CARLTON FLETCHER: Whiplash joins pantheon of movie scenes

I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show, A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes.

— The Kinks

Whether its movies, music, TV shows, books, plays or whatever, all of us who enjoy a particular medium of entertainment tend to come up with lists that enumerate our favorites. You may not write them down and send them out for public dissemination as some do (ahem), but you can recite your Top 10 movies of all time, Top 10 songs, Top 10 albums …

(By the way: From someone who came up with not one Top 500 song list but two such collections back a few years ago, the lower the number … Top 3, Top 5, Top 10 … the more difficult the selections.)

I have my own list of top movies, but there’s a subgenre to that list that I think is more indicative of the way I enjoy the spectacle of film. I have a list of movie scenes — and really, they’re in no specific order — that, if I’m flipping channels and I see that particular movie is on, I’ll at least watch my favorite scene, no matter if I’ve seen it 472 times. (Which drives my wife mad.) I call it my “pantheon of movie scenes.”

I added a scene to that list this weekend, the amazing final scene in the excellent “Whiplash.” Miles Teller is astounding throughout the 2014 Best Movie Oscar nominee, and J.K. Simmons deserved his Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. The final scene, though, in which Teller’s “Andrew” shows his overdemanding mentor, “Fletcher” (Simmons,) that he has the chops to play drums with the best is an amazing climax to an extremely well-done movie.

As fate would have it, while vegging out over the course of the rainy weekend, I saw two other scenes from my pantheon list: Matt Damon’s “Mike McD” taking down John Malkovich’s “Teddy KGB” in a straight-up, very high-stakes game of Texas Hold-‘em poker in the wonderful but underrated “Rounders,” and Gene Hackman’s FBI “Agent Rupert Anderson” roughing up the racist “depity” (Brad Dourif) in the unforgettable “Mississippi Burning.”

That got me to thinking about some of my other favorite all-time movie scenes and, of course, led me to this list:

— Eminem’s crazed “B Rabbit” as he shows up bad-guy favorite “Papa Doc” (Anthony Mackie) in the gripping final rap battle scene from “Eight Mile.”

— The bowling alley scenes in which Jeff Bridges’ “The Dude” waxes eloquent with layabout pals “Walter” (John Goodman) and “Donny” (Steve Buscemi) in “The Big Lebowski.” (Unforgettable line: “The Dude abides.”)

— When Michael Corleone’s (a scary good Al Pacino) men take out the heads of the other mafia families while Michael is innocently witnessing the baptism of his nephew, for whom he will become godfather, in the amazing “The Godfather.”

— The — OOPS! — early arrival of the beer delivery guy as the “Stoner” party planner’s parents are packing for their weekend trip, leading to the cancellation of the parents’ trip and the end-of-school bash for all the cool kids in “Dazed and Confused.”

— The final hole in the final round of the U.S. Open as Kevin Costner’s “Roy McAvoy” loses it to wonderful results in one of my favorite sports movies, “Tin Cup.”

— The “50 eggs” scene featuring the great Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke.”

— Russell Crowe’s Washington newspaper journalist “Cal McAffrey” taking down his former friend and current Senator “Stephen Collins” (Ben Affleck) in the greatly underrated “State of Play.”

— The breakdown of the word “prostitution” by “Idea Man Bill ‘Billy Blaze’ Blazejowski” (Michael Keaton at his zaniest) in “Night Shift.”

— The final shootout scene (you have to play it through five or six times to really figure out who shot whom) in Quentin Tarrantino’s superb “Reservoir Dogs.”

— Giovanni Ribisi’s “Seth” desperately fighting to save one of his swindled clients’ money in the gripping “Boiler Room.”

— The killing of the hillbillies by king of the macho men Burt Reynolds (“Lewis”) in “Deliverance.”

— Tom Laughlin’s “Billy Jack” kicking serious townie butt.

— “Regan’s” (Linda Blair) creepy spider walk down the stairs in the scariest movie of all time, “The Exorcist.”

— “Jake” (Ethan Hawke) playing cards with gang members at their home in “Training Day.”

— Dustin Hoffman’s “Benjamin Braddack” stealing bride “Elaine Robinson” (that’s Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, played by Katharine Ross) in “The Graduate.”

— And, maybe my favorite scene ever, the Phoebe Cates emerging from the pool scene from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” Bless her.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow @ABH_Fletcher on Twitter.