First impressions always matter, and cinema is no exception. Of course, a great opening scene that sets the stage for an enthralling story is always welcome, but an equally great opening shot is every bit as important. It’s the first image that the audience sees, so it’s the one that should imprint itself on their mind and immediately hook their attention.
There are many things that can make an opening movie shot great. Whether it’s because they’re simply visually stunning ways to open such great films, because they’re imbued with powerful symbolic meaning, or because they mirror the final shot of the movie in quite a powerful way, the greatest opening shots of the 20th century as a whole are proof of just how immense of an effect a starting visual can have.
10
‘The Lion King’ (1994)
No conversation about the greatest opening shots of the century that saw the birth of animated motion pictures could ever be complete without bringing animation into the conversation; and as far as the 20th century went, opening shots never got much better than The Lion King‘s. Disney didn’t originally have much faith in this project, sending most of their elite animators to work on Pocahontas instead. Little did they know, Simba’s tale would end up becoming their most widely acclaimed and beloved animated feature film ever.
If there were a Mount Rushmore of Disney movies, The Lion King would need to be right up there, with its opening shot of a slow sunrise over the sweeping African savanna being the perfect way of starting such a perfect family film. It’s a simple enough opening shot and only a little over 10 seconds long, but it’s such a visually jaw-dropping piece of animation (paired with the iconic Zulu chant that kicks off the catchy “Circle of Life”) that it has to be one of the best openers in animation’s history.
9
‘Memento’ (2000)
Over the years, Christopher Nolan has become today’s king of Hollywood blockbusters, but it just so happens that his magnum opus is still his sophomore feature, which he made back when he was still an up-and-coming indie director. Indeed, Memento is one of those rare thriller movies without flaws, and that’s why it was such a phenomenal masterpiece for Nolan to bid farewell to the 20th century with.
The film’s opening shot is a close-up of Leonard shaking a Polaroid photo of a dead man on the floor, the developed print gradually fading away into an undeveloped state until sliding back into the camera. It’s a brilliant way for Nolan to introduce the reverse-chronological structure of his masterpiece, as well as to subvert the traditional neo-noir opening that “spoils” the ending and keeps viewers wondering how we got there throughout the whole runtime.
8
‘Rear Window’ (1954)
Alfred Hitchcock made several of the greatest thriller and mystery movie masterpieces in history, which is why he’s still often touted as the Master of Suspense. Every master has a peak, however, and for Hitchcock, that was almost undoubtedly the entirety of the 1950s. Right in the middle of the decade, he made Rear Window, which many would rightfully deem their favorite movie of his.
It’s one of those mystery movies that are impossible to hate, starting with the greatest opening shot of Hitchcock’s whole filmography. It’s an absolutely jaw-dropping sequence considering its age, a slow oner traversing the neighborhood’s courtyard with a patient pan from the protagonist’s apartment. It serves a dual purpose of being a fantastic introduction to the film’s theme of voyeurism, as well as of introducing us to the neighbors that we’ll be watching for the rest of the movie.
7
‘The Searchers’ (1956)
Widely recognized as one of the greatest Westerns in Hollywood history, The Searchers is a brilliant deconstruction of the genre itself, following a more morally ambiguous anti-hero protagonist, subverting the mythic tropes of the American frontier, and exploring the dark side of Manifest Destiny. It’s one of the best movies that perfectly represent American cinema, complete with the best opening shot in Western history.
Martha Edwards opens the unlit front door of her isolated homestead, looking out and watching John Wayne‘s Ethan Edwards approaching from the desert. While perfectly mirroring the film’s final shot (itself one of the best final shots of 20th-century cinema), this opening also sets up the film’s core themes: the stark contrast between the warmth and comfort of “civilization” and the dangers of the West’s “wilderness”.
6
‘Halloween’ (1978)
John Carpenter is one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of horror, and there’s very little doubt that Halloween is his most iconic work ever. Though the long-running franchise that it sparked has never really been able to perfectly live up to the legacy of the original, this 1978 classic is nevertheless a masterclass in horror filmmaking unlike any other.
One of the biggest reasons why Halloween is a horror masterclass is the perfect visual and narrative construction of Michael Myers, its terrifying antagonist, one of the best masked killers in horror history. We actually begin the film from Myers’ own point of view—quite literally—, seeing what he sees during a four-minute shot that concludes with six-year-old Michael’s first-ever kill. It’s a chilling, impeccably paced, absolutely unforgettable opening oner.
5
‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979)
Francis Ford Coppola‘s Apocalypse Now is one of the most universally acclaimed war movies of all time, and that’s in no small measure thanks to how visually striking it is. Despite the infamously hellish process that was the movie’s production process, the result is one of the most visually unforgettable Vietnam War movies ever made, full of haunting images that sear themselves onto the viewer’s memory—not least of which is the opening shot.
A hypnotic slow-motion shot of a serene palm tree jungle, followed by military helicopters engulfing it in fiery napalm explosions.
Set to the unforgettably fitting sound of The Doors’ “The End,” the opening is a hypnotic slow-motion shot of a serene palm tree jungle, followed by military helicopters engulfing it in fiery napalm explosions. It’s an almost surreal, dreamlike vision of destruction that immediately sets up the movie’s nightmarish tone. What makes this opening even better is that it was pulled straight from the trash can, as it was originally discarded footage whose Coppola wisely recognized.
4
‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1971)
The Kubrick stare, one of the many signature techniques that Stanley Kubrick (who many still refer to as the greatest American filmmaker in history) employed to make his haunting cinema unforgettable, is nothing short of legendary. There is arguably no Kubrick stare more legendary or more iconic than the one delivered by Malcolm McDowell throughout all of A Clockwork Orange, most memorably in one of the best opening shots of any sci-fi movie.
The whole opening sequence of the film is an absolutely perfect introduction to the chilling world of Alex DeLarge, but the shot itself is just as brilliant when seen in a vacuum. With DeLarge’s chilling, eye-cold stare remaining fixed on the audience as Kubrick pulls back from an extreme close-up to reveal the bizarre Korova Milk Bar, one can’t help but be immediately fascinated by this eerily bizarre dystopia.
3
‘Touch of Evil’ (1958)
Orson Welles was one of the greatest filmmakers in history. After all, only one of the greats could make a film like Touch of Evil, a noir thriller so great that it even inspired a director of the stature of Alfred Hitchcock. The movie’s opening sequence is itself a microcosm of the film’s atmosphere, an absolute masterclass in how to masterfully build tension and suspense.
Indeed, it’s one of the best opening movie shots of all time, one whose unbroken nature was both a technical and artistic milestone at the time of the film’s release. Today, this four-minute-long sequence is still every bit as effective and impressive, an airtight and ultra-efficient piece of micro-storytelling that builds an intense, ticking-clock sense of suspense which doesn’t let go until the very end.
2
‘Raging Bull’ (1980)
It’s a testament to Martin Scorsese‘s brilliance as an artist that the greatest opening shot of his career could be just as easily dismissed of being nothing but a background for the opening title sequence. It is, of course, the opening of Raging Bull, the sort of movie you know will be a masterpiece from the opening scene alone. It was a movie that Scorsese was initially reluctant to direct, but after realizing the parallels between Jake LaMotta‘s life and his own struggles with depression and addiction, he agreed. The result is still the greatest sports film of all time.
The movie’s opening seems simple enough on paper, showing Robert De Niro‘s LaMotta preparing for a match by shadowboxing in the ring alone in slow motion. The visuals are absolutely hypnotic and wonderfully dreamlike, but it’s the significance of the shot that really makes it one of the best of all time. As the titles roll, we immediately get a sense of whom LaMotta’s constant fight really is against: himself.
1
‘Star Wars’ (1977)
Back in 1977, the world of blockbusters changed forever as soon as George Lucas‘ Star Wars (now retroactively known as Episode IV — A New Hope) hit the big screen. After an introductory text crawl introducing the audience to the general gist of the story, viewers were hit with the greatest and most iconic opening shot in the history of cinema, the sort of thing that makes Star Wars one of those classic sci-fi movies that are still perfect decades later.
Shots opening in media res (right in the middle of the action) aren’t infrequent, but none have ever done a better job of employing this opening trope than Star Wars. The shot of a Star Destroyer chasing the Tantive IV over Tatooine does so much for the narrative that it’s difficult to put it all into words. It’s visually striking, it sets up the movie’s space opera setting perfectly, and it establishes the Rebel Alliance as underdogs in the face of the terrifying Galactic Empire. Iconicity certainly goes a long way for this opening shot, but even if it weren’t even half as famous as it is, it would still be an absolute masterclass in how to begin a movie.
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