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Pretty Woman shopping scene named nation's top movie moment

Posted by Team Boxwish 9 months ago

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“I was in here yesterday,” says Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) to the snooty store assistant in modern fairytale Pretty Woman. “You wouldn’t wait on me. You people work on commission, right?” The shamed clerk at the exclusive Rodeo Drive shop mumbles in agreement. “Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now.” And with that Vivian, dressed head to toe in swanky designer labels and completely transformed from her streetwalker roots sweeps confidently out of the shop, that soon-to-be familiar Roberts grin (this was 1990) spread across her face. It was the moment that a star was born, catapulting Roberts to mega-stardom and giving ‘the little person’ victory over those that look down on them and 19 years later remains so popular that it’s been voted the UK’s favourite movie moment in a new poll.

Essentially it’s a revenge scene, but performed so sweetly and with such glee that it’s not offensive or nasty. Instead it’s a fantasy moment in a film of fantasy moments, who, after all, wouldn’t love to stick to all those that have treated them shabbily over the years? Well, no one as it has topped a survey by Turner Classic Movies to find the nation’s favourite movie moment.

It beat Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) embarrassing Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) with her theatrical skills as she fakes an orgasm in a busy Manhattan deli in classic rom-com When Harry Met Sally into second and Jack Nicholson hacking into the bathroom door with the menacing cry “Here’s Johnny!” in Stanley Kubrick horror The Shining into third. Fourth spot went to big Arnie and his iconic threat/ promise “I’ll Be Back” in 1984’s The Terminator and the top five was completed by the tea room visit in Brit cult comedy Withnail & I.

On their website, TCM surmise that the poll “has shown that scenes featuring passion, suspense, eccentricity and escapism are what Brits seek in a memorable movie moment. Vivian’s decadent shopping spree provides the ultimate in film escapism during the current credit crunch!” And off the back of the survey, the TV channel is now launching the “Capture your Classic” competition in which you can win a trip to Los Angeles and £1000 spending money by creating your own version of a famous film scene. For more information, click here.

Certainly we seem to have new surveys conducted all the time that claim to have found the best movie moment ever, but this one seems a bit of a head-scratcher. The five films named are such an odd mix of genial rom-com and adult menace, almost with a gender divide and all minus any of the usual suspects, films that always poll well with the public such as Star Wars or The Godfather. Is the Pretty Woman shopping scene really the very best of the best? And if not, why did it earn the top spot? It hasn’t benefitted from a spell in the spotlight of late, so how did it perform so well? Let’s hear your theories Boxwishers.

[via The Daily Star]

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