Senso starts with an opera. I think it is Il Trovatore. I could be wrong. Whatever it is, it is splendid.
Touch of Evil
All great suggestions, tempting me to see some of these again soon, just to experience the opening scene. Some others for me:
Stalker – the opening and ride into the Zone
Lawrence of Arabia – the motorcycle ride and crash, leading us into the film
Vertigo – the opening shots set up the whole tone of the film brilliantly, after the great credits and the eye at the very beginning
The Paris, Texas opening scene is overwhelming.
Yes, and there’s an even better scene to come…
lost in the wilderness, finds himself in intimate space
Silence of the Lambs is a great opener—gets right into it without alot of fuss or shit we don’t need.
as much as i hate the Saw films, the opening of the first one was enough to make me wanna watch…unfortunately.
Goodfellas (“As far back as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a gangster.” ) and Raging Bull—just love watching DeNiro as LaMotta dancing in the Ring while all the cameras go off around him.
The first 20 of Saving Private Ryan.
MANHATTAN- I agree that would be hard to beat for Woody Allen.
BLAST OF SILENCE -hitman arrives in Manhattan via subway
STRAY DOG – from the shot of a drooling dog, to the exhausting chase in the middle of a scorching summer.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST – the waiting, the tension… Bronson’s harmonica and the fly on Jack Elam’s pistol.
HARD BOILED – shootout at the bird shop teahouse.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD/ DAWN OF THE DEAD
THE ITALIAN JOB (’69)
Deliverance and its dueling banjos?
Peeping Tom
The Naked Kiss
Brazil
M
Videodrome
Naked Lunch
Goldfinger
Un Chien Andalou
And in animation, Bob Clampett’s cartoons had the best openings. Same with Fleischer’s Popeye.
Not necessarily my favorite but a great one that has stood on my mind since I saw the movie is the opening scene of Closely Watched Trains. Some of you might have seen the movie and remember it since it was one of the last festival’s free movie choices.
Touch of Evil, that opening shot of the car bomb is one of the most beautifully orchestrated shots I have ever witnessed.
Mamma Roma
I Spit on Your Grave
Lucifer Rising
L’Eclisse
Seconds
I’m going to agree with Noel on Manhattan. Magnificent shots of New York to Rhapsody in Blue. That opening is worth a whole movie to me.
No film has sucked me in like Eraserhead. Instantly, you’re transported to a different world, and you’re IN. I also loved Holy Mountain, I think the first sequence is the best in the whole film. Also I love Blue Velvet, The Color of Pomengranates, 8 1/2, Persona, The Silence, The Mirror by Tarkovsky, and i agree with the mentioned 2001, because music is so important to mood, I agree with Wings of Desire and Paris, Texas as well. So beautiful. I feel like the first shot is very important too, if it’s great it can just suck you into that world and you suspend disbelief. It sucks when it doesn’t pay off though, when it was just to get the suckers and then doesn’t deliver. I suppose I’m a sucker for dreamlike/otherworldly/psychedelic/mystical/spiritual films from what I mentioned, but I just love being swallowed by a film from the beginning.
No one mentioned CITIZEN KANE, the somber montage leading up to “Rosebud!” followed by the News on the March newsreel. It was Orson Welles giving a big Kawabunga! to the movies as he arrived on the scene.
I remember not knowing anything about the film when I saw it, but the beginning scene in PULP FICTION, with Honey Bear, captivated me and prepared me for the amazing ride. Honorable mentions would include WINGS OF DESIRE, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, and LA DOLCE VITA. So, many to choose from…
As a side note, favorite endings include BLUE and LIFE OF BRIAN.
>>No one mentioned CITIZEN KANE, the somber montage leading up to “Rosebud!” followed by the News on the March newsreel. It was Orson Welles giving a big Kawabunga! to the movies as he arrived on the scene.<<
Someone mentioned his TOUCH OF EVIL opening … and the opening of OTHELLO is quite wonderful, too. Welles certainly had a knack for creating openings that made you wonder just what was going on & curious to find out.
Last Days
Paths of glory
Hey, no one mentioned von Trier’s Zentropa !
Oh I love this topic. There are two that really have stuck with me. Blue Velvet, corruption slowly embodies the sweetness of the neighborhood when the elder man suffers a stroke whilst watering his lawn, a child watches as a nearby dog joyously drinks the water from his still running hose (held promptly and close to his privates). The dark humor gets me. I love how the sound of the water dissipates when the camera is on ground level moving through the grass-we’ve entered another world, eery. Also, the opening of -The Fall, is one of the most well choreographed and beautifully shot scenes, and it’s in slow-motion as far as I can remember. An old foreign Western if I had to describe the genre of only that scene. Just watch it, how can you not love it?
400 Blows
The Godfather
2001: Space Odyssey
I will never forget the woman swimming off the coast of Amity Island who ends up breakfast for the unseen horror of JAWS. I still will not swim in the ocean, 35 years later.
The Conversation
Hannah and Her Sisters
A Clockwork Orange
There Will Be Blood
The Dark Knight
A clock work orange
The man from london
The Dark Knight
I am with you Grey Daisies – Stellet Licht (2007) by Carlos Reygadas., that comes to mind right now
DAY OF THE DEAD: where the zombies amble around the empty city. I love that scene so much.
A clock work orange, there will be blood, a space oddissey 2001, great opening scenes
81/2 irreversible, american beauty,
Kenji
I’ve been critical of Fellini but of course 8 1/2 has a great opening- and it makes an interesting comparison with Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev, especially given Bergman’s comment on how well Tarkovsky captured life as a reflection, life as a dream.
From the opening of The Colour of Pomegranates, not just the visuals but the sounds, it’s clear this is not like other films.
I like the opening of Manhattan a lot- the words (jungle cat, ha!), music and New York at its most ravishing; has Woody ever topped it?
Oh, Celine and Julie go Boating. Something magical underway, curioser and curioser.