's cousin Jasper is having a gay wedding. Here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rwXrZBO4ms)

Peter's reaction at the end = BEST REACTION EVER!

[Hushdawg]

"Dark City" when they break through the wall at Shell Beach and the truth is revealed. That massive panning shot out away and across the city is absolutely chilling.

"Metropolis" Yes, I know it is a silent film, but the entire worker's section where it shows people shuffling into the next shift and taking places at the machine. There is no speech, even in text form and it is an amazing illustration of what the entire movie is about.

Entire sections of the film "Requiem for a Dream"

The scene in "Aliens" when Ripley and Newt stumble into the Queen's egg-chamber... the level of communication without words between all the characters in that scene is a level that hadn't been achieved since Hitchcock.

[Hell Puppi]

Requiem for a Dream has some awesome silent moments...It's one of those films I'd recommend to anyone but would never watch a second time *shudders*

[Amotis]

Requiem for a Dream has some awesome silent moments...It's one of those films I'd recommend to anyone but would never watch a second time *shudders*

Not so much the silence but the music.

Same goes with The Fountain.

[Jimorian]

Clint Eastwood is great for a lot of non-speaking moments, but I think one of my favorites is from "For a Few Dollars More" when he's going into a rough town, and 3 tough guys appear out of nowhere, giving a silent challenge to him.

Instead of just gunning them down, he calmly looks over to an apple tree where a kid is trying to knock down a treat for himself with a stick, plucks one down with a long-range pistol shot, then turns to look back at the thugs.

The way they fade back into the woodwork is priceless. :smallwink:

[JabberwockySupafly]

The Transporter, of all things, has one of my favourite non-speaking moments in it.


The doorbell rings, some mook gets up to answer it, and Jason Statham can be seen through the peephole, charging at the door. Next second he's kicking through it and awesome fight scene ensues.



Hush was going to be my first selection, but someone beat me to it :\

But, I have a good one from Angel to add in. In season 5 when Angel enters the Parking Garage at Wolfram & Hart for the first time, the little "happy dance" he does when trying to choose a car is pretty classic. He does say something shortly after, but that moment where he's kind of half-dancing among the cars with almost child-like enthusiasm whilst trying to pick exactly which one he's going to take. That's brilliance.

[MrsbwcMD]

In "Sense and Sensibility" (Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson), at the end, when Elinor Dashwood discovers that Edward Ferrars is, in fact, NOT married, and she immediately collapses into a chair, sobbing with relief, and her mother and sisters silently run from the room to give the two their privacy. And, then, the look on Elinor's face when she finally looks up after Edward tells her that his heart is, and always will be, hers. The entire scene always gets me, and I usually end up crying along with Elinor. I'm such a girl...
Actually, there are a lot of great non speaking moments in this movie as well as in most movies adapted from Jane Austen's novels. Maybe that's why I like them, so much.

[Telonius]

90% of "2001: A Space Odyssey."

[Curmudgeon]

Almost the entirety of the episode "Hush" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That's my first pick, too. But I've got another one from Buffy:

In the episode Family, when Tara's (Amber Benson's) family came to visit her at U.C. Sunnydale on her 20th birthday, at the end, Buffy said to them, explaining why she and the Scoobies were going to keep them from forcibly taking Tara home: "She's family." And Tara smiled -- I mean really smiled -- for the first time, using not just her mouth, or her face, but her neck stretched, her shoulders went back, and she turned her hands out as well. It's as if her smile was just so powerful she needed her whole body to express it. That's the moment I fell in love with this awkward, geeky character.

[Tirian]

My favorite was in Superman: The Movie after Lex Luthor declares that he has fired a nuclear missle at Hoboken. After dispatching Superman, Miss Taschmacher says "Lex, my mother lives in Hoboken!" Lex stops for a moment, checks his watch, looks at her with a half-smirk, and shakes his head. Priceless.

[....]

To many times to count in Space Ghost Coast to Coast when one of the three hosts says something and then the camera just flicks from Space Ghost to Moltar to Zorak. None of them say anything, just have their back ground noises, SG hitting his cards, Zorak blinking, and Moltar playing with his switch. SGC2C was the master of the akward silence.

I know its blasphemy to like the new trilogy, but the scene in Episode 3 just before Obi-Wan and Anakin fight. After their done with their sermonizing and are just staring at each other. You can see they both know its about to go down, but they're taking a moment to remeber everything they've been through.

Also, Metal Gear Solid 3. At the end when Ocelot is in the plane and him and Snake are fighting; Ocelot pulls his revolver and EVA throws her's to Snake. Snake and Ocelot proceed to pull the triggers of both guns as fast as they can at point blank range, both out of bullets. Then they both just sort of smile and lower their weapons. Pretty intense.

[Cryopyre]

The last scene of The Birds. It's just creepy and surreal as they drive off.

[....]

The last scene of The Birds. It's just creepy and surreal as they drive off.


You are completely right. One of the creepiest movie endings ever.

[Fascisticide]

From Clockwork Orange :
- the first scene, zooming on Alex
- the threesome, so funny with the music and fast-forward!

Almost any scene featuring Godzilla in almost any Godzilla movie

The first scene from Spaceballs with the endlessly long spaceship!

And of course, Chuck Norris staring at the camera, that's more intense than any speech!

[Jorkens]

This bit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqx-L4BsRGY) from the BBC adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Patrick Stewart manages to completely psych out Alec Guiness (who's supposed to be interrogating him) by sitting there silently and staring back at him.

And yes, it's Patrick Stewart and Alec Guiness - Jean Luc Picard versus Obi Wan Kenobi.

Mildly spoiley at the end, although only if you're fairly purist.

[bigbaddragon]

Homer comes to Appu's shop and sees him cheating his wife and then, looking stunned, backward walks back to his home.

[Indurain]

Bad Movie, Good scene. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXV16fVvLmA) :smallfurious:

Just watch Smith and the Monkey.(Warning: Contains Strong Language) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF65_7CujyM) :smallbiggrin:

Not totally non-verbal, but this scene always slays me. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8u_XZ9nT2M):smallwink:

[Shadow of the Sun]

The Ecstasy of Gold from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

[Tamburlaine]

The filming scenes in Shadow of a Vampire. Creepy.

[GimliFett]

Okay: The Grudge The scene where the murdered wife comes down the stairs after Buffy. That hitchy-crawly-motion gives me shivers. In every movie that uses it.

[Amotis]

Mallrats. When Brody mentions chivalry to TC and makes a masturbation motion with his hand. Epic. Passing, silent, quick...but oh God did I laugh. Still am actually. See: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHASHsNfasafaspoakk....

[GimliFett]

Tombstone When Doc repeats the pistol spins and twirls with a coffee cup.

[bosssmiley]

The final "Oh shi-!" sequence of "The Usual Suspects". :smallcool:

[Evil_Pacifist]

You know who throwing the you know what through the other you know what at the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. You'll have to sit through other stuff to see it in this (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0GDJXDGhae8) video. Also, spoilers.

[Tyrant]

Return of the Jedi had a few decent nonspeaking scenes (well, Luke was screaming in one).
Just after Luke is captured and Vader talks with him and you start to hear some cracks in the armor that is Vader. Vader stands there alone for a moment staring off into nowhere, obviously starting to realise that his plan to twist Luke with the truth of his identity hasn't turned out as planned and Anakin is starting to resurface.

Right after Luke goes psycho and cuts off Vader's hand. That moment of reflection when he sees the remains of Vader's robotic hand and looks down at his own. His face loses that wild eyed psycho look as he realises the path he is starting down and how easy it would be to give in to evil.

Moments later, when Luke is being fried. Despite not talking at all, with a little help from the music, it becomes obvious what Vader is thinking as he looks between Luke and Sidious. With only turning his head you somehow can sense the inner turmoil he is fighting against trying to decide who will win the battle for his soul, Anakin or Vader.

[Weezer]

My favorite non speaking moment is in Monty Pythons the Quest for the Holy Grail when Lancelot is charging the castle and the guards look at each other and then look back up etc.

[Hawriel]

Captain Piett's reaction to being promoted.

Hans reacton when he messed up on the bunkers blastor controles causing a second set of doors to close.

Qui Gon leaning on his lightsaber when the second set of blastors closed.

when the two battle droids stood up and popped shields

[Serpentine]

From Clockwork Orange :
- the first scene, zooming on Alex
- the threesome, so funny with the music and fast-forward!

Almost any scene featuring Godzilla in almost any Godzilla movie

The first scene from Spaceballs with the endlessly long spaceship!

And of course, Chuck Norris staring at the camera, that's more intense than any speech!
I love you. Though I still haven't seen anything with Chuck Norris in it...

Arlington Road. One of those movies that are really good and very well done, but I hate. The girl has just been frantically calling the guy to warn him about the bad people, when one of those bad people come up behind her. They exchange nervous/eerily calm pleasantries which quickly peter out, and then the bad person's smile, which never quite reached her eyes, slowly fades away... So sinister, so ominous.

[GimliFett]

Arlington Road. One of those movies that are really good and very well done, but I hate.

I'd agree with this. Good movie. Upsetting ending. Who knew Joan Cusack could be so... wrong.

[Griemont]

Best non-speaking moment? Gordon Freeman in the Half-Life series. :smallamused:

[Alex Knight]

The ending FMV for Final Fantasy X. Watching the Aeons you've worked to collect, and who were Yuna's friends die, watching Tidus fade away, seeing Yuna try ing hug Tidus and fall through him...

Damn, that made me want a sequel.

[Sailacela]

Men in Black - after wiping the memory of Edgar's wife, Beatrice, J gets carried away with her new memories and ends with the following..

J: Yeah, cause you know what? He never appreciated you anyway. In fact, you kicked him out and now that he's gone you're gonna go into town, go to Bloomingdales, find some nice dresses you know maybe find somewhere you can get you know a facial, and hire a decorator to come in here fast because...damn.

Beatrice: *blank expression...slow blink*


Breaks me up every time I see it.

[Dragor]

God, I love so many of the ones which have already been said... Dark City, MIB, Indy, Star Wars... but this one beats the rest.

Hero. After all the arrows are fired in the last scene.... and you see the gap where Nameless was. Brought a tear to my eye as I was thinking "Survive, survive, survive, he's got to."

[smellie_hippie]

Hellooooo...? Pulp Fiction? Bruce Willis getting away from the gimp and walking up to the front of the pawn shop. Examining and subsequently discarding various weapons before going back down to help Ving Rames.

I'd have to echo the mocking of "Ringo" in Tombstone though...

[Axl_Rose]

Indiana Jones (can't remember which movie though). Remember the moment when that guy in robes comes in front of him and starts displaying his skill with swords and Indy shrugs his shoulders, pulls out a gun and shoots him.
lol, beautiful. Apparently Harrison ford was just tired that day and improved that haha

[Tandune]

in kill bill vol. 2 when that camera pans out of the church. genius

[....]

Fellowship of the Ring, the scene where Merry and Pippin are about to get taken by the Uruk-Hai and Boromir comes running up to save them and proceeds to wreck shop on them (the orcs) even after getting three arrows put into him.

The part where he goes down on his knees and looks up to see both the hobbits looking at him. You really get this feeling that he is hurting and dosn't want to fight anymore, but he makes himself go on to try and protect them.

Gets me everytime.

[GimliFett]

Good one ....! Just thinking about it makes me start tearing up. :smallsmile:

How's this? In The Shining (the original), when Wendy comes down to see how Jack's been doing and she sees that the only thing he's written (at least 50 pages worth) is "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

All kinds of different formatting, but that was possibly the creepiest part of the whole movie to me. It just demonstrated how totally lost Jack was.

[comicshorse]

The start of 'UNLEASHED'.
Somebody off-screen yells 'Get 'em', then there's just 10 minutes of Jet Li ripping apart a gang of thugs in total silence. Total slam in the face of raw aggression and adrenaline.

[Manga Shoggoth]

The first really great silence I ever came across was a scene in Neon Genesis Evangelion where Auska and Rei were in a lift together. For a minute and a half there was silence - no background music, just the tick of the floor indicator and the change of camera angle.

It built up a huge amount of tension and underlined the relationship between the characters like no other event in the series.

[GimliFett]

The first really great silence I ever came across was a scene in Neon Genesis Evangelion where Auska and Rei were in a lift together. For a minute and a half there was silence - no background music, just the tick of the floor indicator and the change of camera angle.

It built up a huge amount of tension and underlined the relationship between the characters like no other event in the series.

There were so many good moments in that show. Except the ending... :smallfrown:

I much preferred Martian Successor Nadesico.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Hear, hear.

"What's wrong with running away? And whose business is it anyway?"
-Not on topic for this thread, but the first defining moment of Nadesico being a funner show.

What can pull this post back on topic...ah, have another Firefly one: a woefully deleted scene from Serenity (the movie) shows Mal and Inara sharing beautifully awkward silence just before their probably deaths going through Reaver space. It's as close as they ever get to an "I love you", as far as I can tell. It's always amusing to see a worldly war vet and an interplanetary courtesan acting like 14 year olds with mutual crushes.

[Sly Reference]

Not so much the silence but the music.


I used to work in a CD store, and we could play whatever we wanted on the overhead speakers. Late at night, we would often play really unusual things in hopes of driving the customers out so we could have some quiet time to close up.

One night I put on the soundtrack for Requiem for a Dream, and as it got towards the end, a woman came up to the counter and said, "Could you turn this off? It's scaring me."