65 Responses to The 25 Greatest Unscripted Scenes in Films [Video]
I had no idea that half of Bill Murray's career was unscripted.
#22 is Knocked Up, not the 40 Year Old Virgin
Nope. It's definitely 40 Year Old Virgin.
They had the same "Wanna know how I know you're gay" topic, but the one in 40 year odl virgin wasn't in a car, instead being discussed while they played Mortal Kombat. Knocked up had the discussion in the car.
You know how I know your gay, because your arguing about which film it was in.
Because this makes sense.
*you're
And the Knocked Up scene wasn't in the film. Just DVD bonuses.
Its definitely knocked up. because in 40 year old virgin Paul Rudd had long hair and Seth Rogen had a full beard
What about Pretty Woman and Richard Gere closing the box on her hand?
I thought it was Hector Elizondo who did that.
Ah wait, never mind.
Should of had Ghostbusters
Peter "This reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head."
Egon "That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me."
Hilarious
And that scene in the jail where Bill Murray starts singing? I read the script once and half of that scene's dialog isn't in the script.
Han Solo's line "I know" was personally approved by both Kurshiner & Lucas.
Kubrick lets his actor's improvised even though he was a perfectionist.
The best one is not here! In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the assassin who confronts Indiana Jones in the square with fancy sword play is scripted. Harrison Ford's response, tiredly pulling out his battered gun and dropping him, is not.
Yes it is, the entire cast had food poisoning. The script had a fight scene written, however due to illness they couldn't do that and just decided on the day to pull out his gun and shot him instead. It was scripted, it wasn't Ford's improvisational skills at all
The fight scenes in the town were filmed in Kairouan; by then Ford was suffering from dysentery and did not want to film a lengthy fight scene in which Indiana uses his whip to fight off a swordsman. He said to Spielberg "Let's just shoot the fucker." Spielberg agreed, scrapped the rest of the fight scene, and filmed the gag of Indiana quickly gunning down the swordsman
The guy who was playing the swordsman was pissed because all of that was cut, too. I think he'd rehearsed the fight choreography for a while and it was basically a waste of his time.
Where do people come up with this ludicrous idea that a fight scene, including multiple camera angles and the very serious act of firing a blank gun in someone's direction on a set, is unscripted? Not only was that joke scripted, it is cribbed from other movies.
Does it count as "unscripted" if they come up with it on the day of shooting? I think it does.
It does, quite right, but I think the purpose of this post was spur-of-the-moment moments like the 'Here's Johnny!' bit from the Shining or whatever :)
I think you'll find it's The Shinning, actually.
Learn to spell before u go correcting people, idiot. It's The Shining.
I'm not sure you saw the reference there did you! Nice over-reaction to an innocuous joke…
@AWhewell shut up do you want to get sued???
"Warriors come out to play" is the line everyone knows whether they've seen the film or not, it was improvised and it's in like the last 10 minutes of the film. It's possibly the best and most anticipated part of a great film and it could almost have never been in it.
There are some good ones in this list (Ledger, Hauer, etc.) But c'mon, Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross is not on this list? How can you miss that? "Put that coffee down. Coffee's for closers."
What Joe Pesci's "What am I, a clown" scene in Goodfellas?
The extent to which Ermey improvised for Full Metal Jacket is often greatly exaggerated, as it is here. The first half of Full Metal Jacket is based on a novel called The Short-Timers, and many of Ermey's lines appear in it. The bit about the reacharound was indeed improvised, though. Kubrick yelled "cut" and asked Ermey what the hell a reacharound was. Ermey told him. Kubrick laughed and told him to keep the line.
Missing a big one here: Raiders of the Lost Ark. According to the story there was supposed to be a huge fight scene in the town with the big sword juggling dude. When they got to the day of shooting, apparently Harrison Ford had the flu, of some other virus and wasn't up to performing that day. Which is why in the final film they came up with the hilarious reaction of Indy just lazily pulling out his pistol and casually shooting him!
And someone already posted about this. I should read the previous posts more often…
so let me get this straight this is the top 25 unscripted scenes of all time and SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND isnt in there……list fail
I agree. How could that not be here?
Because that scene IS…SCRIPTED! As in, written by screenwriter. As in, a part of the shooting schedule. As in not qualified to be on a list of umm……….UNSCRIPTED Scenes In Films. Are we paying attention now? Can we move on? Sure you don't need a sippy drink, with a little bendy straw? Did you go to the bathroom?
Heath ledger’s moment isn’t exactly unscripted. If you watch the documentaries on the blu ray, they explained that they were coming up with a safe way for the actual actor to walk out of the building while the explosions were going on. They could not have everything explode all a once while he was too close and could potentially be injured. He was told to stop, turn around, and play with the remote once he was a safe distance away so they could set off the rest of the explosions and he could jump into the bus. They even show on the documentary how they rehearsed that mark ad naseum that morning because it had to be done exactly right and Heath was a perfectionist.
That is correct. I was working Precision on that film and was on the bus he got onto. They ran it over 10 times because you could only blow everything up once. Not sure if Heath was a perfectionist but they definitely had to do it for safety.
What about the Jason Isaacs / Daniel Radcliffe dialogue at the end of Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets?
The lines "Let us hope that Mr Potter will always be around to save the day" (Lucius Malfoy) and "Don't worry, I will be" (Harry Potter) were both improvised.
R. Lee Emery was a former drill sergeant, which is why he really owns that performance.
What about Napsters riff on handsome Rob in The Italian Job
Han solo saying “I know” in response to Leia’s “I love you” was unscripted….it should of made the list
Um… it did
Did you watch this?
Totally agree with you Robert
I totally agree with Eric and Xremote
I appreciate 'Dumb & Dumber' being there but I prefer the 'We landed on the moon!!' line, which was totally improvised by Jim Carrey.
I think that the best unscripted part of the Dark Knight was when everyone in the room started clapping for Jim Gordon after he was promoted, and when they stop clapping they look at the Joker in the jail cell and he's clapping. Heath Ledger came up with this on the spot and they kept it in.
Didn't know Rutger Hauer's line at the end of Bladerunner was unscripted, nice!
Pretty much all of the lines of Buford T. Justice played by the late Jackie Gleason in Smokey and the Bandit were improvised.
My favorite unscripted moment was in GhostBusters (most of the film was unscripted I guess). "Dickless here turned off the containment unit" "Is this True?" "Yes. It's True. This man has no dick" Dan and Bill came up with that one just before shooting.
They forgot the terminator's line "Hasta la vista baby" which was totally improvised by Arnold.
Sorry, but "Hasta la vista, baby" was not improvised. It was always in the script, including the scene where John Connor teaches the Terminator to say it in the car.
No Spaceballs? "Did you see anything!?!" "No Sir! I did not see you playing with your dolls again!" "Good!"
The one that's missing is Dennis Hopper's improv just after the boat pulls up to Kurtz's camp in Apocalypse Now…
Who ever did this list/compilation is an idiot. 95% of those scenes were quite scripted… a few the actor riffed on what was scriped. The only one that might have actually been improvised was Full Metal Jacket as the actor was a real former drill sargeant… and kubrick was famous for long improvised filming with small crews. However the Clockwork Orange scene was not improv. The only thing going on was the song which was scripted and had to be pre-cleared and hits and stunts are going on during it which have to be carefully planned and choreographed.
True. I have a copy of the script, and the "Singin' In the Rain" scene is in there in all its scripted glory.
What about Eddie Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop" in the parking lot? "All this shit happened the last time I came here" one of my faves
True Romance: Dennis Hopper & Christopher Walken; Brad Pitt (crackhead); Gary Oldman (pimp & Christian Slater); Tom Sizemore & Chris Penn (cops); James Gandolfini & Patricia Arquette fight scene – It was Tarantino's script, but I read that the actors' were given a lot of room to improvise. 4 stars for the scene between Hopper & Walken.
"…part eggplant" or something like that. It's my favorite part of the movie.
so basically, for a piece of dialogue to become "a classic" it has to be improvised?
Not necessarily but improvised lines/actions tend to make for better moments
It doesn't say anything about an improvised piece of dialogue being a classic in the actual content does it? Just that these are what they deem to be the best of the improvised scenes. The 'Classics' of improvisation if you will…
I had no idea that half of Bill Murray's career was unscripted.
#22 is Knocked Up, not the 40 Year Old Virgin
Nope. It's definitely 40 Year Old Virgin.
They had the same "Wanna know how I know you're gay" topic, but the one in 40 year odl virgin wasn't in a car, instead being discussed while they played Mortal Kombat. Knocked up had the discussion in the car.
You know how I know your gay, because your arguing about which film it was in.
Because this makes sense.
*you're
And the Knocked Up scene wasn't in the film. Just DVD bonuses.
Its definitely knocked up. because in 40 year old virgin Paul Rudd had long hair and Seth Rogen had a full beard
What about Pretty Woman and Richard Gere closing the box on her hand?
I thought it was Hector Elizondo who did that.
Ah wait, never mind.
Should of had Ghostbusters
Peter "This reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head."
Egon "That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me."
Hilarious
And that scene in the jail where Bill Murray starts singing? I read the script once and half of that scene's dialog isn't in the script.
Han Solo's line "I know" was personally approved by both Kurshiner & Lucas.
Kubrick lets his actor's improvised even though he was a perfectionist.
The best one is not here! In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the assassin who confronts Indiana Jones in the square with fancy sword play is scripted. Harrison Ford's response, tiredly pulling out his battered gun and dropping him, is not.
Yes it is, the entire cast had food poisoning. The script had a fight scene written, however due to illness they couldn't do that and just decided on the day to pull out his gun and shot him instead. It was scripted, it wasn't Ford's improvisational skills at all
The fight scenes in the town were filmed in Kairouan; by then Ford was suffering from dysentery and did not want to film a lengthy fight scene in which Indiana uses his whip to fight off a swordsman. He said to Spielberg "Let's just shoot the fucker." Spielberg agreed, scrapped the rest of the fight scene, and filmed the gag of Indiana quickly gunning down the swordsman
The guy who was playing the swordsman was pissed because all of that was cut, too. I think he'd rehearsed the fight choreography for a while and it was basically a waste of his time.
Where do people come up with this ludicrous idea that a fight scene, including multiple camera angles and the very serious act of firing a blank gun in someone's direction on a set, is unscripted? Not only was that joke scripted, it is cribbed from other movies.
Does it count as "unscripted" if they come up with it on the day of shooting? I think it does.
It does, quite right, but I think the purpose of this post was spur-of-the-moment moments like the 'Here's Johnny!' bit from the Shining or whatever :)
I think you'll find it's The Shinning, actually.
Learn to spell before u go correcting people, idiot. It's The Shining.
I'm not sure you saw the reference there did you! Nice over-reaction to an innocuous joke…
@AWhewell shut up do you want to get sued???
"Warriors come out to play" is the line everyone knows whether they've seen the film or not, it was improvised and it's in like the last 10 minutes of the film. It's possibly the best and most anticipated part of a great film and it could almost have never been in it.
There are some good ones in this list (Ledger, Hauer, etc.) But c'mon, Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross is not on this list? How can you miss that? "Put that coffee down. Coffee's for closers."
What Joe Pesci's "What am I, a clown" scene in Goodfellas?
The extent to which Ermey improvised for Full Metal Jacket is often greatly exaggerated, as it is here. The first half of Full Metal Jacket is based on a novel called The Short-Timers, and many of Ermey's lines appear in it. The bit about the reacharound was indeed improvised, though. Kubrick yelled "cut" and asked Ermey what the hell a reacharound was. Ermey told him. Kubrick laughed and told him to keep the line.
Missing a big one here: Raiders of the Lost Ark. According to the story there was supposed to be a huge fight scene in the town with the big sword juggling dude. When they got to the day of shooting, apparently Harrison Ford had the flu, of some other virus and wasn't up to performing that day. Which is why in the final film they came up with the hilarious reaction of Indy just lazily pulling out his pistol and casually shooting him!
And someone already posted about this. I should read the previous posts more often…
so let me get this straight this is the top 25 unscripted scenes of all time and SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND isnt in there……list fail
I agree. How could that not be here?
Because that scene IS…SCRIPTED! As in, written by screenwriter. As in, a part of the shooting schedule. As in not qualified to be on a list of umm……….UNSCRIPTED Scenes In Films. Are we paying attention now? Can we move on? Sure you don't need a sippy drink, with a little bendy straw? Did you go to the bathroom?
Heath ledger’s moment isn’t exactly unscripted. If you watch the documentaries on the blu ray, they explained that they were coming up with a safe way for the actual actor to walk out of the building while the explosions were going on. They could not have everything explode all a once while he was too close and could potentially be injured. He was told to stop, turn around, and play with the remote once he was a safe distance away so they could set off the rest of the explosions and he could jump into the bus. They even show on the documentary how they rehearsed that mark ad naseum that morning because it had to be done exactly right and Heath was a perfectionist.
That is correct. I was working Precision on that film and was on the bus he got onto. They ran it over 10 times because you could only blow everything up once. Not sure if Heath was a perfectionist but they definitely had to do it for safety.
What about the Jason Isaacs / Daniel Radcliffe dialogue at the end of Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets?
The lines "Let us hope that Mr Potter will always be around to save the day" (Lucius Malfoy) and "Don't worry, I will be" (Harry Potter) were both improvised.
R. Lee Emery was a former drill sergeant, which is why he really owns that performance.
What about Napsters riff on handsome Rob in The Italian Job
Han solo saying “I know” in response to Leia’s “I love you” was unscripted….it should of made the list
Um… it did
Did you watch this?
Totally agree with you Robert
I totally agree with Eric and Xremote
I appreciate 'Dumb & Dumber' being there but I prefer the 'We landed on the moon!!' line, which was totally improvised by Jim Carrey.
I think that the best unscripted part of the Dark Knight was when everyone in the room started clapping for Jim Gordon after he was promoted, and when they stop clapping they look at the Joker in the jail cell and he's clapping. Heath Ledger came up with this on the spot and they kept it in.
Didn't know Rutger Hauer's line at the end of Bladerunner was unscripted, nice!
Pretty much all of the lines of Buford T. Justice played by the late Jackie Gleason in Smokey and the Bandit were improvised.
My favorite unscripted moment was in GhostBusters (most of the film was unscripted I guess). "Dickless here turned off the containment unit" "Is this True?" "Yes. It's True. This man has no dick" Dan and Bill came up with that one just before shooting.
They forgot the terminator's line "Hasta la vista baby" which was totally improvised by Arnold.
Sorry, but "Hasta la vista, baby" was not improvised. It was always in the script, including the scene where John Connor teaches the Terminator to say it in the car.
No Spaceballs? "Did you see anything!?!" "No Sir! I did not see you playing with your dolls again!" "Good!"
The one that's missing is Dennis Hopper's improv just after the boat pulls up to Kurtz's camp in Apocalypse Now…
Who ever did this list/compilation is an idiot. 95% of those scenes were quite scripted… a few the actor riffed on what was scriped. The only one that might have actually been improvised was Full Metal Jacket as the actor was a real former drill sargeant… and kubrick was famous for long improvised filming with small crews. However the Clockwork Orange scene was not improv. The only thing going on was the song which was scripted and had to be pre-cleared and hits and stunts are going on during it which have to be carefully planned and choreographed.
True. I have a copy of the script, and the "Singin' In the Rain" scene is in there in all its scripted glory.
What about Eddie Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop" in the parking lot? "All this shit happened the last time I came here" one of my faves
True Romance: Dennis Hopper & Christopher Walken; Brad Pitt (crackhead); Gary Oldman (pimp & Christian Slater); Tom Sizemore & Chris Penn (cops); James Gandolfini & Patricia Arquette fight scene – It was Tarantino's script, but I read that the actors' were given a lot of room to improvise. 4 stars for the scene between Hopper & Walken.
"…part eggplant" or something like that. It's my favorite part of the movie.
so basically, for a piece of dialogue to become "a classic" it has to be improvised?
Not necessarily but improvised lines/actions tend to make for better moments
It doesn't say anything about an improvised piece of dialogue being a classic in the actual content does it? Just that these are what they deem to be the best of the improvised scenes. The 'Classics' of improvisation if you will…
lol classic scenes for sure.
INCOMPLETE!!!!!
Where are the Ilegal Aliens???? from alien Saga??