The end of Monty Python's Holy Grail is for me also one of the best ever.

I think there were two hidden cuts at the start of Snake Eyes but it's still impressive (though I don't be liking the rest of the film much, or much of anything Brian de Palma has done).

iodizedsalt wrote:not the BEST by any means whatsoever but notable just for sheer undertaking:
the mag that they spent (13 minutes or so) for the opening sequence of the movie "snake eyes" (although there looks like there might be a swipe edit when they go down the stairwell).

Of course, DePalma took the idea from Touch of Evil (mentioned previously.) There's one cut that I know of, and it's hidden by a guy crossing in front of the camera.

Actually, there's a lot of good stuff in Snake Eyes, too bad the movie isn't that great. Even Sinise couldn't save it.

Opening shots of Kieslowski's Blue - kid holding a piece of aluminum out of a car window, looking at how the light reflected on it changes, and then an accident.

Alec Baldwin's speech at the start of Glengarry Glen Ross.

Opening shot of Fargo fading in from white into a winter road, almost completely white.

The long cab ride with Jamie Foxx and Jada Pinkett Smith in Collateral - mostly for the high-definition video shots of nighttime L.A., but the dialogue too.

Opening of Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives, with an almost nauseatingly shaky hand-held camera moving around a small apartment.

Earwicker wrote:
Saving Private Ryan - though only the first time you see it and on the big screen. Scared the fucking shit out of me.

This is not the real opening scene though. The movie opens with the shot of the flag and the old man who cannot act.

Steven Spielberg, you ruined another film! Why this old man! He cannot act! Will Matt Damon really look like this?

way of the gun
best first ten minutes. funny and hardass.

tallchris wrote:

Earwicker wrote:
Saving Private Ryan - though only the first time you see it and on the big screen. Scared the fucking shit out of me.

This is not the real opening scene though. The movie opens with the shot of the flag and the old man who cannot act.

Steven Spielberg, you ruined another film! Why this old man! He cannot act! Will Matt Damon really look like this?

True but you can just shut that out.
After first seeing this film I had a big argument with a mate insisting that it could be interpreted in a different way than that which is obvious.
The whole, 'tell me I'm a good man' bollocks was so mind utteringly shite I tried to insist that Spielberg new he was talking bollocks.
I later conceded that the Berg really is just a balless fucking schill whose oversentimentality ruins almost every movie he has ever made including Schindlers List but not including Munich, which I thought very good indeed.

Should be shot for AI though.

Okay maybe he didnt ruin Schindlers List but the end is poo.

here's a few that come to mind:

First 45 minutes of FULL METAL JACKET, Kubrick. Brutal.

First 20 minutes of the DAWN of the DEAD remake.

Harry Dean Stanton wandering the desert in the first few minutes of PARIS, TEXAS.

army of darkness, the superb ability of bruce campbell and the awesome effects of this movie just floor me every time. hah! no seriously?!

bubba-ho tep also, because i am a fan of far-fetched stories and i think from the beginning they pulled it off very well.

burun wrote:I'm watching Once Upon A Time In The West. It's one of my favorite movies ever.

One of the things that makes me love this movie so much is the opening scene, where Jack Elam and Woody Strode are waiting for the train. There's barely any dialogue; it's a string of interrelated environmental sounds/events and the men's (nearly) slient reactions to them.

wow. this was the first thing i thought of when i read the thread title. the whole movie takes a bit of a turn for the worse after the opening scene, but only because the opening scene is so absolutely bad ass that there's not much you could follow it up with that could compete. i love all the abstract close-ups, and the musique concrete sort of thing that's going on is amazing. awesome intro! cheers!

Gantry wrote:High Plains Drifter

also a great intro. the camera pans are quite shaky and it bothers me a little. i love that mirage effect though. by far the best of eastwood's early westerns in my opinion.