* Creator/ChristopherWalken has a habit of appearing in small roles in just about anything. A good solid chunk of his roles are him just showing up in the middle of the movie, stealing a scene, and going on his merry way, as aptly illustrated by the poster on the main page. Walken is firmly on record as never turning down a gig, as long as he has the time in his schedule. It doesn't matter how good or bad your movie is, or how large or small the part is; [[MoneyDearBoy you give him some money]] (and it doesn't have to be very much money, either), and Christopher Walken will show up and ''act''.
** In ''Film/PenniesFromHeaven'', he plays a pimp, who shows up for one scene, does a ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54iR0xFkEfQ striptease]]'', completely upstages Creator/SteveMartin in the dance number category, and disappears for the rest of the movie.
** He has a single scene in ''Film/PulpFiction'' in which he tells an inappropriately graphic story to young Butch about the [[AssShove journey of his father's watch]].
** ''Film/RomanceAndCigarettes''. He turns up, sings "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEH5zmAtLks Delilah]]," sings "Red Headed Woman," fucks off again, and the best part of the movie is over.
** ''Film/MouseHunt'' sees Walken playing a hammy and delightfully over the top exterminator who completely steals the scene and ends up blowing up a large portion of the house in his efforts to kill a single mouse. The mouse survives.
** Walken is also the centerpiece of probably the only good scene from ''Film/{{Gigli}}'', with some truly absurd dialog at right angles to the rest of the film.
---> "Man, you know what I’d love to do? Right now? Go down to Marie Callender’s, get me a big bowl, pie, some ice cream on it, mmm-hmm good! Put some on your head, your tongue would slap your brains out trying to get to it! Interested? Sure?"
** Walken shares credit with Creator/DennisHopper for completely stealing the entire film when both appear together for a single scene in ''Film/TrueRomance''.
** Likewise, his appearance as Clem the Janitor in the otherwise forgettable ''Film/JoeDirt'', where he threatens to stab Music/KidRock in the face with a soldering iron.
** Although he might have had a bit too much screentime to count as one in ''Film/TheRundown'' it still follows the same general pattern.
** Does a similar thing as the Headless Horseman in ''Film/SleepyHollow1999'', this time even without dialogue.
** Again in Creator/AbelFerrara's philosophical vampire film ''Film/TheAddiction'', where he shows up just to deliver a five-minute monologue on Sartre and vampirism.
** An early example is his turn as Annie's disturbed brother in ''Film/AnnieHall''.
** He has one scene in ''Film/{{Mistress}}'' as an actor who kills himself after finding out that they changed the ending.
* ''Film/AbsenceOfMalice'': Assistant U.S. Attorney General Wells only appears in the penultimate scene, which he dominates by being a gruff, snarky BadassBureaucrat and ReasonableAuthorityFigure. Plenty of critics and casual fans give him more praise than main cast members with six times as much screen time. Despite his limited screen time, Wells is one of the best-remembered characters Creator/WilfordBrimley ever played.
* ''Film/{{Airport}}'': A number of actors like Maureen Stapleton and George Kennedy dazzled with little screen time. Creator/HelenHayes won a Oscar for her role as an elderly stowaway.
* ''Film/{{Bandits}}'':
** Cheri (Creator/AzuraSkye) and Phil, the MakeoutKids who become the first people who Joe and Terry take prisoner but treat well. The way Cheri treats the event as an UnusuallyUninterestingSight and Phil makes a bumbling attempt to be a BadassBystander help make their two scenes memorable.
** Mildred, the CoolOldLady bank manager. She is both the bank manager who does the most to defy the eponymous bandits and the manager who is the most amused and excited about being robbed by them.
* ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'': The Federal Reserve guard who tries to hold off Simon's gang with a shotgun.
* Creator/JoanSims as Rigor Mortis in ''Film/DoctorInTheHouse1954''. She's on screen for less than a minute and spends most of that time munching on an apple, yet still provides a rather amusing scene.
* ''Film/TheDukesOfHazzard'': Two very minor characters are decently remembered.
** The burly jail prisoner who Boss pays to punch another prisoner who insulted his wardrobe, only for the burly prisoner to insult Boss's wardrobe himself once he collects his money.
** FarmersDaughter Laurie Pullman barely has a minute of screen time in the opening and closing scenes but makes a decent impression for two reasons. One is her LingerieScene as she makes out with Luke at the beginning of the film and tries to keep her shotgun-toting father and brother from pursuing Luke on her behalf. The second is how she ends up chasing Luke with a shotgun herself [[WomanScorned after he moves on to another girlfriend.]]
* ''Film/ArmyOfThieves'':
** Dieter's main two opponents in the safecracking contest Gwendoline uses to audition him: Neo (the reigning champion) and Fireball (the red-haired woman with leopard print gloves) make a powerful impression in their one scene for their skills and Neo's SoreLoser moment.
** Pavel, the SurveillanceStationSlacker at the second bank who picks up on signs of the heist despite his initial sloppiness, sounds the alarm and then wounds "action hero" Brad after a fight.
* ''Film/{{Freaky}}'':
** Ginny, the opening scene victim who gets some MetaGuy lines and almost escapes from the Butcher.
** The Spanish teacher who translates the inscription on the dagger and sternly lectures Josh for being unable to do so himself despite taking her class.
* ''Film/GetSmart'':
** The plus-size woman Max waltzes with in a hilarious yet tender scene.
** The vice-president who gets into a shouting match with The Chief.
* Creator/AlPacino in ''Film/{{Gigli}}''.
* Creator/JeanReno as "the cleaner" has one scene in ''[[Film/{{Nikita}} La femme Nikita]]'', but it is probably what viewers remember best about the whole movie. In fact, the scene was so memorable that Creator/LucBesson decided to make a similar character the protagonist of his [[Film/TheProfessional next film]], with the role specifically written for Reno.
* Music/BillBailey as the Whale in the film of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005''.
* ''Film/TheJourneyOfNattyGann'': Twinky, TheCutie at the reform school Natty is sent to, and MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold blacksmith Charlie are both gone from the film within five or ten minutes of first appearing but make powerful impacts on the viewers.
* ''Film/KickAss2'': Creator/IainGlen as Uncle Ralph D'Amico seemed even crazier and eviler than Creator/MarkStrong as Frank D'Amico in the first one. If this scene was the set up for him to be the BigBad in the third one, it was a good start.
* Creator/SeanConnery's cameo appearance as King Richard at the end of ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves''.
** Parodied by ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'', where Sir Creator/PatrickStewart turns up as King Richard.
* Creator/OrsonWelles' role as Cardinal Wolsey in the 1966 film version of ''Film/AManForAllSeasons''. He's in two scenes, and is probably the best thing about this very excellent film. In a later version of the film, Creator/JohnGielgud did a pretty decent, though less remarkable, job in the role as well.
* Creator/DiedrichBader in ''Film/NapoleonDynamite'' as Rex the patriotic martial arts instructor with the bodybuilder wife.
** Bader as a mugger in ''Film/EuroTrip'' who robs Jamie while he's being orally pleased, though he's unaware of it and confused by Jaimie's remarks.
** A bi-curious security guard in ''Film/JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack''.
--->And then, when he's finished, I want you to say, "Oh, what a lovely tea party!"
* Wrestling/DwayneJohnson in ''Film/TheMummyReturns'' in the prologue, before his transformation.
* Creator/OrsonWelles as Father Mapple in the 1956 version of ''Film/MobyDick'', which also can boast Creator/GregoryPeck and Creator/JohnHuston as stars, with a screenplay by Creator/RayBradbury.
* ''Film/TheNiceGuys'':
** Holly's friend Jessica is pretty entertaining in her two (consecutive) scenes. She's amused when March and Healy discuss the case and has an expressive reaction when an assassin threatens her and Holly.
** The various porn stars at Sid's party provide a memorable bit of color in less than a minute apiece, particularly the mermaids, the innuendo-dropping Pinocchio, and the costumed man on stilts.
** The young boy with the PornStash who witnesses Misty's death and covers up her body makes a powerful impression.
* ''Film/{{Nobody}}''
** The Barber, the CrazyPrepared KnowledgeBroker played by Creator/ColinSalmon warrants his high spot in the credits despite only having one short scene.
** Yulian's subordinate who is shown casually blackmailing a Pentagon employee to learn about Hutch only to wisely decide she wants nothing to do with him the moment she gets that information back.
** The Desert Storm veteran who has an OhCrap moment when he recognizes Hutch's military tattoo is only onscreen for a couple minutes, but is quite memorable.
** The DarkActionGirl who is shown pulling a knife out of her side after the surviving mobsters from the attack on Hutch's house get into their car makes a good impression in her one scene. It helps how she bickers some with Pavel about whether to go straight to Yulian's or drop by a doctor first.
* Creator/AlecBaldwin is in ''Film/GlengarryGlenRoss'' for exactly one scene, in which he delivers a monologue that establishes the atmosphere of menace that overhangs the rest of the film. It's one of the more famous monologues of cinema. Interestingly, the character and his speech were created exclusively for the film, [[ExecutiveMeddling due to studio executives]] feeling that the original play lacked the necessary exposition needed to establish the premise.
* ''Film/{{Go}}'': Creator/MelissaMcCarthy only has 57 seconds of screen time but is fantastic in her role as a cheerful, recently exposed SecretKeeper.
* In ''Film/WalkHardTheDeweyCoxStory'', the main character and his band meet famous musicians of the '60s during the height of their fame. Scene-stealers include Music/JackWhite as a conceited, drugged-out, mumbling Music/ElvisPresley with kung-fu skills and Creator/JackBlack, Creator/PaulRudd, Creator/JustinLong, and Creator/JasonSchwartzman as Music/TheBeatles.
* ''Film/TheWraith:'' The couple in the Daytona who Packard and his gang harass in the opening scene as a villainous EstablishingCharacterMoment, stealing their car and threatening to rape the girl. The two are decently expressive throughout it all.
* ''Film/DarkPassage'': Some of the film's best characters only have one scene or (two consecutive scenes in Coley's case).
** Bob, who gets some good MrExposition lines while delivering a devastating TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Marge. He doesn't crack no matter how much Marge tries to get under his skin, and then shows a good amount of grace upon realizing that there's another man in Irene's life.
** Vincent's loyal, amiable friend and confidant George.
** The cop in the diner, who shows some HyperAwareness and almost captures Vincent just a few minutes after he starts using his new face.
** CreepyGood BackAlleyDoctor Coley.
* Creator/RickMoranis as a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qsnSLDEqMc high-strung businessman]] in the forgettable 1986 comedy ''Film/HeadOffice''.
* Creator/RickMoranis's appearance in ''Film/LAStory'' as a British gravedigger, an homage to ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''.
* Creator/VincentPrice in ''Film/EdwardScissorhands'', who almost steals the film from Creator/JohnnyDepp. In fact, the film created him a whole new following, his mannerisms and deep character acting captivating a lot of new fans.
* ''Film/TheAviator'' has Creator/JudeLaw star in one scene as Creator/ErrolFlynn. He steals the scene completely.
* ''Film/RedWater'': All of the first three shark victims are more memorable than some characters with more screen-time and plot relevance.
** Tricia, due to her decently expressive warning/FreakOut when she first sees the shark, [[WalkingSwimsuitScene her wardrobe]], and the brutal way she gets repeatedly dragged under the water. Unusually, this is helped by something unrelated to her physical, on-screen appearance (namely her father putting a bounty on the shark offscreen, affecting the rest of the film).
** The old fisherman who gets some humorous dialogue with his grandson before his death.
** The nature tour guide, who gets the most memorable death in the movie (and the only one played for BlackComedy) when she's eaten off a low-hanging ripe bridge during the middle of a poignant RousingSpeech about how the sanctuary is a serene place worth protecting.
* ''Film/SinginInTheRain''
** Creator/CydCharisse. The entire "Broadway Melody" sequence is [[{{Padding}} completely superfluous to the plot]], and done entirely to try to recapture the glory of ''Film/AnAmericanInParis'' (Creator/GeneKelly never did quite grasp that every musical doesn't ''have'' to have a ballet), but Charisse's silent performance as an icy gangster moll still stands with the stars' dances as a highlight of the film.
** The screaming fanboy who shows up at the movie premiere in the opening sequence is also surprisingly memorable. Especially since he goes into hysterics not over the film's stars, but over "Zelda! Oh, Zelda!" -- who, played by a very young Creator/RitaMoreno, is something of this trope as well.
** [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0849582/ Julius Tannen]], who will forever be known as the "Talking Picture Man". Especially his ''feigned humility'' anticipating applause at the end.
* ''Film/{{Sneakers}}'': Abbott, TheComicallySerious (and easily exasperated) [=NSA=] spy, only shows up at the very end, but is one of the most memorable parts of the movie. His FairCop subordinate Mary counts as well, due to her reaction to Carl flirting with her.
* ''Film/SpiceWorld'': Creator/StephenFry as the judge sentencing the girls for releasing a single much less good than their previous ones.
--> '''Judge:''' Melvin B, Emma, Melvin C, Victoria, Geri (pronounced with hard G), you have been found guilty of releasing a single which is by no means as kicking as your previous records, nor does it have such a wicked, fat, dirty, bassline. You are sentenced to having your next record enter the charts at number 179, before dropping straight out the following week. Furthermore, you are sentenced to twenty years of having to appear on cheesy chat shows in Taiwan, talking about how you ''used'' to be famous. And may God have mercy on your lip gloss. (Bangs gavel) Call Gary Barlow.
* ''Film/SupermanII'': The U.S. President only gets about a minute of screen time but is a very iconic character for being the (dignified and defiant) subject of the original KneelBeforeZod speech.
* Music/DavidBowie has been this more than once:
** Vendice Partners in ''Film/AbsoluteBeginners''. This character is one of several antagonists in on an evil scheme, and he convinces the idealistic photographer hero to join his advertising agency and become a sellout. He gets one big sequence, a brief appearance beforehand, and a wordless bit prior to the climax. But that's enough time for the spectacular VillainRecruitmentSong / DisneyAcidSequence "That's Motivation", and between that and performing the movie's TitleThemeTune (he wrote both songs too, and there was a music video for the latter on top of that), Bowie was billed ''third'' in the credits, behind only the young lovers at the story's heart.
** Pontius Pilate in ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist''.
** Heavily {{lampshaded}} in ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'', where they give his brief appearance as the Walk-Off judge a ludicrous amount of fanfare -- to the point of plastering his name on the screen and starting up the song, "Let's Dance."
--->'''Bowie''': I believe I might be of service.
** In ''Film/IntoTheNight'' he has two brief scenes as a hitman who, among other things, questions Creator/JeffGoldblum while sticking his gun in his mouth. Bowie looks downright ''scuzzy'' -- a rare look for him -- in the role.
* ''Film/JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack'' does something similar to ''Zoolander'' for Creator/MarkHamill's cameo, but ratcheted up the cheesiness. Creator/GeorgeCarlin's cameo as a hitchhiker is also very much an example, as is Chris Rock as the director of ''Bluntman and Chronic'', and Creator/BenAffleck and Creator/MattDamon as themselves on the set of ''Film/GoodWillHunting 2: Hunting Season''. And Gus Van Sant as himself. And Creator/TracyMorgan essentially playing a black version of Jay.
* Jay and Silent Bob turn up in ''Film/{{Scream 3}}'' for all of ten seconds.
* ''Film/ScoobyDooMonstersUnleashed:'' The Girl Scout who offers to sell Shaggy and Scooby a box of cookies after being trapped by Wickles' security system along with the gang barely has twenty seconds of screen time. However, she's utterly hilarious and memorable in those twenty seconds.
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'':
** The MouthOfSauron in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'', played by Creator/BruceSpence (not that you'll notice), who was cut in the theatrical release. He appears only briefly to negotiate on behalf of his master before Aragon [[ShootTheMessenger cuts his head off]], but his unique character design and mannerisms makes him hard to forget. Some of the videogames have him [[TookALevelInBadass taking a few levels in Badass]] and becoming a potent antagonist in his own right - most notably ''VideoGame/TheBattleForMiddleEarth'', where he leads a force that burns Lorien to the ground in the Evil campaign.
** Sauron himself in the ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]''. He gets approximately a minute of combined screentime as a towering warrior wielding a giant mace before spending the rest of the nine-hour trilogy as a giant glowing disembodied eye, but he gets '''the''' best set of fantasy "bad guy armor" in any movie, game, or TV show, ever, and looks ''[[EvilIsCool unbelievably]]'' [[EvilIsCool badass.]]
** Figwit, short for "Frodo is grea... who is ''that?''" in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]''. ''Three seconds'' of screen time, but [[Music/FlightOfTheConchords Bret McKenzie]] had such a large cult following that they even gave his character lines in ''Return of the King.''
** If you were to talk to a casual fan who has trouble telling the films apart, you can usually hit gold by telling them "''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'' is the one with the GiantSpider". Shelob turned up twice for less than ten minutes, total, but she's always remembered.
* In the movie ''WesternAnimation/RobotechTheShadowChronicles'', Creator/MarkHamill was [[AdvertisedExtra cast]] as [[AFatherToHisMen Daryl Taylor]] [[spoiler:only to be killed off within about three lines.]] All of these previously-mentioned tropes are later subverted when, later on, [[spoiler:he provides the voice for one of the Haydonite villains]].
* Many people (both movie and ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' fans alike) agree that ''Film/TomAndJerry2021'' is far from perfect. However, there are a few things that audiences found entertaining: ''any'' scene where Tom and Jerry get up to their typical cartoon hi-jinks (which, sadly, take up roughly fifteen minutes of the film's total run time) and the [[BigBallOfViolence animal tornado]] at the movie's climax.
* Creator/CaryElwes gets one in ''Film/TheChase1994'', as a smarmy newscaster who has to apologize to his viewers due to Creator/CharlieSheen's flipping off the camera.
* ''Film/TheCrazies2010'': The captured young soldier who was thrust into things with no idea about what is going on and decides to defy JustFollowingOrders is a huge highlight of the movie despite only having about three minutes of screen time.
* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'': Creator/BillyCrystal and Creator/CarolKane as Miracle Max and his wife Valerie, a bickering old couple. There's also Creator/PeterCook's role as the aptly titled Impressive Clergyman with the ridiculous speech impediment. And an underrated one with Mel Smith as the albino.
* ''Film/FourWeddingsAndAFuneral'' has Creator/RowanAtkinson in a minor role as Gerald, the priest who keeps screwing up his lines in Wedding Number Two. He gets the names of both parties wrong, mentions the Holy Goat and the Holy Spigot, and utters the classic line "awful wedded wife". He gets [[AndStarring the coveted ''and'']].
* Creator/RowanAtkinson is in all of two scenes in ''Film/LoveActually'', one of which has him on-screen for maybe 10 seconds, and they're both absolutely hilarious.
* Creator/JohnGielgud made his later half of his career with these types of roles. Notable examples include:
** Hospital director Mr. Carr Gomm in ''Film/TheElephantMan''
** Lord Irwin in ''Film/{{Gandhi}}''
** King Louis VII in ''Film/{{Becket}}''
** Pope Pius XIII in ''Film/TheShoesOfTheFisherman''.
** The Prime Minister in ''Film/MurderByDecree''
** Sir Francis Hinsley in ''Film/TheLovedOne'' ...and countless other examples.
* ''Film/TheOutlawJoseyWales'': The AntiVillain BountyHunter Josey faces in Santo Rio, due to how (in contrast to the other bounty hunters who face Josey) he seems to dislike his profession, doesn't mock Josey, and faces Josey in a fair fight despite realizing he may be outclassed by the hardened fugitive. He's also on the receiving end of perhaps the biggest MemeticMutation of the film.
* Creator/JohnHurt as Jellon Lamb, the BountyHunter who believes in neither God nor evolution, but ''is'' a big racist, in ''Film/TheProposition''. Only in two scenes, but completely owns both of them, and is billed as one of the film's stars. In the Making Of featurette on the DVD, he mentions that many of the other actors had originally wanted his role, even though it would mean less screen time than some of them actually got.
** Hurt's brief scene as the desperate clerk in ''Film/DeadMan'' qualifies.
** Also his turn in ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', where he hilariously dies [[ChronicallyKilledActor yet again]].
* Creator/WilliamHurt, in ''Film/AHistoryOfViolence'', has a single scene as Joey Cusack's brother. It's about five to ten minutes long. He was nominated for an MediaNotes/AcademyAward.
* Creator/WilliamHMacy has one scene as a CIA agent in ''Film/WagTheDog'' and is absolutely brilliant. The man keeps up with Creator/RobertDeNiro.
* ''Film/TrueRomance'' is filled with Wonders (though a few manage to split their appearances in two scenes), including Creator/GaryOldman as the menacing pimp, Creator/ChristopherWalken as the formidable gangster, Creator/DennisHopper as the sacrificial father, Creator/BradPitt as the clueless stoner, Creator/JamesGandolfini as a hitman who suffers a RasputinianDeath, Creator/SaulRubinek as a coked-out movie producer, and Creator/ValKilmer as the ghost of Music/ElvisPresley.
* ''Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation'':
** The British Prime Minster really milks his brief screen time by being a ReasonableAuthorityFigure displaying TranquilFury for half of that time and having some hilarious loopy lines after being tranquilized in the second half of the scene.
** BadassIsraeli GiantMook Kagan only lasts long enough for one fight scene, but it's a pretty good one.
* Pontius Pilate in ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' is one of the most [[SpeechImpediment memowable]] aspects of the film. Although Biggus Dickus might [[ElmerFuddSyndrome pothibly give him a run for hith money]].
* The foolhardy Black Knight ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''. "[[OnlyAFleshWound 'Tis but a scratch!]]"
* ''Film/NationalLampoonsEuropeanVacation:'' The FrenchJerk waiter who insults the Griswold family while hiding behind the language barrier and sporting an enormous smile.
* Steven Ford in ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' has an epic pre-drop speech prior to the assault on Klendathu. Of course, he's horribly killed during the actual fighting.
* Creator/PowersBoothe and Creator/RutgerHauer in ''Film/SinCity'' are completely captivating in their one scene each.
* Creator/PatrickStewart has quite a few of these:
** His cameo in the final scene of ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'', which he steals in classic LargeHam fashion. Appropriately enough, the same role (King Richard the Lionhearted) was played in ''Prince of Thieves'' by an uncredited Creator/SeanConnery who also stole that scene [[SugarWiki/RuleOfSeanConnery merely by showing up.]]
** His role as Mr. Perdue in ''Film/LAStory.''. "You think with a financial statement like this you can have the ''duck''?"
--->'''Mr. Perdue:''' Your usual table, Mr. Christopher?
--->'''Carlo:''' ''(played by Creator/ChevyChase)'' No, I'd like a good one this time.
--->'''Mr. Perdue:''' I'm sorry, that is impossible.
--->'''Carlo:''' Part of the new cruelty?
--->'''Mr. Perdue:''' I'm afraid so.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' has a ''two'' scene wonder with Creator/EricDane as Multiple Man.
** Creator/PatrickStewart's cameo near the end of ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' elicited applause from some theater audiences.
** Lest we forget Wolverine's appearance in ''Film/XMenFirstClass'', complete with PrecisionFStrike. Creator/RebeccaRomijn when [[CallForward Magneto tells Mystique he'd "wait for a few years" too.]] (and she said she wanted to have Wolverine's line too!)
*** Wolverine's appearance, apparently, also impressed not only the audience but also Charles, who remembered the event a decade later, when the MentalTimeTravel Logan shows up to recruit him.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** Quicksilver is recruited solely to help break Erik out of prison midway through the movie and returns home shortly afterward. Despite this, he's at the center of the movie's most impressive and hilarious scene, where he enters BulletTime to stop some bullets while also screwing with the guards. All while listening to "Time In A Bottle."
*** The guy in TheStinger ([[spoiler:Apocalypse]]) also leaves a mark.
*** While they appear in several scenes, most of the future mutants appear for such a small amount of time and have little dialogue, but have such impressive fight scenes that it can lead to this. Blink gets the most, with Bishop getting in on it as well.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'' again has Wolverine in one (though unlike ''First Class'', [[WolverinePublicity the marketing decided to spoil it]]), ''past'' mutants in an impressive fight scene with the Ancient Egypt Horsemen, and the two scene wonder Caliban, who even inspired Creator/JamesMangold to include the role in ''Film/{{Logan}}''.
** ''Film/DarkPhoenix'' has Dazzler providing the music for an outdoor party.[[note]]A notorious Internet rumor was that she was to be played by Music/TaylorSwift.[[/note]]
* Creator/ChristopherLee:
** Essentially as himself, in ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory''. The twist is that he takes all of the Literature/{{Dracula}} and [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Saruman]] mannerisms and transposes them onto a dentist. Just imagine Christopher Lee throwing his resonant ''basso'' into the word "Lollipops." When he shows up again, he's astonished to see Willy hasn't had any candy at all.
** Dracula in ''Film/TheMagicChristian''
** He drops into a scene partway through Creator/GarySherman's ''Film/DeathLine'' as an [=MI5=] agent who trades insults with Creator/DonaldPleasence's grumpy police inspector.
** His portrayal of the Burgomaster in ''Film/SleepyHollow1999''.
** And as the voice of the Jabberwocky in ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010''. Apparently Creator/TimBurton liked to put him in roles like these.
* Creator/KathyBates as Queen Victoria in the Creator/JackieChan flick ''Film/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays2004'' (Not to mention Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger in a very funny cameo!)
* ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'': Franchise/HannibalLecter started out as one of these in ''Film/{{Manhunter}}'', back when he was Creator/BrianCox. Three scenes, owns the movie. He doesn't even do much except sit there with his jaw hanging out, taunt the hero, and talk on the telephone, and yet... and yet... (In fact, he only has eighteen minutes of screen time in ''Film/SilenceOfTheLambs'', less than ''any'' other (leading) character that an actor has won a Oscar for portraying in a movie.)
* ''Film/{{Snowpiercer}}'': The LargeHam, PregnantBadass kindergarten teacher who provides the main characters with a surprising amount of trouble during her few minutes of screentime.
* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'': Erica Albright is more like a three-scene wonder, but instantly, many were captivated by her brief role as Mark Zuckerberg's estranged girlfriend and instantly wanted to learn more about her. It is astounding to think that she isn't even an actual person and was created specifically for the film. Needless to say, there's a reason why this role convinced Creator/DavidFincher to pick Creator/RooneyMara for the lead role in ''Film/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo2011'', which earned her a Best Actress nomination.
* Sir Creator/AlecGuinness often did this, and the smaller his role, the more memorable it often is. He managed to upstage both Creator/PeterOToole (in ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'') and Creator/OmarSharif (''Film/DoctorZhivago'') playing roles which, while crucial to the films, had relatively little screen time. He has a memorable role as Pope Innocent in ''Brother Sun, Sister Moon''. He was so mesmerizing as Jacob Marley in the musical ''Film/Scrooge1970'' that he earned [[AdaptationExpansion an additional scene]] that appears in longer versions of the film.
* ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'':
** All three films featured Creator/BruceCampbell in a different cameo role each time, but it wasn't until the third that he became a OneSceneWonder with his [[FunnyForeigner amusing French]] maitre'd.
** "Macho Man" Wrestling/RandySavage's role in the first movie as "Bonesaw Mcgraw", a crazy wrestler who wouldn't look out of place on something like ECW.
** And Hal Sparks' hilariously awkward [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuKqQ6plZ_I elevator scene]] in the second movie.
* Tap dancing duo The Nicholas Brothers were very much this, as they were usually only in all of their films for a dance number - all of those dance numbers being so amazing many people can't remember anything else about the films. Such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBb9hTyLjfM this]] scene from ''Stormy Weather''.
* Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, a troupe pulled from the dance floors of Harlem, would show up in movies like ''Film/{{Hellzapoppin}}'' or ''Film/ADayAtTheRaces1937'', go through some jaw-dropping gravity-defying moves, and exit.
* Creator/PeterLorre and Creator/SydneyGreenstreet in ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', as, respectively, the conniving Guillermo Ugarte and the scheming restaurateur Mr. Ferrari.
** They also appear in [[http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=iwRNYZs_I88 this scene]] in ''Hollywood Canteen''.
* ''Film/{{Grindhouse}}'' features several:
** Creator/QuentinTarantino himself has a memorable cameo in ''Film/PlanetTerror'' as a soldier who attempts to rape the heroine as his zombified genitals decompose in front of her.
** In one the fake trailers, for ''Werewolf Women of the SS'', features Creator/NicolasCage as Literature/FuManchu for no apparent reason. It's almost enough to wash the bad taste from ''Film/TheWickerMan2006'' right out of your mouth.
** The fake trailer for ''Film/HoboWithAShotgun'' is ''made'' of this trope.
* It's hard to see a ''Film/TheLittleShopOfHorrors'' poster that doesn't advertise Creator/JackNicholson's appearance as "dentist patient number one". In fact, the whole dentist subplot became so memorable, in [[Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors the Broadway adaptation]], it was enlarged to make the dentist a RomanticFalseLead. Bill Murray played Nicholson's old part in [[Film/LittleShopOfHorrors the film adaptation of the musical]].
* Creator/ViggoMortensen has a small part playing {{Satan}} in ''Film/TheProphecy''. He only has three scenes, two of which are fairly short, but they're the best part of the movie and and very, very chilling, particularly the first scene. Considering the main villain is Creator/ChristopherWalken as an evil angel, that's a tall order.
** Mortensen has a memorable one scene as the wheelchair-bound Lalin in ''Film/CarlitosWay''.
* In ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'':
** Creator/BernieMac plays a memorable used car salesman in only one scene.
** Sideswipe is shown being absolutely badass in the opening scene of ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'', but barely appears in the rest of the movie.
*** Jetfire is one of the most beloved characters in the movie, even though he only appears twice: the first to teleport the main characters and leave, the second to die. Being a CoolOldGuy who is also an [[CoolPlane SR-71]] probably does it.
** In ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'', we have (Creator/KenJeong as) Jerry Wang, a crazy ConspiracyTheorist who works at Sam's office. What did he do that made him so memorable? [[spoiler: Faced with immediate termination at the hands of Laserbeak, he decides to forego pleading for his life in favor of suddenly pulling out two ''very'' large pistols [[GangstaStyle (which he holds gangsta-style)]] and pointing them right at Laserbeak's face.]]
--> '''Jerry Wang:''' ''You messed with the wrong Wang, bitch!''
* John Houseman started acting in movies (rather than producing them) when he was over sixty years old, and so, his example of this trope in ''Literature/SevenDaysInMay'' as one of the military coup-plotters was in fact his first appearance on screen. And then twenty years later, he did the same with his last role, as the hilariously unflappable driving instructor in ''Film/TheNakedGun''.
* Creator/CrispinGlover again in ''Film/WildAtHeart''. His role as Christmas-obsessed, sandwich-making cousin Dell, who enjoys putting cockroaches in his underpants and has a terrible fear of black gloves - in lasts for about three minutes and is probably the weirdest damn thing he's ever done, which is saying a lot.
* The ''Film/HarryPotter'' [[Film/HarryPotter film series]] has a few:
** Creator/DavidTennant, while not the best thing about ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire,'' certainly puts in a show-stopping performance as Barty Crouch Jr.
** Jeff Rawle's tragic scene as Amos Diggory crying over Cedric's body.
** Creator/JulieChristie as Madame Rosmerta in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban''.
** Creator/EmmaThompson, as Sybil Trelawny in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' and ''Order of the Phoenix''.
** Creator/JohnHurt as Ollivander in the first movie. If you'll pardon the pun, spellbinding.
** Nick Moran made a short but impressive appearance as the leader of a gang of snatchers in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows: Part 1''
** Also in ''Hallows'', Creator/BillNighy ''is'' Rufus Scrimgeour, inexplicably Welsh Minister for Magic, symbol of strength, beacon of hope to the Wizarding World! Gets maybe ten minutes before being KilledOffForReal.
* ''Film/{{Network}}'':
** Creator/NedBeatty as ominous CEO Arthur Jensen. The guy's onscreen probably five minutes but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BVqIjKyJh0 his speech]] is utterly fantastic. "You have ''meddled with the primal forces of nature'', Mr. Beale, and ''I WON'T HAVE IT! IS THAT CLEAR??''"
** And then there's Beatrice Straight, who won the MediaNotes/AcademyAward for Best Supporting Actress for what is the shortest amount of time an Oscar-winning role had been onscreen. (five minutes and forty seconds, mostly in an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzj1ViCA6RI equally impressive speech]]) Beatty was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
* Creator/ThomasHadenChurch as the CEO of Brawndo in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}''. Two minutes of pure hilarity. "The computer's doing that auto-layoff thingy!"
* ''Film/TheWrongBox'' has a big cast of British stars including Creator/MichaelCaine, Creator/RalphRichardson, Creator/JohnMills, Creator/PeterCook, Creator/DudleyMoore, Nanette Newman, and Creator/TonyHancock. But it's Creator/PeterSellers as a [[CrazyCatLady pathetic, old, deranged, cat-loving doctor]] called on to provide a death certificate who steals the movie with two scenes totaling less than 10 minutes screen time.
* Creator/WilliamFichtner, being one of the great Hollywood character actors, has more than his share of these.
** He's the ice-hearted, millionaire stage dad in ''Film/BladesOfGlory'', disappearing shortly after the opening credits.
** He plays the shotgun-toting mob banker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''.
* Yet another man of the cloth, Creator/PeterVaughan as a hard-assed Bishop of Digne in ''Film/LesMiserables1998''.
* Creator/GeneHackman's blind hermit character in ''Film/YoungFrankenstein''. He evidently took the role because Creator/MelBrooks dared him to.
* ''Film/NotesOnAScandal''. Creator/BillNighy. He is in two scenes. The first introduces his character, the second is an argument with his wife, (Creator/CateBlanchett) when he discovers that she's been having an affair with one of her fifteen year-old students. The movie stars two excellent actors in Creator/JudiDench and the aforementioned Blanchett, both at the top of their respective games. The subject matter is titillating, and the script is well written. It would take one heck of an actor to draw attention, even momentarily, away from all of that to show the real human cost of such a scandal. Bill Nighy is such an actor.
** Equally impressive is Derbhle Crotty as the mother of said student when she confronts Sheba.
--> '''Mrs. Connolly''' ''(as she repeatedly slaps Sheba)'': "Slut! Whore! Whore! How could you? How could you? He's a ''child!'' A sweet boy! You perverted '''''bitch'''''! Bitch!"
* Creator/RobinWilliams:
** As a Russian gynaecologist in ''Film/NineMonths''. He only shows up twice, but you'll remember him (of course you will, he's Robin Williams).
** He has three brief scenes in Creator/KennethBranagh's ''Film/DeadAgain'' as a former psychiatrist that are quite memorable. It's officially [[TheCameo a cameo]] too, as Williams didn't want to be credited or appear in promotional material lest people assume the film a comedy.
** As the King Of The Moon in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'' (credited as [[StageNames Ray D. Tutto]]).
* Music/TomWaits has done this quite a lot, and very successfully for a non-actor:
** He plays Carnegie's Engineer in ''Film/TheBookOfEli'' and holds his own against both Creator/DenzelWashington and Creator/GaryOldman.
** He gets a couple of scenes in ''Film/SevenPsychopaths'' as a rabbit-carrying SerialKillerKiller.
** He's ex-husband to Creator/LilyTomlin as one of the nine protagonist couples in Creator/RobertAltman's ''Film/ShortCuts''.
** He pulls DeusExMachina duty in the otherwise forgettable ''Film/{{Domino|2005}}'' as a tattooed preacher who rescues the main characters from the desert in his car.
** A paraplegic homeless veteran in ''Film/TheFisherKing'' who waxes philosophical about his role in society with Jeff Bridges.
** He plays TheRenfield in ''Film/BramStokersDracula'', and unlike some [[Creator/KeanuReeves other actors]] in said film, his British accent is impeccable.
** He's one of the only totally sympathetic characters in ''Film/TheBalladOfBusterScruggs'' and carries an entire segment [[MinimalistCast on his own]].
** He (with the assistance of Creator/SeanPenn as a Creator/WilliamHolden clone) completely steals ''Film/LicoricePizza'' with about 10 minutes of screentime as the [[LargeHam highly exuberant]] film director Rex Blau.
* King Osric in ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'' is exactly this: he's played by Creator/MaxVonSydow, appears in only one scene and does his monologue in an incredibly humane and intriguing way.
* Creator/WillFerrell...
** As Mustafa in ''Film/AustinPowers: International Man of Mystery''. Short scene, infinitely memorable. He even returned in ''Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me''.
** His role as Big Earl in ''Film/StarskyAndHutch''.
** His role as [[spoiler:Chazz Reinhold]] in ''Film/WeddingCrashers''.
* Creator/AlfredMolina as strung-out drug kingpin Rahad Jackson in ''Film/BoogieNights''. You will never be able to listen to "Jessie's Girl" or "Sister Christian" the same way again.
** In ''Film/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'', Molina steals every scene he appears as Sheik Amar.
* Creator/BenStein in...anyone? Anyone?...in ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff''. "Bueller? Bueller?" Also, Creator/CharlieSheen as the hoodlum in the scene in the police station with Jeannie near the end. "You wear too much makeup. My sister wears too much makeup. She looks like a whore."
** Stein gets a scene in ''Film/TheMask'' when [[Creator/JimCarrey Stanley Ipkiss]] tries to make sense of his zany newfound artifact, and the beginning of ''Film/SonOfTheMask'', where his face gets separated from his head and put on display by Loki.
* Marissa Jaret Winokur's sullen fast-food server, Janine ("You are ''so busted!''"), in ''Film/AmericanBeauty''. At a screening of the film, the character's smug little smirk at Creator/AnnetteBening not only elicited laughs from the audience, but actual ''applause''.
* In ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress1974'', Creator/IngridBergman won an MediaNotes/AcademyAward for her role as the half-crazy Swedish missionary Greta Ohlsson, who is practically only seen onscreen during a seven minute near-monologue. Bergman herself, however, [[https://www.youtube.com/user/oscars?blend=1&ob=4#p/search/2/ky5sW4no_cg said]] that Valentina Cortese should've won. This trope applies to nearly everyone in the film; with the exception of Hercule Poirot, Dr. Constantine, and the director of the Wagon-Lits company, who interrogate each passenger, no one has more than three scenes. Just the same, every actor gives a full movie's performance in their seven minutes on-screen.
* Dame Creator/JudiDench as Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethI needed only six minutes of screen time to run away with ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'' and an MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestActressInASupportingRole.
-->"Have her then, but you're a lordly fool. She's been plucked since I saw her last, and not by you...it takes a woman to know it."
* ''Film/{{Airplane}}'':
** Barbara Billingsley, even though she's only in one scene, has one of the greatest comedic moments in movie history:
-->"Pardon me, stewardess, I speak jive."
** There's also Creator/EthelMerman as the soldier who thinks he's Ethel Merman.
* Creator/SammyDavisJr, in the film version of ''Theatre/SweetCharity''. He shows up, blows the rest of the cast right off the screen with a stunning rendition of the movie's best song ("Rhythm of Life"), then vanishes, his hipster-preacher character and the sequence in which he appears having absolutely nothing to do with the storyline. Classic Wonder.
* In ''Film/WhenHarryMetSally'', Estelle Reiner (director Creator/RobReiner's mother) brings down the house with her one and only line, which is the most memorable line in the film: "I'll have what she's having!"
* Creator/JustinLong as a matter-of-fact gay porn star in ''Film/ZackAndMiriMakeAPorno'', and Creator/BrandonRouth as his boyfriend.
-->"I will be your sherpa up the mountain of gayness."
* Creator/ChristopherPlummer showed up as Creator/NicolasCage's grandfather at the beginning of ''Film/NationalTreasure'' (one of his earlier roles in his 21st-century comeback, and it was pretty awesome).
* The Street Preacher, Creator/DolphLundgren's Jesus-obsessed cyborg hitman, is easily the best part of ''Film/JohnnyMnemonic''. Admittedly, that's not saying much, but he easily outshines the film's other attempts at {{One Scene Wonder}}s (Music/IceT playing... Ice-T the urban revolutionary, and Music/HenryRollins playing... Henry Rollins the cyborg medic).
-->'''Street Preacher:''' Do you want him brought to Jesus, or to you?
* ''Film/MorningGlory'': Paul is fired and departs from the movie at the end of his first scene, but his unapologetic {{Slimeball}} attitude, HatedByAll status, and performer (Creator/TyBurrell) make him a memorable part of the movie.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** All the bounty hunters in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', but Boba Fett's qualifications for this trope are practically archetypical. He has something like ten minutes of screen time, most of which he spends just slouching around next to Darth Vader before leaving with Han Solo in tow, and hardly has any lines, but his striking costume, wicked-cool voice and the fact that he's a rough enough customer that ''Vader'' has to [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness tell him to chill out]] ("[[NoodleIncident No disintegrations!]]") turned him into one of the [[BreakoutCharacter franchise's most iconic characters.]]
** The other bounty hunters in Boba's introductory scene as well - IG-88, Bossk, Zuckuss, 4-LOM, and Dengar - easily qualify. Less than a minute of screen time, do nothing except for stand around, and none of them have lines, but their unique and striking designs and aura of total badassery spawned entire volumes of expanded universe material.
** Sebastian Shaw as the (unmasked) Vader in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. He had only two minutes and seven seconds of screentime and speaks only 24 words, but delivers three entire movies' worth of acting in that time. It's probably the most moving scene in the entire series, and one of the most emotional in all of cinema.
** Darth Vader in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' (in the suit, that is); the film was built up and marketed to lead to that scene; in the final film, Vader is shown in the suit for less than ''three minutes'', with less than 30 seconds of dialogue by Creator/JamesEarlJones.
*** Also in ''Revenge of the Sith'', Wayne Pygram's cameo as a younger Tarkin was appreciated by many fans.
** Also from the original trilogy, the Rancor caretaker who cries once he sees its corpse.
** Greedo only gets one scene where he gets shot by Han Solo. He's since become so popular and well known (most likely due to the whole "Han shot first" thing) that a number of comics and cartoons have been written exploring upon him as a character. The most notable example would be the ''Underworld'' comic which reveals why Greedo took the job to kill Han (he was trying to become a well-known bounty hunter but was failing miserably) and why he wanted to kill Han (he was very jealous of Solo, who was kind of a dick to him).
** FN-2199, the stormtrooper who screams "Traitor!" to Finn in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', and drops his gun to use a Z6 baton against Finn's lightsaber. After a fight, he is killed by Chewbacca's bowcaster by Han Solo. This scene has became a popular meme on the internet.
*** Also in ''The Force Awakens'', Creator/MarkHamill [[AdvertisedExtra gets third billing]], but Luke only appears in two scenes - in a barely lit flashback, and then the final scene, where Luke doesn't even speak[[note]]leading to jokes that he was paid by the line[[/note]] but his mere presence is enough for fans everywhere to cheer.
*** The opening scene was meant to feature a returning character (most likely either Wedge Antilles or Lando) who would deliver a message to Poe Dameron and then get killed by Kylo Ren. When neither accepted, Lucasfilm shrugged and said, "Alright, let's just get Creator/MaxVonSydow instead."
** The popularity of a OSW can wax or wane with time. For example, the Imperial officer who capture Han in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' invests his sole line of dialogue, "YouRebelScum" with such an outlandish degree of disdain that it became a meme in the days of pre-Internet fandom, even being parodied in the original ''VideoGame/StarCraftI''. But the line and scene are rarely referenced anymore, overshadowed by various other, more popular memes.
** Do a Google search for ''Film/RogueOne'' and nine times out of ten the top autofill result will be "''Film/RogueOne'' Darth Vader scene." The Dark Lord of the Sith has less than five minutes of screen time in the entire movie and only talks in one of his two scenes, and steals the entire film with one of the most NightmareFuel-inducing [[MookHorrorShow sequences in the saga]].
*** Similarly, the presence of a digitally-recreated Creator/CarrieFisher as a young Princess Leia (although it was filmed with a body-double and used archive voice clips for her one line) for exactly one line and ten seconds of screen time brought many audiences to cheers, especially poignant in light of her [[DiedDuringProduction tragic death]] only a few weeks after the release of the movie.
*** C-3PO and R2-D2 show up for a seconds-long cameo in the base on Yavin 4, letting them keep their status as the only characters to appear in every live-action Star Wars film to date.
*** To the delight of many aggrieved prequel trilogy fans, Creator/JimmySmits gets a few brief scenes as Bail Organa, making the first time a major prequel trilogy actor has reprised his role in the new movies.
*** The Hammerhead cruiser ''Lightmaker'' and its crew, who have something like thirty seconds of screentime and pull off possibly the most jaw-dropping instance of RammingAlwaysWorks in cinema history.
** Similarly to Vader, but with the exact opposite effect, [[spoiler: Yoda's Ghost]] shows up for exactly one scene in ''Film/TheLastJedi'', but it's easily one of the most [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments lump-in-the-throat nostalgia-inducing]] and profoundly moving moments in the entire saga.
*** Snoke's PraetorianGuard. Cool-looking guys in armor who spend most of the movie just standing around, but their [[spoiler:incredible fight scene against Rey and Kylo Ren to avenge Snoke's death, pushing two trained Force users to the [[EliteMooks absolute limits of their abilities]]]] despite [[BadassNormal no apparent Force powers]] turned them all instant fan-favorites, similar to Nines.
*** Rose's sister, Paige, who has a single line and barely three minutes of screentime, but her [[spoiler: epic HeroicSacrifice]] made her one of the most memorable characters in the whole movie.
*** Creator/TomHardy's hilarious cameo in a sadly deleted scene as a Southern-accented stormtrooper and former friend of Finn's during a [[UncomfortableElevatorMoment very awkward elevator ride.]]
** ''Film/{{Solo}}'' has [[spoiler:Darth Maul]] as TheManBehindTheMan.
** ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' manages to bring back [[spoiler:Harrison Ford as Han Solo]] in an uncredited cameo, as [[spoiler:Kylo Ren's memory of his father, combined with Luke's apology, Leia's sacrifice, and Rey's act of compassion is enough to have him complete a HeelFaceTurn]]. Denis Lawson also has a brief cameo as Wedge Antilles as the gunner on the ''Millennium Falcon'' in the final battle.
* Creator/ChrisSarandon's outstanding turn as Creator/AlPacino's pre-op transgender girlfriend in the classic ''Film/DogDayAfternoon'' garnered him an MediaNotes/AcademyAward nomination and made his career, despite his appearing in only two scenes.
* Creator/NeilPatrickHarris' much-loved cameo in ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'' as well as Nurse Creator/RyanReynolds.
* ''Film/FireInTheSky'' is 109 minutes long, and the aliens only appear for approximately ten of those minutes near the end of the movie. It is now considered to be one of the [[NightmareFuel scariest sci-fi movies ever made]] for that single segment ''alone''.
* Super-obscure example: Creator/DannyGlover in ''Out'' (aka ''[[JustForFun/LousyAlternateTitles Deadly Drifter]]''). Granted, he made it before rising to stardom with ''Film/LethalWeapon''.
* Creator/CharlesDurning as the Governor of Texas in ''Film/TheBestLittleWhorehouseInTexas'', which got him nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar. It helps that he has one of the funniest musical numbers in the movie, "Sidestep", where he celebrates his ability to dodge questions put to him by the press.
* Pinhead's brief yet ultimately memorable appearances in the first ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}'' film counts as this. So much so that he went on to define the entire series. The original plan was to have Julia as the recurring villain, thus turning her into a rare female slasher villain. However, Pinhead's popularity caused the whole thing to be reworked.
* Graeme Garden has two scenes in the 1986 film version of ''Whoops Apocalypse'', both as different (but identical) creaky old servants limping hurriedly down different (but identical) corridors to get to a telephone and complete a call (which they fail to do). It's one of the more memorable sequences in the film.
* Creator/TellySavalas turns up close to the end of ''Film/HorrorExpress'' and stops the story cold with his portrayal of swaggering, vodka-swilling Tsarist Captain Kazan. An aristocrat threatens to send him to Siberia, his reply is a bemused "I am ''in'' Siberia."
* Parodied in ''Film/WaynesWorld2''. When Wayne stops at a gas station to ask for directions to Gordon Street, the attendant starts to give a monologue about a "girl who lived on Gordon Street." A disgusted Wayne asks "[[WhoWritesThisCrap Do we have to put up with this? I mean, I know it's a small part, but I think we can do better than this.]]" The gas station attendant is led away and replaced by Creator/CharltonHeston, whose monologue reduces Wayne to [[ManlyTears tears]].
* Creator/CharltonHeston has a memorable scene as the head of the shadowy Omega Sector in ''Film/TrueLies''.
* Creator/JohnWayne as a Roman centurion at the end of ''Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold'', where, after Jesus is crucified, he says only one line: "Truly this man was the son of God."
* In ''Film/MidnightCowboy'', Sylvia Miles' Cass has less than five minutes of screen time, but it was enough for Miles to win an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. John [=McGiver=] (Mr. O'Daniel) and Bernard Hughes (Towny) arguably fit this as well.
* Creator/CedricTheEntertainer does an excellent job of this in the first ''Film/{{Barbershop}}'' movie.
* Music/MeatLoaf and Music/RonnieJamesDio, and Music/DaveGrohl in ''Film/TenaciousDInThePickOfDestiny'', each get a scene dedicated to them; the former as Creator/JackBlack's father, who tears down all his posters while singing about how rock & roll is the Devil's music, and the latter as a poster of himself that comes to life afterward. Grohl provides the BigBad. Tim Robbins also plays a crazy homeless man trying to rob the characters, but can't walk, and demands they come to him so he can stab them.
* During ''Film/Studio666'', Dave Grohl tries to break out of a writer's block playing "Hello". He then has a vision of Music/LionelRichie himself, profanely complaining it's his song and Dave should try something else!
* The Wienie King in ''Film/ThePalmBeachStory''. "Cold are the hands of time that creep along relentlessly, destroying slowly but without pity that which yesterday was young... That's hard to say with false teeth!"
* The movie ''The Loved One'' is basically a whole string of these, including scenes with Creator/JamesCoburn, Creator/RoddyMcDowall, Creator/MiltonBerle, and, most memorable by far, Music/{{Liberace}} playing a coffin salesman.
* If '30s actress Creator/MaeClarke is remembered today at all, it's for that one scene in ''Film/ThePublicEnemy1931'' where Creator/JamesCagney smashes the grapefruit in her face.
* Silent Bob's speech in ''Film/ChasingAmy'' is so memorable, it's easy to forget that he and his hetero life mate Jay are only in one scene.
* Creator/RichardHarris as English Bob in ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'', who just shoots some pheasants, defends monarchy, gets beaten by Creator/GeneHackman, gets arrested and then goes away in across maybe 10 minutes of screentime. But it's a remarkable performance enough for "The Duck of Death" to be in the poster.
* Creator/ViolaDavis in ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}''. A single scene, about ten minutes of screen time, and while she's onscreen she overshadows ''Creator/MerylStreep''. It got her nominated for an Oscar, and many believed she should have won it.
* ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' has a few busloads of well-known comic actors all loudly turned up to eleven (both in the main cast and numerous cameos)... then in one scene, firemen and paramedics are shown assembling to save the day, and the last of them are ''Film/TheThreeStooges'', standing silently with their gear and [[FromBadToWorse waiting to spring into action.]]
* ''Film/InTheLoop'' is not short of great performances or funny material. Creator/SteveCoogan is in the movie for what must be a grand total of five minutes all up, and interacts with few of the main characters and none of the main plot. However, in those five minutes he easily manages to steal the movie as Paul, the easily frustrated constituent who just wants the U.K. Minister for International Development to do something about the wall of his constituency office (which is collapsing into Paul's mum's back garden) whilst said Minister is self-importantly but foolishly involving himself in grand matters of geo-political diplomacy.
* Pyramid Head in the ''Film/SilentHill'' movie. Two scenes, each lasting approximately thirty seconds, not a single line, and he's still one of the best parts.
* ''Film/WhollyMoses'' has a few of these, but the one that really stands out is Creator/JohnRitter's one-and-half-minute appearance as {{Satan}}.
* Creator/JackPalance had a film career of 50 years and over 70 movies, but when he died in 2006, one film role consistently stood out in all the obituaries and tributes dedicated to him: the role of the taunting, [[SlasherSmile smiling]] [[TheDragon hired gun]] Jack Wilson in ''Film/{{Shane}}''. Palance's Wilson is widely regarded as '''the''' definitive [[TheWestern Western]] bad guy. Total screen time: eight minutes. Total words spoken by Wilson: less than fifty, but he makes the most out of two of them: "Prove it."
* Holly Palance (Jack's daughter) had one memorable scene in ''Film/TheOmen1976'' as Damien's first nanny who is compelled by Satan to hang herself at Damien's birthday party. "Look at me, Damien! I'm doing it all for you!"
* Matthew Atherton, A.K.A Feedback, of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeASuperhero'', with a total of two memorable minutes in the utterly forgettable monster movie ''Mega-Snake''.
* In ''Film/AmericanPie'', then-unknown Creator/JohnCho's one-scene appearance as the MILF guy. Not only did this scene popularize the term "MILF," Cho arguably went on to have the best career out of all the young actors in the film. It resulted in a movie role being written just for him - the part of Harold in ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle.''
** He even returns to the fourth movie with a more expanded role - but still credited as only MILF guy.
** And now he's [[Film/StarTrek2009 Sulu]]:
--> '''Sulu''': Attention: John Harrison. This is Captain Hikaru Sulu of the USS Enterprise. A shuttle of highly trained officers is on its way to your location. If you do not surrender to them immediately, I will unleash the entire payload of advanced long-range torpedoes currently locked on to your location. You have two minutes to confirm your compliance. Refusal to do so will result in your obliteration. And if you test me, you will fail.
* ''Film/JudgmentAtNuremberg'' features Creator/SpencerTracy, Creator/BurtLancaster, Creator/RichardWidmark, Creator/MarleneDietrich, Creator/MaximilianSchell, Creator/JudyGarland, and Creator/WilliamShatner. Every single one of them is at the top of their game... and then Creator/MontgomeryClift blows them all out of the water with a seven and a half minute performance that got him a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
** Garland's performance could also, as she likewise has only one or two scenes, but makes a powerful impression.
* The Thor-Axine team (a trio of Viking themed drivers) during the first half of the Casa Cristo rally in ''Film/SpeedRacer''. They fire a beehive out of a catapault. ''From a speeding racecar''.
* Creator/MelBrooks' ''Film/HighAnxiety'' has future big time director Creator/BarryLevinson as a high-strung bellboy who gets progressively more irritated with Brooks' requests for a newspaper until...no, it's too good to spoil.
* Creator/RandyQuaid as Cousin Eddie in ''Film/NationalLampoonsVacation'' was only in the movie for a fairly small amount of time (they go to his house, have a BBQ, spend the night, then leave), but he was so funny and so popular they brought him back into a much bigger part for ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation''.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''
** [[spoiler: Hector Barbossa]] managed to steal ''the final scene'' in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest''. Fortunately [[spoiler: he got a lot more screentime in the next film.]]
** In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides'', [[EnigmaticMinion the Spaniard]] is teased throughout the movie, but only has one substantial scene at the climax. During that scene, however, he pretty much dominates everything with his blend of AntiVillain, WickedCultured, and WellIntentionedExtremist.
** Both in that and ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', Music/KeithRichards as Jack Sparrow's father Teague.
** The opening sequence of ''On Stranger Tides'' in London offers great cameos by Creator/RichardGriffiths, chewing all the scenery he can as King George II, and Dame Creator/JudiDench, as a noblewoman whose earring Jack steals, then asks Jack "is that all?"
** On the same vein as Teague, ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales'' has Music/PaulMcCartney as Uncle Jackie.
* ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' [[spoiler:Creator/BillMurray]] makes a completely out of left field cameo as himself that is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie (they even bring him back in [[Film/ZombielandDoubleTap the sequel]]). Creator/AmberHeard, also, as "406", Columbus' hot, blonde neighbor who unfortunately turns into a zombie and tries to kill him.
* A deleted scene in ''Film/FunWithDickAndJane'' features James Whitmore as an elderly ex-Marine, now employed as a security guard in a toy store in the profession of "kicking Creator/JimCarrey's butt". It's quite possibly the funniest, most memorable scene not in the movie.
* Glen Coco in ''Film/MeanGirls'' has gone memetic. He does not even have a line, but is mentioned in one of the most quoted lines of the film.
* Creator/BronsonPinchot as Serge in the first ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' movie.
** He returns for [[Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII the third film]] as an all-in-one gun salesman.
** Creator/GilbertGottfried's character in ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopII''.
** As well as Creator/ChrisRock (in his film debut) making a brief appearance as a parking valet.
* Creator/JamesRodayRodriguez and Creator/MaggieLawson in their 30-second cameo as news anchors in ''Film/{{Gamer}}''.
* Creator/ForestWhitaker as Amos, the genial pool hustler in ''Film/TheColorOfMoney''.
* Creator/DenisLeary has a few brief scenes in ''Film/DemolitionMan'' as Edgar Friendly, where he basically does his own act for 5 minutes.
* It isn't her only scene, but Ann Miller's dance solo in ''Film/EasterParade'' steals the movie right out from under Creator/FredAstaire and Creator/JudyGarland.
* Creator/ClaudeRains as the slightly creepy, elderly millionaire Frederick Lannington in the 1950 film noir thriller ''Film/WhereDangerLives''. He can't be on screen for any more than five or ten minutes, but you'll remember him. He receives top billing alongside Creator/RobertMitchum and Faith Domergue.
* In ''Film/RevolutionaryRoad'', Creator/MichaelShannon has two scenes, in both of which he's able to out-act Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, Creator/KateWinslet, ''and'' Creator/KathyBates completely by himself... earning a Best Supporting Actor nomination in the process.
* Dr. Iris appears in ''Film/MinorityReport'' for one scene (and a brief appearance in the "commercial" for the precogs at the beginning of the film) and her "soul-sick" performance earned her a supporting actress nod for the Golden Globes.
** ''Minority Report'' also gives us '''the''' sleaziest BackAlleyDoctor in human history, played to I-need-to-take-a-shower-after-watching-this-perfection by (who else?) Creator/PeterStormare.
* Creator/PeterStormare also provides what is probably the only universally acclaimed part of ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' - his portrayal of Lucifer as a [[VillainInAWhiteSuit white-suit-clad]], oil-oozing sociopath with a face like melted candle wax is one of the most [[CreepyAwesome chillingly compelling]] movie depictions of Satan ever. It's a close competition between him and Viggo Mortensen (also on this list, higher up) for who made a creepier Devil.
* Creator/EddieIzzard as Mr. Kite in ''Film/AcrossTheUniverse2007''. Her LargeHam performance is definitely memorable, and provides some of the funniest lines in the movie ("Have you seen it? It's great. They've got stuff.").
* The nameless cigar-smoking mobster from ''Film/NinjaAssassin''. When your response to getting stabbed in the neck is to hold it with one and do a ''spinning close-fisted backhand'' to your would-be killer with the other, well, you will be memorable. The rest is just icing on the cake.
* Creator/ChristopherEccleston as a truth-spouting tramp in ''Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople''.
* The three-breasted mutant chick from the original ''Film/TotalRecall1990''. Johnny-cab, as well. 'cab is on screen for a total of two minutes. In this time, he spouts chirpy nonsense, gets torn apart by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, starts screaming and glowing, tries to kill Arnie by driving at full speed into him, misses him, and hits a wall and explodes. ''"Fasten your seatbelt!"''
** The three-breasted mutant chick was indeed so popular that they were forced to include her in the remake and to make sure fans know it was added to one of the trailers.
* Creator/ChevyChase as the jacuzzi repairman in ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine''. Appears four or five times throughout the movie, but never for more than a couple minutes [[StealthHiBye before disappearing as suddenly as he came]], and is easily one of the best parts.
* While we're on the subject of repairmen: in ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' Harry Tuttle, freelance renegade HVAC repairman (Creator/RobertDeNiro), shows up for one scene, steals it, then escapes. On a zip line.
* By all accounts, Emily Hampshire's role as the chatty, eccentric Vivienne at the beginning of ''Snow Cake'' is one of these moments.
* Music/{{Eminem}} and Creator/RayRomano (how about that for unlikely team-ups) completely steal the one scene of ''Film/FunnyPeople'' that they're in together.
* ''Film/PulpFiction'': Creator/HarveyKeitel has a small amount of screen-time, but a particularly memorable speech (the "'Please' would be nice" rant).
--> "Pretty please, with sugar on top, clean the fucking car."
* Carla Perez's thirty-second cameo as Rita Repulsa in ''Film/TurboAPowerRangersMovie'', with all the [[LargeHam ham]] her presence implies, may be the best thing about it.
* Creator/MathieuAmalric appears in the first and last scenes of ''Film/TheExtraordinaryAdventuresOfAdeleBlancSec'' as the titular heroine's revolting arch-nemesis Dieuleveult, dressed entirely in a black trenchcoat, hat and sunglasses like a Gestapo officer, completely unrecognizable under a thick layer of makeup with rotten-looking false teeth and speaking with a wheezy voice, all in all resembling Toht from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''. After stealing the scene with a wonderfully [[LargeHam over-the-top]] creepy performance, his character is mummified alive and only seen at the end of the movie, observing Adèle embarking on the [[spoiler:Titanic]] and ominously wishing her "bon voyage". This is made even more infuriating due to the fact that Dieuleveult is, as previously indicated, her arch-nemesis in the comics and yet has no other role in the plot other than failing to prevent her from stealing a mummy she hopes will bring her sister back to life. Needless to stay, the fans of the original comic were not pleased.
* ''Film/AmericanGangster'' has Ruby Dee in an Academy Award nominated role as Frank Lucas' mother. She had less than 10 minutes of screen time.
* Creator/JackieEarleHaley in ''Film/ShutterIsland''. His one scene lasts maybe five minutes and he owns every second of it.
* Creator/JackieEarleHaley as the "particularly dirty hippie" Dukes in ''Film/SemiPro''.
* Creator/MarlonBrando as Jor-El in ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' .
* Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger appeared in ''Film/TheRundown'' for about five seconds of screentime, enough to say exactly two words. His appearance is mentioned in just about every professional review of the movie listed on Website/IMDb.
* Creator/BruceMcGill in ''Film/TheInsider'', as the lawyer who deposes Creator/RussellCrowe. "WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR FACE!"
* Creator/PeterStormare. So. Many. Times. ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' and ''Film/Armageddon1998'' stand out, though in the latter case, he's a OneSceneWonder stretched out over a significant part of the film and he is awesome every step of the way.
* Creator/JohnnyDepp has two [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wuMt_3Asqg very brief scenes]] in the French film ''Ils se marient et eurent beaucoup des enfants'' (also known as ''Happily Ever After''), one of which contains no dialogue (only some cute eye-flirting to the sounds of "Creep"), and then another scene at the end in which he--get this, ladies--speaks French, and then [[spoiler:kisses the female lead in a dreamy, [[StairwayToHeaven magical elevator ride]], implying that her romantic life will turn all right after all.]]
** Depp also has his RemakeCameo in ''Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' and ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' [[spoiler:as evil wizard Grindelwald, who through most of the movie hides under Creator/ColinFarrell's guise as a cop.]]
* Creator/KlausKinski as the shackled forced labor prisoner in the train car in ''Film/DoctorZhivago''.
** Also, as the hunchback in ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore''.
** Kinski spent most of his career being the best part in awful movies.
* ''Film/InglouriousBasterds''.
** Creator/MikeMyers as an English general!
** UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler is only in the movie for about three minutes, but every moment of it is hilarious, from the first moment you see him [[BlatantLies calmly]] giving [[BigNo his opinion]] on the Basterds.
** Though his scene is quite long, Denis Menochet's character, Mr Lapadite, in the opening scene of the movie is never seen again.
* [[SignificantAnagram Navckid Keyd]] as Elder Mr. Dawes in ''Film/MaryPoppins'', once you realise who he is.
* Creator/JonLovitz has exactly one scene in ''Film/TheWeddingSinger'' as a rival wedding singer to the main character, but thanks to a single line of dialogue, a facial expression and a curtain, it's a scene you'll remember:
--> He's losing his mind... ''and I'm reaping all the benefits''!
* Creator/BruceWillis and Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger in ''Film/TheExpendables''. They're in the movie for all of a few minutes, yet their presence is mentioned constantly in the advertising campaign - for good reason, as those two and Creator/SylvesterStallone haven't worked together in movies before.
* The Vegan Police, played by Creator/ThomasJane and Clifton Collins Jr., in ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld''. They have some truly hilarious lines, and make their exit with a slow-motion leaping high five.
--> '''Todd:''' Gelato isn't vegan?
--> '''Vegan Police:''' [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch Milk and eggs, bitch.]]
* Creator/JohnTurturro in ''Film/TheBigLebowski''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1SfzV67Bqw Nobody fucks with the Jesus]]. So much he eventually got his movie, ''The Jesus Rolls''.
* Noah Cross does not appear in ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'' until the movie is over halfway through. And he doesn't appear again until near the very end of the film. However, he is remembered as one of the most despicable villains in cinematic history. Creator/RomanPolanski's appearance as the man who cuts Creator/JackNicholson's nose with a knife also deserves a mention. It's probably the scene most people remember.
* ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'':
** ''Film/GhostbustersII'': As New York City is haunted during the Ghostbusters' involuntary committment, we see that among the ghosts is ''the wreck of the Titanic'' arriving at New York harbor, and we see the dock supervisor played by [[Creator/CheechAndChong Cheech Marin]], who stares in shock at all the ghosts exiting the ship for several seconds before saying "Well, better late than never...".
** ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' has every single RemakeCameo - albeit Creator/BillMurray is a Two Scene Wonder. Also noteworthy is a skeletal ringmaster ghost who appears in the final fight, and Music/OzzyOsbourne giving a one-liner ("Sharon! I'm having flashbacks!" in the theatrical cut, and "Wankers! Music/BlackSabbath did that shit in '74." in the extended one).
* Creator/RalphFiennes in ''Film/NannyMcPheeAndTheBigBang''. In his only scene, he helps set up the film's climax and in the process patches up things with his children and relatives.
* Creator/PeterUstinov ''will'' steal any scene(s) he appears in:
** As [[TheCaligula Nero]] in ''Film/QuoVadis''.
** As Lentulus Batiatus in ''Film/{{Spartacus}}''
** As Kaptah in ''Film/TheEgyptian''
*** Also in ''Film/TheEgyptian'', Judith Evelyn as Queen Mother Taia.
--> And now I'll give you some advice, young man. Never tell the truth to an old woman -- especially if she asks for it.
* Creator/GaryBusey tends to do this in any film he isn't headlining.
** As a crazy psycho UsefulNotes/VietnamWar vet in ''Film/BlackSheep1996'' opposite Creator/ChrisFarley and Creator/DavidSpade (although it's two and not just one), and his 'stint' as a Heavy-like demon hunter in ''Succubus: Hell Bent'', in which he gives quite possibly the least rousing morale boosting speech ever submitted to celluloid (he basically tells the kid he has no hope of winning and he should just let the succubus do what she wants because he'll only manage to piss her off worse), dumps a load of weird junk that actually seems to work on the hero, and then drives off to leave him to his fate.
** There's also his cameo as a very lonely highway patrolman in ''Film/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas''.
** He and Lucy Butler stand out as two of the nicer people in ''Film/LostHighway'', in their brief screentime as Pete Dayton's parents.
* Speaking of ''Fear and Loathing'', there's also Ellen Barkin's moving cameo as a waitress in a depressing café who gets terrorized by the main characters.
* Creator/GaryBusey's son Creator/JakeBusey had only three scenes and very little dialogue in ''Film/{{Contact}}'' but was utterly ''chilling'' as an insane religious cult leader who [[spoiler: blows up the first prototype of the portal machine.]]
* [[spoiler:Creator/JonHamm]]'s appearance in ''Film/TheATeam'' is technically TheCameo, but may also fall under this because he comes out of nowhere (he wasn't mentioned in any of the promotional material) and is pretty darn awesome, despite being onscreen for only about two or three minutes.
* Music/MeatLoaf turns up for a single song, arguably one of the best, in ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'', sings it, and then [[spoiler:gets brutally hacked to death by Tim bloody Curry]].
* Diva Plavalaguna with her ''insane'' musical number in ''Film/TheFifthElement'', which many consider the most memorable scene in the film.
** Also the incompetent mugger who tries to ambush Korben by standing outside his apartment with a fake corridor picture strapped to his head.
* The Pale Man in ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' is probably ''the'' most talked about part of the film. Hardly surprising, given that he's played by Creator/DougJones (who also played the Faun), employing his remarkable physical talents to deliver a memorably terrifying scene.
* Creator/JohnBarrowman appears in ''Film/TheProducers'' remake, as the lead tenor on "Springtime For Hitler". The results are amazing.
* Liam Dunn made a specialty of these roles in comedies in the early 1970's. He's probably best known for playing the besieged minister Rev. Johnson in ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' and as the abused patient Mr. Hilltop at the beginning of ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', but his crowing moment has to be as Judge Maxwell, who has to legally sort out the problems created by his daughter Judy (Barbra Streisand) in ''Film/WhatsUpDoc'' He has less than ten minutes on screen, but his reactions to the story being told to him are priceless. Buck Henry's wonderful dialogue was a big help.
* ''Film/TronLegacy'':
** Creator/MichaelSheen as [[spoiler: Castor/Zuse]][[note]]"Between this, [[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]], and Film/{{Passengers|2016}}, it's clear Michael Sheen could make a good living just stealing the sh*t out of middling sci-fi movies that start pretty people." - WebVideo/CinemaSins[[/note]]
** Same scene, Music/DaftPunk (who wrote the soundtrack) as DJ Programs.
* Sheen steals his scenes in ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} New Moon]]'', due to extensive use of HamAndCheese.
* Grandpa Chapman in ''Film/SilentNightDeadlyNight''.
-->"You see Santa Claus tonight you better run boy, you better run for ya life!"
** And the ScaryBlackMan from the sequel. He doesn't even speak, yet he is remembered almost as much as the film's star.
* Joan [=McCracken=], who performs the show-stopping number ("Pass That Peace Pipe") in the MGM musical ''Good News'', and has basically no other role in the rest of the movie. [=McCracken=], who was a terrific dancer but only a moderately good singer, and who was quite plain-looking, [[HollywoodHomely especially by Hollywood standards]], specialized in these kinds of roles.
* Creator/GarySinise as the reporter in ''Film/TheGreenMile''. The scene is a powerful one in the book, illustrating perfectly why John Coffey was convicted, even through doubts that he actually did the crime, and Sinise certainly put his stamp on it. Despite only being in that one scene, his obvious connections with Creator/TomHanks gave him a spot in the movie's trailer.
** Graham Greene only has one major scene lasting slightly over a minute, but he delivers a haunting monologue that's one of the best things in an already very good movie.
** The late, great Creator/HarryDeanStanton as the sarcastic janitor Toot-Toot is in more than one scene, but he's only really the focus of one, and in it he easily gets [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments some of the best lines]] in the whole film.
* About half the cast of ''Film/BartonFink'', though most of them have about two scenes.
** Creator/TonyShalhoub as Ben Geisler. About two scenes and five minutes and he owns every second of them. "Well, tell Lipnick he can kiss my dimpled ass."
** Creator/SteveBuscemi as Chet, the wormy bellhop at the hotel.
** Mastrionotti and Deutch, the detectives that question Barton.
** Pete, the elevator operator who Barton asks if he's read the Bible. "Holy Bible? Yeah I think so. Anyway I've heard about it."
* Also from Creator/TheCoenBrothers' oeuvre, Shaloub's turn as Creator/BillyBobThornton's existentialist lawyer is arguably the single most memorable scene in ''Film/TheManWhoWasntThere2001''.
* And again from the Coens we have Creator/JKSimmons as the befuddled CIA Director in ''Film/BurnAfterReading'', who only appears in two scenes in the whole film for a screen time of just under five minutes, but easily won the audience's affection due to being the OnlySaneMan AudienceSurrogate. He reacts with baffled exasperation and annoyance at the chaotic, random and increasingly absurd events the film depicts, and memorably sums up the film when he tries to identify a possible lesson from what has happened only to conclude that if there ''is'' one, [[LostAesop it's entirely lost on him]].
* Bill Bollender appears as Elmo Blatch in ''one shot'' lasting under a minute in ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', and delivers an entire movie's worth of supporting acting in that space.
* Roscoe Lee Browne's enigmatic appearance as the cyborg Box in sci-fi thriller ''Film/LogansRun'' deserves mention here even though it might be more of a BigLippedAlligatorMoment.
* Creator/MartinScorsese's under-appreciated mid-'80s gem ''Film/AfterHours'' is rife with one-off appearances and small recurring ones, but none more lustrous (or self-contained) than Teri Garr and Verna Bloom.
* Creator/FredericForrest as the psychotic neo-Nazi in ''Film/FallingDown'' has one scene, and if it's not the best one in the movie, it's the one that caused the most laughter. Every line he spouts is caustic and vitriolic, and usually loaded with at least [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain one slur]], and five [[ClusterFBomb curses]]. The role could have been played spooky and subtle, but Forrest instead decided that [[ChewingTheScenery no scenery would go unchewed]] in his performance. If anyone quotes the movie, chances are good it'll be from that scene.
* [[Creator/CheechAndChong Tommy Chong's]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFboGsIkj9Y only scene]] in ''Evil Bong'' is easily the best part of the movie, something the filmmakers seem to be aware of, considering that he's on ''[[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511QBR9ZS1L.jpg the DVD box cover art]]''.
* ''Film/CharliesAngelsFullThrottle'' has Jaclyn Smith reprising her role as Kelly Garret from the series.
* Creator/AdrienBrody as Creator/SalvadorDali in ''Film/MidnightInParis''. His only scene turns out to be one of the funniest scenes in the film and he even got above-title billing on the posters with Creator/OwenWilson and Creator/MarionCotillard.
* Eric in ''Film/MysteryTeam''. He has three rather short scenes, but steals every single one he's in. Jamie too, to a lesser extent.
* Dennis in ''Film/CabinFever''. He's in it for one scene, and that's the SignatureScene of the moment. He ''really'' wants pancakes, he [[DudeLooksLikeALady can be mistaken for a girl]], and he has some kickass fighting moves.
* Rajat Barmecha as Shomu in an [[DarkerAndEdgier unusual]] UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} movie Shaitaan.
* Wrestling/TinyLister as the ScaryBlackMan convict on the ferry in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. He has less than three minutes of screentime, and just one brief monologue delivered in a hushed whisper...and does more to thwart the Joker than Batman and the entire Gotham City police force combined.
** The HangingJudge ([[spoiler:Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow]]) in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' is extremely entertaining even if you don't recognize TheCameo.
-->Exile or death? (...) Alright. Death... [[MortonsFork by exile]].
** The CIA agent in the opening scene of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' has become this due to the entire opening scene becoming a FountainOfMemes.
* ''Film/TheBatman2022'' has one near the end, as the inmate in the cell next to Riddler in Arkham is [[spoiler:the Joker himself, played by Creator/BarryKeoghan.]]
* Susan Backlinie deciding to go swimming at an unfortunate moment in the opening scenes of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. Not only is the scene itself one of the most memorable in cinema, but the bit-player actress gives us one of the most heart-stoppingly real depictions of terror and pain seen on screen.
* [[Creator/PixarRegulars John Ratzenberger]] as the swashbuckling repairman in ''Film/HouseIITheSecondStory''.
** So much so that he's even featured on one of the posters.
* Creator/DavidCarradine:
** As the drunk at the bar who fights back when a gangster shoots him and then takes ''forever'' to die in ''Film/MeanStreets''.
** As the hilarious DirtyOldMan Poon Dong in ''Film/CrankHighVoltage''.
* Creator/AlanCPeterson as the Mayor in ''Film/SuckerPunch''. In his brief appearance, he steals the scene with his utterly badass pimpin' entrance and {{Leitmotif}}: a mash-up of [[Music/{{Queen}} "I Want It All" and "We Will Rock You"]].
* Creator/RodSteiger's appearance as the Judge toward the end of ''Film/TheHurricane'' definitely qualifies. [[spoiler: "You assumed ... wrong."]]
* Creator/LiamNeeson as the writer who instructs Creator/RussellCrowe on prison escapes in ''Film/TheNextThreeDays''. So much they had to put him on the trailer.
* In ''Film/FiveHundredDaysOfSummer'', Creator/ChloeGraceMoretz is this as Tom's little sister.
* ''Film/{{Braindead}}'': The priest who has had only a few unremarkable appearances shows up in the graveyard once the zombies start appearing and goes to town on the zombies in the most epic scene of the movie, ripping/kicking off limbs, throwing and beating up zombies with lines like "This calls for divine intervention" and "I kick ass for The Lord!"
* Creator/JamesCagney reprising his role as George M. Cohan (which won him the Best Actor Oscar for ''Film/YankeeDoodleDandy'') for the Creator/BobHope vehicle ''The Seven Little Foys''. Cagney and Hope trade hilarious barbs for a couple minutes, then do an epic tap dance number together.
* Creator/JimJarmusch's ''Film/DeadMan'' has almost an entire cast of them. Creator/CrispinGlover as the philosophical but illiterate train fireman, Creator/RobertMitchum (in his final role) as the shotgun-toting town boss, Music/IggyPop as a crossdressing, bible-thumping psychopath, Creator/BillyBobThornton as a creepy mountain man, and Creator/AlfredMolina as the racist missionary.
* Creator/KennethBranagh's ''Film/MuchAdoAboutNothing1993'' movie, despite having a genuinely good, if rather [[LargeHam hammy]], cast (even Creator/KeanuReeves is passable) is clearly dominated by Creator/MichaelKeaton's Constable Dogberry.
** If you want a film that's utterly ''loaded'' with these, just watch Branagh's full-length version of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. The supporting cast (and roles) include Creator/BillyCrystal (Gravedigger), Creator/RobinWilliams (Osric), Creator/GerardDepardieu (Reynaldo), Creator/CharltonHeston (Player King), Creator/RufusSewell (Fortinbras), Creator/RichardAttenborough (English Ambassador) and Creator/BrianBlessed (King Hamlet's Ghost) all in absolutely perfect roles! There's also a cameo by Creator/JohnGielgud and Creator/JudiDench.
* The punk on the bus with the ghetto blaster in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''.
** Creator/RobertPicardo has one scene in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' as the Enterprise's Emergency Medical Hologram and comes close to stealing the entire film.
* The 1933 film ''Film/DinnerAtEight'' alludes to this trope in-universe. One of the characters is a washed-up, alcoholic actor who learns he's been demoted from the lead in an upcoming play to a minor one-scene role. His agent persuades him to accept the smaller part on the grounds that he can make a bigger impression on the audience with his single scene.
* ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' has a pretty huge one in the last minute of the film. [[spoiler:It's the first Xenomorph, which pops out of the BigBad.]] It's particularly creepy.
* Creator/StanLee, one of the masterminds of Marvel comics, makes a CreatorCameo [[TheCameo/StanLee in just about every single live-action movie adaptation of the heroes he created]] (and even those he didn't, such as ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' and ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''). Sometimes he's a plain old man, sometimes he gets a few speaking lines, or sometimes he even does some LeaningOnTheFourthWall by playing himself.
** But the best of them all is animated, in ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'', or ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'', DC Comics animated movie.
* Creator/DrewCarey gets a brief scene when his cab ride gets delayed in ''Film/{{Coneheads}}'', addressing himself as a decorated star to make sure all know this snafu is SeriousBusiness.
* ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' has two: the [[AsianHookerStereotype Da Nang prostitute]] ("Me love you long time"), and the [[SociopathicSoldier door gunner]] who shoots Vietnamese civilians from a helicopter ("Get some, get some!)"
* The ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' film has a [[http://fanlistings.dreame.net/worm/ Worm with its own fanlisting]].
* ''Film/TheHungerGames'' has Clove, who, despite while showing up in other scenes, has one scene dedicated to her almost sadistically killing Katniss.
** Thresh only gets to speak in one scene, in which [[spoiler: he shows up out of nowhere, rescues Katniss from Clove by smashing Clove into a wall until she dies, and then spares Katniss' life because of what she did for Rue.]]
** Foxface, who appears briefly here and there, says very little throughout the movie, and doesn't look like the kind who would survive this, but nearly makes it to the end without killing a single person, and probably could've won if not for one mistake. It helps that the actress, Creator/JacquelineEmerson, is super cute.
* In the remake of ''Film/TheManchurianCandidate'', there's Creator/JeffreyWright as the deeply troubled Cpl. Al Melvin, who has a scene near the beginning of the film and doesn't show up much afterwards, but casts such a haunting shadow over the proceedings of the whole film.
* Jerry the CIA agent in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' - "Terminate with extreme prejudice."
** To say nothing of Robert Duvall at the [[TropeNamer Trope Naming]] ColonelKilgore and Creator/MarlonBrando as Colonel Kurtz.
* [[Film/TheMummy1999 Kevin J. O'Connor]] in ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' as Dr. Mindbender in [[spoiler:Rex]][=/=]The Doctor's FlashBack.
** Creator/WaltonGoggins in ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'' as the Warden of Cobra Commander and Destro's prison, who utilizes every second of his screentime.
* In ''Film/{{Flight}}'', protagonists Whitaker and Nicole meet in the hospital stairwell as they wanted a smoke. Then comes a cancer patient from Utah that only appears in that scene, but provides some insightful dialogue.
* Stark's fire extinguisher robot and [[spoiler:ComicBook/NickFury]] in''Film/IronMan1'' . [[BreakoutCharacter Both have larger roles in the second film]].
** ''Film/IronMan2'':
*** Bill O'Reilly, who makes a surprising cameo as himself, commenting on his show about [[spoiler:Pepper Potts becoming CEO of Stark Industries]]. It's much like the segments on his show in real life, but the fact that he's in ''Iron Man 2'' makes it hilarious.
*** O'Reilly also appears in ''Iron Man 3'', where Creator/JoanRivers and her ''Fashion Police'' cohorts also appear to comment on War Machine's new paint job. Both segments get extended in the deleted scenes, with hilarious results.
*** The Suitcase Armor. It's used for just three minutes and has the living crap beaten out of it, but the activation was so cool that the armor was used on the DVD cover instead of the Mark VI upgrade. Elements of it were also adapted into the Mark VII of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''.
** Adam Pally as a cameraman who is a Tony Stark fanboy in ''Film/IronMan3'', providing one of the funniest moments of the film.
* Creator/HarryDeanStanton's unnamed security guard in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''. Not only does he take witnessing a giant green rage monster fall out of the sky in stride, but is also considerate enough to bring a change of clothes for the human that the monster changes into. His scene-closing line is one of the movie's most memorable.
** Creator/KennethTigar as the German Old Man who refuses to kneel to Loki.
* [[Film/TheHumanCentipede Dieter Laser]] in the German drama film ''Big Girls Don't Cry''. He is in it for less than 10 minutes and scares the living shit out of the viewer as a pedophile.
* There are quite a few cameos in ''Film/HotFuzz'' and every actor is hilarious. But special mention must go to Creator/BillNighy as Kenneth, the chief inspector and Creator/MartinFreeman and Creator/SteveCoogan in the opening scene.
** Did you know that Creator/PeterJackson is in the movie, uncredited? He's in for all of 2 seconds, ''stabbing Nicholas in the hand dressed as Father Christmas.''
** Don't forget Creator/CateBlanchett, also uncredited, as Simon Pegg's girlfriend, hidden from view in a hazmat suit.
* Creator/IainGlen as Uncle Ralph in ''Film/KickAss2''.
* ''Film/PacificRim'': Onibaba is rather popular even though it only appears once and its fight is off-screen, mostly remembered for its non-alien/dinosaur design (it looks like a GiantEnemyCrab).
** Otachi Jr.
* Creator/PeterStormare in ''Film/PainAndGain'' as what may be the most awkward oncologist in recent memory.
* The black truck driver from the end of ''Film/{{The Texas Chain Saw Massacre|1974}}''; nameless, no lines, one minute of screen-time, but he's one of the funniest parts of the movie.
* Creator/WaltonGoggins, Creator/CubaGoodingJr, Music/LadyGaga, and Creator/AntonioBanderas as "The Chameleon" in ''Film/MacheteKills''.
* In the 2003 live action ''Film/PeterPan'', one of the Lost Boys, Theodore Chester, [[OneBookAuthor who only ever did that film]] and eight years later put up a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY5hoCz_GaA Youtube video]] expressing his shock at having so many fans for such a small role.
* Creator/DonaldSutherland as X in ''Film/{{JFK}}''. An unusual example though. It's played straight in that he's in one scene, it amounts to about fifteen minutes of screen time of a three hour movie, and it's arguably the most memorable scene in the movie. However since it's essentially a monologue it's probably the second biggest speaking part in the movie.
* Taken to a shocking degree in the 1951 film ''Film/{{Scrooge|1951}}''. Towards the end of the film, Scrooge arrives at his nephew's house and hesitates before going into the party. He is comforted by the door maid who nods for him to go in. She has no lines but it is a very warm and tender scene. For years there was a massive discussion online about the actress's identity as she was uncredited in the film. Eventually a relative of hers surfaced online and [[http://dickensblog.typepad.com/dickensblog/2013/05/meet-the-maid-an-interview-with-theresa-derrington-cozens-hardy.html this blog post]] identifies her as Theresa Derrington.
* Creator/PeterSellers as the title character in ''Film/DrStrangelove'', where he's trying to talk to the President (also played by Sellers) while being attacked by his own prosthetic hand. Yes, it's so funny that Sellers ''steals the scene from himself.''
* Creator/ZachGalifianakis, Creator/SteveBuscemi, Creator/FredWillard and M. Emmet Walsh in ''Film/YouthInRevolt''.
* Dean Carol Gladstone and Officer Watkins from ''Film/{{Neighbors|2014}}'', although the former is more of a Two Scene Wonder.
* Sam's unnamed bus-driver in ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', who manages to get a couple of dozen kids through the apocalyptic battle of the Golden Gate Bridge without a scratch.
* An uncredited Creator/MaxVonSydow, in the extended version of ''Film/TheWolfman2010'', as the mysterious man who gives Lawrence the silver cane.
* Stephen Bishop was best known as a musician (most notable for singing the theme to ''Film/{{Tootsie}}'') but his one-shot appearances in three of Creator/JohnLandis' films all made an impression.
** The "show me you're nuts" guy in ''Film/TheKentuckyFriedMovie''.
** The performer of "I Gave My Love a Cherry" in ''Film/AnimalHouse''.
** The customer who says "Do you have the Miss Piggy?" that immediately leads into the mall chase in ''Film/TheBluesBrothers''.
** In all three movies, he's so charming that his character name is some variation of "Charming Guy" (i.e. Charming Guy with Guitar, Charming Trooper)
* Creator/BenicioDelToro as The Collector manages to do it twice, in TheStinger of ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' and a slightly bigger role in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014''. In the latter, sharing a post-credits scene with another scene-stealing cameo, [[spoiler:ComicBook/HowardTheDuck]].
** Also from ''Guardians'', [[spoiler: Tiny Dancing Groot]]
** [[spoiler: Creator/ChrisEvans / ComicBook/CaptainAmerica]]'s cameo in ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' is not more than thirty seconds long and easily the most hilarious scene of the whole movie.
* ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' has Doctor Strange in just one scene right as Thor and Loki arrive on Earth (which had been alluded in TheStinger for [[Film/DoctorStrange2016 Strange's own movie]]), but it's absolutely hilarious and makes great use of Benedict Cumberbatch.
* Nearly every review of ''Film/HarryBrown'', positive or negative, makes note of Sean Harris' ten-minute performance as Stretch, one of the sinister drug dealers from whom Creator/MichaelCaine's character attempts to purchase a gun (and to whom he directs his [[MemeticMutation now-famous]] BondOneLiner "you failed to maintain your weapon, son"). A few other directors, including ''Film/DeliverUsFromEvil'''s Creator/ScottDerrickson and ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'' 's Christopher [=McQuarrie=], have cited the performance as the reason for casting him in other, usually equally-scary roles.
* Creator/CarrollBaker as Dorothy Stratten's mother in ''Film/Star80''. She essentially has only one scene, a monologue addressed to the camera-- but that's all she needs. "''I never signed.''"
* The hot dog vendor in ''Film/{{Highlander}}'', who mocks the police about their utter inability to find out anything about the recent rash of be-headings in New York.
---> "What does IN-COM-PE-TENT mean?"
* From the mostly-forgotten ''Franchise/RoboCop''-ripoff movie ''Film/{{ROTOR}}'', we have the female hostage. She starts out looking nonchalant at being held at gunpoint. And after the man holding her at gunpoint is shot by the main character, she takes out his partner with a flurry of [[KickChick powerful kicks]], ending by pinning the guy against a pole by the throat with her foot.
* 'Film/ALeagueOfTheirOwn'' has a couple:
** The role is so small that it's credited only as "Dollbody Kid," but the youngster who drives Dottie to the roadhouse makes the most of his two memorable lines with a perfectly timed delivery:
-->'''Dollbody Kid''': What's your rush, dollbody? What do you say we slip in the back seat, and you make a man out of me?
-->'''Dottie Hinson''': What do you say I smack you around for a while?
-->'''Dollbody Kid''': Can't we do both?
** Less humorously, when a foul ball goes into the segregated black section of a stadium, the woman who tosses it back hurls a mean pitch that impresses Dottie, but sadly there was nothing anyone could do since black players weren't allowed. The movie takes place four years before Jackie Robinson broke the MLB's color barrier.
* Towards the end of Creator/JeanLucGodard's ''Pierrot Le Fou'', a man (played by LargeHam Raymond Devos) tells a sad story about his attempts to fall in love with women. He is triggered by a simple melody, singing the line [[MadnessMantra ''est-ce que vouz m'aimeeeeez'']]. His performance is highly memorable due to the fact that it's [[TheOner the longest shot]] of the film.
* Michael Kroecher as Lord Stanhope in ''Film/TheEnigmaOfKasparHauser''. His campy portrayal of the nobleman is fondly remembered by the audience and he eventually became a character actor for this kind of roles.
* ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein'' has the titular character, who appears for only a few minutes at the very end. Somehow, those few minutes inspired an entire mythos.
* Tony Randall has a memorable cameo in ''Film/DownWithLove'', a cockeyed tribute to the kind of romantic comedy he used to costar in during TheFifties.
* Then unknown Creator/MattSmith has a wonderful, sadly cut scene as the younger Ralph in ''Film/InBruges''.
* ''Film/{{The Doors|1991}}'' has at least two:
** Creator/CrispinGlover shows up at a party as Creator/AndyWarhol, in one of film's great "What the hell was that?" moments.
** Creator/MimiRogers makes a sharp impression as the publicity photographer who helps Jim Morrison access his seductive side for the camera.
* The student in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' who thinks Marty stole Biff's wallet. There's something about his persistence in trying to help Biff that makes the scene [[MemeticMutation very memorable.]]
* The wolf in ''Film/IntoTheWoods''. It's no wonder they got Creator/JohnnyDepp.
* ''Film/Paddington2014'':
** Creator/JimBroadbent as Mr. Grueber the antique dealer. He's such an important supporting character in [[Literature/PaddingtonBear the books]], that it be impossible to do an adaptation without him, and as a fellow immigrant he understands what Paddington is going through better than anyone else. That and his tea train he uses at Elevenses is really cool.
** The Royal Guard outside Buckingham Palace who takes pity on Paddington and offers tea service and a sandwich that he keeps ''under his hat''.
** Simon Farnaby in both films as a lecherous security guard with a distinct inability to recognise (or ability to overlook) when a man is less-than-convincingly dressed as a woman.
* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'':
** Klaw leaves a lot of an impact on the audience for an EarlyBirdCameo.
** [[spoiler: Creator/JulieDelpy's performance as Madame B (along with the appearance of the Red Room in general) is mesmerizing]].
** [[spoiler:Thanos does this once again, this time taking a more hands-on approach toward what he plans on doing]].
* ''Film/JupiterAscending'':
** Advocate Bob, an android pro-bono lawyer assigned to Jupiter to [[spoiler:help her be officially recognized as the rightful owner of Earth.]]
** Also, a brief cameo by Creator/TerryGilliam as an InspirationNod.
* ''Film/{{Cinderella 2015}}'':
** The Fairy Godmother only physically appears in one scene (she narrates the rest of the movie) but Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter steals the show to the end.
** Likewise the King, who appears in only three scenes. Probably because he's played by the likes of Creator/DerekJacobi.
** Master Phineas, the painter of the Prince's portrait, has some of the funniest lines in the film despite appearing in one scene.
* The film ''Film/TheDesertFox'' features a brief appearance by Jewish actor Luther Adler as one of the best renditions of Adolf Hitler ever committed to film.
* Creator/JoseFerrer once told an interviewer, "If I were to be judged by any one performance, it would be my five minutes in ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia''." That's saying something given [[Film/CyranoDeBergerac Ferrer's]] [[Film/TheCaineMutiny distinguished]] [[Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold career]], and his frightening portrayal of a [[DepravedHomosexual sadistic Turkish general]] is [[RapeAsDrama far more memorable]] than his screentime suggests.
* Not an actor, but the scene in the notorious flop ''Film/RaiseTheTitanic'' wherein the UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin is raised]] is widely cited as being one of the few reasons to actually watch the film.
* German actor Creator/UdoKier showed up in so many productions, starting with underground films with Andy Warhol's troupe, to Giallo movies, European Arthouse and Blockbusters that his face alone brings joy to the cineast's heart.
* ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' had one in the form of Florence Kasumba, who only has one line in one scene in the entire movie. She is escorting T'Challa back to his car and Black Widow is standing in front of it, and she simply says: "Move, or you will be moved." For those who follow the comics, it's implied that she is one of the Dora Milajae, the Black Panther's PraetorianGuard[=/=]BodyguardBabes. That one line alone made her a memorable character, in spite of her not even having a name. The character proved so popular that they brought her back in a bigger role in the subsequent ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' movie, with her name being given as [[CanonCharacterAllAlong Ayo]].
** From his first line, King T'Chaka comes off as a wise statesman, and a nice, funny guy in general, like your dad, uncle, or grandpa. [[spoiler:Shame about the explosion.]]
* ''Film/JamesBond'':
** ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' has both Jill Masterson, whose death is one of the franchise's most enduring images, and the old lady who suddenly pulls out an MP 40 and shoots at Bond's Aston Martin.
** ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' with Patricia Fearing the nurse, especially when she's out of uniform and being massaged.
** ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' features Creator/DonaldPleasence as Ernst Stavro Blofeld. He's got a white cat, a bald head, and a scar. He's also one of the most memorable Film/JamesBond villains, parodied and referenced ad nauseam. Total screen time: Approximately ten minutes.
** ''Film/AViewToAKill'' has Pola Ivanova, a sexy and very charismatic Russian agent who only appears briefly, and who many fans feel that she deserved to be the main Bond Girl in the film instead of DamselScrappy Stacey Sutton.
** ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' features two, the hilarious MarshmallowHell distraction Rosika Miklos, and the agent only known as Green Four who gives Necros a good fight in the [=MI6=] safehouse kitchen.
** Creator/JudiDench's debut as [[BigGood M]] in ''Film/GoldenEye''. It was ironic enough to watch Franchise/JamesBond take orders from a powerful older woman who wasn't swayed by his charms, but she gives him an epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech before sending him on his mission, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold while still telling him to come back alive]]. It was normal for the previous M to appear just long enough to give Bond his mission briefing and send him on his way, but Dench's debut was so well-loved that she was given an expanded role in subsequent films, even becoming a significant part of the plot in [[Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough two]] [[Film/{{Skyfall}} of them]] ([[spoiler:and a posthumous appearance in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', showing the series wasn't ready to let her go]]).
** ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' with Creator/VincentSchiavelli as TortureTechnician Dr. Kaufman, delivering a wonderfully hammy performance with a comically exaggerated German accent which is one of the highlights of the movie.
** ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' has the Cigar Girl assassin. The director actually wanted her actress to be Elektra King, but upon realizing that her English wasn't up to par, he gave her this small role, which only has two lines - one of whom, her panicked, terrified response of "Not from him!" (when Bond promises that he can protect her from Renard) just sells the whole story. Also helping is how she kicks off the boat chase.
** {{Music/Madonna}} as a fencing instructor in ''Film/DieAnotherDay''. (She also sang the theme to the movie.)
** ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' has Mollaka, the freerunner (played by one of the real life inventors of LeParkour) in the amazing chase scene; Mendel, the affable Swiss banker; and the eyepatch-wearing henchman from the fight in Venice.
** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' brings back Jesper Christensen as Mr. White, and in just a couple minutes, the film transforms him from the smug Quantum leader he was in ''Casino Royale'' and ''Quantum of Solace'' to a broken father desperate to save his daughter.
** ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' has Creator/AnaDeArmas as Paloma. In a contrast to most minor Bond Girls, she leaves a great impression on the audience by not only [[NavelDeepNeckline looking]] [[SexyBacklessOutfit good]], but spending her ten minutes on screen [[KickingAssInAllHerFinery being an absolute badass in a gorgeous black cocktail dress]].
* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'' is full of these. Most notably, Music/RayCharles, Music/ArethaFranklin and Music/JamesBrown in their respective musical numbers, but also Twiggy, Creator/StevenSpielberg as the clerk at the Cook County Assessor's office, and Kathleen Freeman as 'the Penguin' in one of the film's most memorable scenes. Music/CabCalloway, Creator/JohnCandy and Creator/CarrieFisher are equally awesome, but have too many scenes each to qualify as being a OneSceneWonder.
* ''Film/{{Malice}}'' has this with both Creator/GeorgeCScott and Creator/AnneBancroft. Scott, as Creator/AlecBaldwin's former professor during the deposition scene, and Bancroft as Creator/NicoleKidman's mother.
* There is a litany of incidental characters in the Creator/LaurelAndHardy films who do this:
** In ''Film/TheMusicBox'', Professor Theodore von Schwarzenhoffen, M.D., A.D., D.D.S., F.L.D., F-F-F-and-F, who goes ballistic on being asked to take a step to the right.
** In ''Film/TitForTat'', a genial thief who constantly steals from Laurel and Hardy's store.
* While ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'' was criticized a lot, one performance critics loved was none of the major cast members. In "The Other Side," Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron are doing a song and dance number about joining up as partners in a bar. But to many, the real highlight is Daniel Campos as the mustached bartender who doesn't say a word but expertly dodges the duo, sweeps up, throws them chairs and does a fantastic routine of lining up shot glasses in perfect choreography to the music.
* Notorious Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper is on scene at the end of ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'' to report on Norma Desmond's downfall, hilariously interrupting a police detective's call to get the scoop ahead of all the rest - and indignantly telling ''him'' to get off the phone because her call is more important.
* The swordsman from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', just for getting unceremoniously (and [[BlackComedy hilariously]]) shot. NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight.
* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' has loads of iconic animated characters the that pop-up here and there.
** WesternAnimation/{{Droopy}} as the Toon Hotel elevator bellman, the Toon Penguins from ''Film/MaryPoppins'' and a ton of others that appear towards the end.
** Even some original film characters have become one.
*** Lena Hyena, a crazy, obsessed, Jessica Rabbit-impersonating Toon woman who chases Eddie Valiant voiced by voice acting legend Creator/JuneForay. Said to one of the movie's funniest, most memorable sequences.
*** A tragic, traumatizing example with the Toon Shoe that Judge Doom dissolves in Dip for really no reason.
*** The Toon octopus bartender at the Ink-N-Paint Club.
* Agitator Puntarpää had only one scene in ''Film/{{Red Line|1959}}'', but thanks to Jussi Jurkka hamming it up, he sure made an impression.
* He has more than one scene, but Creator/JohnCleese's minor role as an overly straight-laced and authoritarian British sheriff of a frontier town in TheWestern was widely considered a very memorable part of ''Film/{{Silverado}}''.
* John Savage as Clifton, the white bicylist who gets confronted by Buggin' Out for causing a mark on his shoes in ''Film/DoTheRightThing''.
* Creator/MarilynMonroe's 30 seconds in ''Film/LoveHappy'' are easily the most remembered part of the film.
* ''Film/{{Lady and the Tramp|2019}}'': Creator/ClancyBrown does his usual expertly scary voice work as the alley dog who corners Lady.
* ''Film/TheWonderfulIceCreamSuit'': Creator/SidCaesar and Howard Morris appear in a single scene as two brothers who are the proprietors of the store where the suit is being sold and absolutely steal the show from the five leads during their time on screen.
* ''Film/TheReport'': Creator/TimBlakeNelson and Fajer Al-Kaisi only show up for a few scenes, but make big impressions as [[OnlySaneMan Raymond Nathan and FBI Agent Ali Soufan]], two of the few government operatives we see object to the [=EITs=].
* Creator/DannyElfman makes a memorable appearance as The Devil in the cult movie ''Film/ForbiddenZone'' (not counting when he sings the titular song) along with some of the future members of Music/OingoBoingo doing a remix of "Minnie the Moocher" called "Squeezit the Moocher". He has no speaking lines and he's only in about 3 minutes of an 80-minute long movie, but you would think from the movie posters and the small amount of fans this movie has that he was one of the main characters.
* ''Film/MenInBlackII'' has Music/MichaelJackson as a collaborator who insists "I could be Agent M!"
** In ''Film/MenInBlack3'', Creator/BillHader as Creator/AndyWarhol, who is secretly an MIB agent.
* ''Film/ThePostman:'' The Mayor of Benning makes his one scene an interesting one. Partly because of his idealistic excitement about the Postman's return, partly because of his pragmatic and well-reasoned concerns about picking a fight with the Holnists (given their limited arsenal), and partly because he's played by Creator/GeorgeWyner (who is better known for his comedic roles).
* ''Film/FieldOfDreams'' [[spoiler: Ray's dad]] shows up seven minutes before the end of the movie and completely changes your perception of why the field was made in the first place. ManlyTears ensue.
--->'''Ray''': [[spoiler: Dad? Wanna have a catch?]]
* ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'' brings in Website/YouTube music artist Kina Grannis for the film’s wedding scene to perform the wedding song. As one of the earliest prominent Asian Website/{{YouTube}}rs, it is considered a nice nod toward her influence in increasing Asian representation in mainstream media.
* ''Film/{{Signs}}:''
** Tracy Abernathy, the teenaged pharmacist who insists on confessing her sins to Graham (despite him reminding her he isn't a pastor anymore) in her one scene due to fear of the aliens and can remember every time she's sworn in the last month.
** Ray Reedy, the guilt-ridden driver who killed Mrs. Hess, gets an emotional scene apologizing to Graham before revealing he has an alien trapped in his pantry. Ray does appear in two other scenes, but only briefly and without speaking.
** [=SFC=] Cunningham, the local recruiting officer who is a fan of Merrill's baseball career and correctly analyzes the aliens' probing attacks during his sole scene.
* ''Film/FreeGuy'' has an amusing one when Guy suddenly pulls out [[spoiler:Captain America's shield, leading Creator/ChrisEvans himself to appear commenting on the moment with "What the shit?".]]
* ''Film/SnowAndFire'': Not a character, rather an authentic and rare vehicle. If you're a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII tank enthusiast, you can't help but rejoice that a film used a real ''Königstiger'' (the one belonging to the French tank museum of Saumur) and not a mockup, even for only one scene.
* ''Film/{{Solarbabies}}:'' The quirky, insightful, and slightly creepy Tchigani WastelandElder gets quite a lot of mileage out of his two minutes or so of screen time.
* ''Film/TheyLive'':
** The couple who are having sex in the final seconds of the film when the man (an alien) experiences a GlamourFailure.
** The brave, shotgun-wielding BadassBiker sentry at the resistance meeting, who has less than a minute of screen time but has a pretty impressive presence.
* TheStinger of ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'' brings in a very unexpected Tails in a SequelHook.
* ''Film/VelvetBuzzsaw'':
** The main homeless vendor from the very end of the movie, who ends up [[spoiler:selling the valuable Dease paintings for minuscule sums]]. This is helped by the debate about the AmbiguousEnding nature of his scene.
** The raspy-voiced VA janitor and PrivateInvestigator Ruskinspear, with their well-acted, back-to-back MrExposition scenes that lay out some of the creepier details about Dease's past.
* ''Film/Yesterday2019'' has an uncredited Creator/RobertCarlyle as [[spoiler:John Lennon, suddenly alive in this world that forgot the Beatles.]]
* ''Film/LicoricePizza'' has a brief, barely recognizable, but memorable appearance from Creator/JohnCReilly as [[Series/TheMunsters Herman Munster]] at the Teen-Age Fair (a sort of World's Fair for young people) where Gary goes to sell waterbeds.
* Despite her role being only a single scene, Creator/TaylorHickson's portrayal of Meghan Orlovsky in ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'', a girl whom Wade helps with a stalker, [[StarmakingRole became her breakthrough]].
* ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'' has lots of cameos, a few entering straight here: Comicbook/WonderWoman oversees Lola Bunny's test to join the Amazons, Westernanimation/RickAndMorty return Taz to the Tunes.. and [[spoiler:in the Tune Squad's DarkestHour, Michael Jordan shows up to help the Tunes win the basketball game... only it's Creator/MichaelBJordan.]]
* Iceman only appears in the flesh for one scene of ''Film/TopGunMaverick'', and it's [[TearJerker absolutely heartbreaking]], specially when Creator/ValKilmer actually talks (given throat cancer took away his voice).
* ''Film/KillTheMessenger'':
** Creator/RayLiotta gives a nuanced performance as a guilt-ridden CIA agent who anonymously gives Webb information as his way of atoning, explicitly comparing it to a confession.
** Creator/RobertPatrick as drug dealer Ronny Quail, whose assets were claimed by the government with civil forfeiture.
** Creator/MichaelKWilliams only shows up once as "Freeway" Rick Ross, but his sole scene is easily the best part of the movie.
** Creator/PazVega as Coral Blaca, the woman who sets Webb off on his investigation by giving him evidence of the government's participation in cocaine sales.
* ''Film/TheLostCity'' has Creator/BradPitt as Jack Trainer, a super competent ex-Navy Seal operative who manages to rescue Loretta from Fairfax's compound, but ends up getting shot before he can get her to the airport, [[spoiler:only to later be revealed to somehow still be alive in the mid-credits scene]]. Many noted Pitt's performance as one of the highlights of the film, even though he has what amounts to a glorified cameo appearance.
* Creator/JTWalsh, in his relatively short career, had a few of these:
** He only appears in a couple of scenes in ''Film/TheGrifters'' in a {{Flashback}} as Myra's former partner (showing how the two of them teamed up for TheCon, though it also shows how [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil he eventually becomes crazy]]), but he's one of the most memorable parts of the movie, along with other [[OneSceneWonder scene stealers]] such as Creator/PatHingle (as Lily's boss) and Eddie Jones (as Roy's former mentor).
** Walsh also dominates his few scenes in ''Film/TheLastSeduction'' as Bridget's lawyer, and gets the film's most memorable line ("Anybody check you for a heartbeat lately?").
** Though he only shows up in one scene in ''Film/{{Outbreak}}'' as the White House Chief of Staff, his scene is such a memorable defying of AMillionIsAStatistic he even gets shown briefly in the movie's trailer.
* ''Film/WrongTurn'':
** Halley, the female rock climber from the opening scene, makes a good impression due to showing some decent resourcefulness and expressive acting while trying to escape from the hillkillers.
** The CreepyGasStationAttendant played by Creator/WayneRobson is only in two short scenes but is delightfully eerie in both of them.
* ''Film/TheFabelmans'' offers two, Creator/JuddHirsch as the protagonist's uncle who encourages him on taking a career in art (it even earned an Academy Award nomination), and [[spoiler:Creator/DavidLynch as Creator/JohnFord.]]
* ''Film/JoyRide3Roadkill'': Barry, the ConspiracyTheorist trucker who vainly warns the protagonists about the dangers of traveling [[SerialKiller Rusty]]’s favorite section of highway, milks his one scene for all it is worth.
* ''Film/TheParallaxView'':
** Creator/KennethMars as the ex-FBI agent is pretty memorable for his hilarious snarkiness and VitriolicBestBuds dynamic with Frady.
** Creator/AnthonyZerbe shows up uncredited to play the eccentric professor Frady goes to to help him fake his Parallax questionnaire. It's pretty hard to forget a guy who plays video games with a chimpanzee and starts rattling off about how a chimpanzee bit off his colleague's ear.
* ''Film/SeraphimFalls'': Every character or group of characters who Gideon and his pursuers briefly encounter get a lot of respect from most fans, but some are particularly memorable and feel like much bigger parts of the movie than they actually are.
** The NiceMeanAndInBetween bank robber brothers and cousin who encounter Gideon.
** Carver’s wife is quite haunting in the flashbacks of her PlotTriggeringDeath.
** LittleMissBadass {{Determined Homesteader}}s daughter Charlotte.
** ColdHam MagicalNativeAmerican Charon and the eerie saleswoman Madame Louise amp up the MagicalRealism during their brief screen time.
* ''Film/ShazamFuryOfTheGods'' ends with [[spoiler:Billy dead and the wizard Shazam saying his magic staff can only be reignited by a god. Then one demigod shows up... Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}!]]
* Meinhardt Raabe as the Munchkin Coroner in ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
* ''Film/{{Kenau}}'': [[UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfAlba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba]], only appears in one scene to berate his SmugSnake of a son Fadrique for not living up to his father's reputation as a FourStarBadass. He makes quite an impression.
* One of the most talked about scenes in ''Film/GlassOnion'' is the [[TheCameo cameo]] of Creator/HughGrant as Benoit Blanc's husband Philip.
* ''Film/UpTheFront'': Creator/ZsaZsaGabor as UsefulNotes/MataHari. With less than ten minutes of screentime, Gabor gives a performance that is camp, alluring, and hilarious, even BreakingTheFourthWall just as well as Creator/FrankieHowerd does.
* ''Film/TheVIPs'':
** A 29-year-old Creator/MaggieSmith sheds tears in a scene opposite Creator/RichardBurton where she pleads with him to save her boss and his company from bankruptcy. Richard Burton later said she stole the movie.
** Then there was Creator/MargaretRutherford who wasn't particularly integral to the pathos of the film and won an Oscar for her physical comedy, but she dazzled in multiple small bits.
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