i just watched it so i have to say gangs of new york, great opening scene!

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hm i am not great fan of lords of the rings triology but opening scene fellowship of the ring
was great i just love big battles and narrator for opening scene like Mummy II and movies like that
too bad that movies don't continue in that direction its always same combo. good opening scene - bad movie and reverse

Saving Private Ryan

Agreed!!!!!

American History X

Yeah 'Ryan' is intense..

First 30 seconds of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'

Raiders of the Lost Ark

One of my personal favourites is from a very obscure movie made around 1971 - 'Who is Harry Kellerman and why is he saying all those terrible things about me?'

A guy who lives on top of a Manhattan sky scraper, wearing his bathrobe and a felt hat, has decided to end it all. He sits on the edge of the roof writing his suicide note, finishes it, stands and places it beneath his acoustic guitar after ensuring that the guitar is in tune. He stands on the edge of the roof-top and prepares to jump, but at the very last second he hesitates, thinks to himself for a second, shakes his head, retrieves his note, sits down, scribbles out what he's written, turns the page over and begins writing again. At that moment, a gust of wind blows the note from his hand. He lunges to catch the note, and falls off the edge of the building.

Opening credits over a slow motion sequence of the guy falling to his death, ends with him landing softly on his psychiatrist's couch, followed by his hat, which he catches. Movie begins.. The guy was played by Dustin Hoffman btw.

Brilliant opening :)

Saving Private Ryan.

the road warrior has a great opening scene

"Swordfish" (2001) - the first ten minutes are remarkable

swordfish and SPR

this is an easy one, tenacious d pick of destiny. You get jack black rockin' out, then some meatloaf rockin' out then some dio coming to life on Jack Blacks poster on his door rockin' out, all back to back to back.

Saving Private Ryan is a very good answer.
But come on guys it has to be Star Wars.
The big masterful spaceship chasing the little wimpy spaceship whilst firing laser beams at its rear end and Darth Vader's super camp entrance like something straight out of a 1930's film, the only thing missing was a flight of stairs for him to walk down.

ghost ship for me,all the people on the dancefloor,superb
also apocalypse now just for the music

what about resivoir dogs???? that ones classic

From Dusk till Dawn

Gladiator, comes to mind.

wrong turn 2..bimbo meets the ugly ones heh..sliced in half!!

Although not my favourite (since thats already been listed here) I'd like to toss Transformers into the ring here, coolest part in the movie imo.

Saving Private Ryan - don't think I even breathed for the first 15 mins when I saw that at the flicks!
However, one thats sticks in my mind is 'Contact' with Jodie Foster . In the opening scene, a girl in a floppy hat (J.F) is sat in a meadow typing on a laptop. All very peaceful. The camera pulls back to reveal that she is controlling a massive radar dish - one of a long line in an enormous radio-telescope array. Nice little juxtaposition of images, otherwise an unremarkable and over-sentimental film.

Werckmeister Harmóniák

You can't get a better opening in a film.

I liked the opening scene from 'Lord Of War' (The life of a bullet).

Saving Private Ryan hands down!

In Action i must agree with Pvt. Ryan
in originallity Snake Eyes (20 minutes of continous shot) or Memento

Boogie Nights....hard to beat

Ghost Ship was a god awful movie, but the beginning with the wire is freakin awesome.....The usual suspects has a great beginning...when they are getting interrogated its absolutely hilarious....

Pulp Fiction

i like hitch, too. but lord of war is really nice,too.

Meet Joe Black..

The first 5 minutes is an intro for DEATH.. The rest is, lets say, interesting

Reservoir Dogs... If you haven't seen it get it tonight and watch it

I think its a tie between Saving Private Ryan and American History X.

I think I agree. Road Warrior gets a nod as a close runner up for me, though.

OH! TITANIC! Not a huge fan of the movie as far as mushy gushy romantic fluff goes, but the opening sequence of that movie does it for me big time.

for me has to be:-
Raiders of the lost ark
Apocolypse now
and one i cant believe hasn't been mentioned!!
Trainspotting!!

I love the opening to Friday...

AGREED!!! after reading the title of this topic,
BOOM!! those doors opening up on those boats, taking fire instantly!!
I saw this in the theatre and audio coming from the theatre's system made me feel like i was there!!
INTENSE!! just like swollen-nose, i didnt take a breath for the first 15 minutes
to me THE BEST opening scene to date! my 2 cents, peace!

althought its not technically the opening scene, when Daniel Craig is chasing the black dude after the intro song in Casino Royale

Richard Donner's "Inside Moves".

We follow John Savage as he goes to the top of a building and follow him down again the speedy route and through a camera placed in the car he lands on, we see the roof cave in. All this to soft music from the late John Barry. All for apparently no reason.

One of the hidden gems of cinema. Doubt any of you have seen this film.

The opening for the movie "Hackers" was pretty freakin awesome.

........but without a doubt my favourite opening scene is from Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner", with Star Wars a close second.

I was old enough to watch Star Wars when it opened in 1977 and remember to this day the feeling I got when the stardestroyer approached with the rumble of the sub-woofers in the Odeon's Screen 1. It was the first film (I think) to use Dolby sound. With John Williams's soundtrack to open.

Blade Runner's 2019 LA cityscape is simply breathtaking along with Vangelis's keyboards.

Basically I don't think you can say which is the best opening because you would have to categorise them. The two I mentioned are essentially sci-fi/fantasy films and have spectacular visual openings that when seen on the big screen only with volume turned up to the max gets your adrenalin going.

Let's face it, Saving Private Ryan's opeing 15 minutes seen in a cinema is awesome and spectacular, but also you are glued to it because it is horrifying, as you know this is not action written for the film, it is something that actually occured in this fashion.

For cool openings you could have Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction ("I love you honey-bunny").

For "what the hell is going on" openings you could have Usual Suspects or Hellraiser or the awesome Goodfellas.

Shit you guys found all the good ones! The first movie that came to mind was Swordfish, best opener ever.

you guys can't leave out the opening of the American Pie series; always good for a huge laugh in the opener.

I believe the best opening scene was in Saving Private Ryan the beach landing how awesome was that

Something for SN ;) Saving Private Ryan

Lord Of War! When you travel along as the bullet and end up in the child's head, Mental! One of the best of any movie scenes I think.

Although this answer has eluded me for awhile, it just occured to me that for me the best opening scene is the first few minutes of The Devil's Rejects. Best use of an Allman Brothers song..well, ever..

I was watching Lethal Weapon 4 tonight and it got me thinking about the best start to a film. I would have to say it is probably my favourite where the maniac is armoured and has a flame thrower plus millions of bullets for a machine gun and goes on a rampage and Riggs and Murtuagh have to stop him.

Some of the Bond films starts sequences have been amazing as well plus some war films like Saving Private Ryan

Whats your favourite?

since i saw the flick in the theater it has been my favorite and you already mentioned it "saving private ryan"

I saw the new star trek on the 2nd and whole thing was great, the start was killer!

I'm not gonna be able to pick one, I think -- all great movies must have a great start that puts you in the mood straightaway (Weekend At Bernie's excluded ). Okay okay, stop twisting my arm... I'll pick one

Gonna go with 'Die Hard With A Vengeance' (#3 with Samuel L. Jackson) as it immediately puts you into a "Summertime NewYork + BOMB!" kind of vibe

hmm....the entrance seen to 'Fight Club' was produced on a completely separate budget, due to the high computer animation and detail.
Has to be in the top 10

However for me American history x has to be pretty powerful....dam...theres to many with different qualities.

I get back on this one

scream 1 has a good opening scene but saving private ryan takes some beating