100 fantastic moments (10/4/13)

We hit day 100 and the first of my lengthy lists. I *do* love a list.

Woody Allen's soliloquy from Manhattan - a list of all the wonders in the world that make life worthwhile

The '1,2,3,4' count from the middle of 'Born To Run' and we're into 'The Highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive

 'A Matter Of Life And Death' - time freezes, we go to black and white and David Niven finds out what the afterlife looks like. "One is so starved of technicolor up there."

 George Bailey runs home through the snow covered streets of Bedford Falls, his life right again. (It's A Wonderful Life, best film ever)

 The Pogues "I could have been someone" "Well so could anyone"

 Kirsty MacColl's cover of Billy Bragg's 'A New England' "once upon a time at home, I sat beside the telephone waiting for someone to pull me through, when at last it didn't ring I knew it wasn't you"

 Tracey Ullman (honest) 'They Don't Know About Us' the cry of Baaaby! Before the guitar solo hits (which I only found out later is Kirsty MacColl, lifted from her original)

 The Jam. The Gift. "For those of you watching in black and white, this ones in technicolor"

 45 minutes into Superman The Movie and Christopher Reeve appears for the first time. In the costume. Takes two steps forward and drifts into the air. We believe a man can fly.

"That's my family Kay, that's not me." And in one sentence Michael Corleone hits the tragedy at the heart of The Godfather.

" 'Fredo, I love you but don't ever take sides against the family again." And Michael completes his journey into hell in Godfather II.

 The start of 'Like A Rolling Stone' - the rimshot that was heard around the world and a keyboard part played by a bloke who didn't play keyboards. And didn't know the song.

 John Wayne. True Grit. "Fill your hands you son of a bitch."

 'Won't Get Fooled Again' Daltrey screams and the drums burst in

 Oh go on then, "No Luke, I am your father"

 The Likely Lads spend half an hour avoiding the England score

"A pint? That's very nearly an armful"

R.E.M. 'Its The End Of The World As We Know It ( and I feel fine)' - live, the audience yelling 'Leonard Bernstein'. Nonsensical but brilliant

 The Bunnymen live. The lights go down, the monks start chanting.

"What have the Romans ever done for us?"

"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy"

 Steve McQueen turns the bike 'round, looks at the fences and decides he can make it.

 True Romance. Dennis Hopper asks Christopher Walken if he's lying.

 The Hold Steady, 'Positive Summer', "Let's raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer, I do believe he was our only decent teacher."

 The trumpets at the beginning of The Teardrop Explodes 'Reward'

 The end of 'Six Feet Under'. Everybody dies.

 Dustin Hoffman and Katherine Ross' faces at the end of The Graduate as they realise what they've done.

 Red Dead Redemption. You cross the border into Mexico, the sun shines and suddenly as you ride the dirt paths there's a song in the background. You're not in a game anymore, you're in a movie. Understated brilliance.

 Heaton Park, summer 2012, Saturday night. 'Fool's Gold' best ten minutes of live music ever.

 Casablanca - everybody in Rick's bar stands and sings the Marseillaise in defiance of the Nazi troops

 The Usual Suspects - Keyszer Soze revealed

 The Velvet Underground 'I Heard Her Call My Name' "and then my mind split open" and the guitar solo sounds like it did.

 Bowie. Top of the Pops. Starman. Not the arm round Mick Ronson, the moment when he sings "I had to call someone so I picked on you" and points down the camera directly at you and you alone.

 The Manics. Top of the Pops. Faster. I.R.A. balaclava. Public outrage.

 "You speak whale?"

 "I am not a number, I am a free man."

 "I said to Hank Williams 'how lonely does it get?' Hank Williams hasn't answered yet but I can hear him coughing the whole night long, a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Song"

"And I need you more than want you and I want you for all time"

 The first time you see actual, real dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Go on, admit it, at the time it was sodding awesome

"Giz a job, go on, I could do that" forget that it became a catchphrase, it summed up the true depth of despair under Thatcher's evil rule.

 The beginning of 'Up'. You cried, admit it.

 The Office - the Christmas special. Tom and Dawn finally get together

 Spaced season 2. Camera pulls out on the goodbye and we're doing The Empire Strikes Back.

"Why are you wearing that stupid rabbit suit?"

 Inglourious Basterds. Tarantino kills Hitler. Because it's his film and he can.

 24 Hour Party People. Tony Wilson. "I saw God" "What'd he look like?" "He looked like me"

 The synth at the beginning of New Order's 'Procession' - best sound ever.

 Unless you count the 'mmmwwwaaaaah' at the beginning of every HBO show.

 "Kathy, I'm lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping" '

Lost' -The final show of the final season. Setting the alarm to watch it live at 5 in the morning.

 The crucified Spartacus is shown his son. A free man. Go on, admit it, you cried.

 Scott Pilgrim beats his first 'evil ex' "Coins, sweet."

 The Royle Family. The Queen of Sheba. Nana dies.


'From Dusk to Dawn' Inside The Titty Twister (it's a bar). Suddenly the whole film is something
different. Suddenly my wife went "oh for God's sake, I'm not watching this crap"

Of Time And The City. All of it. Film as poetry.

 Malcolm Tucker

 Hilda cradles Stan's glasses and breaks down.

 The backing vocals on 'Midnight Train To Georgia' - "I'll be there with him" sings Gladys Knight. "I know you will." Affirm the pips.

"So Kev, what was she like?" Dexys live.

 Bruce Willis realises he's been dead all along

 Sopranos. The last moment.

 Sopranos again, Chris apologises for being late because "the highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive" to Steven Van Zandt. Quoting Springsteen to Springsteen's best mate. 

Don Draper walks away from his wife and takes a considered step back into his old ways. 

The whistle at the beginning of West Side Story.  

"When the world falls apart some things stay in place, she takes off the Four Tops tape and put sit back in its case" Levi Stubbs Tears.

"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster" This is what Henry Hill tells us while 'something' thrashes about in the trunk of the car.

 The star destroyer rolls across the screen and 'event' cinema changes forever.

 John Wayne silhouetted against an open door into monument valley as Ethan Edwards leaves 'The Searchers' with some small portion of redemption.

 Bob Marley. Redemption Song.

 Dave Sim ends his thirty year long graphic novel 'Cerebus The Aardvark' by having the lead character die aloe and unloved as he'd always said he would.

 The guitar feedback at the beginning of 'I Feel Fine' - deliberate, no matter what they may claim.

'Born To Run'. The Frankie Goes To Hollywood version. "Girls comb their hair in rear view mirrors and the boys try to look so hard" best pronunciation of the word 'hard' that you will ever hear. 

And, in fairness, the intro to the above - a snatch of 'Ferry, cross the Mersey', the sound of a dole office "I'm sorry, I've left me card at home" "Well you're late as well, that's three times on the run, if you're late again the supervisor says we're gonna put you on daily signing." The screamed, scoffed 'hah' that heralds the rush of the song. The perfect encapsulation of 80s Liverpool dole culture.

 Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble & Grubb. Not the kids show. Half Man Half Biscuit, Time Flies By When You're The Driver Of A Train. Sod it, all HMHB.

 The Weather Prophets. Almost Prayed. Best indie single ever.

 Fight Club. Buildings explode, Pixies 'Where Is My Mind?' plays.

 "Well, it's been building up inside me for, oh I don't know how long" The Beach Boys 'Don't Worry Baby' heartbreakingly perfect. 

Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box.

 Lawrence of Arabia, Omar Sharif rides into view from the horizon. For a hell of a long time.

 Isaac Hayes takes twenty minutes to do 'By The Time I Get To Phoenix'

 The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Gil Scott Heron invents rap. (Well, him and The Last Poets)

 Blondie '(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear' - an aside, "It's really not cheating, y'know?"

'Cinema Paradiso' - the kisses. If you've see it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, make sure you do. When you do, you'll know what I mean.

'Some Like It Hot' - best closing line in the history of film, "Well, nobody's perfect." Oh, and...Marilyn.

"We have a Hulk."

 "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine." THAT is how you start a song, an album, a career. Patti Smith's version of 'Gloria' from 'Horses'

 The opening bars of Pretty Vacant. Hear that? That's a revolution starting.

 And obviously The Pistols on the Bill Grundy show.

 Tomorrow Never Knows. Two years after 'She Loves You' and The Beatles make something that sounds like nothing else on earth. Two years.

 Iain Banks 'The Wasp Factory' - everything you believed was a lie.

''Hey you, don't watch that, watch this' - One. Step. Beyond.

 Michael Chabon's 'Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay' - Sam Clay says a silent goodbye to the son that he always knew wasn't his own and slips away into the night. If your heart isn't breaking its because you don't have one.

 "And I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time" (Which is in here twice, and is being left that way because it is - despite the fact that it's now repeated to the point of cliche as being the greatest lyric of all time - simply THAT great)

 The 1,2,3,4 count from the beginning of 'I Saw Her Standing There' and pop just got born.

 Dead Man's Shoes. The moment you realise what's actually going on.

 This Is England 90. Combo and Lol, one to one in prison.

 The nuke goes off in the first Modern Warfare. You don't expect it, you can't believe it's happened

 Butch and Sundance charge out shooting, the screen freezes and turns to sepia, just another image from long ago

 The first minute of The Only Ones' 'Another Girl, Another Planet' - a rumbling, pure rush, may be drug related 

The ultimate moment - a last minute winner in any game of FIFA.