The 10 Best Scenes With No Dialogue, According To Reddit – Screen Rant

Between a digitally innovative scene, a 3-minute stand-off, and the quietest part of an award-winning musical, silence in movies can speak volumes.
The newly released Smile is arguably one of the best original horror movies released in years, and general audiences seemingly agree, as it has been number one at the box office for two consecutive weeks. That makes the 2022 movie the most successful horror film in five years, as no other release in the genre has had such a strong two-week hold since Get Out. It's full of terrifying scenes that are almost completely silent, which is an almost impossible task for any filmmaker.
Even though it had been done for years in the silent era, it's difficult to make engaging scenes without any dialogue, but Redditors have debated which movies did them best. Between a technically innovative superhero scene, a three-minute stand-off, and the quietest part of an award-winning musical, silence sometimes speaks volumes.
Lazy_Ad_6232 thinks the scene where Flint Marko falls into the particle accelerator and turns into Sandman in Spider-Man 3 is the best scene ever with no dialogue. The Redditor notes, "Say what you want about Spider-Man 3, but the scene when the Sandman wakes up with his powers is beautiful. With just music, you can feel his emotions and what he's going through."
Spider-Man 3 is totally underrated, and part of the reason why is the birth of Sandman. The sequence is thrilling, haunting, and epic all at once. And there hadn't been any entirely CGI sequences in a movie as impressive as this sequence before, and even though digital effects have significantly advanced in the past 15 years, the scene still holds up.
Secoccular refers to Baby Driver when debating the best scenes with no dialogue, positing, "Opening scene of Baby Driver. No dialogue to keep the identities of the thieves secret." If there's one thing director Edgar Wright knows how to do, it's kinetic, fast-moving action sequences, and the 2017 action movie is easily the best example of that.
Baby Driver is a heart-racing heist movie, and the opening sequence throws audiences right into the thick of it, as Baby is waiting for the criminals to finish robbing a bank. What follows is an epic chase where Baby casually mouths along with "Unsquare Dance" by Dave Brubeck.
Fans talk about a lot of different Inglourious Basterds scenes as being a masterclass in filmmaking. Whether it's the tension-building opening sequence or the hilarious Italian-impersonating Basterds with their unintentional comedy routine, the movie is full of classic Quentin Tarantino moments. But Plenty_Marzipan_4477 refers to one that doesn't get mentioned enough.
The Redditor thinks the "Inglourious Basterds make-up scene with David Bowie playing" is the best movie scene with no dialogue. Towards the end of the film, Shosanna is preparing for the movie premiere where she plans to set the theater alight. She puts on her make-up and is in deep thought, and it's a great moment of reflection, not to mention that it's a great use of Bowie's "Cat People" too.
Any one of Drive's scenes could be considered the best dialogue-less scene ever, as the movie is so visually stunning and engaging but so few words are spoken. There's so little going on that the screenplay could have been a single sheet of paper. But LoveEffective1349 thinks the best silent moment in the movie is the now iconic elevator scene. The Redditor posits, "So much is said between Gosling and Mulligan's characters without a single word. Flirtation, excitement, anticipation, then fear, disgust and terror."
Viewers wouldn't necessarily call Drive an action movie, as it might be a crime drama with heists, but it moves at a snail's pace. Nevertheless, the Driver is one of Gosling's most badass action roles, and that's best showcased in the elevator when he kisses Irene before turning around, beating up a mobster, and then brutally stomping on his head. It's oddly romantic yet terrifying seeing what this quiet and nameless character is capable of.
Director Michael Mann is a master of suspense, and that's no clearer than in the final sequence of the crown jewel in his filmography, the heist thriller Heat. Reddit user Slippymachinegun thinks it masterfully uses silence to build suspense, adding, "It's one of the best scenes in cinema history."
Heat unfolds in the most natural way given that it can only possibly end with a showdown between Neil and Vincent, but despite being predictable, it still manages to be shocking and exciting. The sequence doesn't even use suspenseful music, as only the sound of airplane engines flying overhead can be heard.
Everybody talks about There Will Be Blood's ending as one of the greatest movie scenes, as evil oil tycoon Daniel Plainview gives the terrifying "milkshake" speech before bashing in Eli Sunday's skull with a bowling pin. However, as Rushncrush points out, the opening sequence manages to inform audiences who Plainview is, what his morals air, and what he cares about most without a single word spoken.
Starting with one of the most iconic establishing shots in movies, the prospector digs up silver, and even after breaking his leg, he stops at nothing to make sure that silver is his. It's an entirely silent 20 minutes, but it still has viewers on the edge of their seats.
The Truman Show ends with two huge moments: the first is the storm that Truman sails through, and the second is Truman's boat hitting the sky wall and him speaking with his creator. But Mrbadxampl points to the silent moment between those big scenes when everything is quiet and Truman is simply thinking to himself about what lies ahead.
The Redditor comments, "Truman Show; Truman, after Christof tried to scare him back to shore with the violent storm, just sailing off into the unknown (to him) until he hits the unexpected wall." What makes the moment great is that the audiences are right there with him. Even though viewers know that he isn't going anywhere, they momentarily forget that, and the wall takes them by as much surprise as it does Truman.
Crack_Runkle thinks Conan The Barbarian has the greatest silent moment in cinema, noting, "Conan finding the Atlantean sword in the tomb in Conan The Barbarian." Conan The Barbarian isn't exactly a masterpiece, but it is a fun popcorn flick, and when Conan finds the sword, it's one of the most hair-raising and exciting moments of the 1980s, as he enters a temple full of skeletons.
For as brash and bombastic as the movie is, it's a surprising but very welcome quiet moment in the film. The choice is a deep pull, but rewatching it leaves fans wondering with The Matrix directors the Wachowski sisters could have done with it, as they attached to a third Conan movie in the 2000s.
There's something about Gosling and quiet roles, as along with Drive, La La Land is another movie Redditors point to that has great silent moments. La La Land is anything but quiet, as even the most microscopic of feeling is expressed through extravagant song and dance numbers. And even for a musical, the songs are unusually wordy.
However, 4ldoraine refers to "the last look in La La Land" that Sebastian (Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) share, the one when they see each other across the room in Seb's, Sebastian's new jazz bar. Few actors are great enough to put across feelings with simple looks, but the stare that Gosling and Stone share at the end of the movie says 1000 words.
Few filmmakers could make three men simply staring at each other for three minutes so thrilling, but director Sergio Leone is one of the few. Skywalkling thinks "the standoff between the trio in The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly" is the best silent scene in a movie.
The sequence is simply three men staring at each other from a distance with the sweeping musical accompaniment from Ennio Morricone, and it's a masterclass in building suspense. Leone makes three-hour-long epics, but without the long shots of the almost panoramic vistas, the slow pacing, and everything else that builds the atmosphere and aesthetic, his movies could be 90 minutes, but they wouldn't be half as impactful.
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Currently residing in Madrid, Stephen Barker has been a staff writer at Screen Rant since 2020. Since graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University with a bachelor’s degree in Film, Television, and Cultural Studies in 2014, he has written for numerous movie and music websites. Stephen has been obsessed with movies since he first watched Jurassic Park on VHS, and with a deep interest in screenwriting, he loves 70s character-driven movies. But he’s just as much of a defender of Batman & Robin, The Fast and the Furious, and Small Soldiers. Visit Stephen‚Äôs personal blog, Quaranste, where he writes about guilty pleasure movies, his latest musical discoveries, and how he stays creative during global pandemics, or contact him directly: [email protected]

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