Pretty Woman boasts the nation’s favourite film scene of all time

Jun 17 2009 By James Shepherd

A poll released today on film channel TCM’s (Turner Classic Movies) website reveals that the ‘Big Mistake’ scene in Pretty Woman is the nation’s favourite all-time movie moment.

The iconic scene shows Vivian - played by Julia Roberts - gloriously exacting revenge on a snooty sales assistant on Hollywood’s Rodeo Drive. The 1990 film shot Julia Roberts to fame and A-list star status. Roberts went on to win a golden globe and received an Oscar nomination for her unforgettable role as Vivian.

Revealing a colourful insight into the country’s favourite film scenes, the poll – conducted to launch TCM’s ‘Capture Your Classic’ campaign – establishes that scenes featuring passion, suspense, eccentricity and escapism are what Brits seek in a memorable movie moment.

Vivienne’s decadent shopping spree provides the ultimate in film escapism during the current credit crunch!

The top five film scenes in order, as chosen in the nationwide survey commissioned by TCM, are:

Pretty Woman – ‘Big mistake, huge!” (starring Julia Roberts / Richard Gere)
When Harry Met Sally – Ohh yes yes yes! (starring Meg Ryan / Billy Crystal)
The Shining – ‘Here’s Johnny’ (starring Jack Nicholson)
The Terminator – ‘I’ll be back’ (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Withnail & I – ‘Finest wines in humanity’ (starring Richard. E. Grant)

‘Capture Your Classic’ is a nationwide competition inviting film fans to submit video recreations to www.tcmuk.tv of famous film scenes, as voted in a nationwide survey.

On July 12 2009 film fan history will be made with TCM, alongside many hundreds of members of the public re-creating an iconic film scene in a central London location.

Barnaby Dawe, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, said; “We were quite surprised to see that the Pretty Woman scene topped the TCM poll. However, we have all come across the snooty sales person and perhaps this is why the nation identifies with Vivian’s revenge.”