Spot on choice.
Beginning: Grand Prix Still one of the most visually stunning movies ever made.
Ending: Ferris Bueller’s day off Breaks the 4th wall big time.
Beginning:
Dr. Strangelove (the love scene! With bombers!)
Watchmen (it’s been said already, but the historical montage over the credits was absolutely stunning.)
What makes that one so great, IMHO, is that it doubles as the ending.
I mean, after Tim Roth cockneys through his Let’s Hold Up This 'Ere Diner bit, the famous opening music gives way to Samuel L. Jackson becoming a superstar before your very eyes and John Travolta doing his stuff in a retro dance competition after bantering with Uma Thurman sure as we get Bruce Willis coming back with that samurai sword for the win and Harvey Keitel fast-talking it up as the tuxedo-clad cleaner and it’s set to end as Jules and Vincent are quietly talking about life when all of a sudden – 'ey, garçon, coffee – and you can hear the movie audience suck in their collective breath a beat later.
Most of mine have been mentioned already (I think Star wars, with the complete 20th Century Fox overture for the first time in ages, followed by the abrupt title and fanfare, is a definite candidate. As is Touch of Evil’s incredibly suspenseful start), but no one seems to have suggested:
Superman
I really love the way that it opens with what is obviously the POV shot of a kid reading the comic on his 1930s/1940s floor, with the characteristic patterned rug, which blends into a believable image of the top of the Daily Planet, then travels past it into Outer Space and journeys across the gulf to John Williams’ excellent fanfare of a score (and with the wonderful R/Greenberg slit-scan credits). I can even forgive the sub-par “wonders of space” effects that had been done so much better a decade earlier in 2001. It finally ends up on Krypton, where the story proper begins. But we’ve seen how we got there.
Boogie Nights begins with a very long tracking shot that introduces us to all of the main characters; it ends with a long tracking shot that summarizes how those characters have developed over the several-year period covered by the movie.
Paul Thomas Anderson needs to make more movies.
I was going to mention this one but I figured no one would have even remembered it. I think there is a WB logo then the title on a black screen. It zooms in on the title quickly as you hear Mel screaming his head off and car horns bouncing around you in surround sound as you’re thrust into the drivers seat of a chase in progress.
*We have top men working on it.
Who?
Top. Men.*
I don’t think it’s the best beginning of all time, but the opening of X-Men 2 is one of my favorites. Nightcrawler’s style was just SO right.
Ooh, forgot about that. Which is silly, because I’ve taken the DVD out of the library, watched the opening, and returned it.
Note: This opinion is probably influenced by how much the movie sucked, but the ending almost made it worthwhile. The ending is probably better if (and probably won’t make sense unless) you subject yourself to the 2 hours of torture leading up to it.
Another great beginning: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Little Miss Sunshine has a nice beginning montage of the characters and a great ending with them driving off into the sunset.
Ending:
**
The Sixth Sense**
Thought of two more.
A certain Doper’s user name reminded me of The Great Waldo Pepper. A boy in the 1930’s hears a plane approach, chases after it and it swoops overheard and lands in a field. Out jumps Robert Redford who gives a sales pitch for airplane rides to the gathering crowd, and promises the boy a free ride at the end of the day if he fills up his gas can. The whole sequence harks back to a simpler time (especially for us pilots!), and nearly makes me cry.
The Sting has a terrific opening sequence in which you see a beautifully executed scam take place.
A great final line, but I think My Man Godfrey is better.
Here are a few I like:
[ul]the opening bit of Zodiac is great - perfectly evokes an era with voyeuristic and gruesome detail.[/ul]
[ul]The opening of I Know Who Killed Me is fantastic - a visually striking grace note where I least expected it.[/ul]
[ul]The ending of I’m Not There - an extended sequence closing up all the stories of Bob Dylan’s various incarnations in the film, and concluding on a very moving sort of mythopoetic note.[/ul]
[ul]I dislike the film intensely, but the last shot of Magnolia is justly famous.[/ul]
[ul]I’m also a sucker for endings that completely blindside me, leaving me thinking “wow, was it supposed to end there?” Good recent examples: No Country for Old Men, and Julia with Tilda Swinton.[/ul]
[ul]speaking of Swinton, her dance at the end of The Last of England is one of the great moments in all of cinema.[/ul]
There is only one ending that really moved me:
The Straight Story.
mmm
I’ll +1 the beginnings of
2001
Saving Private Ryan
and Up.
And for endings, I liked
Atonement
and ET (I stayed in my seat until the tears dried up a bit.)
The snow scene in McCabe and Mrs. Miller was memorable as well.
3 Days of the Condor had a powerful ending (depending on the free press to preserve your life.)
Ah, now I remember: he beams at the crowd and says "Hello, good people!" *
Had a friend that would use that line constantly, and I was the only acquaintance of his that had seen the movie.
- (in the same tone of voice as Robert Preston booming “Welcome to Rylos, my boy!”)