Top 10 Opening Shots of All Time
- 8 years ago
The first moments of a movie can set the tone, grab your attention, and let you know a movie is worthwhile. Here are our Top 10 Opening Shots in History!
What did you think of the list? Do you disagree with any of our picks? Feel like we left out or mis-represented any of the films? What do you think are the best movie openings? Has the opening of a movie ever made you stop watching?
What other topics would you like to see us cover in future editions of CineFix Movie Lists?
Let us know in the comments!
THE LIST
Symmetry - The Searchers (1956)
Pushing through the doorway into the wild, capturing the frontier man as he approaches from afar.
Beautiful - Raging Bull (1980)
The operatic shadowboxing of a hooded pugilist, bouncing in slow motion, glowing in the occasional snap of a flashbulb, completely at home in the ring.
Beautiful - Apocalypse Now (1979)
A different kind of operatic violence in its serene ballet of smoke, fire, and helicopters.
In Media Res - Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
Panning down from those iconic scrolling titles into an empty starscape, a rebel ship screams into frame throwing us into the middle of a chase we know nothing about.
Space - Contact (1997)
A tour of our universe turns into a simultaneous retrospective of modern human history via the reach of our radio waves
Movie Microcosm - Fight Club (1999)
A longshot tour through innerspace - in this case the brain of our hero.
Movie Microcosm - Day for Night (1973)
Creating and subverting our expectations; defining the world we're going to inhabit in a way we don't understand until the next shot turns it on its head
Long Scene - Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
An absolutely beautiful oil-lamp-lit 9 minute long shot that pans patiently back and forth across a table in a Chinese brothel following the complicated dynamic of an entire party.
Long Take - The Player (1992)
A meticulously choreographed crane shot that comments on itself and its industry while simultaneously setting up the entirety of the plot.
Long Take - Touch of Evil (1958)
Criss-crossing a moving bomb with our heroes time and time again, the audience has no choice but to wait anxiously for it to explode.
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What did you think of the list? Do you disagree with any of our picks? Feel like we left out or mis-represented any of the films? What do you think are the best movie openings? Has the opening of a movie ever made you stop watching?
What other topics would you like to see us cover in future editions of CineFix Movie Lists?
Let us know in the comments!
THE LIST
Symmetry - The Searchers (1956)
Pushing through the doorway into the wild, capturing the frontier man as he approaches from afar.
Beautiful - Raging Bull (1980)
The operatic shadowboxing of a hooded pugilist, bouncing in slow motion, glowing in the occasional snap of a flashbulb, completely at home in the ring.
Beautiful - Apocalypse Now (1979)
A different kind of operatic violence in its serene ballet of smoke, fire, and helicopters.
In Media Res - Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
Panning down from those iconic scrolling titles into an empty starscape, a rebel ship screams into frame throwing us into the middle of a chase we know nothing about.
Space - Contact (1997)
A tour of our universe turns into a simultaneous retrospective of modern human history via the reach of our radio waves
Movie Microcosm - Fight Club (1999)
A longshot tour through innerspace - in this case the brain of our hero.
Movie Microcosm - Day for Night (1973)
Creating and subverting our expectations; defining the world we're going to inhabit in a way we don't understand until the next shot turns it on its head
Long Scene - Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
An absolutely beautiful oil-lamp-lit 9 minute long shot that pans patiently back and forth across a table in a Chinese brothel following the complicated dynamic of an entire party.
Long Take - The Player (1992)
A meticulously choreographed crane shot that comments on itself and its industry while simultaneously setting up the entirety of the plot.
Long Take - Touch of Evil (1958)
Criss-crossing a moving bomb with our heroes time and time again, the audience has no choice but to wait anxiously for it to explode.
Want to send us stuff?
CineFix
c/o Mike Cruz
PO BOX 351213
Los Angeles, CA 90035