# Films whose first 15 minutes are utterly magnificent. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258 "2016-04-27T15:39:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/81 "2016-04-29T19:27:44Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > It’s free on Netflix as we speak. Woo hoo! ---
**Author:** ![that\_darn\_cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/59ef9b/32.png) [@that\_darn\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/that_darn_cat)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/82 "2016-05-01T05:06:48Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Super Troopers. While the movie itself is pretty funny, the first 10-15 minutes of it are the funniest 15 min I’ve seen. Man, im cracking up just remembering it now. Yup. Came in to post this. Will occasionally just watch the first 15 minutes, though I have been sucked in to watching the whole thing that way. “YOU BOYS LIKE MEXICO?”😃 ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/83 "2016-05-01T10:54:48Z")
The opening of **South Park: The Movie.** The opening song is cute, but from “Uncle Fucka” until the classroom scene ending with “…holy shit, dude” it was on a hilarious roll. I saw it in theaters and it was one of those films where you laughed so hard you missed the next joke. The rest is decent but the scenes with Satan and Saddam Hussein do drag. ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/84 "2016-05-01T16:12:04Z")
_Melancholia_ ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/85 "2016-05-01T16:37:47Z")
The opening of **Star Trek (2009)** is right up there as far as I am concerned. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/86 "2016-05-01T17:14:11Z")
No love for [Glengarry Glen Ross](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4PE2hSqVnk)? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/87 "2016-05-02T14:18:14Z")
> [@Tinker\_Grey](#): > > _Melancholia_ I remember watching this quirky little film and liking it quite a bit, yet I cannot seem to recall the opening scene. Would you mind refreshing my memory? ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/88 "2016-05-02T19:46:37Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I thought the beginning of The Avengers: Age of Ultron was pretty amazing. Oh, agreed. The previous movie had shown them as just learning to play nice together. The sequel starting out with an intense sequence showing them having come together as an extremely capable, integrated team was a great way to start the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/89 "2016-05-02T19:56:02Z")
Oh yeah, [this movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6lfwVT84GA). Magnolia. Right at the end of the video (right where it cuts off), the title and opening credits and opening credit music/song starts. Great beginning to a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/90 "2016-05-02T23:11:55Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Koyaanisqatsi In a similar vein, _Baraka_. Also, _Metropolis_ and _Werckmeister Harmonies_. ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/91 "2016-05-03T01:07:03Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I remember watching this quirky little film and liking it quite a bit, yet I cannot seem to recall the opening scene. Would you mind refreshing my memory? It’s been a little while, but I’ll try. I remember the opening mostly as a very-slow slo-mo of Kirsten Dunst running through an estate in her wedding gown; the dress fairly oozing/flowing around her; a very heightened sense of color–almost unreal. I thought it was gorgeous. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/92 "2016-05-03T01:22:47Z")
OK, I’m not going to be claiming “utterly magnificent” in absolute terms, OK? But the first 15 minutes of “Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity” are SO MUCH better than the rest of the film, that they deserve to be called “Utterly Magnificent” by comparison. The first 15 minutes has speceships and half-naked slavegirls in the hold of said spaceship, a hair’s breadth escape and a roomful of stuffed, weird alien creatures. Almost immediately after that, it turned into a very tired and dull version of “The Most Dangerous Game” which was seriously underlit. But for 15 minutes, “Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity” was a great little B-movie, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/93 "2016-08-26T09:55:56Z")
If I recall correctly the opening scene of Catch 22 shows the squadron of B-25’s taking off in formation. It has this fantastic segue from incredible noise and clatter and activity that gradually fades out to near silence as the planes take off and fly away and just a few birds can be heard twittering. There’s something about it that always evokes memories of that feeling you get when you are involved in helping others with intensive preparations for something that is going to happen elsewhere, then they move off and suddenly you are there on your own in silence, with nothing to do but wait. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/94 "2016-08-26T11:36:54Z")
**The Player** begins with a single, unbroken shot lasting nearly eight minutes. What makes it extra special are the two characters casually conversing about the longest opening shots in movie history. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/95 "2016-08-26T12:59:45Z")
The opening of _Der Himmel über Berlin_ , up until Damiel sees Marion and our perspective first switches. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/96 "2016-08-26T13:50:23Z")
Raising Arizona. From the opening dialog of H.I. telling the story of how he and Ed came together all the way up to when it cuts to the title “Raising Arizona” with that perfect western tune behind it. Of course the rest of the movie is perfect, but that long opening always has me gripped. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/97 "2016-08-26T14:06:35Z")
After a disappointing first installment, they needed to go big with the sequel. **Wrath of Khan** delivers in the first fifteen minutes, and then keeps going. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/98 "2016-08-26T14:23:46Z")
The opening scene of **The Rundown** is great. The movie quickly goes downhill from there, but it’s a great scene. I’d have happily watched a movie comprised entirely of The Rock beating up deadbeats in clubs, plot bedamned. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/99 "2016-08-26T14:32:34Z")
Probably echoing others, every Bond film has a superb opening sequence. Julie Andrews singing in the Alps didn’t suck, either. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258/100 "2016-08-26T15:05:52Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Raising Arizona. From the opening dialog of H.I. telling the story of how he and Ed came together all the way up to when it cuts to the title “Raising Arizona” with that perfect western tune behind it. > > Of course the rest of the movie is perfect, but that long opening always has me gripped. I agree (fourthed?). It’s a pretty interesting way to catch the viewer up to what’s going on with H.I. and Edwina are. And damned funny to boot. The bit parts of the machine shop co-worker (“No, not that mother-scratcher. Bill Parker. Anyway, we’re approaching the wreck, and there’s this spherical object a restin’ in the highway. And it’s not a piece of the car.”) and the cellmate (“…and when there was no meat, we ate fowl and when there was no fowl, we ate crawdad and when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand.”) crack me up every time, and truly set the stage for just what sort of strange movie it was about to become. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-whose-first-15-minutes-are-utterly-magnificent/753258.md?page=6)