The Rock begins with Gen. Hummel(Ed Harris) laying his medals on his wife’s grave. You also see marines giving a 21 gun salute.
Since other James Bond flicks have been mentioned, I’m surprised no one mention “Live and Let Die.”
It’s been a few years since I saw it, but I think the opening scene is on the streets of the French Quarter in New Orleans. One of James Bond’s colleagues is standing on the streetcorner watching one of those elaborate jazz-flavored funeral processions associated with the Crescent City. The agent asks a black man standing close by, “Whose funeral is this?” The man stabs the agent, and says “Yours.” The agent’s body is then placed in the coffin, and the procession continues down the street.
Gandhi
I always kind of liked that beginning. Particulary the music. It starts out somber, but when the man is stabbed and put into a coffin, the jazz gets very peppy and upbeat.
Rocky Horror Picture Show starts with a wedding, but immediately after the wedding (like, two minutes into the film tops) the church folks (well, Riff Raff and company) are bringing out a coffin during the first musical number between Brad and Janet.
One of the funniest movies ever, and a chance to see Shirley MacClane in her incredibly sexy youth.
I believe Remember the Titans started with a partal funeral scene as well.
:smack: partial…sorry
Did Doctor Zhivago start at the funeral scene for Yuri’s mother, or did they start with the rap-around story, where Alec Guinness is trying to find out Tonya’s identity?
You’re right. The funeral occurs at the end of the film. (Well, the end but for one scene, back with Salieri in the asylum.)