8 1/2’s opening is my favorite thing about the movie, to the point that without it I’m not sure I would’ve cared about the rest
Magnolia’s opening was one of a handful of sparks that assured me I wanted to be a filmmaker
I was thinking about opening lines to films, specifically, to save repetition thought I’d ressurect this one.
“God will forgive them. He’ll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can’t live with that.”
“Dead Man’s Shoes” (2004)It sends chills down my spine and makes me want to watch it again every time. Amazing movie.
The opening credit sequence to John Huston’s Under the Volcano
Definitely Touch of Evil
How about SUNSET BOULEVARD? Sure makes you wanna see what happened to the floater William Holden.
The first few scenes and music of NEW WORLD by Malick are incredible too. I remember being completely blown away.
To repeat some already mentioned: 8½, Boogie Nights, Saving Private Ryan… also love Woody’s opening monologue in Annie Hall and I think Raging Bull’s is the best as far as classic opening credits.
I like the opening to “Journey Into Fear” starting with the weirdly disorienting prologue ending with the title, huge, suddenly appearing.
The opening sequence of Raging Bull is magnificent. LaMotta bouncing lightly in the corner of the ring, the black-and-white backdrop, the classical music playing, and then the words ‘Raging Bull’ appear in red. It’s absolutely astounding.
Here’s an extensive list:
“A Clockwork Orange”: close-up of Alexander, dolly shot back, revealing Alex’s droogs and the rather fey interior of the Karova milkbar, as Wendy Carlos’ electronic musical score plays in a manner most foreboding.
“The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”: Tuco certainly knows how to make an entrance!
“West Side Story”: the bird’s eye view of Manhattan, the baseball field, the buildings, the finger-snapping, finally exploding into an energetic dance sequence. I love how JETS is chalked on the ground, the way the dancers seem to glide across the asphalt…this is such a beautiful opening scene, amazing.
Phil Kaufman’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”: achieved with a fish tank of water and art gel bought for five dollars from an art shop in San Francisco, the gel dropped into the tank, then the film played backwards and sped up, thus giving the impression of spores travelling across the galaxy to invade Earth! Genius! Who needs half a billion dollars to create one of the greates sci-fi movies ever?
“Shaft”: Richard Roundtree, as John Shaft, walking around New York City, buying a bag of roasted chestnuts, flipping the bird at a cab driver, as the music of Isaac Hayes plays on the soundtrack. Just magnificent.
“Phantom of the Paradise”: Rod Serling’s introduction with the Death Records logo, followed by The Juicy Fruits singing “Goodbye Eddie” over the opening credits.
“Live and Let Die”: Okay, it’s several short scenes, but I like the bit before the credits where the various agents get knocked off, ESPECIALLY the New Orleans funeral march. It just strikes me as being VERY creepy.
“Apocalypse Now”: I believe this deserves a mention. A hypnotic blending of sight and sound.
“Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence”: the heavenly music by Ryuchi Sakamoto grabs you from the first scene, such an odd contrast considering the brutality shown at the start of the film and the generally grim nature of the story.
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”: Sepia tone!
Or the opening of Rio Bravo.
Touch Of Evil
Citizen Kane
A Clockwork Orange
Raging Bull
Blue Velvet
La Dolce Vita
Sunset Blvd.
(John Carpenter’s) Halloween
Badlands
Scarecrow
Straw Dog
Kiss Me Deadly
Repulsion
After Hour
Cleo from 5 to 7
Daisies
007 series
and SAUL BASS’s LOVELY opening
The opening shot/scene of Werckmeister Harmoniák is absolutely mesmerizing.
Some of these have been previously mentioned:
Blue Velvet, Anti-Christ, Boogie Nights, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Touch of Evil, Casablanca
In recent memory?
I’d have to say ZODIAC (2007) The major one with Robert Downey and Chloe Sevigny.
The camera slowly descends from the sky, in a very leisurely way, to Vallejo, California, in the summer of 1969.
How we get from a sleepy suburban neighborhood, children playing in a deep blue twilight, fireworks going off, the very “stoned” sound of Three Dog Night’s “Easy To Be Hard”, to the Zodiac’s first killing, is an extremely beautiful and slick piece of film work.
I watched just that opening 8 minutes or so over and over again.
Some oldies (Big Heat)
and
Soy Cuba
faves:
prettty obvious I know, but have to agree with joemancoblondie on ‘Blue Velvet’
also (obviously) Sunset Blvd,
Delicatessen
Down By Law
Opening of Delicatessen is good. (I like the opening credits, too.)
Openings of films that really grabbed my attention:
Hurt Locker This may be a little cheap as when wouldn’t a guy trying to defuse a bomb not capture your attention?
Enduring Love Anyone see this? I believe the very first shot is of a hot air balloon gliding down a grassy hill with a rope dangling from it. A couple of people run after balloon trying to grab the rope.
Casino Royale (recent version) I believe the opening sequence is the chase on foot. One of the great chase sequences of all-time, imo.
Blue Velvet great opening
Once Upon a Time in the West – captured everything that was so brilliant about Leone
Once Upon a Time in the West – captured everything that was so brilliant about Leone
2001: A Space Odyssey-
In a few seconds, my favorite opening sequence is
THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO
Elegant, sophisticated, musical …
What about the Hell sequence in Notre Musique?
Superfly
So I guess technically up to minute 6 second 28, but then the rest of the film remains insanely cool.
(edit: the macro photography in this movie makes me extreeeeemely uncomfortable, and I thought I could deal with bugs)
Check Out My List:
http://mubi.com/lists/11400
The Shining is #1Not a favorite (I’m pretty sure I’ve weighed in on this before), but did anyone catch Don Siegel’s CRIME IN THE STREETS on TCM recently…dynamite credit sequence leading to opening shot of two street gangs approaching one another. The movie was so-so….early Cassavetes and Sal Mineo in full-on Plato mode.
The opening credits of Noe’s ENTER THE VOID are awesome. The audience actually broke into applause. I haven’t seen too many opening sequences get that kind of reception.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL0lNGXoP8E
Le Doulos – The walk on the long dark tunnel
Touch of Evil – Spacey opening sequence, Welles is brilliant
2001: A Space Odyssey – it’s Kubrick, nuff’ said
Django – Amazing theme song reminds me of Elvis
Tarkovsky’s “The Mirror” for sure
Qiydaar Foster
One of my favorite opening sequences is in The Royal Tennenbaums…you get a huge chunk of the history of the family and a very specific peek into the kind of movie you are about to witness..then there’s the title sequence where all the characters are getting “ready” for the movie to start which, if i remember correctly, W.Anderson said he stole from Welles’ “The Magnificent Ambersons”, and “Death Takes a Holiday”