TREME got me thinking about this.
What was the best first scene you remember in a movie?
I'm going with JAWS. It scared me to death.
P.S. I need titles and places for Monday. I'm missing a lot.
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June 365
- Cold Rifts, Sandra Seamans, COLD RIFTS
- Are You Comfortable, Elissa Schappell, BLUEPRINTS FOR BUILDINBG BETTER GIRLS
Friday's Forgotten Books
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Beat to a Pulp-Round 2
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- A Game of Hide and Seek, YELLOW MAMA
- A Kid Like Billy-CROOKED
- A Saving Grace-The Thrilling Detective
- At the Cafe Sabarsky -Beat to a Pulp
- Bella, the Fortune Teller, Chick Lit Review
- Bit Players-Spinetingler
- Black and White and Red All Over-FFO
- Cooper's Dilemma -Nidus
- Dark Valentine
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- De Sfinx-A Twist of Noir
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- Killer, Thrillers and Chillers;What Fate Imposes
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- Last Rights, CORRIDORS
- Last Rites-Crimefactory
- Like a Hawk Rising -Plots with Guns
- ON PALADIN ROAD-A TWIST OF NOIR
- Portraits of Detroit: Wylie Edwards
- Powder Burn Flash (2 stories)
- Pox and The Leaving-Spinetingler
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- SPINETINGLER-Father's Day
- The Book of Lies, Crime Factory 10
- THE BRIDE, ROSE AND THORN
- THE GIRLS-MYSTERICAL-E
- The Perfect Day-ALL DUE RESPECT
- THE PROPER TRAINING
- The Proper Training-PLOTS WITH GUNS
- Things We Do For Love, Shotgun Honey
- Too Beautiful-Dark Valentine
- Trouble with Trolls-Thuglit
- University Protocol-Word Riot
- What Did Bagdad Do to Us: SHOTGUN HONEY
- What Fate Imposes-TKC
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Stories for 365-January
- Home, Gil Brewer from Hardboiled
- Someone, Alice McDermott, THE NEW YORKER
- What's the Worst Thing That Can Happen, Al Tucher, A TWIST OF NOIR
- The Good Doctor, Adam Haslett, YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE
- Clouds in A Bunker, David Cranmer, PULP INK
- Burning End, Ruth Rendell, THE BEST OF THE BEST SHORT STORIES 1986-1995
- Something is Out There, Richard Bausch, MURDERLAND
- Uncle, Daniel Woodrell, A HELL OF A WOMAN
- Dark Adapted Eye, Katherine Tomlinson, SHOTGUN HONEY
- Whiteout on Van Buren, Don Winslow, PHOENIX NOIR
- An Invisble Minus Sign, Denise Mina, DEADLY HOUSEWIVES
- Everything I Want, Megan Abbott, SPEED CHRONICLES
- The Garage Sale of the Three Lindas, Marly Swick, THE SUMMER BEFORE THE SUMMER OF LOVE
- Everybody Loves Somebody, Sandra Scoppettone, A HELL OF A WOMAN
- Harpooned, Sandra Seamans, MYSTERICAL-E
- Burn Patterns, Michael C. White MARKED MEN
- World of Gas, Bonnie Jo Campbell AMERICAN SALVAGE
- Snakes in the Briar Patch, Chad Eagleton, Cathode Angel
- Sea of Grass, Jim Wilsky, ROSE AND THORN
- The Pool, Keith Taylor from LIFE SENTENCES
- Locked Out, Art Taylor, PLOTS WITH GUNS
- Giving Blood, John Updike from THE MAPLES
- Two and Half Miles, W.D. County, SPINETINGLER
- ReBecca, Vicki Hendricks, FLORIDA GOTHIC STORIES
- What is Your Emergency, Chris Rhatigan, GRIFT MAGAZINE
- Here We Are in Paradise, Tony Earley
- 2. 984, 000 Pounds of Pressure, Anonymous Nine. Crime Factory: The First Shift
- You Boys Be Good, Antonya Nelson
- A Blunderbuss for a Broken Heart, Chris LeTray Pulp Modern 2
- Spending Light, John Stickney, NEEDLE, Issue 2
365- February
- A New Life, Kyle Minor, DISCOUNT NOIR
- A Composer and His Parakeets, Ha Jin GOOD FALL
- Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, Joyce Carol Oates
- Girls in Their Summer Dresses, Irwin Shaw
- The Last Spin, Evan Hunter
- The Birthday Party, Graham Greene
- Blue, Rachel Seiffert, FIELD STUDY
- Tonto Woman, Elmore Leonard, THE COMPLETE WESTERN STORIES
- Only Good Ones, Elmore Leonard, THE COMPLETE WESTERN STORIES OF ELMORE LEONARD
- Super Trooper, Nigel Bird, OFF THE RECORD
- The Incident at Owls' Creek Bridge, Ambrose Bierce
- Food Man, Lisa Tuttle, BEST OF CRANK
- The Babysitter's Code, Laura Lippman, PLOTS WITH GUNS
- Graveyard Shift, James Reasoner, Hard-Boiled
- Portrait of An American Family, Benoit Lelievre, SHOTGUN HONEY
- Thanks for the Ride, Alice Munro, Dance of the Happy Shades
- A MAtter of Principal, Max Allan Collins, FAVORITE KILLS
- Cold Snap, Thom Jones COLD SNAP
- Piano Man, Bill Crider, ON DANGEROUS GROUND
- The Ladder, Adrian McKinty, CRIME FACTORY: FIRST SHIFT
- THe Confessor, Lonni Lees, SHOTGUN HONEY
- Plaything, Daniel Hatadi, DEADLY TREATS
- Going to Shrewsbury, Sarah Orne Jewett, THE COUNTRY OF THE POINTED FIRS
- Sunlight Nocturne, Bill Cameron, DEADLY TREATS
- Escapes, Joy Williams, ESCAPES
- Ugly Pictures, Terrie Moran, THE AWARENESS
- Just Another Saturday Night, William Link, EQMM
- Pride, P.J. Parrish, DETROIT NOIR
- Bonus, Jim Ray Daniels, DETROIT TALES
- Casanova Succumbs to Two-Ton Tina, Rob Kitchin, A TWIST OF NOIR
- The Lost Child, Jean Thompson WHO DO YOU LOVE
365-March
365 -April
May, 365
- Monsters of the Deep, Elissa Schappell, BLUEPRINTS FOR BUILDING A BETTER GIRL
- Solitary Confinement, Sandra Seamans, COLD RIFTS
- Lookout Mountain, John Floyd, MYSTERICAL-E
- Doctor Jack-o'-lantern" Richard Yates, ELEVEN KINDS OF LONELINESS
- Bulldozing the Baby, Jo Ann Beard, BOYS OF MY YOUTH
- Ray's People Have Always Been Soldiers by Barry Basden
- Symbols and Signs, Vladimir Nabokov, THE NEW YORKER 1948
- Referential, Lorrie Moore, THE NEW YORKER
- The Barber's Unhappiness, George Saunders, Pastornalia
- A Commercial Proposition, Richard Wheeler
- Thou Still Unravished Bride, Avram Davidson
- Car Crash While Hitchhiking, Denis Johnson, JESUS' SON
- Someone to Watch Over Me, Richard Bausch, THE COLLECTED STORIES OF
- Undead, Beniot Lelievre, FLASH FICTION OFFENSIVE
- A Freeway on Eartlh, Heath Lowrance, BURNING BRIDGES
- Recitatif, Toni Morrison
- We Dance, Jane Hammons, FICTIONAUT
- Sadie, Jack and Fluffy Go on a Trip, Dennis James, MOBIUS
- Health, Joy Williams, ESCAPES
- No Place for You, My Love, Eudora Welty
- The Sister's Tale, Castle Freeman, ROUND MOUNTAIN
- Sitting on Top of the World, Bill Crider
- Woman on the Dunes, Anais Nin
- Stars of Motown Shining Bright, Julie Orringer, HOW TO BREATHE UNDERWATER
- Words are Cheap, Ken Bruen, MURDALAND
- Kiss Me Again, Stranger, Daphne Du Maurier
- Molotov, Chris Le Tray, ALL DUE RESPECT
- Looking for Romance at a Writer's Convention, Richard Wheeler
- Young Goodman Brown Nathaniel Hawthorne
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32 comments:
oh man, that is hard. probably the opening scene of Once Upon a Time in the West. Just totally weird and compelling.
I always like the opening scene of STAR WARS. It immediately hooked me.
How about Orson Welles' opening sequence in TOUCH OF EVIL?
Michael Mann's THIEF.
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Everything you need to know about Indiana Jones is given in the first set of scenes.
The opening scene of "Jaws" is pretty hard to beat. I won't say it's better but I've always liked the opening of "Blue Velvet".
I'd have to go with ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, too, but I like all the other choices as well. And the opening sequence of GUNGA DIN is awfully good, to add another.
A PLACE IN THE SUN with Montgomery Clift.
Can't remember the first scene in PLACE IN THE SUN. Damn, I wonder if it's on You Tube.
TOUCH OF EVIL is that long tracking shot as they cross the border?
The rest I remember well.
The Wanderers - "They look like a bunch of pricks with ears....or is it ears without pricks..." Great! First watched it in about 1982 (I was 13 at the time) It brings back some great memories for me. Agree about Jaws though.
My story for your contest is called THE STRANGER (as yet un written) and it will apear on my blog. Have a great weekend.
You, too, David. And I well remember that movie. Henry Winkler was in it.
I would also go with Once Upon a Time in the West.
Patti-Henry Winkler wasn't in The Wanderers. I think you might be confusing it with The Lords of Flatbush. The Wanderers is based on a Richard Price book.
Saving Private Ryan
You're right, Steve.
Oh, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN's a good one.
Patti - I meant to say about Henry Winkler. I've written two stories because the first one was about 1800 words so the second one is a lot shorter but (I hope) hits the spot. I will post it later and let you know the title as I haven't come up with one yet.
The Godfather...The funeral director asking for a favor, then softly but brutally getting chewed on by Don Corleone. That one hooked me right in.
Hmmm..... I think my favorite first scene in a movie is the opening scene in The Big Chill. Such a classic (to me, anyway)...
BC-That was a great first scene. It told you so much in just a few minutes and to such great music.
Godfather-another example of quickly setting a mood.
The opener to Lawrence of Arabia, with the motorcycle ride.
Also agree with both Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Arc. Since I consider the opening scene of the Star Wars films to be the text scroll, I can't pick them. If it's the NEXT scene then yes, that one too. One last: The opener to Treasure Island, if I recall properly, with old Blind Pew tapping his way to the Admiral Benbow Inn. However, that may not be the first scene, only one I recall now...
Sad to admit I have never seen Lawrence of Arabia. I always put if off until I could see it on a big screen and that never happened.
Touch of Evil, no doubt.
But, since that's been mentioned, I nominate The Player's opening, which is a long tracking shot while characters talk about the opening to Touch of Evil.
A film geek's joy.
Patti - Mines up, on my blog. Its called IN AN INSTANT.
David T. Oh, I remember that shot in THE PLAYER well. Although I don't remember a lot of what came later. I wonder if too good an opening scene can dwarf the rest.
David B. Thanks, David!
THEM. It is such a beautiful movie, or at least the first half of it. The little girl's plaid bathrobe is so crisp.
I don't know that I ever saw THEM-the one about mutant ants. I'll have to look for it.
Patti - Apologies. My glaring error in that I used the wrong song! I have corrected it, as it still seems to work. :-) Sunday evening and two young kids running about plays havoc with the brain.
Goodfellahs. Opening scene. Leaps right into EVERYTHING.
I have to agree with Goodfellas, but I'd argue that most of Scorcese's films do a great job of setting the tone in the opening scene.
I also enjoy the opening to Back to the Future with the slow pan over all of the clocks and Doc Brown's Rube Goldberg-esque device for feeding his dog, Einstein.
Someone mentioned Once Upon a Time in the West but I prefer the opening scene in Sergio Leone's mafia pic, Once Upon a Time in America. And speaking of Italians, Giuesppe Tornatore's openings to Cinema Paradiso, Malena, and The StarMaker are all quite enjoyable.
I like the opening sequence in Raiders, too. It doesn't just tell you everything about Indiana Jones, I think it also tells you everything about the movie: it's going to be a series of breath-taking cliffhangers that won't stop until the credits roll.
I also like the opening sequence in Goldfinger when Bond takes off his underwater gear and reveals the dinner jacket.
For pure craftsmanship, I love the restored tracking shot in Touch of Evil.
JAWS definitely is a good one.
One that hasn't been mentioned: AMERICAN HOT WAX.
Allan Freed (the late Tim McIntire, son of John McIntire and Jeannette Nolan, but I digress) walks into the studio, picks up a pile of 45s clearly labelled "DON'T PLAY THESE!" by his boss, shuffles through them, then takes the top record off the pile, puts it on the turntable, says "I'm Allan Freed and this is rock & roll" as Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" blasts out of the soundtrack.
At that moment I knew I was going to love the movie (despite its flaws). In fact, we sat through it twice in a row.
Another great beginning: Tony's walk down the street in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER to "Stayin' Alive."
Jeff M.
I remember seeing that first scene of SNF in trailers and thinking this is going to be ridiculous. Except it wasn't once you stopped thinking of him as a Kotterite. Loved it. I think kids today would see it differently though.
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