One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
The Nasty Argument: When Charlie Cheswick (Sydney Lassick) demands that Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) return his cigarettes, he creates pandemonium amongst his fellow asylum inmates.
Make-Up Or Break-Up: Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) stops the argument by smashing the nurse's window and grabbing the cigarettes, burning his own bridges with the cruel Ratched.
Contempt (1963)
The Nasty Argument: After Camille Javal (Brigitte Bardot) becomes convinced her husband Paul (Michel Piccoli) has tried to pimp her out to a Hollywood producer, she coolly distances herself from him in a bravura half-hour argument as they wander about their apartment.
Make-Up Or Break-Up: Camille's contempt has set in, and eventually she decides to leave Paul for the producer, with fatal consequences.
In Bruges (2008)
The Nasty Argument: After getting some unwanted news from employee Ken (Brendan Gleeson), gangster Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes) takes his rage out on the phone. "It's an inanimate fucking object," his wife shouts from off-screen. "You're an inanimate fucking object!" he snarls back at her.
Make-Up Or Break-Up: Harry heads to Bruges to deal with Ken. As for his wife, we have no idea how's he left things.
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
The Nasty Argument: Newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) gives publicity agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) - "a man of forty faces, none too pretty and all deceptive" - an eloquent tongue-lashing, and then dares him to reply under the guise of asking for a light: "match me, Sidney."
Make-Up Or Break-Up: It might be a cruel, mutually dependent relationship, but these two are stuck with each other.
White Men Can't Jump (1992)
The Nasty Argument: Basketball hustler Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson) heckles his forthcoming opponents in an effort to psyche them out: "Why don't we take all these bricks and build a shelter for the homeless, so maybe your mother will have a place to stay?"
Make-Up Or Break-Up: The strategy works initially… but Billy himself is being secretly hustled by partner Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes).
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Nasty Argument: Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) stands up to Han Solo's arrogant assumptions of a romance: "Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking Nerf herder!" Han replies, genuinely taken aback: "Who's scruffy-looking?"
Make-Up Or Break-Up: These two are meant for each other, although it takes Han being frozen in carbonite for Leia to realise she loves the scoundrel.
The Odd Couple (1968)
The Nasty Argument: Prissy Felix Ungar (Jack Lemmon) and slob Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau) aren't talking, so the latter suggests dividing their flat. Bad news for Felix's linguini - "now, it's garbage!"
Make-Up Or Break-Up: Oscar realises he's gone too far and patches things up, even going so far as to having his poker buddies clean the place up for Felix.
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
The Nasty Argument: Rage-filled Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) demands to speak to the supervisor of the phone sex operation that's giving him grief, only to find that Dean Trumbell (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is even angrier. "Shut the fuck up! Shut up! Shut shut shut shut shut up!"
Make-Up Or Break-Up: Barry drives over to Utah, phone still in his hand, to demand that Dean backs down. Dean does so.
Clerks 2 (2006)
The Nasty Argument: Geek war, as Star Wars fanboy Randal (Jeff Anderson) takes on the Lord Of The Rings geeks: "I thought Sam was gonna tell the little hobbits to take a walk so he could saunter over to Frodo and suck his fucking cock. Now that would have been an Academy Award worthy ending."
Make-Up Or Break-Up: Dante and Hobbit-loving co-worker Elias (Trevor Ferhman)'s differences disappear when both are arrested for watching a donkey sex show.
Scarface (1983)
The Nasty Argument: Let's be honest, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) spends most of Scarface arguing with somebody. But no scene captures his mindset better than his spat with Alberto (Mark Margolis) as the two prepare to assassinate an enemy of drug lord Sosa.
Make-Up Or Break-Up: Intent on enforcing his "no wife, no kids" rule, Tony wins the argument by blasting Alberto's brains onto the door of the car.
