Great Film Prologues

Opening scenes that are complete narratives unto themselves. We're all familiar with the hors d'oeuvres offered at the beginning of Bond films. These are teasers that say "Stick around, there's more to come!" - essentially, attention-getting devices. Just as one shots or "oners" sometimes extend to lengths which encapsulate massive chunks of the narrative, so too do these opening riffs sometimes become an increasingly ambitious and independent movie-in-a-movie.

Think of the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan. 22 minutes of hell storming Omaha Beach.



This is really a film unto itself. It established what the rescue squad had already faced before being sent on their "fool's errand" to save Ryan.

"The Dybbuk" scene in A Serious Man only connects thematically/tonally with the rest of the film (the mechanics of the character and plot do not directly with it, even if the loose "thesis" is the same). That scene is basically a 7:12 TLDR for the rest of the film.



More important it is a primer for how to watch the film (embracing the absurdity of experience, the comedy of what most take to be tragedy).

Other examples are simpler. The opening scene from Darkness Falls, for example, is great, and really all of that film that you need to see.



Or take the 20 minute opening farmhouse scene from Inglorious Basterds.



I'd add the openers to Blade, Hurt Locker, and Desperado among others.

What should be added to this list? What should be subtracted? At what point does the opening teaser really become a miniature movie unto itself and not just a "hook" before the opening credits?

First thing I thought of was the hotel room scene in Apocalypse Now. Soundtracked to the woozy psychedelia of The Doors' "The End" and beginning with a layered composition - jungle being hit with napalm, Willard catatonic and smoking in bed, the Kurtz statue that's actually from the film's third act - before dissolving into the routine of sticking around inside the room and mashing up helicopters with ceiling fans. Not long before he's musing about how the trauma of his service is only being compounded by being relieved from it and how his attempts to stay prepared for his next assignment only result in him falling apart even further (trying to do martial arts leads to him breaking a mirror and slicing his hand open), ultimately collapsing on the floor while drunk, naked, and crying. That the film continues to intersperse footage from what is ultimately revealed to be the finale but which initially seems like flashback indicates the cyclical nature of things - he's done missions like this before and he'll definitely do it again. The film begins with one man going insane, and then the rest of him is about how the world outside just seems even more insane.

Same goes for both Blade Runner movies that are both similar in how they are about a blade runner tracking down a replicant, but are pointedly different in how they approach the matter - in one the investigation is just getting underway, in the other the answer is already clear - so as to underline how the films will differ and ultimately complement one another.

A History of Violence with its mostly-oner prologue about the two crooks checking out of the motel, interrupting a decidedly banal oner where nothing happens with the reveal that they have murdered just about everyone in the motel. Really sets the tone for the film's approach to the topic of violence.

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Most James Bond pre-title sequences. Heck, the James Bond logo itself. Heck, the United Artists logo itself.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Come on, how do you beat that ?

The start of Once Upon a Time in the West, with the first arrival of the first face into the camera view, nosferatu-like, straight like a plank.

Similarly, the first scene of Porte des Lilas, which each new character revealed by a camera movement, or the displacement of whoever was in front of them.

2001. Come on.

I love the first scene of The Exorcist, set in Iraq. I love it even more now that I've read the novel.

Every each scene from Dance of The Vampire (or do you know it as The Fearless Vampires Killers ?) is the best scene ever, but damn, that Komeda soundtrack, the MGM vampire, that moon, that blood droplet and the frozen Abronsius indifferent to the wolves. What a delight.

Also, Alien's Nostromo scrolling by, and the slow awakening of its computers...

fearless vampire killers is so unique in how it balances tone. Even though it has comedic scenes you always know life is at stake and a fricking vampire is "living" nearby. Such a cool fantasy setting for the movie. Even the opening where the characters are chased by dogs/wolfs is such a delight to watch.

Exactly. I always claimed that the specificity of that film is that, whereas most "horror comedies" alternate scary scenes and funny scenes (tension, relief, tension, relief), that film keeps all scenes constantly scary and funny at the same time. It makes it quite unique indeed. And makes it simultaneously the best parody and the best earnest vampire movie.

Drive has a good one. It shows you everything you need to know about how the driver works and his personality, i.e. he's efficient, blends into a crowd and exchanges no words with his clients.