Top Ten Movie Openings:
My list (what are yours?)
1) Saving Private Ryan
2) Apocalypse Now
3) Inglourious Basterds
4) No Country for old men
5) Star Wars (yes the first one)
6) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
7) Raiders of the Lost Arc
8) Quantum of Solace
9) The Shining
10) 2001: A Space Odyssey
Honorable Mention: The Cannonball Run . I wanted a Countash so bad
https://collider.com/most-perfect-movie-opening-scenes-ranked/
Old Apocalypse Now for sure The haunting 'This is the end" by the Doors foreshadowing a dark dark movie, the chaos of napalm, bombs and choppers in that trippy slow motion sound as the chopper crosses. Really great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-62d-9HLtY
Quantum of Solace was the weakest of the Daniel Craig movies but low over the water moving towards the covered highway with the music tension building and the jump cuts to the Aston, loading of guns etc, then it builds and you see him rapidly shift gears then it EXPLODES into the growl of the engine. AWESOME
@cvvhrn The 10 "best" opening scenes ever??? 🤔
This would take some thought . . .
I'll get back to you but can't promise you when. 🤷♂️
Bookmarked for future reference.
@cvvhrn For me, best opening scene is directly correlated with best/favorite films of mine. So, here are my 1st 2 out of 10:
1) Cabaret (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_n4GK7PawQ
2) Alien (1979)
https://www.facebook.com/avpworld.history/videos/497492179798771/
plus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38j7ljjOh9o
These 2 clips together comprise the 1st 5 mins to set the mood of the flim.
I will rank order them after I choose all 10.
@cvvhrn Next on my list would be:
3) Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JfS90u-1g8
4) Jaws (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_E5ZKX3XZc
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BTW, I watched the opening scenes for all of the movies on your list & in the article before offering my suggestions.
Apocalypse Now & Raiders of the Lost Art are still in the running but none of the others for me.
@cvvhrn Next on my list is:
5) Goldfinger (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt2WlDM3tEA
It's iconic & even though it was the 3rd movie in the series, IMO it set up the standard for the opening scene against which all (at least all Connery) Bond movies to come later would be judged.
Still thinking . . . 5 more to come.
@sgt1372 Bawawa.
My favorite bond of all time. Killer cover of the theme by Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers
Ok, below are my last 5 "best" film openings.
FYI, I looked at opening scenes for over 100 films.
I intentionally left off films with opening scenes that I considered "too long" & that something more than just an opening scene.
I also chose/leaned towards openings that were un-narrated & that clearly & unambiguously established the basis for the rest of the movie going forward without the need for further explanation.
This does not mean that I do not like any of the other movies openings mentioned in your or other lists. It just means that these are my favorites among the +100 that I have recently watched to make this selection:
6) Ghost in the Shell (2017)
https://movieweb.com/ghost-in-shell-movie-2017-opening-scene-scarlett-johansson/
7) Twister (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-fgpy2nXTc
8) Cool Hand Luke (1967)
https://www.facebook.com/wrongreelpodcast/videos/cool-hand-luke-1967/1841329499500117/
9) Vertigo (1958)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7sznnL0NZ0
10) Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9h60d6
This is a link to the entire movie. The opening ends at 3:39.
Honorable mention to: The Matrix (1999).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLbdfgY_IhM
A rank order of my selections to follow. Still debating kick one out in favor of The Matrix. Right now I'm leaning towards giving Goldfinger the boot.
@cvvhrn Ok, this is the rank ordering of my list of what I consider to be the "best" opening scenes of the 100+ such scenes that I viewed to create this list:
1) Jaws (1975)
2) Cool Hand Luke (1967)
3) Ghost in the Shell (2017)
4) Matrix (1999)
5) Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
6) Twister (1996)
7) Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
8) Cabaret (1972)
9) Alien (1979)
10) Vertigo (1958)
My ranking is based on how clearly (to me) each opening scene set the tone of the film & my expectations of future action in the film based on it and on how quickly it was able to accomplish that plus how entertaining & engaging it was to me. In other words, how well it grabbed my attention & made me want to see more of the film, even if it wasn't entirely clear where it was headed.
Goldfinger now gets Honorable Mention for the music (Shirley Bassey's singing of the title song) & the the clips from the film superimposed in the various images on the woman's golden body to give a suggestion of what to expect to see later in the film.
FreddyB Aviation Photography
Penguin
Greg Lloyd
~M~
sgt1372