Top 10 Emergency or Impromptu Movie Surgery Scenes

Pain is temporary, but surgery scars are forever. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 emergency or impromptu surgery scenes in movies.

For this list, we’re looking at big screen self-surgeries, amateur surgeries, and any unprepared first aid performed under dire conditions or with limited resources. If you’re squeamish, you might want to sit this one out. By the way, sci-fi cyborg maintenance repairs don’t count, so sorry, Mr. Terminator.

You can take a deep breath of relief, because when a shot to the chest causes this soldier’s lungs to start failing him, George Clooney’s character Archie knows exactly what to do and how to do it. This scene from the satirical war comedy reveals an inside look at a compressed lung that worsens with every breath. It’s a medically accurate depiction both before and after the treatment, thanks to a handy needle and valve. Despite Archie’s knowledge and competence, the pressure’s still on to restore Troy’s breathing while another tragedy rests right beside him.

In this superhero flick, Logan is prepping for a rescue attempt, and he needs his strength at its full capacity. When he discovers that his regenerative abilities are being inhibited by some kind of heart-hugging parasite, he performs open-heart surgery on himself with his own claws and starts digging. This moment is a gruesome but noble display that highlights Wolverine’s dedicated commitment to his convictions and intentions – and that he’s willing to die for them. But not so fast—if he survives the operation, he’s also going to have to survive the fight scene.

Corporal Jamie Smith’s bleeding femoral artery somehow slipped back into his pelvis, and that’s not a good place for it to be if it needs to be clamped. Prepare to sweat, wince, and cringe, because this impromptu battlefield surgery from “Black Hawk Down” is a painful thriller. Dramatizing the whole procedure by describing its details with such regret and anguish doesn’t look as reassuring to the patient as it’s meant to be, especially since there’s no anesthesia available. The scene seems to hurt even more when we realize the war film is based on a true story.

This scene of Rambo stitching up his own arm from “First Blood” stands out because the bleeding cut itself looks as realistic as Sylvester Stallone’s performance. Fortunately for the actor, the injury consists of fake skin prosthetics and tubed blood. We also get a good look at his handiwork in “Rambo III”, which sees him cauterizing a shrapnel-inflicted wound in explosive fashion with a little gunpowder and a dash of fire. Regardless of how “authentic” these scenes look today, they certainly succeeded at showing us the strength and endurance it takes to be a real action hero back in the ‘80s, and it’s hard to forget ‘em.

Emergency tracheotomies happen, and if you’ve seen “Anaconda,” a knife and pen is all you need. But when a botched robbery results in an accident that leaves nurse Sissi breathless under a truck, the criminal responsible treats her to an unusually romantic tracheotomy with a straw. Who would have thought that a surgical emergency could make for tender, touching first impressions? The blood, sweat and tears in this scene from the German drama make this a public, passionate and intimate operation that couldn’t be more original for its location and context.

Stranded on an island for months with nothing but a volleyball for company and a few useless tools, the only thing worse than the searing pain of an abscessed tooth for Chuck Noland is psyching himself up for his own unlicensed dentistry. In this scene from “Cast Away,” Chuck realizes that his rotten tooth needs to be removed, and he has to make use of a rock and an ice skate for the surgical procedure. It’s those extended moments anticipating the extraction that seal the scene. On the count of three, now…

If you’ve ever wondered how severely injured criminals get medical attention without risking capture, this scene from “No Country for Old Men” has your answer. A shot in the thigh can only be addressed with diversion and discretion in Anton’s case. Ironically, he actually blows up a car to get his medical supply shoplifting done as inconspicuously as possible. Unlike many improvised self-surgeries, the hitman handles his as casually as we would a scrape, splinter, bruise or bug bite; wash, disinfect, medicate, stitch, bandage. He’s quite the professional.

If you had to sacrifice your own arm to survive, could you? “127 Hours” builds up to this terrifying moment and the film delivers with blood-curdling success. Aron Rolston’s true survival story about being trapped under a boulder for 5 days serves multiple audiences, from the survivalists and canyoneering communities to the brave philosophers and twisted masochists. The stress mounted up in this scene makes us question our own decisions under desperate times and measures. It’s a disturbing horror worth enduring.

Elizabeth Shaw knows she’s sterile, so after all she’s endured, she also knows that evidence of a sudden, painful pregnancy is wrong. Very wrong. Fortunately, there is a device aboard the Prometheus ship that performs surgeries, and efficient as it is, it can’t finish this one fast enough. Every minute held in the device is slimy, gross, and dangerously close. Besides being disgusting, the alien birth, caesarean, abortion- or whatever this experience from the sci-fi flick is called, is a very personal, traumatic and haunting experience. The scars it leaves aren’t just physical.

Before we operate on our top pick, here are some honorable mentions:
- Turn the Other Cheek
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006)
- DIY Bullet Removal
“Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” (2003)
- If It Bleeds…
“Predator” (1987)
- Give Me a Hand
“Evil Dead II” (1987)
- Doctor’s Orders
“The Fugitive”(1993)

When one of these young vacationing tourists suffers strange leg injuries, his friend Jeff makes the diagnosis that an amputation of both legs is in order. But something tells us that this isn’t the intensive care this man requires. No morphine, no medication, no mercy and no music either. It’s terrifying, but this isn’t just a sick surgical snuff show. To its merit, the scene from “The Ruins” works very well because the built tension compensates for what you don’t see, and what you DO see challenges most imaginations - if it doesn’t actually outdo them.

Do you agree with our list? Which on-screen surgeries did we miss? For more entertaining Top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.