Best scene - Fandango (1985) Discussion

[–] stely 20 years ago

Truly, too many to count!

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[–] rickert 20 years ago

The wedding scene at the end...totally classic.

The one thing I'm not sure about, is why they refer to Suzy Amis as "Girl in Dream Sequence"

The ending where that entire small town creates the wedding for them didn't happen? Or what? I realize there's a part where Costner's clothes suddenly change...but I thought that was because they gave the tux to the guy getting married.

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[–] terencesnell 20 years ago

Hey, I really think my favorite part is actually right at the very beginning after they all leave the party and take Phillip's car....Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting instantly became a classic for me and it's one of two parts of the movie where the character’s have no worries and are actually enjoying themselves. ( The other is when they decide "This boys GOT to get married".

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[–] littleredhen 20 years ago

I have never written in these message boards before, but after watching the movie again just for fun, I felt compeled to join in. I have always had a 'thing' for Kevin Costner, so I absolutely adore the scene at the wedding, where he holds out the handkerchief for the bride to dance with him. Then the dancing under the lights with that incredible music. It just does so much to me....so moving!

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] deuce436 20 years ago

Without a doubt, the handshake scene with Dorman and Phillip is my absolute favorite overall.

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[–] buc-7 19 years ago

This is one of my favorites but i'm really surprised that there are so may people who loved this film and created so many posts.The film has its flaws but it speaks right in the heart and it's really moving.It's not the best film i've ever seen but it's unforgettable and one i'll always come back to watch for many times.I actually cried quite a few times even though i've seen it so many times!!The film is full of strong great scenes,but i think the ending is absolutely brilliant!The bitter but so true goodbyes.Everyone goes on his own separate way.That's life.I agree with Roy Munson 2004.The last scene with Costner up that mountain,saying goodbye with his own lonesome way and hearing the same time "Can't find my way home".The right song in the right scene.I also wanna say that i feel connected to all of the people who has watched this film and liked it.I'm from Greece and my name is Eugene and i concider you all my friends.

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[–] enthusiast 19 years ago

Yes, and moving to another country can be really sad when you realize that you won't be seeing some of your friends again. That is implied in the movie (why they did not flee to Canada).

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[–] john-boyzo 16 years ago

I agree the dance was amazing, so to the music by Pat Metheny
What has been done of late thats better in terms of two people together again that, once were in love.

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[–] tindog 20 years ago

It's actually just miss-labeled in IMDb. In the credits she's listed under a "Dream Sequence/Wedding" section as "The Girl". That's not saying she's just in the dream sequence, just that's she's 'the girl' in both the dream sequence and the wedding. In IMDb she should be list just as "The Girl". Or, if I'm not mistaken, they do call her Deb or Debbie at one point.

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[–] melloo1981 18 years ago

I agree....the wedding scene is unforgettable. The music is perfect & I've even been thinkin of using the same Methany ballad at my own wedding.
And to comment on why Suzy Amis' character is only referred to as "Girl in Dream Sequence"....I also wondered this. If memory serves, she is actually referred to only once by her name (Deb). One thing I love about this movie , besides everything, is that it was made when these actors were basically unknown. Out of 10 people I talk to, maybe one person has seen it or even heard about it. It's great to see how many people out there agree that this film is one of a kind. Despite any flaws, this movie was obviously made without an astronomical film budget.....and to me is better "art" than any high budget film with tons of special effects. A movie is a piece of art that should cause you to feel some kind of emotion...whether you hate it or love it.

Has anyone noticed the tracks used to roll the camera on during the scene where the newlyweds are running towards the newly painted caddy?
Obviously not a big budget film, but it doesn't need to be.

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[–] Lynnnx 20 years ago

haha the one with a train & the car :D
and the cemetery fireworks....
great :)

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[–] wuifutrecht 20 years ago

What about the scene in the toilet?
"Tiny girls with tiny brains...."
"relax Phil...we're not here to broaden their horizons..."

Or Truman saying about Phil after the jump: "say...he's got a pretty firm grip on that!"

:-)

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[–] JJDubs 20 years ago

I first saw this movie on cable TV. Don't remember ever seeing it advertised at the theater.

My favorite scenes just happen to be all the "Pat Metheny" scenes leading to, including and after the wedding. ("September 15th (played at MY wedding BTW), "It's For You" and "Farmer's Trust.")

I like the song "Can't Find My Way Back Home" too. OK that's not a scene, but hey!

Judy: Then she had her utopian tubes removed.
Gardner: "No That's fallopian darlin'.
Judy: Fallopian? Them's books of the bible silly...first and second fallopians!

Now that was one HILARIOUS exchange!

--John "Pat Metheny fan" Watkins

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[–] enthusiast 20 years ago

Yes. That scene after the jump reminds me of a scene out of "The Gypsy Moths".

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] jtc2004 20 years ago

I have loved this movie ever since I saw it in high school. My favorite scene is the end when all of the guys depart their own ways. I have a great story about this, too. I had graduated from grad school and was about to move half way across the country when I found a copy of this at Best Buy. I was watching it one lazy Sunday when a girl I was in love with (she didn't know it) came over about the time the guys are getting ready for the wedding. She ended up watching the rest with me. When the guys departed their own ways she almost cried. It was fitting because we were about to be parting ways as well (and as coincidence, we were living in Texas at the time.) I made out with her the next day. Woo hoo!

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[–] bono_vox_is_god 19 years ago

jtc, that's a very cool story. I was actually at a store today looking for dvd's, and came upon this for only 6 bucks. I've always liked coming of age movies, and ive always wanted to see this, so I bought it and watched it a few hours ago for the first time.

Although it's not perfect, it's got heaps of great moments, and if i watch it a couple of more times, I reckon it'll get better and better.

I love the start of the roadtrip, with Saturday's Alright for fighting, never liked that song until this very day. The other bit, is where they're having the fireworks fight in the cemetary, and they see the grave of the soldier who's died in vietnam and then cuts to the graveyard which now looks like a battelfield. It's sort of the first moment where I saw the movie as having more serious consequences.

The sight of Kevin Costner in just cowboy boots and underpants is pretty hilarious too. The funniest role he's ever done.

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[–] collageking 20 years ago

when i was a kid it was easy! the parachute jump, hands down. especially the pilot! now at 34, the more poignant scenes are golden to me...especially the wedding dance. and that music during the dance is beautimous :-)

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[–] moovyluver 20 years ago

Well, I agree with most about the Parachute jump and the Fandango wedding dance. Costner really knows how to move. Just check out his posture in this dance...mmmmmm; very nice.

But I really loved the scene in the dorm when they're getting ready to surprise Sam Robbard's character. The way Costner fell on the table is hilarious and I wonder if it was an accident that they just kept in the film because it looked so real. The mooning of the parents was hilarious. I realize this sounds childish, but it takes me back. I gradutated in the 70's and all the wild escapades, with the exception of lasooing a train caboose are life experiences that I can relate too. The reason I chose to mention this scene was because I laughed til my belly hurt.

My tears did come several times with this story. I wish I really knew the details of Costner's and the Bride's relationship a lot more. But, the film works for me and I get the jist of it. It's too bad that Spielberg didn't want to recognize it. I hope he reconsiders it some day and let's loose with a commentary and, PLEASE a soundtrack. Major productions with big effects don't make a good movie. Humanism does it for me. Please take this into consideration, Mr. S. Fandango is a wonderful movie and I wish I could dance it with the one I love.

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[–] ragreen259 20 years ago

The photo of Glenn Headly grabbing her laundry out of the sky as it drifts to the ground over the parachute school.
A lesson here... always beware of a parachute school with half of a crashed airplane sticking out of the top of the hangar, in the middle of nowhere.
Also, the cops chasing the plane when it's going to pick up the bride is pretty good, too.

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[–] jnorth51 20 years ago

When i first watched this movie on cable back in my college days, probably the funniest scene to me, was the train scene. However, after i watched this movie for the first time, i tried to explain it to my best friend. I told him about the setting up of the wedding scene. He cracked up when i told him about the fact that they only had a card table, and they set it up and took it from there. As soon as i finished setting up the scene, he had to see the movie and we watched it and loved it!

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[–] stormrider57 19 years ago

The train and car scene was the most exciting, but the part when Truman's plane is on the ground going to pick up Suzi Amos for the wedding was the funniest. He sticks his arm out the window for a hand signal and asks politely, "Do you mind if I cut over here? Thank you!" and then makes a left turn under the underpass.

"Let's go terrify some Baptists!" -Emma Thompson

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[–] nXg 19 years ago

When the wife of the pilot changes the message the Groovers did with the clothes and it comes to read GO ON.

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[–] dean_p4 19 years ago

My brother and I actually found the site where the DOM was buried. It's outside of Big Bend National Park in Texas. We stumbled on it accidentally and I actually have a picture of myself standing on the rock where Kevin Costner did the toast with the champagne.

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[–] apthomas 19 years ago

The dramatic closeup of the handshake with the slow folk guitar in the background was a powerful representation of deep friendship, saying good bye, and moving onto the rest of their lives. The movie achieved greatness on this scene alone. This scene must strike a chord with most people that had great friendships that have since moved on.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Nikon11 19 years ago

It's hard to pick just one. It's great from the beginning through to the end.

I love when they're in the car with the jailbait, and the girls ask them if they want to shoot fireworks - and Waggener says, "Only if it's neat."

"Y'all drink beer?"

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[–] jay-roland 18 years ago

Grabbing the beer bottle with "Saturday Night's Alright for Fightin'" in the background, lassoing the train, the entire parachute school scene, Costner asking a hungover Judd Nelson if he wants barbecue for breakfast, the cemetary, setting up for the wedding (like the kids' book "Stone Soup" if you recall) and the very end. The great scenes and lines are endless, as are the list of books Dorman keeps reading.

This was a movie that I stumbled on in college right after "Silverado" came out and I was anxious to see Costner in something else. I rented it while I was staying in Eugene, Oregon in the summer of 1986. I told my best friends about it in Portland. They checked it out the next week and it became an instant classic with our own set of Groovers in college.

I hope every college guy gets to see this movie and enjoy it with his own set of buddies. It's one for the ages.

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[–] sapdujour 18 years ago

I've always enjoyed this movie, it doesn't seem too well known suprisingly...I'm glad to have come across this forum to discover other fans.
Truman Sparks let alone, what a character! Of course the parachute school was memorable..."I re-pack these babies every week" (as a cloud of dust forms when he smacks the parachutes). Also how Lester (the 5th Groover?) remained passed out throughout their entire adventures and finally awoke at the wedding. I loved how the wedding evolved from Costner brushing dusting off a folding table "we forgot napkins" ...the old men on the bench "hell I got napkins". The beautiful wedding ceremony was the perfect wrap up to for the end...the dance sequence with Costner and the bride was my favorite scene. The song "It's For You" by Pat Metheny made the scene I think.

"Hey - how 'bout a Fandango!" - Gardner

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[–] korg51 18 years ago

The line where Glenn Headley says Which one of you geeks stole my laundry!

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[–] capablecarl 18 years ago

This is really a terrific movie. I like the end. Costner watching the lights go out on his youth. Very poignant. Makes me wish I was a crazy 21 year old again...

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[–] Nikon11 18 years ago

That probably is the most moving scene in the film.

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[–] Harrys_Boy 18 years ago

This was the first film I ever shed tears for, I first saw it when I was 8 years old and it still gets to me everytime I see it, you really get the impression that these guys will never meet again after the movie has ended and its summed up perfectly in the scene near the end where the two friend shake each others hands one last time and wish each other luck. Thinking about it makes me want to watch it again right now, i dont know if it was because of the age I was when I first saw this film but it been a cherished memory ever since I saw it.

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[–] restlessjeff01 16 years ago

When the clothing is falling from the sky and the pilot's wife says " A whole wash day shot to hell." I absolutely adore this movie. I was very much a "Phil" type in college and had friends like the Groovers who I went on road trips with. I also lived in Texas, for a while. Even though parts of the film are preposterous, the piece, as a whole, is very real and very moving and wonderfully captures a period in our nation's history. This is a fabulous males-coming-of-age film. I am a 47-year old male and I must admit: I have cried at the end of the film every single time and I have watched this film close to 50 times. I saw it on cable in the late 80's and purchasede it as soon as it was available.

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[–] transmentalist 16 years ago

It's been said before but bears repeating: the whole final fandango (choreographed as it was) through the handshake and Gardner's final "toast"

I first saw this movie a couple of years after it was released, when I was actually still in college. Nearly 25 years later, that whole sequence still fills me with a sense of nostalgia so powerful that it's almost painful.

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