Reply With QuoteNo surprise and I am sure I will be the first of many to say so but Apocalypse Now has a tremendous beginning.
Sat watching the original Italian Job, the combination of Matt Monro and a Miura against the backdrop of the alps. What could be more stylish (well, until the digger destroys the Miura of course)?
Do you have a favourite opening to a film?
No surprise and I am sure I will be the first of many to say so but Apocalypse Now has a tremendous beginning.
Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Love how it shows the end of the movie, great graphics and Dylan's soundtrack. Superb
Hat tip to any Saul Bass intro as well.....
All the star wars films start fantastically, never fail to make me smile
Other than that, saving private Ryan
I think any of the recent James Bond films take some beating.... I'm thinking specifically of the first Daniel Craig one (doh, brain not functioning at the moment, can't for the life of me remember the title).
Saving Private Ryan. I was glued to the epic beach landing. At the cinema, you felt like you were there.
Not sure if its true but Ive heard that this section is used as a short training film for the militaryOriginally Posted by langdalematt
In any event it really is impressive
Has to be saving private Ryan again, the whole filming is great but the first 20 minutes had me hooked
Trainspotting for me
A touch of evil.
Sheer class - the opening shot sets the whole movie up.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Cliffhanger - mince movie but a great shocker of a start with the girl falling. Totally unexpected.
And 'Lost in Translation. Enough said.
Last edited by alas58; 23rd August 2014 at 08:26.
The opening 15mins of "No country for old men" .
Amongst my very favourite film openings are:
Woody Strode and the fly waiting for Charles Bronson during the opening of “Once upon a time in the west”.
Clint Eastwood’s one man war against the little creatures at the opening of “Two Mules for Sister Sarah”, wonderful mix of music and images and easy to miss.
The long, long tracking camera shot at the beginning of “A touch of evil” and it’s homage at the opening of “The Player.”
The fade into the lit window at the heart of Xanadu at the beginning of “Citizen Kane”; also parodied/homaged at the beginning of “Blade Runner” as we simultaneously cross cut and track from and too Dave Holden’s eye and through L.A.
The narration at the beginning of “Magnolia” which sets up the strange interconnections throughout the film. Likewise the wonderful silent story of Daniel Playfair’s mining career at the beginning of “There will be Blood”.
The sublime jarring score by Bernard Herrman and the Mondrian like graphics by Saul Bellow at the beginning of “North by North West” and the first fade from the graphics to Hitch missing the bus. (The sharp eyed will spot one of Mr Flatt's early film credits)
John Polito summing it all up at the beginning of "Miller's Crossing".
And for endings:
Ray Macanally’s after credit stare to camera at the end of “The Mission”.
And the miraculous Bob Hoskin’s face as he’s driven away at the end of “The Long Good Friday”.
Quite understated, but I always liked the way Sharky's Machine opened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWG9ROB_2Zk
Quantum of Solace and Star Wars springs to mind.
Dave
All the votes for Saving Private Ryan has got me thinking it's about time I watched that movie.
Superb.
Also for me, I always remember the opening of Scream - at the cinema, 1997.
Gripping tension and a great climax. I've seen it many times since but always wish it was as good as the first.
Another vote for Cliffhanger.
The engine sound at the start of Rush is great too
In order;
The Empire Strikes Back
The Godfather
Zombieland
Saving private Ryan
Wears me out... Brilliant
A lot of my favourites have been named already.
I may add '3 days of the Condor', and, because this is TZ after all, the opening sequence of 'Goldfinger'
+1 for the three most recent Bond movies. The free-running opener to Casino Royale takes it for me, but the car chase in QoS and the car/bike/JCB/train chase in Skyfall was pretty good too.
Pulp Fiction ranks up there as well, starting and ending in the same place is quite cool.
Would you have returned with water????? Noooooooooooooooo (I shout every time )
As already nominated, Saving Private Ryan. Considering it was made in 1998 it was a game changer regarding how war (or should it be regarded as anti-war) films were made. The opening scenes were a real punch in the stomach for me.
It might not be my favourite but the intro as 'Blade' walks into the nightclub and the bass kicks in is pretty good.
- Goodfellas
- 2001
- The Matrix
- The Terminator
- Alien
Err, Betty Blue ?
I think the first "Hellboy" was pretty good, when the Nazis were trying to raise the devil.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
I went to see this at my local cinema and at the end the cinema owner came running into the theatre in full killer gear with mask and knife, there were people running everywhere!
The Road Warrior.....that engine. Mmmmmm
When I saw Dr Zhivago in the mid '60's there was an intermission. The restart was memorable.
Both Saving Private Ryan and The Matrix one blew me away the first time I watched them; the Matrix particularly as I was working abroad and knew nothing about it and my girlfriend suggested we watch the 'new Keanu Reeves film'. However, the impact of both has lessened a little with each viewing, due to familiarity and to how they have been imitated by many films that came after.
The film that gets me very time in its first 10 minutes in which it says more about love, life and loss than all but a handful of films say in their entire length is Pixar's Up.
I'm not crying, there's something in my eye...
The first film of the Star Trek reboot... great film but the beginning is superb :)
The bank job starting of The Dark Knight is very good.
I would add to the above - The Town the opening bank robbery is superb and Hurt Locker by killing off the most famous actor (at the time) meant any of the other protagonists was vulnerable.
Desperado - for some reason I remember it was a crap movie with an excellent start.
Other than that, saving private Ryan[/QUOTE]
100% agree
Touch of Evil (again) is hard to beat, or perhaps Spies.
Kingpin........
"Disco inferno" as Munson walks into the bowling hall, the girls love him and he eats the guys pizza....
Great film, worth watching for Bill Murrays hair.
Really difficult to argue with Saving Private Ryan.
Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of my favourite films, and who can fail to like this:
The hangman scene at the start of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a classic - "...otherwise known as The Rat".
I also love the start of The Usual Suspects.
Anyone mentioned Saturday Night Fever yet? Pretty iconic opening, grimy but stylish.
I bought some red shoes just like those in the late 90's. They were £90 which is what I earned a week while I was at college, but you can't put a price on style...
(I had white ones as well).
I like the opening narration in that film. "My life fades, the vision dims, all I have now is memories.........."
Other films: The crash at the start of Amores Perros.
Jaws.
The Right Stuff.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Can't argue with Saving Private Ryan.
I watched the original Thomas Crown Affair a few weeks back. The build-up of the "heist" scene in the beginning is masterful. I remember the first time I watched it, and being on the edge of my seat even before I knew what the story was about.
I like the intro to goodfellas.
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster"
Got to be Raging Bull for me , De Niro like a ghost in the ring ........ Fabulous.
Opening scene of "Flight"
Withnail & I and This is spinal tap always spring to mind - probably remind me of a time and not just the films though.
Quite a few have mentioned Saving Private Ryan so I'll share this story. A mate took a girl (they'd been going out a while and are now married) about 5 minutes in she taps him on the arm and asks "whose shooting at them?"
The opening scene of Patton.........amazing...
Posting Permissions
