Movies (A to Z)
Citizen Kane
Do the Right Thing
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fighting Club, The
Full Metal Jacket
Funny Girl
Godfather, The
Goodfellas
Haunting, The
Laura
Lawrence of Arabia
Patton
Rebecca
Rounders (1998)
Sound of Music, The
Stand By Me
Spider-Man
Goodfellas (1990)
Warner Bros.
The iconic opening line is the perfect introduction to a character, and a milieu. Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill has already been seen awash in a world of violence and chaos. Then, comes his first line of voiceover: “As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a gangster.”
Spike Lee’s indelible film begins with a radio DJ speaking to his listeners (to the audience). “Wake up!” he exclaims. He then exclaims it several more times. It’s a call to arms, an imploring to be attentive to the world around you. It helps that this DJ is voiced by Samuel L. Jackson.
When the American Film Institute made their list of the 100 best movie quotes of all time, at No. 81 was “Hello, gorgeous.” It is one of the rare opening lines on that list. When Streisand won the Oscar for starring in Funny Girl, she dropped the line in her speech: “Hello, gorgeous.”
One of the first films in Tom Cruise’s rise to stardom, Risky Business sees him playing the kind of character he would eventually eschew: sleazy and unlikeable. Back then, he was totally cool with playing somebody like Joel Goodson, who opens the film by saying, “The dream is always the same.”
Rounders went from underrated to overrated to an artifact of poker’s time in the spotlight, which it presaged since its release. Matt Damon’s Mike McDermott delivers tips and bon mots in his narration, but he begins with a crucial advice: “Listen, here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half-hour at the table, then you are the sucker.”
When Peter Parker’s voiceover says, “Who am I? You sure you wanna know?” the audience probably were already quite acquainted with their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. But it’s still smart way to lead you into the superhero story.
When a movie begins with a character talking about the main character, before we meet them, and they say, “He was the most extraordinary man I ever knew,” immediately you’re going to be like, “I’ve got to know more about him!” This opening line really set the stakes high for Lawrence of Arabia, the Best Picture-winning epic.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has always been more of a cult movie. It hooks you in with the first line, a statement of purpose: “We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.”
Stephen King is more highly adapted as any novelist. He provides the right fodder with an opening line. Stand by Me grabs us by beginning with, “I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being.”
