Best opening/closing scenes in movies

[vaticanplum]

Have we done this one before? Sometimes I feel like I've been on this board so long that we've covered everything there is to cover.

Last night I watched Big Night, which is a movie I love but haven't seen in years. All that time, I've held a particular scene up as the best scene in any movie I've ever seen: the scene where Stanley Tucci makes eggs. One long shot, wordless, uninterrupted breakfast making, start to finish, and tremendously emotionally resonant. What I had forgotten is that it's the closing scene of the movie. I don't want to link to it here because you really should see the whole movie in order to get the context (and the movie itself is near flawless, so if you haven't seen it already you should anyway).

So that got me thinking of favorite opening and closing scenes of movies. Before I remembered that this is a closing scene, I would have also mentioned the final scene of Before Sunset, which is just about perfect. Again, great movie, but elevated by that final scene.

I think my favorite opening scene of any movie is An American in Paris, when Gene Kelly puts his little bedroom away.

What are some of the best opening and closing scenes of movies you've seen?

[dfs]

Hard to top the beach in Saving Private Ryan as an opener.

......I'm a guy. Sue me.

[reds1869]

Not a great scene by most definitions, but as a Marshall alum and West Virginia native the opening scene of We are Marshall always hits me with an emotional gut punch. The aerial view of Huntington sweeping down to campus combines with the soft music and voice over to evoke the desired effect in viewers close to the story. A cheap film making tactic but it works on me in that case.

[Chip R]

Hard to beat Patton for an opening scene.

[medford]

Hard to top the beach in Saving Private Ryan as an opener.

......I'm a guy. Sue me.

That is the first movie that came to mind when thinking "Great opening scene". Frankly, I think they got the ending pretty damn good as well. I'm certainly no movie buff, never mind a critique, but it seems like having a really great final scene is going to be limited. Most movies hit their climax a scene or two before the final scene, the last scene is kind of like an epilogue to move the characters on into the future.

The final scene in The Karate Kid is still pretty awesome. Did I mention that I'm NO movie critique? ;)

[NebraskaRed]

The opening of Pulp Fiction blew me away when I first saw it. And then BAM, right into Dick Dale's "Miserlou". Very exciting stuff.

[bucksfan2]

Hard to top the beach in Saving Private Ryan as an opener.

......I'm a guy. Sue me.

Not to split hairs, but isn't the opening scene of the movie where Ryan is in the American Cemetery visiting a grave?

I always though the closing scene in Gladiator was cool and fitting.

[dfs]

Not to split hairs, but isn't the opening scene of the movie where Ryan is in the American Cemetery visiting a grave?

I always though the closing scene in Gladiator was cool and fitting.

No. You are absolutely correct. Thanks for the reality check.

[klw]

Chariots of Fire with the memorial service fading into the scene on the beach as both the opening and closing scene.

[KittyDuran]

The opening scene w/credits rolling in Reservoir Dogs and Little Green Bag playing in the background is pretty good (rest of the movie not so much).

Would that qualify?

[KittyDuran]

I think my favorite opening scene of any movie is An American in Paris, when Gene Kelly puts his little bedroom away.
I have a real soft spot for old musicals whether it's Astaire trying to be quiet in a London gentlemen's club in Top Hat, or Kelly telling a gossip columnist his life story in grand fashion while the flashbacks tell just the opposite in Singin in the Rain.

[JaxRed]

I think it was the opening scene........ Cliffhanger. Was pretty intense.

[Stray]

Off the top of my head...

Opening scene that I loved was in Trainspotting.
Closing scene that I loved was in Lost in Translation.
And as far as any scene at any point in a movie, the train robbery scene from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is my favorite.

[marcshoe]

I'm not sure if it is the absolute opening scene, but the scene at the beginning of Time Bandits with the knight bursting through Kevin's wardrobe blew me away back when I saw the movie in theaters (twice in two weeks).

[OldRightHander]

How about this classic scene?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJUhlRoBL8M

[RedsBaron]

Hard to beat Patton for an opening scene.

I agree.
A closing scene I have always liked is the end of "Tombstone." After all of the gunplay and death, the movie ends with Kurt Russell (Wyatt Earp) and Dana Delany (Josephine) dancing in the snow, while Robert Mitchum narrates what their future would hold, closing with Mitchum describing Earp's funeral in 1929, with the final line: "Tom Mix wept."
Of course, "Casablanca" ends with maybe the best final line ever: "Louie, this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship," a perfect end to a classic film.

[westofyou]

Closing scene - The Searchers - The door frames Wayne and firmly places him as an outsider. Pure magic


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXUz-Nntyks

Opening scene?

Touch of Evil with Charleton Heston, Orson Wells nails it in this magnificent tracking shot in one single take


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4

[Roy Tucker]

Best opening scenes that come to mind are Star Wars, The Lion King, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Jaws, and Up.

[marcshoe]

Has anyone mentioned Raiders of the Lost Ark's opening scene? Surely someone has by now.

[19braves77]

Opening sequence of opening scene of Apocalypse Now.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLRmVMVP7NQ

[Mutaman]

Closing scene - The Searchers - The door frames Wayne and firmly places him as an outsider. Pure magic


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXUz-Nntyks

Opening scene?

Touch of Evil with Charleton Heston, Orson Wells nails it in this magnificent tracking shot in one single take


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4

Obviously a man with outstanding taste. There are so few of us.

I think the Searchers is Ford's treatment of racism, a treatment he complicates for us by making the Duke, the All American dude, the racist. At the end, Ford excludes Ethan from the home and the community, punishing him for his racism. Like the Comanche whose eyes he shot out, Ethan will have to wander forever between the winds.

All modern American literature traces back to Huckleberry Finn. All modern American cinema traces back to The Searchers.

[RedTeamGo!]

How about the ending of The Usual Suspects?

7614

[*BaseClogger*]

Love this topic!

My favorite movie scene ever is probably the end of Children of Men, with the cries of a newborn child momentarily stopping the fighting taking place in the streets (lets not forget about the tracking shot just beforehand). Not sure if that one counts as the last scene, as they still have to get on the boat and paddle out to sea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBzWTIexszQ

When I think of classic closing scenes, my immediate thought was the ending to The Graduate.

Some posters have mentioned other Tarantino movies, but I think that first scene in Inglourious Basterds is the best of the bunch.

For comedies, how about the opening scene of Super Troopers?

[dougdirt]

For comedies, how about the opening scene of Super Troopers?

YES.

[RedsBaron]

Obviously a man with outstanding taste. There are so few of us.

I think the Searchers is Ford's treatment of racism, a treatment he complicates for us by making the Duke, the All American dude, the racist. At the end, Ford excludes Ethan from the home and the community, punishing him for his racism. Like the Comanche whose eyes he shot out, Ethan will have to wander forever between the winds.

All modern American literature traces back to Huckleberry Finn. All modern American cinema traces back to The Searchers.
I love The Searchers. Oh the film has a few flaws: I didn't find the intended humor in Martin's "marriage" to Look, and, while Natalie Wood was gorgeous it is a bit unlikely that after five years of living with Chief Scar Natalie's character would still have eyeliner and plenty of 20th Century makeup.
That said it is a great film that disproves the assertion that John Wayne could not act. Wayne may not have had a great range as an actor, but he was fantastic as Ethan Edwards.
There are a number of scenes in the film I love in addition to the closing scene. John Ford quietly hints at Ethan's relationship with his brother's wife, Martha, showing Martha silently brushing and cleaning Ethan's coat in a delicate tender manner, implying that they may have had an affair (could Debbie actually be Ethan's daughter?).
I love the scene where, with snow softly falling, Ethan and Martin give up, for a time, the search for Debbie.
John Wayne gives a haunting look that is half crazy and full of hate when he and Martin are brought to some other white girls rescued as Indian captives. Without a word he conveys what is going on inside Ethan and why Ethan wants to kill Debbie.
There is the scene where we as viewers expect Ethan to finally kill Debbie, as John Wayne has Natalie Wood cornered, helpless, only for Ethan to suddenly softly say "let's go home Debbie" as he picks her up in his arms.
As Mutaman noted, the film deals with racism, but Ethan's racist hatred of the Comanche is more of a tribal hatred as Ethan himself is a bit of an outcast. Just a terrific film.

[jojo]

Jaws. You knew they needed a bigger boat before you even knew they were going to need a boat.

[Chip R]

Closing scene - The Searchers - The door frames Wayne and firmly places him as an outsider. Pure magic

Speaking of closing scenes and doors, it's almost cliche but how Kay is seen through the door in The Godfather and then the door closes both literally and figuratively shutting her out.


Opening scene?

Touch of Evil with Charleton Heston, Orson Wells nails it in this magnificent tracking shot in one single take

Good one.

Going back to The Godfather, the opening scene was done by a computer driven lens which had previously only been used in commercials. A simple title card and the the first few notes of the iconic theme then it fades to black and we hear Bonasera begin to speak then his face fills the frame. The lens pulls back slowly until Bonasera is smaller and smaller in the background and the back of Vito's head begins to appear in the foreground and fills the left side of the frame while Bonasera appears almost across the room. After that in the next 4 minutes we understand what Vito does. Instead of murdering the rapists of Bonasera's daughter he has them beat down and he uses his influence with the politicians and judges to help Nazorine's daughter's boyfriend stay in the country. So he doesn't kill indiscriminately and if we in the audience were in Bonasera's or Nazorine's place, we would love someone like Vito to help us out.

[Mutaman]

I love The Searchers. Oh the film has a few flaws: I didn't find the intended humor in Martin's "marriage" to Look, and, while Natalie Wood was gorgeous it is a bit unlikely that after five years of living with Chief Scar Natalie's character would still have eyeliner and plenty of 20th Century makeup.
That said it is a great film that disproves the assertion that John Wayne could not act. Wayne may not have had a great range as an actor, but he was fantastic as Ethan Edwards.
There are a number of scenes in the film I love in addition to the closing scene. John Ford quietly hints at Ethan's relationship with his brother's wife, Martha, showing Martha silently brushing and cleaning Ethan's coat in a delicate tender manner, implying that they may have had an affair (could Debbie actually be Ethan's daughter?).
I love the scene where, with snow softly falling, Ethan and Martin give up, for a time, the search for Debbie.
John Wayne gives a haunting look that is half crazy and full of hate when he and Martin are brought to some other white girls rescued as Indian captives. Without a word he conveys what is going on inside Ethan and why Ethan wants to kill Debbie.
There is the scene where we as viewers expect Ethan to finally kill Debbie, as John Wayne has Natalie Wood cornered, helpless, only for Ethan to suddenly softly say "let's go home Debbie" as he picks her up in his arms.
As Mutaman noted, the film deals with racism, but Ethan's racist hatred of the Comanche is more of a tribal hatred as Ethan himself is a bit of an outcast. Just a terrific film.

Good insight. You raise things to think about.
Martin's "marriage" to Look is interesting. This is the one "flaw" that critics of the Searchers always raise. But is it as it appears?
On one hand it could be Ford's dated cornball humor, which here is both misogynistic and bigoted. On the other hand, the treatment of Look is totally out of character for Martin Pauly. And we know Ford was no misogynist, his films are full of strong female characters, and the Seachers itself represents the victory of feminized views of civilization- loving, conciliatory, inclusive- over Scar's and Ethan's brutal never ending war. Remember, how the "marriage" scene takes place in the movie- its from bitter and angry Laurie's reading of Martin's letter to her. Did the scene with Look "really" happen? Or is it Ford showing us how Laurie imagined that it happened? And is the marriage scene a setup for what comes later- Look being brutally murdered by the 7th cavalry. At that point Look isn't a joke any more and is this Ford making us the audience fell guilty for having previously laughed at her? I want to give Ford the benefit of the doubt.

Not sure what the difference is between racism and "tribal hatred". Ethan wants to kill his beautiful niece, the daughter of the woman he loves, because she has been violated by the brutal subhuman Comanche, a fate worse than death. Pretty sure that meets the definition of racism.
Finally, maybe Ford intentionally made Natalie Wood look as beautiful as possible (not too tough a job) because only a real nut case full of hate would want to kill this gorgeous woman, and that's what Ford wanted to convey.

[RedsBaron]

Good insight. You raise things to think about.
Martin's "marriage" to Look is interesting. This is the one "flaw" that critics of the Searchers always raise. But is it as it appears?
On one hand it could be Ford's dated cornball humor, which here is both misogynistic and bigoted. On the other hand, the treatment of Look is totally out of character for Martin Pauly. And we know Ford was no misogynist, his films are full of strong female characters, and the Seachers itself represents the victory of feminized views of civilization- loving, conciliatory, inclusive- over Scar's and Ethan's brutal never ending war. Remember, how the "marriage" scene takes place in the movie- its from bitter and angry Laurie's reading of Martin's letter to her. Did the scene with Look "really" happen? Or is it Ford showing us how Laurie imagined that it happened? And is the marriage scene a setup for what comes later- Look being brutally murdered by the 7th cavalry. At that point Look isn't a joke any more and is this Ford making us the audience fell guilty for having previously laughed at her? I want to give Ford the benefit of the doubt.

Not sure what the difference is between racism and "tribal hatred". Ethan wants to kill his beautiful niece, the daughter of the woman he loves, because she has been violated by the brutal subhuman Comanche, a fate worse than death. Pretty sure that meets the definition of racism.
Finally, maybe Ford intentionally made Natalie Wood look as beautiful as possible (not too tough a job) because only a real nut case full of hate would want to kill this gorgeous woman, and that's what Ford wanted to convey.
Good points. I hadn't considered the possibility you raise regarding Look.
My comment about tribal hatred rather than racial hatred was intended to mean that Ethan isn't exactly filled for love of the white race either. While we catch glimpses of his tender side there is a basic bitterness and disappointment throughout his character. In some ways I think Ethan had more in common with Scar than he did with most of the white settlers.
Some critics have written that John Ford should have included a scene in the movie between Scar and Debbie showing that Debbie preferred to remain with the Comanche and explaining why.
Perhaps Ford did make Natalie Wood look as beautiful as possible, and I would not exactly complain about that. I suspect it was also just part of that era of film making, where even though the movie supposedly takes place in the 1860s or 1970s the actors have haircuts that were in fashion in the 1950s.

[RedsBaron]

The pre-title sequences in James Bond movies have become so long that I am not sure they qualify as an opening scene, but some of them have been the highlight of the film. An early favorite of mine was in "Goldfinger," which conveys both the toughness of Bond and the humor of the film.
My favorite is "The Spy Who Loved Me." O.K., why would anyone go skiing with a parachute strapped to his back? No matter, the scene where Bond skis off a mountain, only to deploy a Union Jack parachute, was terrific.

[KittyDuran]

The pre-title sequences in James Bond movies have become so long that I am not sure they qualify as an opening scene, but some of them have been the highlight of the film. An early favorite of mine was in "Goldfinger," which conveys both the toughness of Bond and the humor of the film.
My favorite is "The Spy Who Loved Me." O.K., why would anyone go skiing with a parachute strapped to his back? No matter, the scene where Bond skis off a mountain, only to deploy a Union Jack parachute, was terrific.

They can be viewed the same way as other "serial" movies like the Pink Panther and Harry Potter. They blur the line between opening credits/movie and last scene/ending credits. The Bond movies are great with the closing scenes esp the ones with the sexual innuendo. Then you also have the Marvel extras tacked on after the closing credits.

[RedTeamGo!]

Love this topic!

My favorite movie scene ever is probably the end of Children of Men, with the cries of a newborn child momentarily stopping the fighting taking place in the streets (lets not forget about the tracking shot just beforehand).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBzWTIexszQ


One of the best scenes of any movie I have ever seen. So incredibly powerful.

I love "Children of Men" and believe it deserves a lot more attention, another excellently filmed scene is the one where they are driving through the woods and get attacked.

[George Anderson]

Two Paul Newman movies.

Opening and the ending scene to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Also one of the last movies Newman made called Nobodys Fool had an ending that was very simple but very good Imo.

[Rojo]

I love "Children of Men" and believe it deserves a lot more attention, another excellently filmed scene is the one where they are driving through the woods and get attacked.

Or when they escape the farm house by running with the car as they try to get it going. Probably my favorite movies of the past 10 years (or so).

[Rojo]

Best opening scenes that come to mind are Star Wars, The Lion King, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Jaws, and Up.

The Imperial Cruiser going on and on and on and on. Right off the bat you knew what the good guys were up against.

[Rojo]

Biased -- love every frame of this movie. Withnail and I, with an assist from Shakespeare.


http://youtu.be/6zEVZGuU3BU

[Ohayou]

I'm going all in!

Opening:

8 1/2
A History of Violence
Antichrist
Apocalypse Now
Black Christmas
Blow Out
Blue Velvet
Casino Royale
Citizen Kane
Dawn of the Dead
Drive
Europa
Faster, *****cat Kill! Kill!
Goldeneye
Goodfellas
I Am Cuba
Jaws
JFK
Magnolia
Manhattan
Mean Streets
Melancholia
Once Upon a Time in the West
Persona
Raging Bull
Raising Arizona
Rebecca
Scream
Sunset Blvd.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Matrix
The Naked Kiss
The Player
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Social Network
The Wolf of Wall Street
Touch of Evil
Vertigo
Werckmeister Harmonies
Wings of Desire

Closing:

2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
All Quiet on the Western Front
Angel Heart
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Blow-Up
Brazil
Brief Encounter
Burn After Reading
Casablanca
Chinatown
City Lights
Come and See
Dead Man
Don't Look Now
Dr. Strangelove
Heat
Kiss Me Deadly
La Haine
Memories of Murder
Midnight Cowboy
Mulholland Dr.
Mysterious Skin
Oldboy
Paris, Texas
Planet of the Apes
Pulp Fiction
Ratcatcher
Shutter Island
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Godfather
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Graduate
The Night of the Living Dead
The Searchers
The Thing
There Will Be Blood
Three Colors: Blue
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

The bolded movies are my 10 favorite opening/closing scenes. Twas gonna think of 50 for each, but I got wore out. A few of these movies, like The Searchers or 2001, I think have some of the best openings AND endings, but I wanted to include as many movies as possible, so I didn't bother naming them to both lists.

[Roy Tucker]

End of North by Northwest....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPt-4Nwght0

[RedsBaron]

I just realized that I haven't mentioned the closing scene of Field of Dreams. I still get a tingle and sometimes tear up when Kevin Costner asks his dad if he wants to have a catch.

[Mutaman]

Some critics have written that John Ford should have included a scene in the movie between Scar and Debbie showing that Debbie preferred to remain with the Comanche and explaining why.


Actually there is that kind of a scene: When Ethan and Marty camp out after first meeting Scar, Debbie appears in a great shot on a distant sand dune and runs down to warn them to leave. When Marty tries to convince her to leave with them, Debbie refuses. She says "These are my people...Go. Go, Martin, please!"

I think Ford got across very strongly that Debbie had been integrated into the Comanche tribe and she did not want to leave them.

[Mutaman]

That said it is a great film that disproves the assertion that John Wayne could not act. Wayne may not have had a great range as an actor, but he was fantastic as Ethan Edwards.


Wayne sure did a lot of heavy lifting in a lot of great movies. I think he was simply a natural. My own top ten:

1. Searchers
2. Red River
3. Stagecoach
4. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
5. The Quiet Man
6. They Were Expendable
7. The Shootist
8. Rio Bravo
9. True Grit
10. Sands of Iwo Jima
11. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

[vaticanplum]

Biased -- love every frame of this movie. Withnail and I, with an assist from Shakespeare.

That might be my favorite movie. We've talked about this before, haven't we?

And yes, wonderful, devastating closing scene.

[marcshoe]

A couple of closing scenes from Australian movies that were out around the time I lived there:

Breaker Morant, for some reason without the final seconds (of the prisoners being shot and falling backward in their chairs). I saw this one on the flight over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI7KJnRlsS4

Peter Weir's Gallipoli, with a very young Mel Gibson running, trying to get the orders to stop his friend's suicide charge in time. Again, missing the final seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38uvjuPcDAU

Both excellent, affecting, relatively unknown (anti) war movies. I remember Reagan saying that Breaker Morant was one of his favorite movies. Both are worth searching out.

[757690]

^^^

My brother came back from a trip to Australia in the 80's with these two movies. I watched them on VHS tapes back to back and I was mesmerized. Amazingly powerful films.

Breaker Morant might be the best anti-war movie of all time.

[Rojo]

That might be my favorite movie. We've talked about this before, haven't we?

And yes, wonderful, devastating closing scene.

Maybe. I remember that somebody on here loved it. I guess that's you. Funny, cuz it's like a chick-flick.....for dudes. That was my 20's, lot's of drinking and drugs and "nor women neither"

[Rojo]

It doesn't have the grandeur of The Searchers but Rio Bravo is terrific. In contrast to High Noon, that presents the people as cowardly, Rio Bravo is most democratic -- a super great New Deal American movie.

[Mutaman]

It doesn't have the grandeur of The Searchers but Rio Bravo is terrific. In contrast to High Noon, that presents the people as cowardly, Rio Bravo is most democratic -- a super great New Deal American movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uuAjwvtxEM&feature=player_detailpage

[Rojo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uuAjwvtxEM&feature=player_detailpage

Great scene, especially the German? dub, But you're either up too late or too early.

[757690]

The Candidate - 1972

"What do we do now?"


http://youtu.be/myEpap3TxVs

[Rojo]

I don't know how I could I forget this. The end of The Third Man. I guess this won't be impressive for those that haven't seen the movie. Yes, Orson Welles is great, but I think people forget how great Joseph Cotton was. Here a love triangle of Cotton, Trevor Howard and Alida Valli is (un)settled with cool detachment. I love Valli's walk just by the camera and Cotton's little bit of "ah phooey" as he tosses his match.


http://youtu.be/LI4R3wZ8obg

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:


http://youtu.be/CNo8ld7ak8w

[KittyDuran]

Local Hero's closing scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm-ZHUfCTwk

[Mutaman]

I don't know how I could I forget this. The end of The Third Man. I guess this won't be impressive for those that haven't seen the movie. Yes, Orson Welles is great, but I think people forget how great Joseph Cotton was. Here a love triangle of Cotton, Trevor Howard and Alida Valli is (un)settled with cool detachment. I love Valli's walk just by the camera and Cotton's little bit of "ah phooey" as he tosses his match.


http://youtu.be/LI4R3wZ8obg

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:


http://youtu.be/CNo8ld7ak8w

Great flick. Great ending. Cotton is pretty good (and pretty creepy) as Uncle Charlie in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt.

[KittyDuran]

Cotton is pretty good (and pretty creepy) as Uncle Charlie in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. Loved him in Niagara (also pretty good and creepy).

[Ohayou]

Burn After Reading is the perfect movie for these times on RedsZone (and life in general):


What did we learn, Palmer?

I don't know, sir.

I don't ****in' know either. I guess we learned not to do it again.

Yes, sir.

I'm ****ed if I know what we did.

Yes, sir, it's, uh, hard to say.

Jesus ****ing Christ.

[Mutaman]

Loved him in Niagara (also pretty good and creepy).

Someone was in Niagara besides Marilyn? I never noticed. ;)

[marcshoe]

The Third Man is in my top two movies of all time (with Casablanca). I hadn't thought of the closing scene, maybe because I usually think of the Ferris Wheel scene or Joseph Cotton being shown the results of the bad medicine or Orson Wells in the tunnels.

Or the zither music. I confused the girl at Jack White's Third Man Records in Nashville once by asking her about the zither music, because the soundtrack album was displayed. She didn't know anything about the movie, unfortunately.

[RedsBaron]

I recently watched The Third Man for the first time. I didn't appreciate it probably as much as I should had, I think it part because it has been copied so much by other movies and TV shows since then. I can recall an episode of "Remington Steele" which lifted quite a bit from the film.

[RedsBaron]

It doesn't have the grandeur of The Searchers but Rio Bravo is terrific. In contrast to High Noon, that presents the people as cowardly, Rio Bravo is most democratic -- a super great New Deal American movie.

I don't think John Wayne or Howards Hawks, who directed Rio Bravo, would have considered Rio Bravo to be a "New Deal American movie." Wayne and Hawks were very critical of High Noon and actually made Rio Bravo in part as a conservative answer to what they believed was a leftist High Noon. Even more ironically, when Gary Cooper was unable to attend the Oscar ceremonies Wayne accepted Cooper's best actor award for Will Kane.
I think Wayne's and Hawks's criticisms of High Noon were unwarranted, and I like both High Noon and Rio Bravo.
That said, I am one of the apparently few people who prefer Rio Bravo's re-make, El Dorado, to the original film. While I liked Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, I regard Robert Mitchum and James Caan as far superior actors to Martin and Nelson, and I believe the roles of drunken sheriff/deputy and younger sidekick were better written in El Dorado. I also greatly prefer Arthur Hunnicutt's "Bull" to Walter Brennan's "Stumpy"-Brennan overplayed the role too much for my tastes.
There is also a scene in El Dorado I really like. Too often westerns have the good guy tell off the bad guy and then turn his back and go away, for some reason confident the bad guy will not do something, well, bad, such as shoot him in the back (in "The Cowboys" Wayne is shot in the back). However, in El Dorado, after Wayne returns the balance of his retainer to the head bad guy played by Ed Asner, Wayne has his horse carefully back out of the premises while Wayne carefully keeps his eyes on Asner and his gang. It is remarkable to watch the horse walk backward, and Wayne keeping his eyes on the bad guys conveys the menace they present.

[redsfanmia]

I really liked the opening scene of Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards.

[Mutaman]

I don't think John Wayne or Howards Hawks, who directed Rio Bravo, would have considered Rio Bravo to be a "New Deal American movie." Wayne and Hawks were very critical of High Noon and actually made Rio Bravo in part as a conservative answer to what they believed was a leftist High Noon. Even more ironically, when Gary Cooper was unable to attend the Oscar ceremonies Wayne accepted Cooper's best actor award for Will Kane.
I think Wayne's and Hawks's criticisms of High Noon were unwarranted, and I like both High Noon and Rio Bravo.


Has there ever been a movie like High Noon that means so many things to so many different People? Some folks think the bad guys represent McCarthyism and the town's people those Americans who cowered
before Tailgunner Joe and his henchman Roy Cohn. It was written by Carl Foreman, a communist who was blacklisted and driven from the USA. (he later wrote Bridge on the River Kwai). The star, gary Cooper, was very conservative yet he supported Foreman until public opinion forced him to back down.

Gary Wills says that Cooper throwing his badge in the road at the end, shows that no office can be held without popular support-"a profoundly democratic message".

High Noon is Bill Clinton's favorite movie.

On the other hand, High Noon is a favorite of neo-conservatives. They see the townsfolk as liberals who back down from evil. Still plenty of internet posts around from the height of the Irag War the second where folks equate Marshal Kane with George w Bush, standing up to evil.

Me? I hate to mix politics and art for the most part, which allows me to love John Wayne despite his off screen foolishness, which I supect was just a defense mechanism for his draft dodging during WW11, an activity that a real war hero like Ford never let the Duke forget. So High Noon is ok, but I don't think it comes close to any of those Wayne movies I listed in post #41. Love the young Lee Van Cleef and Grace Kelly is nice on the eyes.

[westofyou]

David Crosby's father was one if the DPs on High Noon, I have heard he's responsible for the long shot from the down low as Will walks down the street at the climax

I love how it's in real time not film time

[Mutaman]

That said, I am one of the apparently few people who prefer Rio Bravo's re-make, El Dorado, to the original film. While I liked Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, I regard Robert Mitchum and James Caan as far superior actors to Martin and Nelson, and I believe the roles of drunken sheriff/deputy and younger sidekick were better written in El Dorado. I also greatly prefer Arthur Hunnicutt's "Bull" to Walter Brennan's "Stumpy"-Brennan overplayed the role too much for my tastes.


Watch Travolta discuss the two flicks in "Get Shorty". :)

Mitchum and Caan set a pretty high bar but i think Dino is a incredibly underrated actor. Just sensational as 'Bama in Minnelli's "Some Came Running". Rio Bravo has risen from a cult favorite to a classic and I think the chemistry between Martin, Brennan and Nelson, with Wayne serving as their audience , is the reason why. Ricky of course is Ricky, and that ain't bad.

[Rojo]

Great flick. Great ending. Cotton is pretty good (and pretty creepy) as Uncle Charlie in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt.

I was thinking of that movie when I wrote about the under-appreciation of Cotton. He played a lot of nice guys. But in Shadow of a Doubt he wasn't so nice. That's a pretty misogynistic movie and he was great in it.

Also one of Hitchcock's Bay Area movies (set in Santa Rosa), so I have some affection for it.

[Rojo]

I recently watched The Third Man for the first time. I didn't appreciate it probably as much as I should had, I think it part because it has been copied so much by other movies and TV shows since then.

That's part of it. But also it's boring in parts. I think it's analogous to baseball -- can be boring but it's high points are really high.

[Rojo]

Loved him in Niagara (also pretty good and creepy).

I haven't seen this. To do. Thanks.

[Rojo]

That might be my favorite movie. We've talked about this before, haven't we?

And yes, wonderful, devastating closing scene.

So I'm watching this scene and my landlord comes down to complain about the noise. And, at 46 years old, I want to get all Withnail on him.

Of course I don't.

[marcshoe]

Has there ever been a movie like High Noon that means so many things to so many different People? Some folks think the bad guys represent McCarthyism and the town's people those Americans who cowered
before Tailgunner Joe and his henchman Roy Cohn. It was written by Carl Foreman, a communist who was blacklisted and driven from the USA. (he later wrote Bridge on the River Kwai). The star, gary Cooper, was very conservative yet he supported Foreman until public opinion forced him to back down.

Gary Wills says that Cooper throwing his badge in the road at the end, shows that no office can be held without popular support-"a profoundly democratic message".

High Noon is Bill Clinton's favorite movie.

On the other hand, High Noon is a favorite of neo-conservatives. They see the townsfolk as liberals who back down from evil. Still plenty of internet posts around from the height of the Irag War the second where folks equate Marshal Kane with George w Bush, standing up to evil.

Me? I hate to mix politics and art for the most part, which allows me to love John Wayne despite his off screen foolishness, which I supect was just a defense mechanism for his draft dodging during WW11, an activity that a real war hero like Ford never let the Duke forget. So High Noon is ok, but I don't think it comes close to any of those Wayne movies I listed in post #41. Love the young Lee Van Cleef and Grace Kelly is nice on the eyes.

Clint Eastwood said that he and John Wayne were talking about teaming up for a movie before High Plains Drifter came out, but when Wayne saw it, he wanted nothing to do with Eastwood. You can't really blame him; the anti-hero bit is taken too far, and the rape scene seriously mars a good movie.

[marcshoe]

I was thinking of that movie when I wrote about the under-appreciation of Cotton. He played a lot of nice guys. But in Shadow of a Doubt he wasn't so nice. That's a pretty misogynistic movie and he was great in it.

Also one of Hitchcock's Bay Area movies (set in Santa Rosa), so I have some affection for it.

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.

[KittyDuran]

Martin Scorsese reads RedsZone? Who knew? (nice article about Cotton BTW):
http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/1019347%7C0/Scorsese-Screens-for-August.html

[Mutaman]

Martin Scorsese reads RedsZone? Who knew? (nice article about Cotton BTW):
http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/1019347%7C0/Scorsese-Screens-for-August.html

This was great. Scorsese talking about movies is like Bill Wyman or Sir Paul talking about music.

Here's Scorsese's top 10 (actually 12). Of course The Searchers is on there.

http://www.openculture.com/2013/07/martin-scorsese-reveals-his-10-favorite-movies.html

[Mutaman]

Not to say Scorsese doesn't have good taste in music himself.

Speaking of good openings:

http://youtu.be/k0KMxLvsvLI


http://youtu.be/k0KMxLvsvLI

[MikeThierry]

Goodfellas has my favorite opening scene. I also like Kubrick's opening weirdness in "A Clockwork Orange".

[RedTeamGo!]

Best opening credit roll? The Shining


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgCejsyS0t8

[WildcatFan]

It seems a little hokey now with the found footage craze it inspired, but the closing scene of The Blair Witch Project is one of the most chilling things I've ever seen on the screen.

[Kingspoint]

My favorite opening was from "Amistad".

*Spoiler alert*

You don't know what's going on for a while, as it starts out extremely zoomed in. Your senses tell you through hearing what sounds like someone breathing hard in a struggling manner, while there's a mess of browns, shadows and reds. In this background is another sound, which you soon determine is scraping, but what is being scraped, what is being used to scrape with, you don't know. As it slowly pans out, you discover that the reds are blood and the browns are human and wood, with the shadows and light throwing pieces of the puzzle together. Before it's all over, bodies have been hacked and skewered, all through the sounds of half a dozen African Languages and Portuguese being screamed in the background.

[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/273473/O-Brother-Where-Art-Thou-Movie-Clip-Credits-Rock-Candy-Mountain.html

[KronoRed]

The closing scene of The Aviator is pretty good.

[westofyou]

The closing scene to Mr Roberts is another classic


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASOLrKsyrFU

[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 (http://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:


https://youtu.be/nyuJQ_UO7OE

[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