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Best Ever Opening Sequence for a Movie?

by Joseph Robinson Banned
25 replies
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So, I have been spending the better part of two days on a major Disney bender. It's out of control even for me (absolutely love the company, and the Orlando parks down the road more than anything). While Youtube hopping, I came across the Lion King opening. In my mind, it is the greatest opening sequence to a movie I have seen, well ever.

I'm wondering which ones you guys think could hold a candle to it? Oh, and to get the nostalgia going for everyone else:


  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    That is a beautiful beginning and wonderful lead-in to the main characters. Darned, if it didn't have a bit of a tear-jerking effect on me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
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      Originally Posted by thunderbird View Post

      That is a beautiful beginning and wonderful lead-in to the main characters. Darned, if it didn't have a bit of a tear-jerking effect on me.
      Right? I get glassy eyed every single time lol. I'm on ebay buying DVDs of all the great Disney movies. Can't believe as an adult I haven't built a collection yet. For shame .
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      • Profile picture of the author LynnM
        Raiders of the Lost Ark
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        • Profile picture of the author lcombs
          Originally Posted by LynnM View Post

          Raiders of the Lost Ark
          That's a great one but, I'm old school, so I have to go with "Goldfinger".
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          • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
            Originally Posted by LynnM View Post

            Raiders of the Lost Ark
            Originally Posted by lcombs View Post

            That's a great one but, I'm old school, so I have to go with "Goldfinger".
            Raiders is a definite great classic opener...We walked in 5 minutes late the first time, and I thought we had missed half the movie!

            Most any Bond opening scene is a classic - some more than others, but the cool thing is, they are always trying to outdo themselves! You never miss the start of a Bond movie -
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            • Profile picture of the author lcombs
              Originally Posted by MoneyMagnetMagnate View Post

              Raiders is a definite great classic opener...We walked in 5 minutes late the first time, and I thought we had missed half the movie!

              Most any Bond opening scene is a classic - some more than others, but the cool thing is, they are always trying to outdo themselves! You never miss the start of a Bond movie -
              It's amazing that bond movies are still fan favs after 50 years.
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  • Profile picture of the author pressurewashing
    Cliffhanger comes to my mind
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  • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
    For animation - I always loved the opening to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (scene up to 05:30)

    A great technical opening for student filmmakers, has got to be Robert Altman's 8 minute single camera shot opening for "The Player" - it's a thing of beauty...*

    And Orson Welles "Touch of Evil" crane shot opening: Again, one single camera shot...*




    *and yes, I know there are other great single camera shots, notably Scorsese's Good Fellas club entry steady-cam scene, and many others - but they weren't opening shots.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
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    • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      How could I forget that! That is one of the best opening scenes ever! One of my favorite movies...every time I hear that creaky pump noise, I think of this scene - Leone is definitely a man of few words

      I've see this movie 100 times - and I still watched that scene!
      (movie trivia: Al Mulock, who played one of the three gunmen with Woody Strode and Jack Elam in the opening sequence, committed suicide by jumping from his hotel window in full costume after a day's shooting.)

      When Henry Fonda was asked to be in this movie, he didn't know if he wanted to do it. It would be the first time he played a character as evil as Frank - plus, there was no real script. He called his friend Eli Wallach, and said, "What should I do? There's hardly any dialogue - hardly any script at all!" Eli said: "Trust me...do it...he'll fill in the blanks".
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
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    Who Framed Roger Rabbit was another great one. An underrated movie overall. None of my friends really like it. They don't stay my friends for long lol.
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  • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
    I'm not trying to hijack your thread Joe, but that Roger Rabbit cartoon was in a group of RR cartoons...and they were so twisted hilarious, I thought I'd list them for anyone who hadn't seen them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
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    Hijack away, everyone is giving me some great clips to watch
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  • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
    You got it!
    Who's that Little Old Man, Then? (he's very clean :p)
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  • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
    Thanks for the fuller clip - I like the "gun play" Jack has with the fly...and Woody's clever recycling of an annoying drip

    Henry Fonda prepared for his role as the villain "Frank" by arriving in Italy with a pair of brown colored contact lenses and a grown mustache. When Sergio Leone saw them, he ordered them removed. Leone had planned an important close-up shot of Frank's entrance and wanted the audience to instantly recognize Fonda with those blue eyes.

    Robards and Bronson, of course, should get credit for being great as Cheyenne and 'Harmonica'.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    The X-Men one where it is the story of Wolverine...
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  • Profile picture of the author DaisySibyl
    I have to agree with one of the previous users. The Bond movies are great when it comes to opening sequences. Especially GoldenEye.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nerohawk
    Yeah! i love roger rabbit. I watched the movie "who framed Roger Rabbit" 10 times when i was a kid. i also love the opening sequence of jackie chan's operation condor and armour of god. and the indiana jones trilogy.
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  • Profile picture of the author vic alexander
    lion king is hard to beat. However, the opening of Toy story 3 had me in floods of tears. I couldnt believe Andy got so old. Wonderful film.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
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      Originally Posted by v4victoria View Post

      lion king is hard to beat. However, the opening of Toy story 3 had me in floods of tears. I couldnt believe Andy got so old. Wonderful film.
      Ah, Toy Story 3. They really played with our emotions in that one. I'll be honest I was about to cry when they were in the incinerator.
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  • Profile picture of the author MaxBounty
    The opening sequence of Up! always makes me cry.

    But, no matter how many times I've seen it, the opening sequence of Tombstone always grabs me.
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