Top 5: Opening Scenes
by John Nolte
Let’s celebrate Big Hollywood’s opening day with opening scenes, the memorable ones that set the tone and sweep us into the story.
1. Touch of Evil (1958) – Not only did director Orson Welles set up most of his story and lead characters in a spectacular, single 3:30 shot, but reportedly he saved his job knocking it off in a single take as nervous producers looked on. And don’t listen to the film Ed Wood (1994). Welles was not forced to give Charlton Heston the lead role. In fact, it was Heston who fought to have Welles hired to direct.
2. Apocalypse Now (1979) – Director Francis Ford Coppola’s vivid nightmare opens on the slow-motion sound of helicopters over a jungle exploding in napalm all set to The Doors’ The End. Familiar, intoxicating, hellish, and something no CGI could ever recreate.
3. Elmer Gantry (1960): Burt Lancaster’s larger-than-life Elmer Gantry holds court in a seedy bar, throwing back the whiskey and preaching the word: Jesus had love in both fists! And what is love? Love is the mornin’ and the evenin’ star. But it’s a head fake – misdirection. You only think you know who this character is. A few minutes later the complexity thickens when, shoeless and exhausted, Gantry enters a black church and breaks into a gospel song few white men would know.
4. The Searchers (1956): John Ford opens the front door of a tranquil pioneer family’s cabin. A big man (John Wayne) on a big horse slowly makes his way toward us, and without a word we’re told nothing will ever be the same for this family again.
5. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966): It might only be a credit sequence, but what a credit sequence. Vibrant colors and the kind of rousing, iconic score, courtesy of Ennio Morricone, no one seems to want to try anymore.
What say you?
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130 Comments
What about “The Player”, 1992. Robert Altman pays homage to Welles’ “Touch of Evil” with an 8 minute opening tracking shot while the actors in the scene discuss greeat tracking shots in film history.
Gotta pick the Gladiator: Don’t know why but the whole moment is so large yet so personal. Thats my number one.
Dark Knight is number two.
The Hunt for Red October is number 3
Raiders of the Lost Ark, drew you in and by the time you realized who was who you were cheering for Indiana Jones. Unlike so much of what Spielberg has done recently this movie was flawless and joyful.
Can’t think of a fifth but if I do I will post it.
i think the opening credit sequence to Leone’s Once upon a time in America is the best of his.
A Clockwork Orange. Malcolm McDowell’s smile is one of the most menacing things I have ever seen on screen.
Kill Bill vol. 1. Not the best opening sequence of all time, but damned if it doesn’t do its job. The last line is what really gets the hooks into you.
Star Wars: A New Hope. I wish I’d been around to see this in the theater the first time it came out. This huge-ass ship coming in RIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD…
Seven Samurai. The beginning of the movie shows us the only glimpse of the villains we’re going to get for the next ninety minutes, but the sheer menace the scene creates hangs like a pall over the rest of the film.
Patton. George C. Scott owns.
Stephanie: Absolutely.
“At my signal… unleash hell.”
What? No Temple of Doom?! Blasphemy!
Having just seen Full Metal Jacket for the first time evah:
The draftees sitting in the barber chairs being shorn. The beginning of the attempt to alter their innocence, change their priorities, end their individualism. At the end of the scene, who they were is lying on the floor in clumps … for a while.
LARRYOC is right. The opening of The Player pulled of an intelligent tribute that established the link to a tradition, treated it with respect, and established the essential setting for the story to follow. This made it not simply a sampling designed to exploit the reputation of Welles but a meaningful entry into an ongoing conversation. Hopefully this blog by also starting with a consideration of great beginnings will go on to fulfill our Great Expectations.
The silent opening in a storm of Oliver Twist was brilliant in the way that color film cannot be. It was designed by Kay Walsh.
I don’t know if HBO movies are in this tent but Tommy Lee Jones’ “The Good Old Boys” is as we say in Utopia, Tx. “a good’ern.”
Hellova flick.
Wrote a paper on The Searchers in a college class. Lots of material in that movie.
Being a Marine Nam helo gunner, the open for Apocalyps is a bitch. Corny flick but we all love the Huey scenes with Duval.
The open to Lonesome Dove (greatest movie ever made) is my favorite. Damn fine movie and realistic as hell.
The opening 5 minutes of In The Name Of The Father was scorching.
1) Star Wars – 1977. Nothing tops this.
2) Raiders of the Lost Ark. A giant ball.
3) Field of Dreams. A dude hears a voice in his cornfield. My fave movie ever.
4) Patton. Good one Jacob
5) Memento. Can’t remember it. wink
Honorable mentions: Gladiator, Terminator II, lots more.
Tough not to include Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan, Once Upon a Time In The West, 2001 A Space Odyssey.
Found you! Congrats on your new gig. You’re off to a rollicking start, it seems. heh.
I think the opening scene of Jaws is one of my faves. The fact that you never see what’s attacking the girl makes it more creepy. All you, and for that matter the girl, know is there’s something down there, and it ain’t good. Add the relentless and famous score, and you’ve got a winning opening scene.
This may be a cliche, but the opening of “The Godfather” still sucks me right into that study…
GoodFellas – Helped along by wanting to be a gangster at one point in my life, too … before realizing they don’t take Bo-Hunks (and that the Russian Mafiya was definitely not a life for me).
Stripes – Is it cheating to try and redefine this category by saying this movie’s got a bunch of “opening scenes”? Winger in the cab or with the girlfriend … Zisky in the classroom … the recruits and Young & Soles at the bus station … the recruits and Sgt. “Big Toe” … Eh, Winger in the cab’s enough to let us know where the movie was going.
Raiders was the king, but the Last Crusade’s also pretty awesome.
A bit off topic here, John – but was looking over your blogroll, and think you should include Bad Eagle in the list. He discusses music as much as politics and has some fine posts about a number of things. (www.badeagle.com)
Jacob, I agree on Patton.
I disagree with Apocalypse Now as one of the best. The director doesn’t seem to know what was to be real and what was surreal.
I know that the war in Vietnam was in some ways, and at some times, surreal. The opening scene in the Saigon hotel room was totally real — I think I’ve awoken in that room myself. Hungover.
The nonsense in the swamps with the Green Berets was just that–nonsense.
Rosemary’s Baby: That innocent lullaby plays as the camera sweeps over the Dakota Building (the Branford in the movie) in all its creepy gothic-ness. I’ve seen the movie dozens of times and it still creeps me out.
…
In addition to “Touch of Evil,” here are some of my faves:
“Rio Bravo” This belongs right up there with “Touch of Evil”: the silent 5-minute prologue in a saloon where the villain responds to drunk Dean Martin’s begging by throwing a coin in a spittoon, John Wayne kicks away the spittoon as Martin starts to reach for it, Martin hits Wayne with a chair, the villain pulls a gun on Wayne, a bystander tries to stop him, the villain shoots and kills the bystander and walks out, setting up the entire plot and characters without one word of dialogue.
“Double Indemnity” Fred MacMurray’s car careening through the almost deserted streets of LA in the dead of night.
“Some Like it Hot” A hearse being chased by the cops in 1928 Chicago. After the chase is over, we learn the coffin is full of bootleg liquor.
“His Girl Friday” The mile-a-minute argument between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.
“A Night in Casablanca” It isn’t the Marx Brothers at their best, but the opening is a classic. A cop sees Harpo leaning against a building and says, “What’re you doing, holding up the building?” Harpo nods yes, the cop pulls him away and the building falls down.
All good cjoices, John/Harry, whatever. But there’s so much to pick from-could be a top 100 and lose nothing in quality.
In no particular order:
*Richard Lester’s Robin and Marian. The death of Lionheart, for a rock.
*Star Wars. Gotta go with Jason. Spectacular. But all downhill from there, for 30 years, now.
*And Michael with Saving Private Ryan.
*David Lean’s Great Expectations, because everybody says so.
*Olivier’s Henry V. AD 1600 London. Charming.
How about 5 worst opening scenes? We can start with Behind Enemy Lines.
I think early James Bond movies like Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice have great openings that really set up the movie. They introduce James Bond and show you what he’s capable of, and they also set up the story. In their day, they were so fresh and original. They also influenced most action movies that followed them in some way.
The Godfather starts off with that speech about America, which is positive, and then turns really dark. And then you see the man has turned to the Mafia to help him with his problem. Very great set up to a great story.
Sergio Leone was a true master storyteller. All his films have great openings. I especially like Once Upon a Time in the West because it builds so slow, but becomes such an intriguing start to a unique picture.
I agree with the other poster that the Dark Knight is a great opening in that, it sets up the Joker as a completely unpredictable, ruthless character. A completely fresh spin on an old character, making the whole Batman world seem new again. Quite an accomplishment. And the film was so much deeper and rich than most movies these days.
The Wild Bunch.
Opening credits play as Holden, Borgnine, and the Bunch ride into a Texas border town dressed as soldiers. Some stand watch outside, others enter the railroad office.
The soldiers draw their weapons. Holden throws the manager against the vault. He says, ‘If they move, kill ‘em.’ The credit reads ‘Directed by Sam Peckinpah’.
They are being watched. Filthy crazy bounty hunters led by Robert Ryan. The Temperance parade comes down the street. The outlaws try to escape, and a bloodbath ensues.
The opening establishes the movie’s main characters, unflinchingly brutal style, and moral universe.
Because Im biased, will agree with Stephanie:
1. Gladiator – a hand moving over heads of wheat – simple but powerful as it pulls you in.
2. Star Wars (1977) just the format of the words disappearing into the starry distance. Unusual but effective and exciting. And now we get CGI chaos? Lucas, thy name is FAIL.
3. Blade Runner – from the first moments and the sound of descent tells you that you are entering a totally different zone.
4. Patton (absolutely!!) I wish there were a thousand Pattons today and lordy, who would I love to sick them on!!!
5. Amadeus
Miller’s Crossing. “I’m talkin’ about friendship. I’m talkin’ about character. I’m talkin’ about—hell, Leo, I ain’t embarrassed to use the word—I’m talkin’ about et’ics. [...] When I fix a fight, say—if I pay a three-to-one favorite to throw a goddamn fight—I figure I got a right to expect that fight to go off at three-to-one.” Utterly brilliant.
The Road Warrior
Grand Duel. Lee Van Cleef walks into the middle of an ambush and lets the ambushee know where each and every gun is, then goes for a drink of whiskey in the middle of it all. Van Cleef was a god.
The Outlaw Josey Wales. The prologue would be the whole movie, for most westerns.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the almost documentary-like way it reveals what’s happening. Leading up to: “Who flies these kinds of planes anymore?” “No one! These planes were reported missing in 1945.” Sucks me in every single time.
I agree with Star Wars, Stripes, Patton, Jaws, and the Indy movies (first three, anyway). As for me:
-The Blues Brothers – from the Blade Runner-esque shots of industrial wasteland to the car jumping over the drawbridge… good stuff!
-The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! – Drebin in Beirut, they would never do that today (and it was parodied wonderfully in a Family Guy episode)
-The World is Not Enough – not the best Bond movie but, if we count the Thames boat chase, it’s my favorite Bond teaser (this might be too long to qualify as an opening scene)
-Deconstructing Harry – the rapid-fire editing and the song (”Twisted” by Annie Ross) followed by a scene from one of Woody’s character’s novels (where a cheating couple is almost caught by a blind relative), followed by Judy Davis tearing Woody a new one
-Contact – just for the opening powers-of-ten shot from Earth to the edge of the universe to Jena Malone’s eye
OK I knew I forgot one: Patton. Period, end of story. Thats my number five.
I must second the Rio Bravo vote. Leigh Brackett set it up that way the script, and she was right.
Every James Bond film. The opening sequences are usually better than the movie itself.
But, seriously, I vote for Patton, American Graffiti, Star Wars and Bladerunner.
Let’s try again, as I am apparently “posting too fast,” whatever that means:
1. A Clockwork Orange
2. Patton
3. Goldfinger
4. The Dark Knight
5. Raging Bull
Honorable mentions to: Fargo, The Godfather, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Once Upon a Time in the West
And Steph, it is just “Gladiator”, not “The Gladiator”
Roar of the Dragon– guys are sending a telegraph message and the natives suddenly cut the wires, stopping the message ominously. What, you say, that’s the beginning of Stagecoach? Yep, it was– 7 years later.
Two reels of exposition in a single line: “Is this the moving picture ship?” King Kong, of course.
Narration is a lousy beginning, unless you’re George Sanders and it’s the beginning of All About Eve.
No one’s said “The Sound of Music” yet?
Greetings,Harry and Wisconsin Stephanie!How about “Full Metal Jacket” and “The Godfather”?
Hey Scott.
Hmmm Godfather…its on a top ten list. My 6th would have to be the opening scene to Phantom of the Opera. As much as people dislike Schumacher he really did a visually stunning job.
“Amadeus” is a good choice as well,Sharon…another one is “Sexy Beast”,with Ray Winstone in the swimming pool and the boulder crashing down!
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
“Much that once was is now lost, for none now live who remember it.” The opening prologue had me hooked to the trilogy of the decade.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
“He was good, very good.” Introduced us to our favorite action hero.
Star Wars
Instantly puts us there.
Hmm, let’s add some more.
ALIEN, when the pods open and the crew slowly wake and stir themselves.
GUNGA DIN, when the three heroes are introduced in the midst of a brawl.
Richard Lester’s THE THREE MUSKETEERS, when the credits rolls while D’Artagnan practices swordfighting with his father in the shadowy background.
A WALK IN THE SUN, when the platoon members are introduced on the landing craft as it heads for shore. Spielberg borrowed this for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.
1776. For God’s sake, John, sit down !
This one is sappy…but it is a moment.
My Best friends wedding, on the boat as the go under a bridge…without a word you know the chance has passed them by.
Come on! You all missed it! The greatest film ever: THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
Finally! Someone else agrees with me about the beginning of Apocalypse Now. The End goes perfect with the helicopters and the ceiling fan. BUT, that part and Robert Duvall’s scenes were the only parts I loved. The first five minutes of Reservoir Dog’s was great. Iron Man hit the ground running too.
1. Oklahoma – Riding a horse through corn as high as an elephant’s eye.
2. Vanishing Point – The crash sucks you in.
3. Rocky – Stallone slugs it out at the bottom of the heap for a boxer.
4. American Graffiti – Bill Haley opens the movie to hot rods, girls and cheeseburgers.
5. Sunset Blvd. – The guy’s dead in the pool.
They’ve already been mentioned but Patton and Sound of Music are among the best.
And it’s not the opening scene, but Hopper and Fonda taking their bikes on the highway with Born To Be Wild is a great opening credit scene.
1 – Saving Private Ryan – Omaha beach, probably the best true depiction of battle on film.
2 – Requiem for a Heavyweight – innovative. first person view of a boxer getting shelled, blurry camera shots, stubling back to the locker room, great stuff for an older film.
3 – Patton – I just love that flick! It must have killed George C. Scott that his portrayal of Patton was his legacy…in a positive way.
4 – Dazed and Confused – cruising the parking lot, “sweet emotion” playing, and muscle cars. Pre-OPEC, the end of an era.
…and a lot of the other ones you guys mentioned too.
Cool Hand Luke. If I need to explain why, then you either haven’t seen it yet, or… no, you just haven’t seen it yet.
Jeez, how could I forget?! (Especially since Pat Hingle just passed away!) The pre-credits opener of “Hand ‘Em High” where cattleman Clint Eastwood is lynched by a mob that includes Bruce Dern, Alan Hale Jr.(the Skipper from “Gilligan’s Island”) and Ed Begley (Sr.). (After the credits, Clint is cut down at the last minute by Ben Johnson.)
Sorry, I meant to type “Hang ‘Em High,” of course.
Opening scene for Slumdog I predict will be cited as the greatest opening scene of all time movie History.
Not a feature film but this intro from the mini-series, “The Stand” has always worked for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUAvTn3uz5w
“Goodfellas” — “As long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” Also, “Mean Streets.” Why does Johnny Boy blow up the mailbox?
“The Godfather” — “I believe in America.” (Good call, everyone who mentioned it).
Good call on the Bond films, too. Especially “Thunderball,” where 007 beats the hell out of the guy dressed up as his own widow and then escapes via jet-pack; and “The Spy Who Loved Me.” I saw a TV documentary on stunt men — the skiing-off-the-cliff-with-the-parachute was real (one take).
I agree with Lyle on “The Wild Bunch.” Peckinpah’s unrecognized classic,”The Cross of Iron,” sort of reprises that openning. A German recon platoon stealthily takes out a Russian mortar battery. When they’re done, Sgt. Steiner (James Coburn) speaks his first line of the movie: “Good kill.”
“The Road Warrior” — a brief voiceover provides all the set up that you need. Then the film gets right to it — speeding around the Outback in crazy, customized crates and killing each other over gasoline.
Star Wars (no “New Hope”, no “Episode whatever” – just plain old Star Wars).
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Best Bond opening: Spy Who Loved Me
Streamers (later lifted for A Few Good Men)
Speaking of Altman – The Player – while I agree the opening was an homage to link back to the older films, I think it was ALSO meant as a bit of satire, poking fun of the pretentious filmmakers who try to recreate “Touch of Evil” rather than do something new.
One word: SPEED (great opening sequence!)
I have to agree with all the Star Wars (1977) people above. I was 11 and sitting in the theatre watching that ship pass over me changed my life. That was the moment I felt that anything was possible. Fast-forward 25 years and Lucas & Co. pulled a Clockwork Orange on me. South Park nailed it with their Indy episode last season.
What about ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’? Those guys waiting around the train station forever – that set the stage perfectly for the awesomeness to follow.
Besides Patton, there’s Once Upon a Time in the West —
Jack Elam and friends await the train, then Woody Strode says, “looks like we’re shy one horse”… “you brought two, too many” says Charles Bronson before the guns are blazing.
Star Wars
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Pulp Fiction
Saving Private Ryan is Intense
The entire opening of Raising Arizona up to the first beat of the theme song.
The Magnificent Seven.
A hearse driver refuses to tote a vagrant’s coffin to Boot Hill, so Yul Brynner takes the reins and Steve McQueen rides shotgun.
The strangers’ readiness to risk their lives for a few dollars and a dubious cause sets up the movie.
Tbinstl:
Thank you for bringing that up. I completely forgot about The Stand…
I can’t believe no one’s voted for Before the Devil Knows Your Dead.
The New World – the arrival of an Engish ship and the reaction of Indians to something they’ve never seen before, all set to Wagner.
RM52
re: Slumdog. You may be right. Good call.
Hello,Bennett…yes,”Goodfellas”,though I prefer the tracking shot through the Copa
Hello,Stephanie….missed you,UW at LaCrosse
Red Dawn
Yeah, I know, a cheesy flick overall – but when you’re 24, in the Navy, sitting in a theater packed with sailors and Marines . . . it worked for me.
Planet of the Apes
Saw it at the drive-in, age eight. Hanging out of the back right-side seat, with the window down, the summer sky ablaze with stars. It felt like I was watching the movie IN OUTER SPACE (hey, I was eight).
“Star Wars: A New Hope. I wish I’d been around to see this in the theater the first time it came out. This huge-ass ship coming in RIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD…”
I was, and it was GLORIOUS! I even saw it on a big screen. There was such a thing as a multiplex then, and there were still lots of big screens around, too.
The opening shot was truly awe-inspiring, as was the scene when they finally get the Milleneum Falcon into hyperspace.
It’s hard to describe just what effect those special effects had, not to mention the true hero’s journey the film portrayed.
Oh brother, I cannot keep my eyes off this site for eight hours?
Anyway, let’s see if I can come up with a list:
1. Star Wars (what a way to start the greatest sci-fi film ever)
2. Touch Of Evil (can’t disagree with Mr. Nolte on this one)
3. The Dark Knight (you never quite know what to expect)
4. Halloween (borrowed from Touch Of Evil and just as effective)
5. The Naked Gun (funniest opening I’ve ever seen)
Tough list to compile considering how many good opening scenes there are.
Those who mention the theater effect of Star Wars forget that the largest ship ever seen in the universe entering right over your head was followed by AN EVEN BIGGER ONE. How were we to know at first that there were bigger spaceships than the one we saw first? The audience gasped in awe at the first ship, then groaned in awe at the Star Destroyer as it burst the sides of the screen. You felt like it had to fall down down on you, as nothing could hold it onto the screen.
Bravo to those who blasted the later CGI. There’s simply a visual difference in seeing a real object being filmed versus any computer rendering. Even if that real object is actually quite small and part of Hollywood magic, it’s also part of the real world and ties us closer to the fantasy. CGI usually carries me out of the movie.
Although I have a big gripe against movie musicals that star non-singing actors (was not Marnie Nixon the hardest working performer in Hollywood at one time?), I have to say the Robert Wise aerial shot of New York that opens “West Side Story” is sensational and sets the stage as the camera provides us with a sweeping, bird’s eye view of the spectacular vibrancy and wealth of the city before finally plunging us into the stark, concrete jungle of the Upper West Side. And the opening sequence of “2001: A Space Odyssey” is my hands down favorite part of that film.
Star Wars.
Saving Private Ryan.
Once Upon a Time in the West – Those 3 bad guys were just hangin’ out, chillin’, waiting & then Bronson shows up! Good times ensue!
Bladerunner – Light blue eyes staring out into a industrial, dark city. Loved the flames & flying cars. BEST. MOVIE. EVER!!!
Patton – That opening speech kicked all kinds of ass!
Two suggestions: the opening to Silverado was very impressive; also, I believe it was Yojimbo that had the (anti-) hero walking into a dust blown town as a dog in the distance trots across the street carrying a human hand in its mouth. A great visual that told much about the town.
To express admiration for a movie like “Apocalypse Now” on a site that’s supposed to be conservative is kind of odd. In my opinion “Apocalypse Now” is not specifically about Vietnam. It’s a symbolic journey of a man who follows the stream of events back to their source. Past scenes of war, colonialism, sexism, racism, poverty and oppression, he travels to the origin of all this evil: a white man. The patriarch. A father-like figure who reigns over life and death like a god. Yes, that’s right: a GODFATHER. Played by the very same actor, just in case we didn’t get it, nudge nudge wink wink. The song “the end” is ironic: the movie intends to announce the end of the patriarchy. That’s us
I’ll add my vote for:
Touch of Evil
Gladiator
The Searchers – there’s a whole prologue hinted at in that first scene that would be just as comeplling and dramatic as the story that follows.
Patton – I’d LOVE to see that in a theater w/a big screen, the way it was meant to be seen.
I’ll also throw in Rebecca – the fog, the low lighting, and Joan Fontaine reciting in a hypnotic voice, “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again….” And even when the fog clears, the audience, like the new Mrs. De Winter, still doesn’t see things clearly. Hitch sets the mood of mystery from the very beginning.
I originally thought of “Apocalypse Now” as a really demented remake of the “Wizard of Oz”.
Not a Hollywood movie but still an opening scene of note… Very Annie Mary. The music, the Welsh country side and the bread truck
I have to agree with a lot of your readers, Once Upon a Time in the West is my favorite opening. It completely sucks you into the movie.
Raising Arizona. Funniest 10 minutes in film, period.
Tumbling Tumbleweeds.
The opening of Twelve Monkeys captivated me as well.
The version I heard was the shot of Welles and Heston, where Welle’s character sends out his underling for some jelly donuts, searching the house of the suspect. Welles rehearsed all the actors involved the day before and used the crew as stand in to set up all the camera angles the week before. He started late but by 6:00 PM said to cut and print. Now the film was for a moment ahead of schedule and underbudget. The watching brass was relieved that Welles shot 3 days of script in 1/2 a day so they went back to the studio. Never having to brave the trek, pre Santa Monica or Marina Fwy, to Venice again. Welles fell promptly behind schedule.
Have to agree with Touch of Evil and Star Wars. A few people mentioned Rio Bravo, which also has a great opening.
A few others that I didn’t see mentioned:
As Good as It Gets: I think this is a terribly overrated movie, but the first few minutes with Jack Nicholson and the dog are hilarious.
Sullivan’s Travels: I love the fist fight on top of the moving train, and then the camera pulls back to reveal that it’s a movie within a movie.
The Bridge on the River Kwai: William Holden looking on incredulously as the British POWs enter the camp whistling. Classic.
Mission Impossible III
Two of the most intense actors of this generation acting very intensely.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Convoy. A critical disappointment, but pure Peckinpah. Hot asphalt, desert, a big truck. Sweat, grease, heat, Arizona. The movie gives us the mood and the setting early.
1. Star Wars: A New Hope
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
4. Bram Stoker’s Dracula
5. Once Upon a Time in the West
BOLA is right not to take “Apocalypse Now” literally but neither should he ride off into the swamp of multiculturalism. AN is informed by “Heart of Darkness” which is also not about colonialism or patriarchy or any other pc bs. Both works present the inevitable internal Jungian journey to confront our own capacity for evil. I’ve taught AN and HD for 25 years and last semester students were stunned as never before. I realized that it was because of what others have noted–the violence is real rather than CGI–real napalm, real explosions, a real carabao really slaughtered.
I predict the opening of BigHollywood.Breitbart will be remembered as one of the classics.
ROSEBUD
Whit — oh yes.
Especially as CK is regularly chosen in polls as one of the top three movies ever made.
Many great ones – I agree with Raiders and Star Wars and want to add:
Citizen Kane – opening shots of Xanadu outside, then inside, then “Rosebud”
Superman – The comic book voice-over, the credits, the Williams’ score
Seven – the gruesomeness, look & feel of the first victim and those amazing credits
geez people, don’t you remember the absolutely EPIC beginning of “The Two Towers”????????
Gandalf being pulled down by the Balrog and waging firey war with it as they both fell to their seeming doom??
number one in my book!
Many great examples here, and most of my favorites have all already been mentioned. I’ll add one – the intro scene to Lord Of War staring Nick Cage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d0d6qgsvTw
What about a subcategory: Great opening scenes in bad (or substandard) movies? I would submit two in this category – Swordfish (ugh – even with Halle Berry’s goodies on display, this was a pretty bad film).
Good list. How about the closing of “The Searchers” which is just about as powerful a ending as I’ve seen in a western. John Wayne’s tribute to his hero, Harry Carey.
Bladerunner. “My mother. I’ll tell you about my mother…”
My all time favorite opening scene is “The Killers”–the 1940’s Burt Lancaster B&W noir, not the 1960’s Ronald Reagan heist film (though it’s a good flick too). The tension in the diner as the two killers await Lancaster’s entrance is noir at its best. Terrific cinematography too.
My favorite part in the opening shot of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is when that stray dog crosses the street as you hear a coyote bark in the distance.
Brilliance.
The opening scene in PLAY TIME. “I’m going to take off my top!” “Me. too!” Sets up the characters and draws us into the situation immediately, escalating in a few minutes when the pool boy shows up. One of the great overlooked classics of American moviemaking, featuring one of the great overlooked actresses: Jennifer Burton.
Hat tip to several of the mentions so far, Star Wars, Saving Private Ryan, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Along these lines, the opening scene of the first episode of the TV show Lost, where everyone is right in the middle of the wreckage of the plane on the beach, the turbine is still spinning as people stumble and trip trying to help the injured and then BOOM the engine explodes. WOW, shoulda been on the big screen.
The best opening scene in terms of poetic acuracy was Forrest Gump. Not a thriller in any sense, but the entire movie is encapsulated in the path of a feather being tossed gently by the whims of the breeze until it ends the journey right on this bench… just like Forrest. Bright as a feather, couldn’t have planned his life and ends up where ever fortune takes him until he ends up right on this bench. Never has so much been said about what is to come in so few words.
Dr. Strangelove!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Try a little tenderness indeed!!
“BOLA is right not to take “Apocalypse Now” literally but neither should he ride off into the swamp of multiculturalism. AN is informed by “Heart of Darkness” which is also not about colonialism or patriarchy or any other pc bs”
The movie is made from a cultural marxist perspective, and is definitely about the patriarchy. It’s not my perspective, but that’s beside the point. This is the way people like Coppola think. Conrad’s book has little to do with it.
I agree on Apocalypse Now, but has anyone mentioned Rocky?
1. Citizen Kane – an Orson Welles triumph
2. 1984 – Richard Burton’s last movie, impossible to get on DVD
3. Fail Safe “the Matador, the Matador, me!”
4. 12 Monkees – an amazingly good Bruce Willis film
5. One, Two, Three – James Cagney’s last film before he went into early retirement.
12 O’Clock High- Dean Jagger standing on the deserted tarmac as the wind begins to blow and the memories come back.. gets me every time. Great movie.
Not an opening scene on my list—but scenes. Memorable for me is when Sarah Connor sees The Terminator II [again] after turning the corner in the hallway, a door opens and out walks her worst nightmare, she displays fear…Oh I guess the scene also in T-II where Arnold acquires some new clothes, steps out the front door of the drinking establishment to the strains of “Bad To The Bone”, worked for me. Just about any scene in “Shot In The Dark”. Yeah, the closing scene in “Casino Royale” when Bond reveals to the bad guy who he is and I finally get to hear the theme music.
What’s this bug me business and don’t call me baby!!!!
Oh yeah Tom thats a good one to. That scene in 12 O’Clock high is amazing. Wasn’t Jagger great in that movie?
Along with many other good suggestions here how about the opeing to “Philadelphia Story”? George Cukor had to sum up the brief marriage between Katherine Hepburn & Cary Grant & he did so superbly.
Hey, Scott:
Entering-the-Copa-through-the-kitchen was a great shot — and don’t forget the “Henry’s busy day” sequence, with the helicopter, the coke, the guns, and the sauce — but I was limiting myself to great opening scenes…
“Blazing Saddles.”
2001 A Space Odyssey… No contest.
Just one: The opening audition number in “All That Jazz”
I always liked the end of “Touch of Evil” myself. Marlene Dietrich’s wonderful off-hand summation: “He was a man.”
“Patton.” The full regalia, the huge American flag, the speech. Fabulous.
“Dead Again”. First, the enormous black headline- MURDER! splashed across the screen, then the rest of the newspaper shots that set up the whole backstory, ending with the noir sequence in the death cell.
“Rear Window”
“That Thing You Do!”
“How to Murder Your Wife”
“Peeping Tom”
Raising Arizona, Raising Arizona, Raising Arizona!
I applaud your inclusion of “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” but fear you have fudged things: a title sequence is not an “opening scene.” The opening scene of GBU in fact begins with a shot of an Almerian landscape, which is quickly replaced by another set of features, Al Muloch’s craggy face. But if you are going to laud the titles, why not credit the man responsible: Iginio(”Gigi”)Lardani(aka Luigi Lardani, Eugenio Lardani). He is every bit as deserving of recognition as Morricone is. (I don’t MEAN to pick nits, it’s just second nature).
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the gathering of the bad men behind the credits in High Noon.
Originally the opening was silent and the song was added after audience testing. One of the few times that a studio doing that actually worked. Like Oliver Twist the movie demonstrated the power of glorious Black and White. The song was written by Ned Washington and that old tunesmith cowboy Dmitri Tiomkin, delivered by Tex Ritter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKLvKZ6nIiA
“Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” – It can’t get any better than cascading chocolate.
how bout Andre Rublev (up until the slowmo horse)
1) Glengarry Glen Ross – OK movie, amazing opening sequence.
2) Jaws – No description necessary.
No love for Mel Brooks’ “Spaceballs”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPa93P4UXzc
The Longest Day. 1962 B&W
Opening music – German quick march (put up volume), drums pounding, symbols clashing, jumping cuts of war news reel, stukas dive bombing, Nazis marching, advancing, an unstoppable doom. Cut to a field in the French countryside, older man, maybe a bank manager, in a full sweat, panting, you can feel his panic, hopelessly running from a German vehicle, machine-gunned in the back, he twists in pain and collapses dead, without emotion Nazi officer collects briefcase from corpse, returns to vehicle motioning his driver to go as if he were leaving for a business meeting.
To me this a short scene conveyed how cheap and insignificant life was under Nazism, void of empathy, murder was just a day at the office.
Agree with most of the aforementioned but I have to mention ‘Top Gun’.
The opening on the flight deck with with the roar of jet engines, crewmen
scrambling, and the violent catapult launch of F-14’s to the background
of throbbing rock. Instant adrenaline surge.
HIGH NOON- Three riders meeting up to ride into town as credits roll and a wonderful theme song is played. We don’t know anything about them except by the body language and facial expressions, but we know they spell trouble.
Once Upon a Time in the West is the best opening sequence. It would have fared better if Leone used GB&U’s Eastwood, Wallach, and Van Cleef, but the attention to each cowboy’s face and respective reactions are unmatched. Strode and Elam are rugged and real. The lack of dialouge sets the stage for Harmonica’s arrival.
Can’t believe I had to get this low on the thread to see REAR WINDOW posted. The single shot opening sequence gives you the set-up and location and tells you everything you need to know about every character you’ll be introduced to – and not a word is spoken. It was Hitchcock’s moment of pure genius.
how’bout “One Eyed jack”
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There's a website listing such great opening scenes: http://flickbites.com
At the top of the list:
To Be Or Not To Be, very funny start in an absurd way, with a good hook introducing a short flashback): http://flickbites.com/node/13
Office Space, great depiction of the aberrations of office work: http://flickbites.com/node/8
Contact (1997)
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