For this week’s ponderings:
What’s the best moment of emotional personal triumph (of the pump your fist in the air variety) in a movie?
The Karate Kid – Daniel-san single-handedly kicks the asses of all the mother f*ckers in the Cobra Kai dojo
Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV – Notable mention goes to III and IV, when Rocky and Apollo Creed team up to take down Clubber Lang, and then Rocky avenges Apollo Creed’s death and beats Ivan “He’s just a man!” Drago
Rudy – Rudy makes it onto the field for his first and last game against all odds for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and gets a sack (Bonus points for it also having arguably the best slow clap of all time)
The King of Kong – Steve Wiebe beats down Billy Mitchell in Donkey Kong despite all B-Mitch’s pansyass weaksauce-ness
The Princess Bride – Inigo Montoya finally kills his father’s killer
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope – Luke uses The Force and the Death Star is toast
Back to the Future – George dad-dad-daddyo McFly punches Butthead Biff and wins the girl of his dreams
Gremlins 2: The New Batch – Gismo has had enough of the abuse, and goes Rambo
Cool Runnings – “‘Nuff people say, you know they can’t belive, Jamaica we have a bobsled team…” When they carry that bobsled across the finish line, it’s seriously tear-inducing.
Ratatouille – Remy overcomes the largest of obstacles to truly accomplish his dream, winning over even the most uppity of critics.
Death Proof – The Girls get back at Stuntman Mike
Independence Day – Will Smith and Jeff Goldbloom hack the mother ship…and Randy Quaid takes out the last hovering UFO.
Shawshank Redemption – Andy Dufresne – who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.
The Return of the King – Eowyn slays the Witch King to save her land and her father.
10 Comments
Tia Nevitt
August 16, 2008 at 1:47 amSo it’s an animated feature, but this list seriously has got to include Mulan, when Mulan is the first one to figure out how to climb the pole and retrieve the arrow from the top. That moment gets me every time.
Of your list, the winner has got to be Inigo Montoya. The George McFly moment is great, too.
Kate
August 16, 2008 at 6:13 amOh, Inigo. Definitely Inigo.
Carolyn Jean
August 16, 2008 at 6:49 amOkay, I need to get out more. I haven’t seen ANY of these!!!!
Tracy
August 16, 2008 at 7:02 amOh they’re all so good. You really do have fabulous weekend polls! 🙂 I think I’m gonna have to go with Independence Day.
CJ – oh honey – netflix! lol
Thea
August 16, 2008 at 7:46 amHmm to keep things spicy, I am tempted to go with The King of Kong–especially since it’s real people–but ultimately, it’s gotta be Daniel-san *bowsdown*
Kristie (J)
August 16, 2008 at 9:16 amFor sentimental reasons, it has to be when Daniel kicks ass in the Karate Kid.
Katiebabs
August 16, 2008 at 10:46 amShawshank Redemption. The beach scene makes me sob like a baby every time I watch it.
Heather
August 16, 2008 at 4:35 pmYour nominees are all so great I almost can’t pick a favorite. The George McFly one, if I had to make a choice.
Another great moment is the scene from KUNG POW when The Chosen One fights Evil Betty to the Ram Jam song “Black Betty”. *wipes away tears of joy*. Classic.
Christine
August 16, 2008 at 9:00 pmShawshank Redemption is one of my favorite movies. So I vote for Andy Dufresne.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008 at 9:59 pmyep love those. love karate kid. bobby’s song was so sad.