# Best opening scenes in movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810 "2015-06-29T20:19:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/81 "2015-07-01T04:59:52Z")
> [@Evin](#): > > This certainly stretches “opening scene” beyond its usual bounds, but the pre-credits vignette of the multi-story _Wild Tales_ is the most mordant and wildly hilarious sequence I can ever recall. > > [engsub.org](http://engsub.org/xem-phim-wild-tales-10638) I second that! I really liked _Wild Tales_ though my tastes do tend to go to dark humor, so liking that film was a given. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/82 "2015-07-02T06:37:22Z")
The Coen brothers’ **Blood Simple**. Shot from inside a speeding VW in the rain the crime to be done is set forth as the windshield wipers take the credits off the screen/windshield. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/83 "2015-07-02T07:08:28Z")
Team America World Police was subtly good in the way it opens up with marionettes. I knew the film was done with puppets but when I first saw the opening few seconds I thought - ohhhhh sheeeet this puppet quality SUCKS!, and then it pans back and we see awesome puppets controlling the sucky marionettes, and then even awesomer puppets blowing shit up. Relief swept in. I thought that was a good way to get the audience on your side from the start - lower expectations, then deliver the goods. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/84 "2015-07-02T09:21:23Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > **The Spy Who Loved Me** (1977) > > Skiing off the cliff: [https://youtu.be/\_kyQauA2udc](https://youtu.be/_kyQauA2udc) > > Information on the actual stunt-work involved [here](http://thebondbulletin.blogspot.com/2013/01/stuntman-rick-sylvesters-personal.html). [Stop getting Bond wrong!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czWLEbNwjCI&list=PL4EDE0A3C95D063AE) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/85 "2015-07-02T14:12:47Z")
[The Thing (1982)](https://youtu.be/ku7qnh261CY?t=1m33s) [The Road Warrior](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hUrcGCQV1g) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/86 "2015-07-02T14:21:41Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > [The Thing (1982)](https://youtu.be/ku7qnh261CY?t=1m33s) [The rest of that scene (now with Norwegian translations!).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fW_otRmxuk) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/87 "2015-07-02T14:28:12Z")
Not necessarily an opening “scene”, but the opening, pre-credits sequence from **Raising Arizona** is one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/88 "2015-07-02T14:46:28Z")
The very opening of _The Sixth Sense_ is great at getting the viewer into the atmosphere of the movie. As a slightly tipsy Olivia Williams turns to look at whatever is creeping her out and we see her next to her shadow and we get the same creepiness. Turns out to be nothing but wow it really gets you in the mood for a ghost story. ---
**Author:** ![ralfy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ralfy/32/600_2.png) [@ralfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralfy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/89 "2015-07-02T14:49:13Z")
Also, _La Dolce Vita_. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/90 "2015-07-02T22:28:05Z")
**Sin City** was only ok, but the opening scene shocked me, which is an ideal start. " I’ll cash her check in the morning." ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/91 "2015-07-02T22:47:47Z")
Add me to the Star Wars Episode IV bunch… I will never, ever forget sitting there in that dark theater and seeing that opening. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/92 "2015-07-03T19:43:04Z")
_X-Files: The Movie_. Opens on a white-out blizzard. Like something you get in the arctic. Two figures gradually materialize out of the snow, clad in heavy fur pelts, running towards the camera. As they get closer, the bottom of the screen finally tells us where we are: Texas. ---
**Author:** ![CGav8r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@CGav8r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGav8r)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/93 "2015-07-03T22:18:44Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > The Coen brothers’ **Blood Simple**. Shot from inside a speeding VW in the rain the crime to be done is set forth as the windshield wipers take the credits off the screen/windshield. Great film and great opening. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2015, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810/94 "2015-07-04T10:53:22Z")
“You seen Joe Buck?” “I believe in America…” “Zulu Dawn” “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely…” “Top Gun” “Food Glorious Food!” “Highlander 1” “Cliffhanger” How could people forget “Basic Instinct?” “The hills are alive…” should be #1 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-scenes-in-movies/723810.md?page=4)