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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2008 > September > 02 > Entry
What are the great movie beginnings?
Now that the summer movie season has ended, I thought it would be fun to flip the coin and look at beginnings - great movie beginnings.
I’ve seen a number of other movie sites list the great movie endings, and that’s easy enough to do, but I haven’t seen a list of great movie beginnings nearly as often. We had two standouts this summer: WALL-E and The Dark Knight.
Pixar is particularly good at knocking the viewer off-balance with the openings of its movies, from the first scene of Monsters, Inc. to the “Is Buzz Lightyear really dead?” moment in Toy Story 2. As for WALL-E, I certainly didn’t expect a sci-fi story to open with Michael Crawford singing “Out there, there’s a world outside of Yonkers,” from Hello Dolly’s “Put on Your Sunday Clothes.”
Then, the opening bank heist scene of The Dark Knight was so effective, it was used as the IMAX trailer for the movie in its entirety, even though Batman is never even mentioned in it.
Here are some of my favorite movie openings. This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list, but just a few off the top of my head to get you thinking.
Beauty and the Beast: The opening of the best film of the Disney renaissance put a neat spin on it’s “Once Upon a Time” openings, with its beautifully rendered stained glass drawings that set up the story. It made the movie feel new and classical all at once.
The Godfather: A voice breaks through the total darkness of the screen: “I believe in America.” There’s irony for you.
Goodfellas: “As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.” Cue Tony Bennett.
Rear Window: It’s actually something of a quiet opening, but it’s one of Hitchcock’s best examples of pure cinema, relying only on the camera. By the time the first scene fades out, we know that it’s a hot day, we know the layout of the neighborhood, we find out what Jimmy Stewart does for a living, we see that he’s been in an accident, and we even know how he had his accident - all without a single word being said.
Touch of Evil: Opening shot. ‘Nuff said.
So what, in your opinion are the great movie openings? Mind you, I’m not talking about the title sequences over the opening credits that usually aren’t filmed by the director, but the actual openings that make you think “I’m in for a ride here.”
Go!
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: Ask the Audience
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By derwood
September 3, 2008 11:33 PM | Link to this
What about Swordfish? Especially Travolta’s comments about the movie industry.By SRCputt
September 3, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this
Another opening I love is Ever After, with the Brothers Grimm being called to see Jeanne Moreau, who reveals a glass slipper, and then says, “What is that phrase you use? Oh yes. Once upon a time…”By SRCputt
September 3, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this
Re: The Player. I thought I remembered Altman saying the pitches were adlibbed, but the other dialogue (especially Fred Ward complaining about two much cutting) was scripted.By Kevin S.
September 3, 2008 4:47 AM | Link to this
Showing my geekiness here, my favorite movie opening to date is Fellowship of the Ring. Not so much the big prologue, though it’s probably as good a summary of thousands of years of backstory as you can manage in a film. What really hooked me was the first bit of the Cate Blanchett voiceover, with the whispered Elvish words that took you immediately to the fantastic lands of Middle Earth, followed by the English translation. It was a subtle thing, but that was my first indication that these movies were going to be good.By Sir Critic
September 2, 2008 5:13 PM | Link to this
Actually, that opening of “Apocalypse” almost got thrown away completely. It wasn’t scripted. When assembling the film, Coppola found some pieces that were going to be junked. They were trims from the napalm sequence. Coppola found these, liked what he saw, and said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if the movie started with ‘The End.?’ And that’s how that footage came to be used. As for “The Player,” Altman did use improv a lot, but I don’t think that particular shot had improvised dialogue. For long shots like that, you have to coordinate the dialogue very carefully because it serves as a cue for the camera moves. The unlucky person is the one with the last line. If he blows it, they have to start all over. Cheekily, Altman gave that line to another director: Alan Rudolph.By Allie D.
September 2, 2008 1:06 PM | Link to this
The opening of Apocalypse Now set the stage beautifully for what was to come. The music, all that napalm, the helicopters… wow. The opening to John Carpenter’s Halloween is one of the great horror openings of all time. The music. The POV shots, the revelation that the murderer was just a kid. Chilling stuff. The opening to The Matrix was spectacular. The first exposure to bullet-time effects with Trinity kicking all those cops’ butts will be burned into my memory. But finally — no mention of the opening tracking shot from The Player?? Man, what an amazing piece of work that was! It was eight minutes long, and completely unscripted with improvised dialog. Amazing.By SRCputt
September 2, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
Here’s some off the top of my head: Pulp Fiction, with Tim Roth and Amanda Donahoe sticking up the restaurant. Go, interrupted the studio logo and rushed through its credits in about a minute. The Mouse That Roared, another classic messing with the logo. Do The Right Thing, with an then-unknown Rosie Perez dancing to “Fight the Power”. I’m sure I will think of more soon.