Agree on Goodfellas.

I'll add the opening sequence with Henry looking out the window at the arrival of his "heroes" to the cab stand. Scorcese shows these mobsters (including one Pauly Walnuts) as mythical, heroic, larger-than-life figures and sets the tone for Henry, Tommy and Jimmy to be rooted for even though they are sociopathic criminals.

Gotta put a vote in for the opening scene in the very first episode of LOST. That was incredible.

I'll try to think of some others.

In terms of funny scenes, my wife and I love the bit with The Chompers in Galaxy Quest.

• that 10-15 minute end scene of last of the mohicans
  
• the drug rip scene in true detective
  
• the drug rip scene in boogie nights (sister christian)
  
• appolonias boobies (ok, really the scene where michael shoots solozzo & mcclusky)

Also from boogie nights:
The long scene of William H. Massey finally having enough of his wife's cheating. Camera follows him at the party - from the room to the car, gets the gun, back to the room. Bam bam bam.

Was that single scene longer than the Pulp fiction apartment scene? It sure felt like it.

If you want to talk about single shot scenes, nothing comes close to children of men

Edit: didn't see the post on page 1

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If you want to talk about single shot scenes, nothing comes close to children of men

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Yeah. I need to re watch that. Didn't know anything about it when it was on tv back in the day and only halfway paid attention.

Just did a google search on longest single shot scenes and their ratings. Children of Men was the highest, with the restaurant scene from goodfellas being second.

yeah the goodfellas scene was not nearly as impressive because they could just reset and shoot until they got the shot.

I think my favorite scene from TV was the Kara Remembers from BSG. There are only a few episodes left, the series has too few precious moments left, we are building toward a HUGE battle, but what is the protagonist doing? Getting drunk and talking to a pianist. First commercial break hits, and youre like, ok she is dealing with her demons. Second commercial break, ok time to sober up and get on with the plot. Third commercial break, WTF YOU ARE WASTING AN ENTIRE ----ING EPISODE ON THIS ----! Then boom, payoff. Four seasons of her backstory collide with the current plot in a "wait what moment."

As much as I like BB and GOTs, that scene is always one I go back to as great TV.

My #2 would probable be this pitch from Mad Men, the carousel.

Tarantino uses the long take in most of his movies.

Mr. Blonde torture scene
Beatrix casing the joint right before the Crazy 88 fight scene
Shosanna walking around the theater before the premier


But yeah, the hardest ones are action-filled long takes. That's why that one in True Detective was so impressive.

Unforgiven, saloon scene at the end.

Just watched the car scene and baby scene from Children of Men on youtube, gonna have to watch that whole movie soon.

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Children of Men on youtube, gonna have to watch that whole movie soon.

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You will not be disappointed.

Old school. The dream sequence from Hitchcock's Spellbound designed by Dali. One of my favorites.

Crazy ish.

Children of Men is a technically, fantastically-shot film. But the movie is depressing as hell and the story is rather thin, imo.

I watched Children of Men a few years ago based on some discussion of that scene. I enjoyed the movie overall, but that one scene is just phenomenal. I think I read that they filmed that in one try. Rehearsed it a lot, but actually only shot it one time. It's a pretty amazing piece of cinematography. The True Detective scene was very reminiscent and also great, but that CoM scene might be my favorite scene in any movie.

Squirrel, I was in the same boat - but the True Detective scene came as a surprise and 3 minutes in I'm finding slowly realizing that it's all been one take and still going on. And then it continues.

Because I was waiting for it, CoM didn't have that surprise effect that a single-shot take should have. Nonetheless it was intense, and beyond just being impressive, it literally had to be shot the way they shot it for that plot moment - you couldn't not go for a single-shot - and for that alone it gets the nod over True Detective.

I'll add a few more:
- For sheer beauty: The opening scene from Prometheus. Best thing I've seen in a movie in 3D, other than ScarJo's ass in the Avengers.
- Title scene of Guardians of the Galaxy
- Normandy landing in The Longest Day

X2: Nightcrawler scene

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X2: Nightcrawler scene

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Here here on that one. I remember sitting in the theater just blown away by how it was shot, and the effect. X2 had some tremendous visuals - Magneto's escape, Wolverine's rampage defending the mansion also come to mind.

The scene in Aliens where they first encounter the xenomorphs

Probably have to go with Schindler's list (multiple scenes in that movie would qualify) but as runner ups I would probably consider:



or



or

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Turn on the waterworks.

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This one gets me every time. It's not a show that you'd usually think of for "great"/serious scenes, but this one is one of the most well acted, heartbreaking scenes ever.

Near last scene from Shawshank Redemption when they saw that he had patiently dug out and escaped.

Greatest use of juxtaposition in film history

Movies

Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross





TV:

Game Of Thrones - The Red Wedding



The Walking Dead - The Grove (I loved the "Of Mice and Men" homage)

A lot of great ones already mentioned. Maybe to a lesser degree:
-Apt shootout scene at the end of The Professional
-The opening bank robbery scene of The Dark Knight

I think the interrogation scene in TDK is the best scene in that film.

Just googled some lists and there were several that blew my mind watching in theaters:

Jurassic park brachiosaurus scene (first time seeing cg dinosaurs that didn't look fake...at the time).
Star wars Intro (star wars...not that new hope bull s***)
Indiana Jones Raiders of the lost ark intro


Didn't see in theater but the three way gun scene in The Good, The bad and Ugly.

opening bank robbery of The Dark Knight - saw it as an IMAX special sneak peek in front of "I Am Legend". Sucks when a 6-minute trailer is better in every way possible than a 2 hour movie.

I know the Red Wedding is pivotal for show-watchers, but I thought the scene where Catelyn captures Tyrion to be my favorite of the series so far.

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Greatest use of juxtaposition in film history

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Yes

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True Detective

The long continuous take in the escape from the projects

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I think the interrogation scene in TDK is the best scene in that film.

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A lot of really good scenes including that one, the bank robbery, and the car/truck/bat cycle chase scene.
Probably my favorite movie

Speaking of juxtaposition and True Detective, Marty and Rust closing in on the cook lab with the modern day narration over it is a master class in storytelling.

Slim Pickens riding the nuke in Dr. Strangelove