Movie Classic Scene

Seven (1995) Brad Pitt as detective David Mills

Se7en (1995): “What’s in the Box?”

David Fincher’s first serial-killer flick carries a scorpion’s sting at its tail-end — a nihilistic denouement that sees the two heroes shockingly outwitted by the killer. On his instruction, the pair of detectives have escorted their prisoner to the middle of nowhere. One of them guards him, while the other goes to check on a cardboard box that’s just been mysteriously delivered…

Life of Brian (1979): “Who threw that stone?”

Once banned in several American states, Ireland and Norway – and subsequently marketed in Sweden with the tagline, “The film so funny it was banned in Norway” – Life Of Brian is Monty Python at their wittiest, ballsiest best. Taking aim at the fake piety of many religious folk, its genius is perhaps best exemplified by this lapidation set-piece, which riffs on the Gospel of John, Chapter 8.

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991) – “A Census Taker Once Tried To Test Me…”

As part of a police effort to suss out the workings of serial killer Buffalo Bills mind, rookie FBI Agent Clarice Starling (Foster) is assigned the task of interrogating Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter (Hopkins). Having extracted the information that she suffered verbal abuse from fellow prisoner Miggs (Stuart Levine) on the way in (“I can smell your cunt,” he hisses charmingly), the good Doctor turns the conversation towards fragrances of a less personal nature…