My Top 10 Unscripted Movie Scenes

Some of the most famous scenes in films are actually unscripted or improvised by the actors, so here are the ones I think are the best and most iconic...

(In no particular order)

1. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is on one of his iconic adventures when he comes face to face with a man dressed all in black wielding a large sword. Jones simply pulls out his gun and kills him in one single shot. 

This sudden action surprises the audience and is almost comical as it is the opposite to what the audience expects! 

However the original script was written to include a long, intense sword fight but the day before Ford got food poisoning and was too weak to do the scene. After a discussion with director Steven Spielberg the scene was changed and is now one of the most iconic scenes in the whole Indiana Jones trilogy. 

2. The Shining (1980) 

The deranged Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is chasing after his wife Wendy Torrance (Shelly Duval) through their temporary home - The Overlook Hotel. Wendy eventually hides in the bathroom but Jack starts hacking the door down with his axe. 

After making a large whole in the door Jack pokes his head through and says "Here's Johnny!" This phrase was was made famous by Ed McMahon on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.

This line was not part of Kubrick's original script and was improvised by Jack Nicholson. 

3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 

The iconic "Hsssss" sound made by Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) while he is telling his story about eating a liver was not in the original script. 

Apparently Hopkins was doing it during rehearsals to creep out the cast and decided to leave it in as it was a good way to creep out the audience as well.

4. Jaws (1975) 

While tossing meat into the sea in hope to lure the deadly great white shark closer in an attempt to kill it, Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) gets his first shocking encounter with the beast and sees how massive it really is. 

Shocked he stumbles back inside the boat and utters the words "You're gonna need a bigger boat" to Captain Quint (Robert Shaw) this was completely off script but kept in because Spielberg liked it so much.

5. Reservoir Dogs (1992) 

Mr Blonde (Michael Madsen) has held captive Nash (Kirk Baltz) in a large warehouse and is torturing him. In Tarantino's script it said that Madsen had to cut his victims ear off but didnt give him any specifics. So madsen improvised all his actions with the ear including the line "Can you hear me now?"

6. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Kubrick cast R. Lee Ermey in the role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman directly after he heard a tape of him shouting insults at a group of Royal marines for 15 minutes. 

Ermey wrote 150 pages of insults and Kubrick estimates half of the characters dialogue was improvised. 




7.  The Dark Knight (2008) 

Whilst the Joker (Heath Ledger) is locked up in a jail cell the mayor announces that Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) will be promoted to commissioner. As all the officers applaud Ledger starts to do a slow monotinous clap, not changing his serious facial expression. This piece of simple improvisation made the whole scene so much darker and as just one of Ledger's brilliant improvised representation of the Joker. 


8. Midnight cowboy (1969) 

As Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and Rasto (Dustin Hoffman) walk across a street in New York a real NYC taxi cab drives down the same street and almost hits Hoffman. The cab had ignored the "Street Closed For Filming" signs and drove straight through the scene. 
Hoffman responds with "IM WALKING HERE!", still completely in character. The reaction was so genuine and real directer John Schlesinger kept it in the actual film.

9. The Godfather (1972) 

While Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando)  sentences a man to be beaten for the beating of another mans daughter, the whole time he is stroking a cat on his lap. 
However the cat was never in the original script some reports say that the director - Ford Coppola just put the cat on Brando's lap before filming. Other reports say that Brando just found the cat on set and picked him up before filming. 




10.  A Clockwork Orange (1971) 

While Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his gang of 'Droogs' perform their horrific acts of violence, McDowell breaks into song and dance.  Kubrick filmed the scene several times and was not happy with it each time until he let McDowell do whatever he wanted. 
McDowell decided to belt out "Singing In The Rain", Kubrick was so happy with how much it improved the scene he bought the rights to the song so he could include it in the final cut of the film.