Many of the most famous scenes and lines were scripted, with amazing and talented writers and producers working tirelessly to put their words and actions on the screen. But that doesn’t mean that every scene is planned. In fact, many great scenes and lines were improvised. If you’re wondering which are the most memorable improvised movie scenes, then look no further. These are the top 6 examples, from war to romantic films, that have the best-improved scenes that have made them that much more memorable.
6. Full Metal Jacket, Prime Video (1987)
Full Metal Jacket is responsible for some of the most memorable improvised movie scenes in history thanks to the character Kurbick. The 1987 war film is based on the 1979 autobiographical novel The Short-Timers by Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Adam Baldwin.
The star of these improvised scenes comes from R. Lee Ermey who played Gunnery Sergeant Hartman who is verbally abusive and vindictive. What makes his work so great is that he improvised 50% of his lines in the movie because of his time spent in the military. He wanted to put his knowledge and experience of being a drill instructor on screen, and he did fantastic, making it one of the most memorable improvised movie scenes, or entire performances, in history.
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5. Frozen, Disney Plus (2013)
Can animated movies have improvised lines and scenes? Apparently so. One of the most memorable improvised movie scenes comes from the 2013 Disney movie, Frozen. Frozen follows the story of Anna, a fearless optimist, who teams up with Kristoff, a suggested mountain man, and their companions Sven and Olaf, to help find and save Else, whose icy powers have trapped their kingdom.
It’s easy to tell that Olaf is one of the funniest characters early on by his goofy, naive personality, and of course, he’s the one responsible for one of the best-improvised lines. Josh Gad, the voice of Olaf, makes the joke of “I’ve been impaled” when Olaf is stuck with ice and mentions that he was surprised to see that in the movie at the end.
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4. Good Will Hunting, Max (1997)
Good Will Hunting is a 1997 romance film starring Robin Williams and Matt Damon that tells the story of janitor Will Hunting, whose mathematical genius is discovered by a professor at MIT, Sean Macguire. It’s a beautiful and powerful movie and has one of the most memorable improvised movie scenes in history.
The scene happens after Maguire finally breaks through to Will, who decides to follow his love to California. When leaving a note to the professor, Will uses Maguire’s previous words to punctuate that moment, reading “I had to go see about a girl”, which has Williams leaving the iconic response of “He stole my line”.
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3. Jaws, Peacock (1975)
Like so many examples of the most memorable improvised movie scenes, Jaws is a classic horror thriller movie. Based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley, the movie focuses on a man-eating great white shark that attacks beachgoers at a summer resort town. The movie has one of the most impressive lines from Chief Brody. After seeing the shark up close for the first time, he delivers the line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”, which has since been one of the most famous lines.
It has an interesting history behind it. The crew had a too-small boat when filming in the ocean, so that line was a common catchphrase as they were shooting the movie. When Roy Schneider was ad-libbing into different scenes, that one happened to come up, and the producers found it so appropriate at that moment and kept it.
2. Napoleon Dynamite, Hulu (2004)
Napoleon Dynamite is a wonderful coming-of-age teen comedy that stars Jon Heder in the titular role. Napoleon is a nerdy high-school student who deals with several dilemmas, from awkwardly pursuing romances to living with his quirky family. And one of the best scenes in the film features Jon Heder performing a rousing dance to Jamiroquai’s “Canned Heat”.
It’s one of the most hilarious scenes, and it turns out the dance was completely freestyle. Heder has a passion for dancing, and while it wasn’t originally supposed to be in the film, it made the cut, making it one of the most memorable improvised movie scenes in history.
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1. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Disney Plus (1980)
It’s common knowledge that Star Wars is one of the greatest movies ever. It’s also one of the biggest franchises in the world, with so many movies, television series, books, comics, games, and more. It also has some of the most famous lines, with one being the most memorable improvised movie scene ever. The line is in The Empire Strikes Back where Princess Leia finally speaks her love for Han Solo.
When she says “I love you”, the scripted line was supposed to be “I love you, too”, but instead Harrison Ford says, “I know”. Interestingly enough, while many think back fondly to this amazing, heartwarming scene, it actually caused a fight between Harrison and Carrie Fisher, as she was annoyed that he changed the scene without her input.
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