Best intro to a film

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Billy Balfour
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Best intro to a film

Post by Billy Balfour » Sat Jul 24, 2021 10:59 am

Apocalypse Now.

A forest is napalmed to the sound of 'The End' by The Doors. Helicopters fly over the burning forest while a ceiling fan is superimposed over the scene. Dark and foreboding, you just know that you are going to be in for a grim tour de force.
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NottsClaret
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by NottsClaret » Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:11 am

That's a good shout. I think Falling Down with Michael Douglas has a great intro scene, but not sure the rest of the film really matches it. But still, great opening.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by jdrobbo » Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:16 am

Depends what you’re looking for.

My favourite start is in the original Italian Job … ‘On Days Like These’

Also offering Raiders of the Lost Arc, Live and Let Die and ET.
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Stan Tastic » Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:25 am

Inglourious Basterds.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by PWBFC » Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:25 am

Gladiator is fairly memorable.
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by rufus lumley » Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:32 am

Kes

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Devils_Advocate » Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:32 am

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Not only is it the best Superman film but you can see that Joe Lucas ripped off this films intro for his Star Wars films

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Dinks » Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:33 am

Pulp Fiction the opening scene and the closing scene and everything inbetween.
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:33 am

Tron Legacy

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Bosscat » Sat Jul 24, 2021 12:08 pm

Another vote for "The Italian Job" Matt Munro singing "On Days Like These" got his greatest hits album on CD and played this on a driving Holiday on the Mountain roads above Turin .... Bloody Brilliant
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by yTib » Sat Jul 24, 2021 12:49 pm

...she caught the katy and left me a mule to ride.
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Chester Perry » Sat Jul 24, 2021 12:50 pm

Three Colours blue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj5-wmFqidY

the simple banality of a young family on a long overnight car journey to their country house, a stop for a young child to have a comfort break by the side of a country road, with a shot of a leaking breaking line, - a young hitchhiker by the side of early morning misty isolated country road ignored , who is then immediately cheered by succeeding at the old child's game he is playing, followed a few seconds later by the sound of a car crash and the reaction of the young hitchhiker. Almost 4 minutes with only a two word utterance for the child on the comfort break, but an incredibly powerful intro. So begins the tragedy that Juliette Binoche is left to seek freedom from if she is to find liberty - the theme of the film.
.
It is one of my all time favourite films and is exquisitely beautiful and also one of the most written about films (and trilogies) in modern cinema; Kieslowski the director is a absolute genius and the musical score is hugely powerful in the telling of the story - the of pairing composer Zbigniew Preisner together with Kieslowski is one of the greatest in cinematic history
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Braindead » Sat Jul 24, 2021 12:56 pm

Pulp Fiction.

'Love you Pumpkin,
'Love you too honeybunny'
'Everybody be cool, this is a robbery'
'Any of you ******* pricks move and I'll execute every mother****ing last one of you'

Cue the music

SalisburyClaret
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by SalisburyClaret » Sat Jul 24, 2021 12:58 pm

Saving Private Ryan takes some beating
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by RMutt » Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:06 pm

Wild at Heart, David Lynch has to be one of the most violent. His films usually have good openings in a cartoony sort of way. I saw an interview with him where he talked about having images of potential starts to films before the film had even been written. He described a shot of a hand lying on the floor and as the camera pulls back you see the hand as part of a body lying on the ground in a model village and all the incongruity that goes with the conflicting scales. I don’t know whether it made it into a film. Sexy Beast, another odd, almost slapstick one.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Foreverly Claret » Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:10 pm

I agree with salisbury..Saving Private Ryan has to be one of the most harrowing openings I've ever seen

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by yTib » Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:42 pm

Foreverly Claret wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:10 pm
I agree with salisbury..Saving Private Ryan has to be one of the most harrowing openings I've ever seen
agreed. it's just a shame the rest of it is sentimental gash.

colner
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by colner » Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:50 pm

Zulu..great intro music,film is a cracker too

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Gunfury » Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:05 pm

The Warriors
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by fidelcastro » Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:12 pm

Taxi driver.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by CnBtruntru » Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:31 pm

Like some of the the above, but for me Guardians of the Galaxy where he pulls out his cassette player and booms out Come and get my Love.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by BurnleyFC » Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:46 pm

Hot Fuzz.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by aclaretinstevenage » Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:49 pm

SalisburyClaret wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 12:58 pm
Saving Private Ryan takes some beating
I'll second that!

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by jdrobbo » Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:54 pm

Isn’t the opening to SPR about half of the film? Agree, it’s incredibly well done.
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:56 pm

CnBtruntru wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:31 pm
Like some of the the above, but for me Guardians of the Galaxy where he pulls out his cassette player and booms out Come and get my Love.
My fav marvel film

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Claret Till I Die » Sat Jul 24, 2021 5:19 pm

Rita, Sue & Bob too

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by claret2018 » Sat Jul 24, 2021 5:42 pm

Die Hard 3!

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by holycustard » Sat Jul 24, 2021 5:43 pm

Deadpool :D

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by gawthorpe_view » Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:24 pm

Saving Private Ryan as mentioned above plus

A long time ago in a galaxy far away....

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by karatekid » Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:25 pm

Jaws

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Taffy on the wing » Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:28 pm

Sexy Beast......with 'down on the beaches' by the Stranglers.
Also "Titus" had a fantastic opening ......great film too, best on the big screen though.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Im_not_Robbie_Blake » Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:31 pm

You are all wrong! The best intro is this one - Monty Python and the Holy Grail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0fumVnzAuI

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by NRC » Sat Jul 24, 2021 7:18 pm

Claret Till I Die wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 5:19 pm
Rita, Sue & Bob too
I’ve just tried to explain Rita, Sue, and Bob too to my American wife….. complete with my take of the line “I thought I were great”
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Jambounchained » Sat Jul 24, 2021 7:20 pm

Always loved the start of The Departed.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by SouthLondonexile » Sat Jul 24, 2021 7:49 pm

PWBFC wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:25 am
Gladiator is fairly memorable.
On my signal unleash Hell!

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by SouthLondonexile » Sat Jul 24, 2021 7:55 pm

How about the opening scene in Casino Royale, where JB chases the villain across a crowded Cock fight area, up a tower crane and ending up in an embassy where he finally catches his quarry and fires on a clutch of bottled gas cylinders.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by claret2018 » Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:41 pm

Saving Private Ryan doesn’t count as the scene you’re thinking of isn’t the opening scene!

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by dougcollins » Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:45 pm

Blue Velvet.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by cricketfieldclarets » Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:58 pm

Love the opening wedding scene and to be fair the whole lot of deer Hunter.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by COBBLE » Sat Jul 24, 2021 9:03 pm

Apocalypse now and the Sound of Music

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Rileybobs » Sat Jul 24, 2021 9:11 pm

claret2018 wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:41 pm
Saving Private Ryan doesn’t count as the scene you’re thinking of isn’t the opening scene!
You're right. The opening scene of SPR is when an older Captain whatshisname is visiting a memorial site in Normandy with his family and the camera zooms into his eye and back out of Tom Hanks' on the boat approaching the beach. The following scene is pretty brilliant though.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Claret » Sat Jul 24, 2021 9:11 pm

Westside story.
It may not be the best but it still has very memorable opening scenes. It certainly made an impression on me first time I saw it as a kid

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Darthlaw » Sat Jul 24, 2021 9:13 pm

Terminator 2.

Brief introduction followed by the mechanical music from the first film.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by claret2018 » Sat Jul 24, 2021 9:54 pm

Rileybobs wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 9:11 pm
You're right. The opening scene of SPR is when an older Captain whatshisname is visiting a memorial site in Normandy with his family and the camera zooms into his eye and back out of Tom Hanks' on the boat approaching the beach. The following scene is pretty brilliant though.
Would have been better if they’d binned off the cemetery intro and outro scenes. That D Day scene would have been a much more powerful opener. Still a great film
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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Rileybobs » Sat Jul 24, 2021 10:00 pm

claret2018 wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 9:54 pm
Would have been better if they’d binned off the cemetery intro and outro scenes. That D Day scene would have been a much more powerful opener. Still a great film
I watched it about 6 months ago for the first time in years and couldn’t believe how well it had aged. Particularly the combat scenes.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Grimsdale » Sat Jul 24, 2021 10:13 pm

Jason Statham selling hooky gear at the start of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeztSCCX6VY

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by box_of_frogs » Sat Jul 24, 2021 10:23 pm

Rileybobs wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 9:11 pm
You're right. The opening scene of SPR is when an older Captain whatshisname is visiting a memorial site in Normandy with his family and the camera zooms into his eye and back out of Tom Hanks' on the boat approaching the beach. The following scene is pretty brilliant though.
Not quite. The old bloke is Matt Damon’s character Private Ryan. Captain Miller / Tom Hanks is the grave he is at.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Claretlad » Sat Jul 24, 2021 10:24 pm

Midnight Cowboy....

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by Rileybobs » Sat Jul 24, 2021 10:25 pm

box_of_frogs wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 10:23 pm
Not quite. The old bloke is Matt Damon’s character Private Ryan. Captain Miller / Tom Hanks is the grave he is at.
D’oh. Is that right? Seems a bit odd that they zoom into the old mans eyes and then out of the eyes of Tom Hanks. That Spielberg fella doesn’t know what he’s doing.

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Re: Best intro to a film

Post by ChrisG » Sun Jul 25, 2021 9:31 am

Trainspotting where they are running down Princes Street in Edinburgh to Iggy Pop is ace

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