That’s the one you study in film school. (Over and over and over again. And don’t ask me how many times I’ve seen Psycho or Persona)
I was sure Reservoir Dogs would be the first response to the OP.
It’s been some time since I last saw it, but the first scene is Lawrence’s motorbike accident. I think the next one takes place at the British headquarter in Cairo(?). The mirage scene introducing Omar Sharif comes later, after a bit of Lawrence traveling with a guide to the meeting place. But I concur, it’s one of the most beautiful scenes in movie history.
For all that the overall movie is not well loved (I don’t mind it) I’ve always liked the first ten minutes of the 1970 movie of Catch-22. There are three things. Well, kinda four.
The scene of the B-25’s taking off is so realistic and visceral that it gives me goosebumps (and it should when you hear of the effort that went into making it). My tip is listen to it up loud with good speakers. And as they leave it invokes that feeling you get when others are leaving on a great adventure and you are left behind and aren’t quite sure if that’s good or bad.
The scene with the Doc and Yossarian that explains the basic premise is terrific both in terms of choreography and dialogue.
And there’s another scene which I’m not even going to describe lest I spoil anything but is both temporally disjointed and mysterious, which is perfectly in tune with the book.
I don’t know if I’d say beautiful, but I’d certainly say spectacular and quietly shocking.
Ok, with beautiful I meant the picture of Omar Sharif slowly approaching and arising out of the mirage. What follows at the well really is shocking.
Opening gunfight in Silverado. Great stuff, topped by the scenic vista opening out below. Beautiful!
Baby Driver
The whole movie is good, but the opening scene is freaking awesome.
I love that movie and agree that opening scene rocks. I understand the film won an Academy Award for sound editing. Well deserved.
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
Testify!
What I love best about that sequence is the way they show you well-designed snippets of story and YOU (and I and the audience) have to construct the story ourselves. And it’s a different story to each individual watching. Brilliant!
Yes this. Stayed with me the rest of the movie.
It’s more than 10 minutes, but the opening of Star Trek (09) is not only the best part of the movie, it’s the best filmmaking of JJ Abrams’s whole career.
Heaven’s Gate. Yes, Heaven’s Gate. That opening scene is a horrid wasteland of despair, and then scene by scene it manages to get progressively worse.
Evita (1996)
The first 6 minutes has it all, including “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina”, and Antonio Banderas is exceptional.
Others may dispute the ‘greatness’ of Dirty Harry (personally I can stomach the dubious politics for the sake of sheer style) but the first ten minutes are perhaps the coolest, especially with the theme tune coming in.
Drive’s opener is as good as Baby Drivers, and did it before Baby Driver. However, I can’t remember much about Drive after that point, so fit’s the original criteria.
Leon: The professional has one of the best show of hitman skill in any movie at the start. I’d not put it in this list, because there’s great scenes all through the movie, including opening the door to Matilda, Gary Oldman being crazy, “Kind of Italian Looking” and the police bringing in the metal plate with the gun behind it having cornered him…
I would say the opening of Contact. The giant pull back from earth farther and farther through the universe, until we emerge from young Ellie’s eye.
I like the movie, but that scene really blew me away the first time. The rest of the movie struggles to live up to it.
…
yes yes the time frame was all wrong. The radio shouldn’t fade away until like 70 light years. Still…
I see no one has brought up the opening scene of The Wild Bunch.
“If they move, kill 'em”