Nr. 5 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lz-whY0vWo
The cinematography, the song sang by the chain-gang prisoners followed by the escape of the three prisoners got me hooked to this movie right from the start. I know there are many objectively better opening scenes, but this is too much of a personal favorite to leave out of this list.
The story behind the song sang by the chain-gang is very interesting. You can read about it HERE
Nr. 4 2001: A Space Odyssey
Video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML1OZCHixR0
One of the most unique opening sequences to a movie is the one seen in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The use of music in this opening scene as well as in the rest of the movie is too good to be true, which seems to be the case in many of Kubrick's movies.
Nr. 3 Melancholia
Video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kP-vuOy8cU
Upon watching this the first time, the opening sequence might put you off, thinking that the whole movie could be like this, but after watching the whole movie, it might be that you want to return to watch the beginning again. Visually beautiful, confusingly strange and made even better with beautiful classical music. It also gives you a feeling that continues throughout the whole movie.
Nr. 2 A Clockwork Orange
A love the music, the red and blue background color followed by Alex looking into the camera drinking milk, the set construction, costumes and Alex's presentation of himself and his droogs. Perfect opening scene that couldn't be better.
Nr. 1 Once Upon a Time In the West
My favorite opening scene from my favorite film. This YouTube clip doesn't view the complete opening sequence, it starts at about 5 minutes into the movie. I count the first 14 minutes as the opening scene. If you don't at all like this scene, you probably won't like the rest of the movie too much. It's slow, but only on the surface. This movie builds up atmosphere like no other movie and releases the energy built up by it better than any movie.
I would appreciate if you would comment and tell me about your favorite opening scenes!
