Best film beginning of all time

[Paragon]

[arwalden]

1. Car Wash

[arewethereyet]

2. Lawrence of Arabia

or any pink panther

[burythehatchet]

53. second Lawrence nomination

plus the best Sean line ever:

I am the Rizuli, you will not laugh at me again

[Shakespeare]

58. Second that.

One of the most incredible films ever, about an equally incredible man.

[kixot]

3. That movie blew some serious chunks.

Ms. Kixot and I just couldn't get into it. My vote goes for Saving Private Ryan.

[Paragon]

7. the Movie Answer Man says...

http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/sho-sunday-ebert21.html

Q. I work at a local video store and the recent release of "Lost in Translation" on DVD has had lots of people asking about it. But I noticed that about 90 percent of the people that watched it said they didn't like it. In fact, most of them said that it was one of the worst movies they've ever seen. They didn't understand why it drew all of the attention that it got.

Is this because of the expectations that the general public has in their minds? Was it over-advertised by the Oscar hype it got? Or is it just because the general public can't watch a film that will challenge them to think when they are used to watching big-budget films where everything is drawn out for them?

Sean O'Connell, Novato, Calif.

A. Yes, yes and yes. "Lost in Translation" requires audiences to be able to pick up feelings and information on frequencies that many moviegoers don't receive on. Most of the movies most people go to see are made in such a way that not a moment's thought is required. The audience is a passive receptor for mindless sensation. When I'm told by people that they hated "Lost in Translation," I have to restrain myself from replying, "You are saying more about yourself than about the film."

"Lost in Translation" was applauded by 94 percent of the 190 critics monitored at rottentomatoes.com, and by 97 percent of the major critics. Does that mean critics are (a) out of touch with popular taste, or (b) have better taste than the customers at Sean O'Connell's video store? Before you answer, remember that the mission of a good critic is not to reflect popular taste but to inform it.

[KissMyAsscroft]

4. Naked Gun (Police Squad)

The police car driving through everything...

[BeyondGeography]

5. Touch of Evil

Camera follows car with bomb in trunk for over three minutes. Just when you can't stand it anymore, ka-boom.

The rest of the movie doesn't suck, either.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. That IS a good one

Nothing like starting a film with a white knuckle scene.

[elperromagico]

27. I concur.

Was just about to post that, in fact.

[VOX]

31. One of the best. No cuts, either...

There's a bit of an homage to it in Altman's "The Player." Fred Ward's character mentions the "Touch of Evil" opening, while "The Player" itself unspools for a few minutes without any cuts, either.

[Mz Pip]

6. Star Wars

That opening sequence looking under that battle cruiser was unlike anything I had ever seen before in film.

It may not seem like much by today's standards but in 1977 it was awesome.

MzPip
:dem:

[gmoney]

8. "Dazed and Confused" or "Raising Arizona"

"Dazed" starts with black and the beginning of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" with the bubbling baseline and stuff as credits pop up over black... then as the cymbal crash starts the song proper, it cuts to an orange GTO with a spoiler cruising in slow motion around a corner of a school parking lot... describing it sounds like nothing, but seeing it on the big screen just kicked my ass.

"Raising Arizona" starts with a long chunk of exposition about H.I. and Ed's getting to gether and such. There's the cool banjo music under all the voiceover, until that shot of them in lawn chairs watching the Arizona sunset as the yodelling kicks in and the big Raising Arizona title comes up... that's a very cool start, too.

[mitchum]

9. That is a great opening to "Dazed and Confused"...

perfectly sets the tone. Even Aristotle would go, "Fuckin' right on, man!"

[MissMillie]

55. Raising Arizona

that whole voiceover thing is way cool....

"Turn to the right!"

[mitchum]

10. "Aguirre, The Wrath of God"

The cloud covered mountainside is an awesome and terrible beauty as seen in a dream

[DS1]

11. Good choice!

I'm partial to its follow up Apocalpyse Now.

Other good ones are Pitch Black (loved the cargo dump)
Fight Club, f'in cool
Alien

[tridim]

12. Raiders of the Lost Ark

I doesn't get more exciting than that!

Jaws and Boogie Nights were pretty good too.

[salinen]

13. Pulp Fiction

[Insider]

14. A Beautiful Mind

if you count the first, oh, hour?

[gottaB]

15. it brings a touch of scarlet to my cheek to mention it

but rumor has it that a body double was used for that scene.

I'm devastated.

[Paul Hood]

16. I hated that movie, butt I loved the beginning. n/t

[gottaB]

39. tush-ay

eom

[ironflange]

17. Blue Velvet

The fire engine, the man with the hose, the dog, the ear. . .

[Minstrel Boy]

41. yes

"logs ... logs ... logs!"

[grannylib]

18. The first, best and original Star Wars....WAY cool....

[Enraged_Ape]

28. I agree, with a close second being the first Superman movie

I remember two times as a kid when I damn near crapped my pants at the movie theater:

1) Gazing upon a placid planet floating in the quiet blackness of space, then that rebel blockade runner streaks by, laser bolts blazing, and an even more gigantic motherfu##er star destroyer appears right behind it.

2) After a few minutes of the opening credits "swishing" quietly onto the screen, John Williams' opening theme hits an orgasmic crescendo as a very familiar giant red-and-yellow "S" blasts into frame.

I live for these kind of openings. Unfortunately, we haven't seen anything like these in quite a while.

[Pert_UK]

32. Too right......in the cinema, the rumble from the Star Destroyer

was almost enough to move your bowels!

Fantastic!

P.

[grannylib]

34. First time I saw it was in 1976 in limited pre-release; had never heard of

it. Saw it in a little hole-in-the-wall theatre in WI and was blown away.
When it came out nationally, I saw it in CO in a big modern theatre with the curved screen and surround sound, and I did about need new drawers after the opening scenes!

[PragMantisT]

19. A Clockwork Orange

There was me, that is, Alex and my three droogs...

Very much like the book in content.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. The Sound of Music

So...I'm old fashioned.

[Westegg]

21. "Betty Blue." Opening scene is pure sex/sensuality.

[jpak]

54. You can say that again...

n/t

[pfitz59]

22. "Groove Tube"

"Another fine product form Uranus....."

[Stargleamer]

23. A Hard Day's Night

n/t

[mac56]

56. A big second on "A Hard Day's Night".

nm

[Zinfandel]

24. Grand Illusion!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

25. 2001 - A Space Odyssey

If you count the very, very beginning as the titles come on, with that incredible music and the solar system.

[grannylib]

35. Good choice...

[BurtWorm]

40. That came to my mind immediately.

Reminds me to add "Dr. Strangelove" to the list of best film endings, too.

[BurtWorm]

42. Come to think of it, Dr. Strangelove had a pretty great beginning as well.

[T_i_B]

29. Trainspotting

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace you. Choose your future. Choose life.

[phrenzy]

30. Yes Yes

Star Wars - That moment will be burned into many old childs minds. Pure magic.

Dazed And Confused - You felt the 'magic' of High School at the beginning of that movie.

2001 - Monkeys, Monolith, tools.

[VOX]

33. "The Hired Hand" - rack focus on New Mexican sun, slow pan down to river,

And the youngest character leaves the water for land, and falls down. All in beautiful slow motion set to Bruce Langhorne's haunting acoustic music.

Fire, air, water; man emerges from the ooze, stumbles. Perfect.

[amazona]

36. Millennium (spelling?) based on the John Varley story

There are many good movie beginnings already mentioned but I want to mention this seldom-seen beginning...


Although Millenium was a terrible movie overall, the first five minutes simply blew me away, with the people sitting silently while the fire spreads through the doomed airliner. I doubt I could sit and watch it again in the post 9-11 era. It was extremely disturbing.

After that, you can just turn it off and read the short story because the time travel theme means that there is too much repitition -- maybe necessary for movie viewers who are less experienced with SF themes, I dunno, but slow-going for Varley fans who tend to be very experienced SF readers. In the end, almost no one saw this movie to my knowledge, the Varley fans thought it insipid, the rest of the world thought, "huh? what just happened?"

But the before-the-credit roll scene is worth the price of the rental if you can bear to watch it.

[terrya]

37. "Contact" with Jodie Foster. A VERY cool beginning.

Terry

[livetohike]

48. Contact

gets my vote too.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

51. just...can't...handle...the ending

bet Carl did a back-flip in his grave...

theProdigal

[Rabrrrrrr]

38. Bond movies, for sure, have to be included

:-)

[bif]

43. Apocalypse Now

[ROC]

44. Twelve O'Clock High

It was a slow start but great. The beginning of the Right Stuff was pretty good too.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

45. Spaceballs

That SHIP!

[peekaloo]

46. Fight Club

[rucky]

47. Edward Scissorhands

[jus_the_facts]

49. The Crimson Permanent Assurance~Monty Python's The Meaning of Life...

....it's THE shit...literally!! :D :D :D

[Demonaut]

50. Musical, Rocky Horror Picture Show

[hatrack]

52. Seven

Best. Opening. Credits. Ever.

[Donkeyboy75]

57. Saving Private Ryan

Did an excellent job of showing how discombobulating and scary war really is.