Some films are made to shock the viewer and others are made to create mass emotion. There are those that are made however to catch you off guard with that one moment in the film that seems to defy the purpose of the movie altogether. It can be an action, drama, comedy, or any other genre imaginable, but that one moment will be forever etched in your mind as the most defining moment of the film. It becomes the turning point that sets up the last part of the movie in some pivotal way.
Here are a few movies in which the unexpected scene kind of changed the outlook.
Roadhouse
Sadly you knew the whole Dalton vs. Wesley feud had to come to a head at one point. It’s just surprising that Garrett had to be the collateral damage. One has to wonder how many people it took to put him down and out for the final count and how bad he messed them up in the process. You’ve got to remember that Garrett wasn’t a pushover despite his bum leg, and could have easily beat down everyone but Jimmy if given the chance.
Goonies
Looking back at this now it’s almost a little disturbing to think that this was made into a comedy bit. Most kids that ran into a corpse with a hole in his head would likely run screaming from the room. Regardless, after the gunshots it might not have been completely unexpected, but to think that they would pick the one room in the entire place that would house the body, that was kind of unforeseen.
Iron Will
The clip doesn’t show it, but there’s a moment in here near the end of the race where Gunderson is mercilessly whipping his own dogs. He’s tired, aching, and badly in need of a rest, but this also means that he’s become quite cruel and unforgiving of failure. His dogs finally have enough and attack, savaging him with their teeth until Will goes racing by and fires a pistol in the air. The dogs jump and begin to run again, leaving Gunderson behind.
American Beauty
Throughout the movie you can’t help but kind of feel disgusted and then sorry for Kevin Spacey’s character. He’s a man going through a mid-life crisis that just can’t decide what he wants. Once he has the chance to take what he wants however, he manages to take the high road and realizes he can’t go through with it. Unfortunately his reward is a single moment of clarity before his next door neighbor blows his brains out after being politely rebuffed.
An Officer and A Gentleman
Pilots aren’t allowed to just sign up and fly, which is essentially a good thing. But the physical and emotional stress they must endure to earn their wings is anything but easy, and when Sid bows out after going through hell it makes a person wonder if he’d have been better off never meeting the young woman that turned his world upside down. It’s fair to think that he wouldn’t have made the mistake of giving his DOR, Drop On Request, after going through some of the most intensive training possible.
It’s easy to get surprised by a scene in any movie that you didn’t see coming. Sometimes the setup is fairly obvious, but it’s still the delivery that actually gets you.
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