# Best movie beginning/ending of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260 "2010-09-19T05:20:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/21 "2010-09-19T17:49:14Z")
Beginning: **Raising Arizona** - I think that it was something like 10 minutes before the opening credits, simply awesome. Ending: **The Road Warrior** ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/22 "2010-09-19T17:55:09Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Ending > Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid Ahhhh, beat me to it. One of the best beginings is _The Player_. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/23 "2010-09-19T18:04:14Z")
Beginning: _Star Wars_, definitely. First, the receding prologue. Then, quiet tinkly space music, as the camera drops to show a dusty-looking planet with two moons. The music picks up JUST a little, and this big spaceship enters from the top of the screen and passes through. Then, just after the big spaceship’s engines pass the middle of the screen, the music gets dark and ominous…and an absolutely enormous spaceship comes into view at the top. And passes through…and passes…and passes…and passes…and passes… To put it in the current idiom, it’s just, like, WHOA! ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/24 "2010-09-19T18:06:09Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > The kid in me will always have a soft spot for the opening of Star Wars. I was seven years old, sitting in a dark movie theater, looking at a strange world with two moons! Two moons! And then this huge spaceship flew into the picture from overhead, and I thought, _WOW!_ > > …and then this utterly enormous star destroyer flew into the picture from overhead, and I thought, _…guh?_ 😃 You had to see this at the theater when it was first released to understand what a stunning, game-changing moment this was. You just didn’t see that sort of thing, ever, let alone at the beginning of a movie. If you ever expected to see something like that, it was at a climactic moment, not to OPEN a movie. You knew you were in for something different from the get-go. I saw it on a GIGANTIC screen, and yes, as a 12-year-old, it was WONDERFUL. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/25 "2010-09-19T18:38:14Z")
Start-Sling Blade End-The Good,the Bad and the Ugly ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/26 "2010-09-19T18:53:11Z")
Start: the whole opening sequence–which ends with a car crash–and then the apocalyptic opening credits (with Johnny Cash singing “When the man comes around”) of the newer version of **Dawn of the Dead**. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/27 "2010-09-19T19:07:33Z")
Beginning The Matrix: Trinity almost gets caught. Ending Rocky 2: “Yo, Adrian! I did it!” Princess Bride: Literally riding off into the sunset to live happily ever after. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/28 "2010-09-19T19:43:33Z")
Can I name _Sunset Boulevard_ for beginning and ending at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/29 "2010-09-19T19:49:25Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Can I name _Sunset Boulevard_ for beginning and ending at the same time? I did - Post #5 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/30 "2010-09-19T20:01:16Z")
**Lord of War** , the most underrated movie of the last few years. [Some say, "The only thing needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.’ They should really say…Evil Prevails."]([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d0d6qgsvTw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d0d6qgsvTw)) ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/31 "2010-09-19T21:21:12Z")
Beginning: _[Desperado](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjNxVmyoLIo)_ ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/32 "2010-09-19T21:27:28Z")
Most of what I could think of has been covered, so I’ll add: Beginning: Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek 09 ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/33 "2010-09-19T21:44:40Z")
No one has yet mentioned the James Bond movies? Don’t all of them have a spectacular opening sequence (it’s been a while since I saw one)? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/34 "2010-09-19T22:06:39Z")
Beginning - **Wall-E** or **Wings of Desire** Ending - **Aguirre, Wrath of God** or **Monty Python and The Holy Grail** or **Evil Dead II** (so completely WTF until AoD) ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/35 "2010-09-19T23:45:54Z")
Ending: Empire of the Sun ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/36 "2010-09-19T23:56:16Z")
Beginning: 2001: A Space Odyssey LOTR: The Two Towers Ending (I can’t believe I’m saying this) Back to the Future II (from the moment Doc gets zapped back to 1885) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/37 "2010-09-20T00:09:41Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > > [@flodnak](#): > > > > The kid in me will always have a soft spot for the opening of Star Wars. I was seven years old, sitting in a dark movie theater, looking at a strange world with two moons! Two moons! And then this huge spaceship flew into the picture from overhead, and I thought, _WOW!_ > > > > …and then this utterly enormous star destroyer flew into the picture from overhead, and I thought, _…guh?_ 😃 > > You had to see this at the theater when it was first released to understand what a stunning, game-changing moment this was. You just didn’t see that sort of thing, ever, let alone at the beginning of a movie. If you ever expected to see something like that, it was at a climactic moment, not to OPEN a movie. You knew you were in for something different from the get-go. > > I saw it on a GIGANTIC screen, and yes, as a 12-year-old, it was WONDERFUL. 😃 I was 25! and yes, it was wonderful! It carried over later, on the ride home, down the highway - all the headlights and tail lights and street lamps made me feel like I was flying in my very own space cruiser. Ending: The Lion King. I had tears in my eyes, the circle of life and all that… ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/38 "2010-09-20T03:12:15Z")
A movie that has a great beginning and a great ending (in the same movie) is _Reservoir Dogs_. The stuff in the middle is pretty odd, but it starts great and ends great. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/39 "2010-09-20T03:25:31Z")
The Beginning: _Shane_ The Ending: _Some Like It Hot_ ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260/40 "2010-09-20T03:27:41Z")
Beginning: Jaws Ending: Wizard of Oz [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-beginning-ending-of-all-time/554260.md?page=3)