Top Five Dialogue Scenes in Movies

How about the final cafe scene in Pulp Fiction?

Or the final showdown between Inigo Montoya and Count Reugan in The Princess Bride. Or heck all of the scenes in Casablanca. There is also some brilliant dialogue in Quiz Show, especially when the Ralph Fiennes character finally confesses to his father. The film version of The Lion in Winter is one long best dialogue. All About Eve! Another film with scene after scene of brilliance.

Honestly, don't know how people make these lists at all, so many to choose from!

1.) Bastian and the Childlike Empress at the end of 'NeverEnding Story'
2.) Atreyu and Gmork in 'NeverEnding Story' ("I am the servant of the Nothing.")
3.) Sam Spade and the general in 'The Big Sleep'
4.) Verbal Kint and Kujan near the end of 'Usual Suspects' (when Kint's telling him Soze's story)
5.) Romeo and Juliet meeting at the Capulet ball in Zeffirelli's version of the play.

The strip club scene in Closer. Talk about sexual tension.

WannabeWriter said:

How about the final cafe scene in Pulp Fiction?

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How about the first cafe scene in Pulp Fiction? (I love you, honey-bunny)

There are probably some good ones in Clerks if your looking for the rambling conversations about the minutae of pop-culture.

The tension in Goodfellows when Tommy wants to know from Henry "What the fuck is so funny about the way I talk" "Im here to amuse you" brilliant... And anything from pulp fiction,,,,, QT at his best.

One more that is even better...Marathon man Dustin Hoffman and I forget the guys name, somebody help me, the scene where he supposedly rescues hoffman from the dentist L.O. and drives thru the streets like a maniac then deposits him back to the dentist, all the time dustin thinks he's being rescued. GREAT dialog great scene...

What is a "dialog scene?" Where they talk and nothing else happens?

There is some great dialog in Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon.

Barnaby Conrad has written 101 BEST SCENES EVER WRITTEN.

Shadow_Ferret said:

The Maltese Falcon.

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True.
The final scene where Bogart confronts her with what she was Really doing.
Marvellous.

Toothpaste said:

The film version of The Lion in Winter is one long best dialogue.

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Totally agree with this.

I want to write dialogue like that when I grow up.

I think the architect scene from the "Matrix 3" is quite nice.

Many bits from "A Beautiful Mind"

I have to say that "Lord of the Rings" also has good bits of speech.

Personally, I love snappy, 'all-in-the-timing' dialogue. It used to be more common (and really well done) in older movies; 'Bringing Up Baby', 'Meet John Doe ', any of the 'Road' movies...

A more modern example...? The Princess Bride...

'...I'll call the Brute Squad'.
'I'm on the Brute Squad.'
'You are the brute Squad...'

...and, if you've been lucky enough to see it, 'Sneakers', especially the end 'what do you want?' scene.

C. Gosse

How about pretty much anything in a Marx Brothers movie?

The entire movie When Harry Met Sally is mostly dialogue.

Tim Robbin's starkly lit monologue in Mystic River. Probably the primary scene in an extraordinary performance that won him the Oscar.

The Hours. Nicole Kidman's speech at the end probably helped her win the Oscar.

The waiting for the money scene at the end of The Unforgiven.

The Color of Money: "That's not what I said, kid. I said you *are* a natural character; you're an incredible flake."

Yes! The 'on the road' movies with Hope and Crosby

Most of the dialogue in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

Several scenes (TV) in Deadwood where Swearingen and the 'Celestial' banter on and on about Co******er

DWSTXS said:

Yes! The 'on the road' movies with Hope and Crosby

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Many of the old comedy teams. I mentioned the Marx Brothers, but there's also Abbot and Costello. Not everything Laurel and Hardy did were sight gags, they had some great verbal comedy, too. Martin and Lewis.

And a lot of the movies from the 40s, the film noir stuff had some great dialog. Humphrey Bogart movies: Treasure of Sierra Madre. To Have or Have Not. Key Largo. Sahara.

And Jimmy Stewart movies, like Rear Window. The Flight of the Phoenix.

The Philadelphia Story with Cary Grant, Kate Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart.

She was yar, all right.

Any scenes with Edna Mode in the Incredibles. She doesn't really do much -- she just talks. But what a hoot.

One of the best movies of recent years, Brick has some great noir dialogue, spoken by high school kids...

Brendan Frye: Emily said four words I didn't know. Tell me if they catch. Brick?
The Brain: No.
Brendan Frye: Or Bad Brick?
The Brain: Nope.
Brendan Frye: Tug?
The Brain: Tug? Tug might be a drink, like milk and vodka, or something.
Brendan Frye: Poor Frisco?
The Brain: Frisco? Frisco Farr was a sophomore last year, real trash. Maybe had a class a week, I didn't know him then, haven't seen him around.
Brendan Frye: Pin?
The Brain: Pin. The Pin?
Brendan Frye: The Pin, yeah?
The Brain: The Pin is kinda a local spook story, yeah know the King Pin.
Brendan Frye: Yeah, I've heard it.
The Brain: Same thing, he's supposed to be old, like 26. Lives in town.
Brendan Frye: Dope runner, right?
The Brain: Big time. See the Pin pipes it from the lowest scraper for Brad Bramish to sell, maybe. Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it from that, who scored it from this, who bought it off so, and after four or five connections the list always ends with The Pin. But I bet you, if you got every rat in town together and said "Show your hands" if any of them've actually seen The Pin, you'd get a crowd of full pockets.
Brendan Frye: You think The Pin's just a tale to take whatever heat?
The Brain: Hmm... So what's first?
Brendan Frye: Show of hands.



Also, some of the Ealing comedies, such as Kind Hearts and Coronets, I'm All Right Jack, and the LadyKillers had brilliant comedic scenes driven by overlapping dialogue.