Best opening lines in movie history

[Napster]

My favourite here.

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a ****ing big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of ****ing fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the **** you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing ****ing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, ****ing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, ****ed up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life . . . But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin

What are yours?

 

[TrueBlue]

Just picked mine mate!

 

[seany t]

Got a few:

Citizen Kane is obviously up there with:
"Rosebud."

And this line was the best bit in the three new Star Wars films:
"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . ."

I seem to remember the lengthy speeches in Apocalypse Now & The Big Lebowski. And if you discount the scream, this is (apparently) the start of Ghostbusters:

"I'm gonna turn over the next card. Concentrate. What do you think it is?"
"A square."

 

[Uncle Leo]

Goodfellas:

"As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster..."

 

[Napster]

And this line was the best bit in the three new Star Wars films:
"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . ."

Pedant's hat on - it's not the opening line. The opening line is "Did you hear that? They shut down the main reactor! We’ll be destroyed for sure!"

 

[loz]

Goodfellas:

"As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster..."

another vote for this one from me.

 

[londonblue]

How about:-

"****"

From Four Weddings?

 

[South Bank Hank]

"Debbie, I'm so proud of you..." has to be up there amongst the contenders. A truly educational film on the wonders of setting yourself goals and working hard to achieve what you set out to do.


(Hmmm... might be time to change either my avatar, my signature or my posting content. I'm looking like a right dodgy perv!)

:doh:

 

[Uncle Leo]

I'm looking like a right dodgy perv!)

Worry not mate, you don't merely look like one...

 

[South Bank Hank]

Worry not mate, you don't merely look like one...

Thanks mate. I was worried for a moment.

:clap:

 

[fatshrimp]

Goodfellas:

"As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster..."

Thirded, or whatever.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Don't know how you all remember things like this when a lot of blokes have difficulty remembering simple things like birthdays and anniversaries! The only one I remember is The Sound of Music because it starts off with THAT song! The lad says "Call me Ishmael" is the start of Moby Dick and the final line of Matilda - ha, beat that then - a first line that's also a last line of a different film!

 

[stoy_redstar]

"People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden"- fight club, strange film but i love it.
also the old favourite, reservoir dogs : "Let me tell you what 'Like a Virgin' is about. It's all about a girl who digs a guy with a big d!ck. The entire song. It's a metaphor for big d!cks"

 

[Harold Bishop Killer]

Damn! The chicken is gone! Get her,mister.
If the picture is good I will work in a newspaper.
You are playing with your life for a photograph?
Do you think that i am in the mood to see the ****ing gang?
The chicken bro!
The chicken i told you, *******!
Get the chicken!
If Ze gets you, you're dead.
He has to find me first.
Hey,kid! Get the chicken!
-The cops! -Don't run!
Butthead! Mother****er!
A photo might have changed my life. . .
but in the City of God, if you run you're dead. . .


...if you stay, you're dead again.

 

[londonblue]

Maybe not the first line, but the first lines:-

BABY BRIAN COHEN:
[crying]
WISE MAN #1:
Ahem.
MANDY COHEN:
Ohhh!
[whump]
Who are you?
WISE MAN #1:
We are three wise men.

MANDY:
What?!
WISE MAN #1:
We are three wise men.
MANDY:
Well, what are you doing creeping around a cow shed at two o'clock in the morning? That doesn't sound very wise to me.

 

[Rayleigh Weir]

I seem to remember the lengthy speeches in Apocalypse Now & The Big Lebowski.

Both superb films, but not sure that the opening lines will be anything special until you've watched the whole film and then suddenly 'get it'.

Apocalypse Now: Saigon? Sh*t! I'm still only in Saigon.

Big Lebowski: Way out west there was this fella I wanna tell ya about. Fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least that was the handle his loving parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself The Dude. Now, "Dude", there's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place so durned interestin'. They call Los Angeles the "City Of Angels", but I didn't find it to be that, exactly. But I'll allow it as there are some nice folks there. 'Course, I can't say I seen London, and I never been to France. And I ain't never seen no Queen in her damned undies, as a fella says. But I'll tell you what... after seein' Los Angeles, and this here story I'm about to unfold, well, I guess I seen somethin' every bit as stupefyin' as you'd see in any of them other places. And in English, too. So I can die with a smile on my face, without feelin' like the good Lord gypped me. Now this here story I'm about to unfold took place back in the early '90s - just about the time of our conflict with Saddam and the I-raqis. I only mention it because sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a man – and I'm talkin' about the Dude here – sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude. In Los Angeles. And even if he's a lazy man – and the Dude was most certainly that. Quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide – Sometimes there's a man... Sometimes, there's a man. Ah, I lost my train of thought here. But... aw, hell. I done introduced him enough.

 

[Mad Cyril]

"Did you hear that? They shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness."