Best Scene/Sequence in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining"

Gah, I'm sitting in the dark and even reading the scene descriptions is freaking me out.

Apart from the obvious greatness of Danny & the Twins in the corridor, and crowd-pleasers like the "Give me the bat, Wendy" scene, I'd say that my favorite scene in this movie (and one of the more subtle) is the one with Jack and Delbert Grady in the restroom: the symmetry, the unexpected 180-degree reversals of camera position, the way the mood shifts quickly from easy-going to deadly serious along with Grady's creepy stares.

Wait, what about Danny's silent scream scene where the blood is pouring out of the elevators?

That would be counted under "Foreshadowing: Danny shines in the bathroom"

Ah yes. That gets my vote. (CHILLS)

Jack and Delbert Grady in the restroom

the lighting is particularly awesome in this scene.

While I considered "other" in support of the use of Penderecki throughout, I went with "go check it out" (taps fingers on door, sticks fat tongue out).

The chase in the snow is my favorite - it 'thrills' as much as anything I can think of in the movies.

end credits

does "Costumed guest in bedroom" = bear going down on dude?

cause i think that deserves its own slot

I picked the corridor sequence, but not as much for the twins (as mind-shatteringly creepy as they are) as for the epic big-wheel ride. It was kind of a rash vote, but I particularly love the shots where the big wheel rides over alternating strips of carpet and hardwood. The silence/noise is great and is one of those little details that adds to the scene's tension. If I'd thought a little more, I'd have probably gone with the bar scene. Oh well.

my arm hair is standing up reading all the scenes. really couldn't pick but wanted to, so went with the corridor scene as well. hmm.

cause i think that deserves its own slot

-- cutty, Monday, May 28, 2007 4:06 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Link

otm

otm x10

bear suit gave me heebie-jeebies for a week.

yeah wtf was that about, and the way he stares over vacantly

HI DERE

http://www.indelibleinc.com/kubrick/films/shining/images/shining_wierd.jpg

the first silent scream / blood / elevator moment wasn't even in the original UK release. wasn't available on video either. still baffles me that.

bear suit was the first thing i thought about.

the US version is longer in general.

yeah our dvd is the same as the US one now though. all chills presesnt and 'correct'.

http://www.cinecultist.com/archives/shining_twins_1.jpg

Is "Jack unwinds with Lloyd the Bartender: "A momentary loss of muscular coordination..." the time Jack's in the ballroom with all the guests there and the band playing? Because that's my favorite scene, I think. That or when he looks at the model of the maze and sees Wendy and Danny in there.

yeah our dvd is the same as the US one now though. all chills presesnt and 'correct'.

-- pisces, Monday, May 28, 2007 12:07 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

ooh i'm not sure about that...

TWINZ OBV

Danny and Halloran in kitchen because it is a unique combination of near-perfect casting, writing, directing and acting.
Though for visual look, the crowded ballroom, the men's room, the twin girls in the corridor, and the big wheel, and the snow maze chase are my top 5

I've always thought Kubrick could have reaped several heart attacks in the audience during that twins scene if Danny covers his eyes (like he does in the actual scene) and then after a suitable pause, when he uncovers them to peek out and see if they are still there, instead of finding them vanished from the corridor (as the actual scene), he finds that to the contrary, the twins are right up there in his face within touching distance of the Big Wheel. Those are two super freaky-looking girls.

The twinz nowadays:

http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/shiningtwins.jpg

(bumping for more votes before June 4th...)

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" and the Red Bathroom scene are the two best in Kubrick's worst (post-Killer's Kiss) film.

also: srch: Kubrick bathroom scenes

like O'Neal-Berenson in the infinitely superior Barry Lyndon

Danny today....

http://members.tripod.com/~former_child_star/lloyd_danny.jpg

Funny, I just re-watched this last weekend and decided to google Danny Lloyd out of sheer curiosity. Apparently, while making the movie, he was under the impression that he was making a drama - so when his mother showed him a laserdisc of The Shining a few years later, it totally blew his mind.

Today he's a biology teacher in the Knoxsville area of Tennessee.

The carpet is the best thing in the shining.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

THANK YOU ILX SYSTEM FOR TEACHING US ABOUT LIFE AND LOVE, AGAIN.

ILX SYSTEM OTM8080

I had Kubrick in mind when calling it ILX system.

Okay, I am a bit surprised that "Halloran's Vision/Room 237" (which would represent the naked woman in the bathtub rises to kiss Mr. J. --> crazy ol' hag laughing scene) didn't get any votes at all.

i voted for the winner! hurrah

I love Nicholson's dulled reaction to the ghost's racial slur.

And this film still essentially sucks.

finally it can be told
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81ql-2Xj%2BUL._AA1500_.jpg

And this film still essentially sucks.

― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, June 5, 2007 5:27 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark

otm! beautifully shot but basically a big 'whatever'

i do like when scatman takes an axe to the dome

Is the scene where Danny rides the Big wheel around the hotel the same as the twins scene? I liked that.

The preview for this scared the shit out of me at age nine, when all I was trying to do was see Going in Style with George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg.

the word 'essentially' should be banned from all discourse forever.

I was using it for flava. How about 'fundamentally'?

Your opinion concerning The Shining is fundamentally wrong.

'the shining' def has its flaws but seems way more interesting to me than any of kubrick's other post-2001 films (i agree that 'barry lyndon' is better).

'the shining' def has its flaws but seems way more interesting to me than any of kubrick's other post-2001 films

meager praise

I was using it for flava. How about 'fundamentally'?

― your generation appalls me (Dr Morbius), Monday, April 4, 2011 9:24 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

Why not just say it sucks? Essentially/Fundamentally are useless words in the context. Unless somehow you're saying the movie the essence of the film sucks but the actual film itself doesn't?

this is honestly probably my favorite kubrick movie.

anyway when i read "kubrick's other post-2001 films" i thought you meant a.i.

Actually "essentially/fundamentally" are kind of critical to the context of the comment, as it means that the film was misconceived from the start and, if one is being charitable, implies that it did the best it could given the awful starting point.

Not every adverb is a mindless intensifier.

ah ok, I should have gone back and read the context.

a lot of people do use "essentially" as one though

hopefully that wasn't what was going on here

hopefully everything's above-board

I kind of agree, I've always wondered what drew Kubrick to this material. xp

I abuse "basically/essentially/fundamentally" a lot but that's because I like to pontificate about things' foundations

I omitted some ones that are pure exposition that I doubt anyone would vote for (e.g., Wendy talking to Danny's doctor,

ha, what? found that to be the most astonishing scene this time around, esp. Duvall

it’s just the sort of thing you might do a hundred times with a child, you know, in a park or on the street

I find Kubricks films need to be experienced to be understood- like 2001 reading the plot really does not give you the impression. All these scenes are good in their own way but when the ghost talks to Jack in the bathroom it’s just so evil - no gore or jump scares - just Malice and madness.

Scene with Wendy & the doctor is prob the high point of Duvalls career, she’s endlessly fascinating in it