Top 15 Amazing Long Takes
Published on October 5, 2007 - 53 Comments
The long take, or long shot, is when a long sequence of film is made without stopping the camera. The effect can be used (as you will see below) to evoke a huge array of emotions. This clever tool in the filmmakers toolbox has actually been used for quite a number of years, but it was so revolutionary at the outset that it took some getting used to before it really took off in the mainstream. This is a list of the 15 best long takes in movies. NOTE: I have only included films for which I could find clips on youtube. There are some spoilers below, so be warned.
15. Children of Men 2006, Alfonso CuarónWikipedia
The reason this is so high on the list is because the long sequence is actually made up of a few long takes very cleverly stitched together. Despite that, this is a great sequence and deserves a place here.
14. Week End 1967, Jean-Luc GodardWikipedia
While long tracking shots were still not really mainstream, Jean-Luc Godard made extensive use of them in this film about a jaded married couple visiting the wife’s parents in the countryside to ensure that they get their inheritance.
13. Snake Eyes 1998, Brian De PalmaWikipedia
This is another long shot that is actually put together from a few smaller shots - though only 3 or 4, so they are still quite long shots to begin with. I don’t like this film a great deal, but this scene belongs here.
12. Russian Ark 2002, Alexander SokurovWikipedia
This astonishing film lasting 96 minutes was filmed in one take - that’s right - the entire film was recorded from beginning to end without stopping. This is the first one of ten segments that show the entire movie.
The rest of the segments are here: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Props to Mathilda for mentioning this on Top 10 Cinematographic Masterpieces.
11. Strange Days 1995, Kathryn BigelowWikipedia
Long, nauseating, and jittery is this scene from the sci-fi film Strange Days, notable for its dystopian view of the future, and the moral ambivalence of many of its characters. This film was shot with a handheld camera which accounts for the motion-sickness it induces.
10. The Passenger 1975, Michelangelo AntonioniWikipedia
This seven minute sequence starts out in a hotel room with Jack Nicholson on the bed. I am afraid I can’t say anything more as this scene contains serious spoiler material. Avoid watching this if you are planning to watch the film soon. Better yet, click the link directly below this sentence, then buy and watch the scene in its proper place.
9. Oldboy 2003, Park Chan-wookWikipedia
Not only is this a great scene for its long shot (which is actually two scenes pieced together with clever editing), it is also an incredibly realistic fight scene. This is a brilliant scene - 12 bad guys, 1 good guy - and one hammer!
8. Boogie Nights 1997, Paul Thomas AndersonWikipedia
This is the opening scene of the picture, and it is a great scene. It exudes the vibrance and the fun of the era it attempts to portray (the 1970s). Starting from the title of the movie, we move through the street and into the club Boogie Nights. There are other great scenes in this film but this was the only one I could locate. Of note is the excellent New Year scene with William Macey.
7. Last Days 2005, Gus Van SantWikipedia
A very slow moving scene from Last Days, the film by Van Sant about Kurt Cobain. If you have not seen this film, you definitely must. The entire film uses long takes which, in my opinion, are effectively used to give the feeling of despair. This film, and Elephant are two of Van Sant’s most accomplished uses of the long take.
6. Satantango 1994, Béla TarrWikipedia
An astonishingly beautiful shot that exudes the feeling of loneliness. There is only one copy of this movie available at Amazon and it is $109 - this is a highly demanded cult movie which every movie buff should own. The film duration is an epic 7 and a half hours! The plot deals with the collapse of a collective farm in Hungary near the end of Communism, and it is filmed entirely in black and white.
Buy the last copy of this movie at Amazon
5. Hard Boiled 1992, John WooWikipedia
I have had some trouble finding it, but apparently there is a single cut/edit in this sequence around the 2:00 mark. This famous action sequence in a burning hospital, is a single handheld camera long take lasting 2 minutes and 42 seconds in which Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung alternately fight off enemies in frantically choreographed action and engage in emotional dialogue, through many corridors and rooms spanning two levels of the hospital, including an intervening elevator ride.
4. Goodfellas 1990, Martin ScorseseWikipedia
In this scene, Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco walk through the Copacabana. This shot serves to put the audience in the point of view of Karen (Bracco), who is about to be swept off her feet by the temptation of the gangster lifestyle. Brilliant sequence, brilliant film. Buy it if you don’t already own it.
3. Tom Yung Goong 2005, Prachya PinkaewWikipedia
While this isn’t the most brilliant of films, this scene is fantastic. In it, Tony Jaa runs up a series of flights of stairs whilst fighting and throwing people over the edge. It is actually quite amusing in its badness, but you definitely can’t criticize the cameraman!
2. Touch of Evil 1958, Orson WellesWikipedia
This scene was originally altered by the movie studio that released it; the aim: to improve it. Thankfully a new DVD edition is now out (link below) which is restored to the original vision of Welles. It is one of the first long takes to use traveling and direction in the take. It is also the best example of how the long take can be used with a very specific reason in mind (watch the clip and you will understand).
1. Rope 1948, Alfred HitchcockWikipedia
This film was one of the very first uses of the long shot and it is also one of Hitchcock’s great films (it only missed out on the Top 10 Hitchcock Movies to make room for the Birds.) Hitchcock filmed each scene in segments lasting up to eight minutes (the length of a reel of film at the time), each segment continuously panning from character to character in real time. Several segments end by panning against or zooming into an object (a man’s jacket, or the back of a piece of furniture, for example) or by having an actor move in front of the camera, blocking the entire screen; each scene after that starts a static shot of that same object. In this way Hitchcock effectively masked many of the cuts in the film, a technique that has frequently been used since to hide edits.
Before listing the notable omissions, I would like to point out that the absence of video clips from youtube prevented me from adding a few films that I feel really deserve to be on here. If I have left off your favorite, it may well be that this is the reason. I love the work of Gus Van Sant, for example, and am very sad that I was not able to include the beautifully serene long track scene at the start of his film Elephant.
Notable Omissions: Raging Bull, Carlito’s Way, the Player, Kill Bill I, Serenity, the Longest Day, Irreversible, Timecode, I am Cuba, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and so, so many more.
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1. evan - October 5th, 2007 at 7:17 am
oh man that hospital scene in hard boiled is sweet. is it wrong that i find the part where the head bad guy guns down innocent patients in order to try and kill the cop funny?
if you havent watched the whole movie you really should. not much for plot and acting but the action scenes are top notch.
2. jfrater - October 5th, 2007 at 7:23 am
evan: it is probably wrong but we don’t mind
3. kyleska - October 5th, 2007 at 7:54 am
the movie “Running Time” with Bruce Campbell is shot in real time (or close to it) so that the movie looks like it is one long continuous shot.
4. jfrater - October 5th, 2007 at 8:05 am
kyleska: great - thanks for mentioning it - if you can find a youtube clip it would be even better!
5. Guy Consitt - October 5th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Amazon UK have plenty of copies of “Satantango” R2 for $52 + shipping
6. JT - October 5th, 2007 at 8:40 am
I’ve seen the amazing shots in I am Cuba, they’re just phenomenal. It’s amazing to think that a communist propaganda film from the 60s could be this revolutionary. It’s one of the most influential films ever, and no one has seen it!
youtube do have the clip I think you’re looking for, but someone has dubbed over it with different music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li0zpD3CWRI
7. Hacbarton - October 5th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Why not 12 Angry Men? Unless I’m mistaken, the original version of that movie was shot in less than 6 takes.
8. jfrater - October 5th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Guy: that is great - thanks for letting us know - I am going to get a copy from there right now!
JT: Thanks for the link - hopefully it stays up so everyone can see it.
Hacbarton: Thanks for mentioning Twelve Angry Men - the 1957 version does have a long sequence in it, though cinematographically it is probably more renowned for this:
9. JMurf - October 5th, 2007 at 10:40 am
I know you probably wanted to put in more, but what about bruce willis in pulp fiction when he’s talking to marcelous wallace in the bar?
Is just one shot of him for about five mins.
How my friends laughed when we realised how long it must have taken to do that one shot..
narcotics had a part to playing in the laughing tho…….
10. mistere - October 5th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Great list as always. However, I’d argue that the van scene in Spieburg’s War of the Worlds belongs in here. The scene where Tom Cruise is driving the van through a highway full of broken down cars while his daughter is having a panic attack was all done in one shot (according to the dvd anyway, maybe someone else could help verify this). This scene is right after they escaped the initial appearance and attack from the tripod.
11. jfrater - October 5th, 2007 at 11:22 am
JMurf: hehe - not an uncommon situation
Thanks for mentioning that scene - that film is full of great film situations.
mistere: That scene didn’t even occur to me - I hope someone can confirm whether it was a legit long take or clever cutting.
12. Evan - October 5th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
I remember hearing that there was a scene in Kill Bill where the same camera was used for a long time, though i’m not sure where it ranks with these other scenes
13. TMo - October 5th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Oldboy is the cat’s ass. I love that sh*t so much. That scene you posted gives me prickly skin every time I see it.
14. jfrater - October 5th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Evan: there are a few scenes like that in Kill Bill - Tarantino is famous for long shots.
TMo: I am glad I included it in the list!
15. Matt - October 5th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Isn’t there some really long tracking shot in Full Metal Jacket? I seem to recall a long shot that follows a tank and men walking beside it up to a snipers position? Hmmm, I’ll look for a YouTube link…
16. Borg - October 5th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I have to admit, I am totally biased towards the film lists. And this is another great one. It’s nice to see you find a place for Oldboy and Rope on one of your lists. They’re both excellent movies that just missed making some of your other lists.
The scene I first think of when I think of long takes is the window scene from Citizen Kane. It’s not particularly long but it’s fun to imagine how it was shot. The shot starts out outside watching a young Charles Foster Kane playing with his sled. It slowly moves inside through a window where his parents are watching him and discussing whether or not to give him up. It’s cool because as the shot moves around the house, stagehands had to quickly take apart and reconstruct furniture to allow for the camera to move.
Here is the shot from youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX-EJ8BCCTU
17. You - October 5th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Actually, Last Days isn’t about Kurt Cobain, but a fictional character named Blake.
18. Marcy - October 5th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
In Shaun of the Dead there are two great long shots almost identical to each other. Comedic filmmaking genius.
19. jfrater - October 5th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Matt: there is - Kubrick is renowned for long takes.
Borg: great scene - thanks for including it - that mother is certainly a cold hearted wench!
You: indeed the character is named Blake, but it is based upon the last days of Cobain who was a friend of Gus Van Sant.
Marcy: Yes - I left those off (I must confess to a slight bias against the film) but in hindsight it would not have been a bad idea to include them to show its use in comedy.
20. Joe Skepsis - October 6th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
No Werckmeister Harmonies? Semi-shame!
Great list nonetheless.
21. batesman - October 7th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Any recent film by Tsai Ming-Liang would also make the list, I think Goodbye Dragon Inn has something like 10 scenes. Oh, and also anything by Lisandro Alonso, a wonderful Argentine director known for his veeeery slow movies
But of course the one that beats em all is: Empire by Andy Warhol! Kidding, obviously…
22. MN - October 7th, 2007 at 11:39 am
The rape scene in Irreversible was incredible. I believe it was made in one take (i haven’t seen it a second time, once was enough for me).
This is a trivia from imdb: During the party scene shortly after (or before) the rape, when Vincent Cassel is asked his name he replies “Vincent” instead of his character’s name, Marcus. He quickly covers this up by saying “just kidding” so that they would not have to reset the long and complicated shot.
23. 9000 - October 9th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
‘Wonderland’ has a nice long shot. Only 2 minutes long, but you follow a bag of drugs out of an apartment window into the street, and then follow a couple of party-goers back up the driveway, stairs, and through every room of the house during a huge party. Probably 3 or 4 shots cleverly edited, but the effect is seamless and pretty cool for such a cheap flick.
24. DeeplyDippy - October 18th, 2007 at 6:19 am
I’ve just seen Atonement and there’s a notable 5 minute tracking shot through the confusion of the Dunkirk evacuation.
It was shot on the beach at Redcar and used 100’s of extras according to this site
25. Xavier - October 22nd, 2007 at 9:16 am
This belongs in the category with Children of Men, but the one shot in the movie Contact where young Ellie fetches her dad’s medicine, she runs around a corner, up a flight of stairs, around another 90°Corner, and down a hallway towards a bathroom medicine cabinet with a mirror on its door. In an unusually smooth transition, the film switches from point-of-view of the camera to a view of the reflection on the bathroom mirror in mid-hallway.
(taken from Wikipedia haha)
26. DiscHuker - October 22nd, 2007 at 8:57 pm
jamie, what is your bias against shaun of the dead? crazy funny movie.
27. guram - October 30th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
You should all try to see a mexican indie film called “Tiempo Real” (Real Time)… It’s a single shot 90 minutes long flick. Here’s the trailer link http://youtube.com/watch?v=gdzu_cqZnTA
And the info about it on IMDB: http://imdb.com/title/tt0369020/
28. caysha - October 30th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
So glad to see Touch of Evil on here. Not one of my favourite films, but that long take at the beginning is awesome. Apparently the shot had to be done many times, as the man at the border check kept fluffing his line.
29. totalforge - November 1st, 2007 at 4:51 am
The opening scene of ‘The Birdcage’ is notable for starting out as a helicopter shot over the water and ending up inside the club in an apparently seamless take.
30. jfrater - November 1st, 2007 at 4:55 am
totalforge: thanks for mentioning it - I will check it out!
31. DiscHuker - November 5th, 2007 at 6:34 am
after seeing it on this list and another one, i decided to go get oldboy. wow. great realisic action scenes. but the story, oh the heart-wrenching story. what a great movie. thanks for mentioning it whoever that was.
32. bowden - November 9th, 2007 at 5:42 am
there’s quite a few really good long takes in random movies, like the opening sequence of ‘Serenity’ which last about 4-5 minutes of continually moving camera footage
33. peter - November 23rd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Satantango by Bela Tarr is NOT a film about the collapse of a collective farm in Hungary near the end of Communism!! It’s a highly international theme and it cannot be related to a country. It’s about everyday people with very deep feelings (just they don’t know). The space provided here is too short for analysis, so my advice for you is to watch the film or/and read about it.
I’ve seen the film twice, now I have my final exam from this film.
34. Stereo Mike - December 26th, 2007 at 6:46 am
I think this is the most accomplished film list I’ve seen here so far. You’ve even made honourable mentions of all the films I was going to mention! Bravo/a!
35. Kai4a - January 11th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Arggh! Yet another one of these lists that doesn’t include the opening shot from “Once Upon A Time In America.” A long tracking shot made longer by the persistent ringing of an unseen phone. Great scene, great movie.
36. fishing4monkeys - February 2nd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Argh! I saw a movie once that was all one take (only 43 minutes long though) I wish I could remember what it was! I think it was an independant film though so not like a box office movie…
37. robotoisawesome - February 6th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Just seeing if html works
38. DK - February 8th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I’d like to mention a scene in Finding Nemo, The scene where “Gil” is explaining his newest escape plan is all done as a “long take.” I know it’s animated and probably doesn’t count, but I didn’t appreciate the work involved in doing that until watching either one of the DVD special features where John Lasseter talks about it.
39. gacbb888 - February 19th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
A very good long take comes from the movie Protector with tony jaa. the fight sequence that takes the camara and crew up a long circular stairwell was shot all in one scene and greatly corriagraphed. check it out and concider it
40. zsasz - February 20th, 2008 at 11:00 am
good to see oldboy and the protector (tony jaa movie) there…that upstairs fight scene is merely an introduction to the ass kicking that follows…takes on about 50 people and breaks their limbs..easily one of the greatest fight scenes ever, the movie was like watching alive action god of war at times.
41. Diogenes - February 21st, 2008 at 8:28 pm
“I am Cuba” is where Goodfellas and Boogienights (directly) got their long takes from. If somebody already mentioned that here than nevermind. I dont know much but like my nerd moment of “hey you dummy, I know this…”
Has anyone said how “The Passenger” DVD has a “beautifully well worn” voice of Jack N. giving one hell of a voice over to the movie.
now that I have the comment floor,
It seems like all a western (or canadian for that matter) director has to do to be taken art seriously is to have long wordless takes (without loud soundtrack specifically).
42. Diogenes - February 21st, 2008 at 8:29 pm
p.s.
just like euro new wave cinema.
43. Diogenes - February 21st, 2008 at 8:29 pm
p.p.s.
or not.
44. jonas - April 3rd, 2008 at 7:27 pm
this is a great compilation, you’re leaving out Fellini’s 8 1/2 which has some very long takes, as well as hungariana director
Miklós Jancsó’s
“The Round Up” and “The Red and the White”
long 10 minute takes off train tracks…must see
45. SSDD - July 7th, 2008 at 4:39 am
how did u miss those incredibly long and complex takes in the movie Irreversible?? i was scrolling down expecting to find it in number one, especially the subway rape scene
46. G.C - September 13th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Beautiful List! So glad you mention Satantango.
With Rope, I think it was less that it is a continuous shot that impressed me, and more that the three main characters wear possibly the three most beautiful suits I have ever seen in my life.
47. ladyval - October 7th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I remember there was a show on called On the Lot, some reality show about finding a movie maker. But one of the short bits was called Danger Zone by Zach Lipovsky. I remember it was one long take, pretty funny. Here is the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOQAq4Nl4og
48. kaitoe - October 24th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
A ten minute long shot by the same guy the person above me said: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3qc29
49. northside - November 4th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
A recent take- the beach scene in Atonement. The number of actors, props, and location, was amazingly done.
50. Anglez - November 25th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
JCVD should now be #1 on this list…that opening scene is the greatest.
“its very difficult for me to do everything in one shot…Im 47 years old”
51. otin flewer - November 27th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
most lists i’ve come across here seem quite apprpriate to me, however, i think you missed on pulp fiction in this one……
maybe the scenes aren’t too long for your liking but it has hefty single flow conversations. . .
52. deano - November 30th, 2008 at 8:15 am
wheres donnie darko eh ?!
thts a well could long take ! good music an’ all
53. karolina - December 20th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Alfonso Cuaron is one of my fave directors because of his beautiful long takes…he makes me think cinema is not dead