Here is a brief, but thoughtful, list of 15 memorable moments from film history. They are in chronological order.  It is not meant to be a comprehensive list.

Listed are the films, but more importantly are the moments, quotes, actors, or points enumerating the significance of each film.

These are all important moments, many of which you will already know, but a couple will be new.  These moments are not necessarily ones on typical “Great Films” lists, nonetheless they are worthwhile.

1. The Great Train Robbery (1903; dir. Edwin S. Porter): At the end of the film, when the outlaw points his gun at the screen and fires at the audience (see Goodfellas). Still new to cinema, theater-goers ran screaming from the movie screen in fear for their lives.
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928; dir. Carl Theodore Dryer): The eyes. All those eyes. Maria Falconetti’s eyes, and the Death Panel’s eyes.
3. City Lights (1931; dir. Charlie Chaplin): A silent film with a plot that hinges on the sound of a car door slamming shut.
4. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935; dir. James Whale): The Monster sharing a cigar with his new friend, the blind hermit. Being gay in a movie has never been both so obvious and so hidden at the same time.
5. The Wizard of Oz (1939; dir. Victor Fleming): Real Life is black & white, and Oz is Technicolor. Of course.
6. The Great Dictator (1940; dir. Charlie Chaplin): Hynkel’s intimate ballet dancing with the inflatable globe (see Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me).
7. Holiday Inn (1942; dir. Mark Sandrich): The look of joy on Fred Astair’s face after he successfully completes his 4^th of July tap dance number. And it’s Astair’s face we’re seeing, not the character’s.
8. My Darling Clementine (1946; dir. John Ford): Doc Holliday inside the saloon rescuing the thespian so the actor can complete his Shakespearean soliloquy and bring just a few precious seconds of peace to Holliday’s life.
9. Scrooge (1951; dir. Brian Desmond Hurst): Alistair Sim’s performance as Ebenezer Scrooge, especially when he sits on his head. I’d write more about this film, the best adaptation of A Christmas Carol, but I don’t need to. Alistair Sim.
10. Lawrence of Arabia (1962; dir. David Lean): The moment when Lawrence uses a small dagger as a mirror, admiring his reflection upon its sharp blade.
11. From Russia with Love (1963; dir. Terrence Young): The fight on the Orient Express between James Bond and Red Grant is the fight against which one must compare all other movie fights.
12. The Godfather, Part II (1974; dir. Francis Ford Coppola): Michael, while embracing his brother, Fredo, looks to his bodyguard and we in the audience know, absolutely know, Fredo’s time is up.
13. Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom (1984; dir. Steven Spielberg): When faced with either dropping the Sankara stones or surrendering to Mola Ram, Indy looks around, finds a third choice, and takes a huge risk. Lesser films would’ve created a Deus Ex Machina.
14. Malice (1993; dir. Harold Becker): Alec Baldwin’s performance, especially the monologue for his deposition, “I am God.”
15. Schindler’s List (1993; dir. Steven Spielberg): I never completely understood, until seeing this film, the significance of Little Red Riding Hood.