The 10 Best Opening Scenes

The opening of a film is the hook – what gets the audience into the film. Some films take forever to get going, but others spark your interest immediately.

I think the first scene should always be engaging. Chicago movie theater entrepreneur Oscar Brotman once said, “If nothing has happened by the end of the first reel, nothing is going to happen.” I agree wholeheartedly.

In my opinion, these ten films have the best opening scenes in cinematic history:

Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

I wish I had been alive when this film premiered. It would have been incredible to experience everyone’s reactions during the opening battle scene. I was grateful for the opportunity to see it on the big screen in 1997, though, when the special edition came out.

After the iconic opening text crawl, we pan down to the desert planet Tatooine. Then we see a ship on the run from a much larger ship, both firing at each other. Once the Empire takes over the smaller ship, we get our first glimpse of Darth Vader. It’s so perfect – seeing him move past the gun smoke, with John Williams’ score in the background. This scene still gives me chills.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

We see a group of treasure hunters out in the jungle. The mysterious leader of the group pauses to look at a map. When a member of his party draws a gun on him, the leader whips the gun out of his hand. He steps out of the shadows, and we get our first look at Indiana Jones.

Another John Williams score sets the tone for this opening scene. I love everything about this scene, and it gives the audience a taste of the adventure they’re about to experience and an idea of who Indiana Jones is.

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

I refuse to classify the montage of recruits getting buzz cuts as the true opening scene of Full Metal Jacket. What happens after this sets the tone of the film. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey) addresses his recruits to lay down the law.

He singles out a few recruits, who happen to be the main characters of the film. Privates Joker (Matthew Modine), Cowboy (Arliss Howard), and Pyle (Vincent D’Onofrio) all get tongue-lashings from the sergeant. This scene is perfect because it truly sets the stage for the film as a whole, and gives you a little insight into the characters.

Goodfellas (1990)

We see three gangsters, Henry, Jimmy, and Tommy (Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci, respectively), driving in the middle of the night. Jimmy and Tommy are sleeping, while Henry is fighting to stay awake while driving. Suddenly, we hear noises from the trunk. They pull over and open the trunk, to find that the person in the trunk is somehow still alive.

I understand that this scene can be disturbing to some people, but it paints a good picture of the rest of the film. Goodfellas is the best mobster film I’ve seen and provides a peek into their lives.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Like Goodfellas, this is another movie about crime. Pumpkin and Honey Bunny (Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer) are having breakfast in a diner, while they discuss different robbery scenarios – it’s obvious that they have experience. A diner seems an odd place to be having this kind of conversation, though.

Until that is, they bring up the fact that restaurants are rarely the targets of robberies, and it would be a perfect choice. What starts as a peculiar conversation turns into an immediate action plan. This scene blows me away every single time.

Speed (1994)

This is one of the best opening credit sequences I’ve ever seen. It starts on the top floor of an elevator shaft. As the camera goes down, it reveals a new credit on every other floor.

Next, the film’s antagonist (Dennis Hopper) plants a bomb in an elevator and detonates it. The emergency brakes activate, and a dozen people are trapped inside. The L.A.P.D. arrives, and we meet two bomb squad officers (Keanu Reeves and Jeff Daniels).

This film is structured as though it consists of three smaller films rolled into one. The first piece is about a bomb in an elevator, the second involves a bomb on a city bus (which serves as the main plot of the film), and the third is about pursuing the villain on a subway. That’s what I love about Speed: it’s the perfect action-thriller, and it gives you more than what you expect.

Mission: Impossible (1996)

I never watched the original series, so I had no idea what to expect going into the film. The film begins with a surveillance team watching a monitor feed of two men standing over a dead woman. One of them, in a panic, tells the other the events that lead to her death. As the scene goes on, we learn that it’s a sting operation to retrieve a name. Once the man reveals the name, the second man drugs him, and he passes out. The other man leaves the room and enters the surveillance area, then pulls off his face. It was Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in disguise.

Next, we get a brief montage of quick images that are seen later in the film, with the iconic “Mission: Impossible” theme playing. I later learned that’s how all the episodes from the original show began. It is the perfect beginning of an espionage movie.

The Dark Knight (2008)

The opening scene is not the only spectacular thing about how this film begins – the opening shot is outstanding, too. The camera zooms in on a skyscraper window, which explodes. Then we see two masked men, about to zipline to the roof of the bank across the street. A figure on a street corner is waiting for his ride. As the car pulls up, he puts on his mask. Everyone here is a part of a bank robbery that is about to take place.

The man from the street corner is the last one standing – the other thugs were tricked into killing each other while the robbery took place. We see that the lone man is The Joker (Heath Ledger), who delivers one of the most chilling lines in film: “I believe what doesn’t kill you simply makes you…stranger.”

Argo (2012)

Ben Affleck has come a long way. I thought his career was over after a series of flops, but he bounced back with a new role – director. Argo is his third time behind the camera, and it is his career-best. He tells the story of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.

The opening scene starts with a brief montage of the opulent life of the Shahs who governed Iran. The current Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, flees Iran and seeks asylum in the United States. This leads to the protest we see outside the U.S. Embassy in Iran, with the crowd eventually storming through the gates and taking everyone hostage, save for six people who quietly escape. The scene provides both history and suspense, of which Argo has no shortage.

American Hustle (2013)

Lastly, we have American Hustle, the perfect film about con artists. The film begins with Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) applying some sort of adhesive on his scalp to keep his combover intact. Once he leaves his hotel room, he meets up with fellow con artist Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) and F.B.I. agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). Irving begins to have a petty argument with Richie over the quality of his hotel room. The argument intensifies when Richie wipes his hand across Irving’s head, which undoes the adhesive and leaves his hair messed up. You can see the fire in Irving’s eyes afterward.

This film is very creative in terms of combining genres. It has its serious moments, without shying away from the comedic. The opening scene introduces the characters extremely well and gives a great sense of the plot.

Happy watching!