# Greatest Opening Scene Of A Film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-scene-of-a-film/313837 "2005-07-23T20:19:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-scene-of-a-film/313837/101 "2005-07-31T21:50:04Z")
I was going to start a thread on great opening scenes months ago when I saw Revenge of the Sith- the great opening really reminded me how much I appreciate special first scenes, and wanted to make a list of the best I’d ever seen. I’ve now been through a list of all the movies I’ve seen, and these are the best openers in 4 categories, excluding movies already mentioned in this thread, and excluding openings to movies that I don’t count as scenes (for instance, a narration that explains somthing like how the rings were made in LOTR 1, or a snippet of action that happens later in the movie like Trinity’s death in Matrix Reloaded, or something that is a great opening but not enough of an event to count as a ‘scene’ like the opening shots of The Crowd, the likes of which are still really cool and are mentioned in this thread and certainly deserve recognition but which I exclude for this list’s sake). Action [ul] [li]Blade- a guy follows a girl into a club, then puzzled when he ends up in a meat freezer? The club is sprayed with blood- it’s a vampire club. He’s killed.[/li][li]Empire Strikes Back- the snowy battle with the big walking things.[/li][li]Eraser- Arnold saves client from baddies in house, including shielding himself from a grenade that sends pins flying everywhere.[/li][li]Kill Bill Volume 1- Technically scene 1 is b/w, where bride is shot in head by bill, then credits, then the scene where bride fights vivica fox in her house and her daughter comes home. Great, both of them.[/li][li]The Last Boy Scout- A football arena, in the dark and rain; a commentator mentions the death of pro football b/c of decreased viewership; a desperate player must make it to the end zone or be killed by his illegal ties, so he shoots the other players while running and then kills himself in the end zone, saying ‘ain’t life grand’ iirc. Such a dark opening that foreshadows such a violent film.[/li][li]Lethal Weapon 4- the two cops take down the guy in the metal suit with the flamethrower and blow him up, Glover doing the chicken dance. Classic action opening- a situation w/ nothing to do w/ rest of film.[/li][li]Men in Black- Jones and old guy stop car, cut the skin suit off of the alien Mikey, and then kill him in gooey fashion, then Jones uses the flasher on the crowd and his partner to retire him[/li][li]Minority Report- the police find the glasses guy about to murder his wife[/li][li]Series 7: The Contenders- the pregnant woman walks into a convenience store, followed by the shaky cameraman, and shoots the man there in line, asking the clerk then ‘got any bean dip?’[/li][li]Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow- IIRC opens w/ the giant robot destroying the city[/li][li]Spiderman 2- Spidy delivers pizza :D[/li][li]Revenge of the Sith- the sprawling space battle, the fighting with robots between ani and obi and r2 on the elevator and elsewhere on the ship, the fight w/ Dooku and the dark foreshadowing murder of him by anakin, long fight with Sidious, and the crash landing of the ship- SUPERB[/li][li]The Transporter- the rest of the movie sucks, but the opening has the transporter taking the burglars from their robbery in his car in a wild chase from the police in europe[/li][li]True Lies- the ball in europe, the dance w/ tia carrere, the chase w/ the shooting in the woods and the dogs and jet skis- awesome[/li]X-Men 2- Nightcrawler kicks the secret servicemen’s ass to Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-scene-of-a-film/313837/102 "2005-07-31T22:08:02Z")
Now for Drama[ul] [li]American Beauty- the brief opening is from later in the movie, foreshadowing Spacey’s death when his daughter asks the boy to do it, but then the opening scene is the morning- we descend upon the neighborhood, Spacey jerks off in the shower, the family is dysfunctional, commentary on his wife, daughter, etc. [/li][li]The Big Chill- the body (kevin costner’s body, FYI) is dressed up for the funeral to the credits, then the funeral happens, all the characters arrive.[/li][li]The French Connection- Popeye Doyle and partner chase down a black criminal, Popeye in Santa suit. Great character intro[/li][li]The Fugitive- the wife murder[/li][li]Gangs of New York- the long tracking shot through the warehouse to the battle of the gangs outside[/li][li]Gladiator- the fighting of the Romans lead by Crowe against the tribe who resists[/li][li]The Godfather- the wedding[/li][li]Godfather 2- the christening[/li][li]Natural Born Killers- the massacre at the diner by Micky and Mallory, shot really wierd![/li][li]Paid in Full- the opening of this drug movie has a future scene in which the main characters, now rich, betting each others gs over who makes the trash in the can when shooting, while eating chinese. Cameron is called out of the room, and then we see how he began, only later realizing why he leaves the room here. Well done.[/li][li]The Sixth Sense- Willis is shot by the crazy ex-patient[/li][li]The Sound of Music- The aerial shot to Julie Andrews singing the titular song [/li][li]Unbreakable- Willis on the train, which crashes[/li][li]Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog)- the woman on the balcony has her eyeball slit. Best. Opening. Ever. :D[/li][li]Unforgiven- the one guy cuts of the prostitute in the prostitution house. Dark start to a somber film[/li][li]Vertigo- IIRC doesn’t it start with Stewart’s memory of when his partner fell off the roof in the chase?[/li]West Side Story- smash cut of the sun rising in the NY skyline, then we see the basketball court where the gangstas prance and sing. Great[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-scene-of-a-film/313837/103 "2005-07-31T22:18:55Z")
Horror[ul] [li]Dawn of the Dead- the news station trying to broadcast where people can go, the scientist explaining how to feed the zombies, the man and the woman plan to leave. Then, the swat team going into the apartment and all that gore. The two scenes are terrific![/li][li]The Faculty- the first scene is short, hinting that the football coach after practice is now taken over by a mysterious being, and second proves that when he and another woman murder the principal in a tense and great scene after a teachers conference, all before the titles. Kevin Williamson is known for great openings[/li][li]Final Destination- the kid makes them avoid the exploding flight[/li][li]Final Destination 2- the girl makes them avoid the horrid interstate wreck[/li][li]Friday the 13th- opens w/ the murder of lovers in the woods, doesn’t it?[/li][li]Halloween- Michael dons a clown mask and kills his sister[/li][li]The Ring/Ringu- the american version follows the asian version exactly as the girl is killed by the tape girl at the beginning of the film[/li][li]Scream- ghost face kills Barrymore. Has to be top 10 opening scenes ever[/li][li]Scream 2- ghost face kills boyfriend/girlfriend at the movies[/li][li]Scream 3- ghost face kills Liev Schreiber and girlfriend[/li][li]Texas Chainsaw Massacre- a yokel hitches a ride in the van, takes a picture and burns it in foil, slits his hand, leaves. In the AWFUL remake, he blows his brains out, and so will you by the end of the film[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-scene-of-a-film/313837/104 "2005-07-31T22:21:28Z")
I was more impressed by the opening to _Fellowship of the Ring_ than _The Two Towers_. Anyone who can condense a couple thousand years of history into five minutes is _good_, but anyone who can condense a couple thousand years of Tolkien history into five minutes is bloody _brilliant_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-scene-of-a-film/313837/105 "2005-07-31T22:31:39Z")
Comedy[ul] [li]American Pie- Jason Biggs is caught by parents with a sock on penis[/li][li]American Pie 2- Biggs caught by parents having sex w/ girl at college; also, her parents[/li][li]American Pie 3- Biggs caught getting oral at restaurant [/li][li]Austin Powers- IIRC Dr Evil escaping from Austin at the club is the first scene[/li][li]Grease- opens with the romantic scene on the beach between sandy and travolta w/ song ‘Love is a many splendored thing’, she’s sad b/c it’s the end, he says ‘it’s only the beginning’, then we get the title sequence with the cartoon (“Grease is the word!”[/li][li]Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps- a nightmare sequence in which the professor’s wedding day goes scientifically ary[/li][li]Parenthood- IIRC first scene is steve martin in an imaginary sequence at the ballpark, as a kid, telling the guy there that he’s not really there- it’s just a memory of something like when his dad used to leave him at places w/ someone else b/c he was too busy.[/li][li]Scary Movie- parody of barrymore’s death in Scream opening[/li][li]Scary Movie 3- parody of Ring death opening[/li][li]South Park: The Movie- song of ‘thank god we live in this quiet little white trash redneck town!’[/li][li]There’s Something About Mary- opens w/ the singing narrator, we see stiller asking girls on date, then he asks mary and she says yes and then we get to the scene w/ the zipper on prom night. First scene? I say yes, it’s all one concept within like 10 minutes, all happening before the time the rest of the story occurs.[/li]Top Hat- in the hotel, Ginger is disturbed from sleep by Astaire’s great dancing, who then does the sand dance.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-scene-of-a-film/313837/106 "2005-07-31T23:13:57Z")
To add a p;reviously unmentioned film t the list: :_French Kiss_, with Meg Ryan in the flight simulator. Comments on previous nominations: • _Star Wars_ — yeah, the ultimate “once upon a time” startoff, and that huge ship. Winner. •_2001: A Space Odyssey_ — I’ll never understand the fascination with this scene. “Oh hey, a club, I think I’ll bash this guy’s brains out” One small step for afarensiskind, one giant ohfuck for the human race? Yeah, great soaring accomplishment, just oh so worthy footage for the strains of _Also sprach Zarathustra_. I damn near walked out and said “forget it”. (Should have. Movie didn’t improve much) ---
**Author:** ![giuseppgold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/51bf81/32.png) [@giuseppgold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/giuseppgold)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-scene-of-a-film/313837/107 "2011-03-20T22:41:51Z")
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