Movie Scenes That Brought the House Down

Edgar Wright tweeted a request for examples of situations where the audience reacted strongly, and collectively to a movie scene. He mentioned the scene in A Fatal Attraction, when Anne Archer’s character tells the Glenn Close character, “If you come near my family again, I’ll kill you.” He said the audience applauded. I know I have experienced this a few times, but none come to mind right now. I must say that for much of the last twenty years, I have don’t often see movies with a large audience. I think it’s been so long that I can’t remember these moments, which is kinda sad, man.

You can see some suggestions in the thread here:

8 thoughts on “Movie Scenes That Brought the House Down

  1. Not a scene, and not even part of the movie, but I’ll never forget how, at the midnight premiere of The Phantom Menace, when the LucasFilm logo went up on the screen in the seconds before the slow scroll, the place went crazy in spontaneous cheering. We all felt it. In George Lucas’s last moments, I hope he pictures that, because it was special.

    1. That is great.

      Larri just told me that when an image of the Millenium Falcon appeared in The Force Awakens the audience cheered, and also when Han and Chewy go into the Falcon and say, “Chewy, we’re home.” But I don’t remember that. I wish I could.

  2. Some people mentioned the scene in Aliens when Ripley is in the exo-skeleton device and says, “Get away from her you bitch!” I can say that being a scene when people cheer, but I don’t recall it happening when I saw it. (And I’m pretty sure I saw it in a fairly crowded theater.)

    These moments seem cool, but I guess I really don’t value it as much, which is kinda weird: a part of me thinks this is cool, but another part of me really doesn’t.

    1. Are you saying “these moments” to refer to the ones we’ve mentioned so far, or are you saying “these moments” to refer to house-bringing-down moments in general?

      You saw Aliens in a theater? I suppose I’m unusual, but I think I waited until I was eighteen before I saw an R-rated movie on my own in a theater. I felt uncomfortable with the sudden freedom. It seemed arbitrary and weird to me that on January 4 of my junior year, I couldn’t see them but on January 5 I could. I think I was also reserved, or maybe cool, because I didn’t want it to seem like I was super eager to look at nudity, even though I was.

    2. Are you saying “these moments” to refer to the ones we’ve mentioned so far, or are you saying “these moments” to refer to house-bringing-down moments in general?

      The latter.

      Yeah, I saw Aliens in the theater, one of the Waikiki Twins, if I’m not mistaken. I saw a bunch of R-rated films in high school, but I remember that being a big deal for you.

  3. I’m not really sure this would qualify as a memorable scene, because I don’t really remember it all that well, but there is a scene in Weekend at Bernie’s turning a lame, kind of blah movie into this definitely worth the price of admission ($5, I think) comedy.
    Not as dramatic as previous examples, but I think it did bring the house down. Does anyone know to what scene I’m referring.

  4. I don’t recall the scene. In fact, I can’t remember if I watched the whole movie.

    On another note, I know I’ve been to movies where the audience applauds at the end. I might have been at one where some of the people gave a standing ovation. I wish could remember these movies. Can anyone remember situations like this?

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