Best opening/closing scenes in movies

[Kingspoint]

The standard is the original "3:10 to Yuma" as the best opening.

[Kingspoint]

I saw a quote from Cotton once where he said that he was in three great director's favorite movie: Orson Wells (Citizen Kane), Carol Reed (The Third Man), and Hitchcock. He was one of my favorite movies when I was growing up, back when the networks would show black-and-white movies during prime time. I'm old. I also seem to remember him being one of my grandmother's favorites.

I was surprised to learn recently that Ben Mankiewicz' Grandfather, Herman Mankiewicz, wrote every word of "Citizen Kane". Welles did not contribute a single word to the screenplay. The woman who was in charge of the script during the movie, and she had complete control of it, backs this up. Because of the contract status, Welles had to have "also" written it, in order to get paid for any of it, so Herman Mankiewicz allowed him to receive credit as a co-writer.

[mdccclxix]

Not a movie buff, but O Brother came to mind: http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/2...-Mountain.html

[KronoRed]

The closing scene of The Aviator is pretty good.

[westofyou]

The closing scene to Mr Roberts is another classic

[RedsBaron]

I don't think anyone mentioned the closing scene of "Shane." "Shane come back! Shane!!!"

[Mutaman]

I don't think anyone mentioned the closing scene of "Shane." "Shane come back! Shane!!!"

Great movie. Great scene. Some interesting ambiguity - is it possible Shane died at the end?

[jojo]

Great movie. Great scene. Some interesting ambiguity - is it possible Shane died at the end?

No.

[Mutaman]

"Does Shane die at the end?

The film leaves that question unanswered, although viewers can be found to support either side of the argument. Those who conclude that Shane dies argue that the last scene in which he rides through a cemetery is an indication that he is dying or is already dead. They point out that he is slumping slightly with his arm to his side and that, in the novel, the gunshot was to his abdomen. They reason that he goes off to die as one last favor to the Starretts. Shane admires and likes Joe but is in love with Marian. He leaves so that they do not know for sure that he has died; he knows that the guilt Joe and Marian would feel at his death would poison their marriage. Those who conclude that Shane is not dying counter that the cemetery is simply on the way back to the mountains and that he is leaning forward because he is going uphill, as horseback riders tend to do. Although he was shot, they argue, it appears to be a superficial wound to his upper arm. The wound isn't bleeding profusely, Shane isn't acting like the wound is serious, he could mount and ride his horse, and he is holding up the reins. Others circumvent the argument entirely by pointing out that it matters little whether or not Shane dies from his wound. The movie itself is an allegory saying that the gunfighter, like the free range cattle rancher, are dying breeds. The West is being settled, civilized and developed. It's giving way to a new era where the rugged individual was being replaced by families... where peace would prevail and gunfighters no longer had a place."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046303/faq

[RedsBaron]

I agree with the allegory theory, but I also believe Shane lives and believes his time as a gunfighter is up and he needs to leave. If Shane stays his presence is bound to cause problems in the relationship of Joe and Marian.

[SunDeck]

Opening credits and riot scene from "In the Name of the Father".

[Mutaman]

The Third Man might be the British movie ever. The irony isn't that it features two Americans in lead roles, it's that it's largely about America after the War. Cotton (Holly Martens) is a Western pulp writer, clever enough, not naïve, but well-meaning and not particularly ambitious. Wells (Harry Lime) is a black-market opportunist. Cotton is how most Americans see themselves in the word. Welles is often the reality. This is Carol Reed and Graham Greene's movie but Wells did write the Cuckoo Clock bit that everyone remembers:

If Harry was right, we have 4 years of great art to look forward to:

[gonelong]

I know this is one is a bit more bubblegum then many of the classics in this thread, but ...

At the end of American Beauty, when the gunshot rings out and you experience the perspective and reaction of each of the individual characters. For some reason that one sticks with me. That movie is also quite a bit different experience when you are 20 vs 45, ha ha.

GL