Best Movie Openings

[JaseSF]

Soylent Green (1973)'s opening showing the advance of industry and how it has affected the world still packs a punch.

[Moreau]

a film i saw recently with a great opening sequence is 'milano calibro 9'. a tale of betrayal and retribution, with awesome 70s italian prog rock and the glimpse of a breast (possibly NSFW), all crammed into the first 5 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXd74Vk8n-0
i love the gangster who is so tough he'll even start a fight with a pigeon.

[Doggett]

The start of this flick is very cool...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9VpVQ1sMfk&feature=related

[AndyC]

Definitely agree with Star Wars. The booming theme, the crawl, and then special effects on a level never before seen. And that scene of the star destroyer sailing overhead, in spite of having become a sci-fi cliche, is still very effective. I'd put it up against today's special effects any day.

Saving Private Ryan was equally revolutionary as battle scenes go. That blew me away. I had the mixed blessing of seeing it with a couple of friends who had each served a couple of tours in the Balkans. On the one hand, they gave me a better appreciation of the realism, but their military gallows humour had me giggling at inappropriate times.

One that has not been mentioned yet is Jurassic Park. Very effective scene, with Muldoon and the nervous park employees, and the transfer of the unseen raptors going horribly awry.

[Dennis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtmAiNG2Lxk

[ulthar]

THE THING opening ropes you right into the story.

[ChaosTheory]

I thought the beginning of Golden Eye was great, what with the bunji jumping off the damn and then the escape by riding a motorcycle off a cliff and then free falling into the airplane. Amazing! It was one of the best Bond openings of all time!

That one's definitely up there (and my favorite Bond song too).  I also love The Spy Who Loved Me's opening in all its '70s glory.

Jack really hit the nail on the head with Ghost Ship.  It's like the intro came from a completely different movie.  The House on Haunted Hill (remake) was another one pretty much blew all its scary in the first 10 minutes (although HoHH was at least kind of fun and campy).

Favorite opening credits: 
Watchmen
Se7en
Zombieland
The Royal Tenenbaums
Napoleon Dynamite
Gentlemen Broncos (another one where the opening was the best part)

[Jim H]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN4YC_0sjoc

From The Executioner.

From what I gather, the movie is all downhill from there.  But Jesus, what a great opening, as ridiculous as it is.

[AndyC]

That scene rocks. I especially enjoy the way they seem to keep surprising people who are going about their business in spite of all the gunfire.

One that really sets the mood is the opening of The Shining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw23KM3-Ry8