5) Poseidon
1972’s The Poseidon Adventure is right up there with some of my all time favourite films. However, for the sake of this poll, charting the greatest New Years Eve scenes in movie history I have, after much deliberation, plumped for Wolfgang Peterson’s 2006 bastardisation Poseidon.
Why? Because, the remake does in fact contain the single greatest example of the power of the hive mind. As midnight encroaches on the revellers of the ill-fated ship, Fergie, the female quarter of the Black Eyed Peas, takes to the stage for a typically self indulgent rendition of Auld Lang Syne.
The pop star warbles her way through the song whilst the party goers silently pray for the sweet release of death. Thankfully, their prayers are answered in the form of a giant tidal wave which slams into the boat. As good as the original film is, nothing will quite match the satisfaction of seeing Fergalicious getting swept clean off the stage.
4) Boogie Nights
One of the more effective recurring jokes buried deep amidst P.T.A’s bleak expose of the 70’s porn industry is William H. Macy’s long suffering ‘Little Bill’. Throughout the film Bill turns a blind eye to his porn star wife’s numerous extramarital indiscretions before finally losing his shit at a New Years Eve Party in 1979. Catching his wife in the arms of yet another man Bill, decides that enough is enough, blowing her and ‘the other man’ away with a shotgun before returning to the party. Finally, amidst a crowd of poolside party goers Bill puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger, killing himself and the buzz of the merrymakers in the immediate vicinity.
3) Sunset Boulevard
During the half arsed research I did in order to compile this top five I realised that the majority of celluloid New Years scenes tend ere on the side of darkness with suicide a regular theme. Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard fits snugly into that category however; it is in the run up to Norma Desmond’s suicide attempt that the real darkness comes to light. Struggling screenwriter Joe returns to the decaying mansion expecting a lavish New Years Eve party but his hopes are soon dashed. Upon entering the baron ball room Joe realises that it is in fact a party for two, not counting Norma’s creepy ex-husband/butler man friend. The attempted seduction appears to fail as Joe flees the party leaving Norma to conga alone but when he hears about her attempted suicide he foolishly returns to the mansion and you can almost hear her trap snap shut.
2) The Godfather Part 2
In one of the most memorable sequences from the entire trilogy Pacino delivers what is ultimately the most effective cock block in cinema history. Merely seconds after the New Year is ushered in Don Michael plants a deeply passionate smacker on the lips of his wayward sibling Fredo (not Frodo as my spell checker is suggesting).
Uttering the chilling lines “I know it was you Fredo, you broke my heart. You broke my heart.” With that the true sentiment behind the kiss is revealed and Fredo’s fate is sealed. The only thing that kept this from being my number one selection was my seemingly unrelenting optimism.
1) When Harry Met Sally
Inevitably, and quite possibly predictably the climactic scene of Rob Reiner’s 1989 romantic comedy takes the top spot. It has everything you want from a New Years Even scene. Balloons, streamers, a room full of drunks trying to count backwards from ten. But, what makes the scene is Billy Crystal’s unashamed declaration of love.
Throughout the film Crystal and Ryan dance around each other like sparing partners rather than life partners but as the film draws to a close the endlessly cynical Harry Burns finally realises what we knew all along, Harry and Sally are meant to be. Crystal’s now famous monologue is just the right side of saccharine, vocalising all those beautiful idiosyncrasies that draw us together as human beings. Finally, as Auld Lang Syne comes to an end Harry and Sally lock into the first meaningful embrace of their own interlinking history, a declaration of their intentions for the coming year.
Lewis Swift
