favorite long take in movie history.

may have already come up, but hitchcock's "rope". ok, not actually 1 take, but all one continuous shot. he did what he could back then.

the kill bill club scene also. a few minutes before uma goes krakatoa on the lucy liu's gang.
 
I personally do not care for the "protector" scene at all from a cinematography point of view. The stunt people are AMAZING in that scene but the steadicam Op has a 10MM lens and has very little to do as far as trying to hit his marks or timing. The theory behind his motion is very weak and he just has to be in the ballpark of placement and just point in the general direction to catch the action. Most of the time I found his movements very distracting and I think it took away from the amazing talent and daring of the stunt people in that scene.

Just my opinion.

I Did not look at from that POV. Damn you for that!!!! : )
 
War Zone

War Zone

Most all of the shots in Time Roths The War Zone are beautiful, intense, and long. Seamus McGarvey did some great DP work on this film.
 
-The second scene in Sullivan's Travels by Preston Sturges.
-Opening shot of The Big Clock by John Farrow
-Opening shot of Scarface by Howard Hawks
-The scene where welles plants the dynamite in the middle of touch of evil
 
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What? No Kurosawa yet? He was known for some of his long takes!

I'd say in that vein, I'd go with Ikiru, in which Wantanabe finds outs out he has stomach cancer. The framing with the long take is fabulous.
 
Citizen Kane & Magnificent Ambersons

Citizen Kane & Magnificent Ambersons

Guys, come on. These two films defined the long take, each one perfect. Alas, the f#!@king studio chopped up the ballroom scene in Ambersons, but you can see what it would have looked like.
 

That WAS amazing @ the fact that I couldn't tell the moment when it came off of the crane and turned into a stedicam. (Unless the man with the cam on the stedicam was on the crane HIMSELF and just hopped off) But you have to admit, that doesn't TOUCH my scene by 2%.
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In television, the beginning of the Battlestar Galactica miniseries features what is, I believe, a 4 1/2 minute take that runs through the entirety of the set. Not nearly as long or as mind blowing as Children of Men, BUT, in television that's pretty impressive.
 
The Shinning... the kid riding up and down the hallways on his "Big Wheels" ... now that I think about it, there were several long stedicam shots in the film.

Maybe it's just that was my first experience seeing what a stedicam could do... am I showing my age here...???
 
way over-rated Whitewood. The set looked cheap (the board crashing stunt was from the 1960s).

PTA's long takes or the Atonement , or the huge (still disputed) tracking shot in Children of Men looked professional and real.
 
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