Personal Favorites: Movies With Great Opening Scenes
Submitted by slipkid71 on Mon, 08/05/2002 - 02:47
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- Bananas (1971) - Without question the funniest, most absurd opening to a comedy I've seen. Starting with a broadcast of "Wide World of Sports," we switch quickly to a live feed from a third-world banana republic of a soon-to-happen assasination of a president, with play-by-play from the irrepresible, pugnacious Howard Cosell! It's even funnier when Cosell tries to make his way through the angry mob to interview the fallen president just seconds after his murder.
- The Godfather (1972): In the private office of Don Vito Corleone, on the day of his daughter's wedding, a mortician please with the Don to exact justice on the thug that assaulted his daughter. Marlon Brando, as Vito Corleone, gently rebukes his request, then thinks better of it. It's a stunning display of acting. A few minutes pass before we actually see Brando in the flesh, but what we get is the image of a benevolent ruler and devoted father in the face of the ruthless world of the Mafia.
- Once Upon a Time in the West (1968): This Western opens with a man sitting, his chair propped against a wall. This man, a sadistic killer played against type by Henry Fonda, is being pestered by an annoying little fly. He cures the annoyance by pinning the fly against the wall into the barrel of his gun, then shooting the insect into oblivion, all without batting an eye or flinching.
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969): The sixth James Bond film is known more for its' one and only appearance of George Lazenby as 007, but the obligatory Bond intro is probably the best of the entire series. Here, Bond catches the eye of a beautiful woman who may or may not be in danger. He follows her onto a beachfront where he is attacked by a couple of goons, whom he assumes are after this girl. After fighting the goons off, he realizes the girl has run off, in his vehicle no less, and in a cheeky reference to Sean Connery, Lazenby sighs, "This never happened to the other fellow."
- Saving Private Ryan (1998): A great example of pacing, quick editing and terrific camerawork. We open with an elderly war veteran, visiting the cemetary in Normandy where his fallen comrades are laid to rest. As the camera focuses closer to his sad eyes, we are quickly transferred to the chaos of the beachfront assault that was D-Day, June 6th, 1944. The scene itself, the do-or-die scenary of a risky invasion, plays out for nearly a half hour. It's the camerawork and sound effects that brings you front and center to the carnage and confusion, and very very few films have ever depicted a battle scene with such unflinching honesty and brutality.
- The Sting (1973): About ten minutes into the opening, you realize the joke's on you. In what seems to be a case of a botched robbery turns out to be a clever scam pulled by the victim, the robber and the good samaritan on a hapless low-level thug who happens to work for a high-profile gangster. It sets the pace for a film where everything isn't what it seems to be.
- Carrie (1976): As she showers in the girls' locker room, 15-year-old Carrie White panics as she notices blood running softly down her leg. Because she's a sheltered outsider and the daughter of a psychotic religious fundamentalist, Carrie doesn't realize she's having her period. Her embarrasment is turned into shocking torment as the other catty girls, whom all dislike Carrie, taunt and tease her before she's rescued by the gym teacher. It's a moment that will make you squirm and cringe, but it leads to an inevitable moment of personal revenge against her tormentors.
Author Comments:
I'm coming up with a "Personal Favorites" list for films, music, books and more. For example, I'll have a "Favorite Car Chase" list, or "Favorite Scenes", or "Favorite Solos Recorded". Rather than conceive lists of fave films and albums, I'd like to share brief moments in such that mean more to me.
slipkid71, if you're still out there, I just watched Once Upon a Time in the West, and I'm afraid the guy being pestered by the fly is not Henry Fonda, nor does he blast it into oblivion. Still a great opening scene though! The bad guy is one of three dispatched by Fonda to kill Bronson (who then dispatches them in a different way). The fly lives. Bad guy traps it in the barrel with his finger and listens to it buzz around in there.
That would be one of my favorite character actors, Jack Elam having a little tortuous fun with the fly. Around that time he was shifting seemlessly between bad guy roles and comic roles. (See "Support Your Local Gunfighter" with James Garner.)
Even From just that one scene, I can see why he's a favorite of yours.
Citizen Kane (1941) - The death of Charles Foster Kane on the dark, despairing estate of Xanadu.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Alfred Molina's first scene in any movie, "throw me the idol, I thro you the whip!" ends with "I hate snakes, Jock! I hate 'em!"
Modern Times (1936) - from sheep to the conveyor belt indictment of factory work.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) - Highest degree of difficulty: explaining the premise while not alienating true-believers.
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) - The vision of Gandalf battling the Balrog.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - The amazing credits: "M0nti Pyth0n ik den H0lie Gralen... Wi n0t trei a h0liday in Sweden thi yer?.. A M00se once bit my sister" complete with sacking and llamas.
Toy Story 2 (1999) - Rex's thumbless attempt to defeat Zorg.