When Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) scoops his niece up into his arms in The Searchers. When Amelia (Essie Davis) stares down the demon in the culminating confrontation of The Babadook.īut no other genres can compete in terms of the volume and quality of these moments, not even war films, with the mighty western:
When William Wallace (Mel Gibson) screams 'Freedom' on the executioner's table in Braveheart. When Luke (Paul Newman) makes Dragline quit their boxing match by not staying down in Cool Hand Luke. Robert Gould Shaw leads his final charge against the Confederate fortress in Glory. When McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) tries to lift the sink in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. When Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) walks into the hail of gunfire carrying nothing but the cross in The Mission.
