talk about starting off on a high note
Who am I you sure you want to know
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top 10
movie opening lines
hello my name’s Forrest Forrest Gump for
this list we’re taking a look at the
most iconic first lines of dialogue
spoken in movies since many of these
opening lines tie into major plot points
and larger themes a spoiler alert is
probably called for wait a minute wait a
minute you ain’t heard nothing yet wait
a minute
you ain’t heard nothing number 10 a
hundred thousand streets drive there’s a
hundred thousand streets in the city
known only as the driver our nameless
protagonists entire identity revolves
around automobiles good time in a place
I give you a five-minute window he works
as a getaway driver but will only offer
his services for exactly five minutes
after that you’re on your own anything
happens in that five minutes and I’m
yours no matter what
anything happens a minute either side of
that and you’re on your own
you understand five minutes might not
sound like much and not every getaway
goes off without a hitch however the
driver knows the streets of the city
like the back of his hand and he knows
how to make himself disappear even
better reminiscent of a film noir
antihero the drivers opening lines say
so much about his emotionally detached
character while also saying so little
which is only appropriate for a man of
few words you won’t be able to reach me
on this phone again
number nine choose life Trainspotting
choose life choose a job choose a career
choose a family when you’re an addict
you dedicate your entire world to one
thing and one thing only I chose not to
choose life I chose something else and
the reasons there are more reasons for
these reasons we would go ahead on
junkie mark rent boy Renton has been a
slave to heroin for years now he’s
looking to finally choose something else
I’m cleaning up and I’m moving on going
straight and choosing life as Renton
states in the poetic opening of
Trainspotting there are so many things
one can choose a job a career a family
the list goes on and on above all else
Renton encourages his audience to choose
life I’m looking forward to I ready I’m
gonna be just like you all the wonderful
things life offers can be easy to pass
up though when you’re convinced heroin
is all you need you can’t change you’re
only doing a bit heroin in sick oh thank
you pump whatever I mean the guy is de
Dana me number eight the drugs began to
take hold
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas we were
somewhere around Barstow on the edge of
the desert when the drugs began to take
hold
speaking of drugs Fear and Loathing in
Las Vegas plays like one big acid trip I
remember seeing something like I feel it
lightheaded
oh you should drive it’s only
appropriate that Rowell Dukes story
begins just as the drugs begin to take
hold
suddenly there was a terrible roar all
around us and the sky was full of what
looked like huge bats all swooping and
screeching and diving around the car
from the second our main characters
reached the edge of the desert the film
takes a nosedive into madness and never
lets up thirty minutes it was going to
be very close
in addition to perfectly setting the
stage this opening also captures the
essence of our narrator Duke is
constantly making observations and
talking as if he’s typing a novel in his
head there is nothing in the world more
helpless and irresponsible and depraved
than a man in the depths of an ether
binge and I knew we didn’t that rotten
stuff pretty soon of course most of his
rants are completely ludicrous man could
only come from a totally whacked-out
mind our energy would simply prevail we
had all the momentum we were riding the
crest of a high and beautiful wave
number seven I am gunnery sergeant
Hartman Full Metal Jacket
I am gunnery sergeant Hartman your
senior drill instructor few directors
know how to open a movie better than
Stanley Kubrick Alex’s first monologue
from a Clockwork Orange continues to
give us chills to this day it was me
there’s Alex and my three drugs that is
Pete Georgie and dim however we’ve
decided to single out gunnery sergeant
Hartman’s exhilarating introductory
speech from Full Metal Jacket here you
are all equally worthless and my orders
are to weed out all non hackers who do
not pack the gear serving my beloved car
this film immediately throws the
audience into basic military training
which can feel just as hellish as actual
combat when you have a ruthless drill
sergeant barking orders you’re not even
human fucking big Hartman is an
unrelenting
force that never stops insulting his
cadets
I’m telling you brother sir fun night
sir hi but nine I didn’t know they
stacked shit that high from the second
he opens his mouth it’s clear he’ll
eventually push one of these young
maggots over the edge no sir then wipe
that disgusting grin off your face
sir yes sir number six the music or the
misery high fidelity what came first
music or the misery although pop music
is often viewed as peppy and fun a
majority of the genre songs are
surprisingly about heartbreak rejection
pain misery and loss people worry about
kids playing with guns
or watching violent videos some sort of
culture of violence will take them over
nobody worries but kids listening to
thousands literally thousands of songs
about heartbreak rejection hold misery
at loss so why do we keep listening to
them it’s pop music the root of all our
misery or do we listen to pop music
because we’re miserable these are the
questions Rob Gordon malls over at the
beginning of high-fidelity you have to
go the second you can stay until
whenever with a love life that plays
like a broken record
Rob contemplates if sad music can be
even more harmful than toy guns and
violent movies in any case Rob could
definitely use a sunnier mixtape did I
listen to pop music because I was
miserable
because I listened to bottle music
number five Tyler Durden Fight Club
people are always asking me if I know
Tyler Durden so you know that spoiler
warning we talked about earlier that was
primarily for anyone that still hasn’t
seen Fight Club with a gun barrel
between your teeth you speak only in
valve this masterpiece from David
Fincher is notorious for having one of
the greatest movie twists ever revealing
that Edward Norton’s narrator is also
Tyler Durden I’m not
Tyler dirty told us you’d say that too I
am time’ didn’t what’s so ironic about
this twist is that the narrator
basically gives it away with his very
first line throughout the entire movie
however the audience is completely
oblivious I know this because Tyler
knows this it isn’t until you watch
Fight Club a second time that you catch
this ingenious foreshadowing which makes
you appreciate the film even more
we have front-row seats for this theater
of mass destruction number four the
first time I saw a dead human being
stand by me I was 12 going on 13 the
first time I saw a dead human being
stand by me is all about the
life-changing moment that marks a kid’s
transition into adulthood for Gordie
LaChance that moment was when he first
saw a dead human being it happened in
the summer of 1959
a long time ago but only if you measure
in terms of years the opening of the
film finds an older Gordy looking back
on his childhood friendships and the
journey that changed their lives forever
I was living in a small town in Oregon
called Castle Rock there were only
twelve hundred eighty-one people but to
me it was the whole world
aside from hooking the audience in this
opening line highlights the bittersweet
sense of nostalgia that makes us long
for a simpler time it happens sometimes
friends come in and out of your life
like Busboys in a restaurant childhood
goes by fast and is easy to take for
granted as Gordy completes his memoir
though he remembers the importance of
looking ahead to the future I’m never
gonna get out of this town on my gory
you can do anything you want man number
three I believe in America The Godfather
I believe in America America’s made my
fortune and I raised my daughter in
American fashion we’re all taught to
believe in the American dream the sad
truth though is that sometimes the
American Dream lets us down and the only
way to get justice is by seeking out
somebody like Don Vito Corleone and
votes to bastard they smile at me then I
said to my wife for justice we must go
to the colony the masterful opening of
The Godfather centers on an Italian man
pleading with Vito to kill the boys that
disfigured his daughter I’ll give you a
anything you ask
and none each other many years but this
is the first time he ever came the
council Vito ultimately agrees to give
him justice and have the youths horribly
beaten except this justice is a gift oh
my god his wedding day as The Godfather
gives his enforcer instructions we are
forced to contemplate if he’s keeping
the American dream alive or if he’s why
the American Dream is dead
I want my liable people people aren’t
gonna be carried away number two as long
as I can remember
Goodfellas as far back
I can remember I always wanted to be a
gangster some boys dream of being
president but Henry Hill always wanted
to be a gangster this line sums up Henry
in a nutshell to me being a gangster was
better than being President of the
United States like many of the other
characters in Goodfellas he’s a selfish
sob he does whatever he wants and takes
whatever he wants with little regard for
those that get caught in the crossfire
for most of the guys killings got to be
accepted murder was the only way that
everybody stayed in line he got out of
line you got whacked everybody knew the
rules in Henry’s mind being a gangster
means to own the world it was there that
I knew that I belonged to me it meant
being somebody in a neighborhood that
was full of nobodies Henry does indeed
achieve all the power and wealth he ever
dreamed of that is until his inevitable
downfall an average nobody get to live
the rest of my life like a schnook even
then Henry’s just glad that he got a
taste of the gangster lifestyle and he
wouldn’t change a thing see the hardest
thing for me was leaving the life I
still loved the life before we get to
our top pick here are some honorable
mentions there’s an old joke um two
elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain
Resort and one of them says why the food
at this place is really terrible the
other one says he I know and such small
portions well that’s essentially how I
feel about life they may do yeah he
didn’t comedy flat him to me you’re a
darling League appearances
Cheers I still ring in my ears three
years have remain in my thoughts yes
this is Sunset Boulevard Los Angeles
California it’s about five o’clock in
the morning
that’s the Homicide Squad complete with
detectives and newspapermen between the
time when the oceans drank Atlantis and
the rise of the sons of Arrius there was
an age undreamed-of number one rosebud
Citizen Kane
sometimes one little word can have the
greatest impact of all in this case
rosebud initiates what is often
considered the best movie of all time
Charles Foster Kane ‘he’s dying word
rosebud sends a reporter on an
investigation to uncover its true
meaning Foster Kane died he said just
one word rosebud yes road eyes calling
rose one word he never exactly figures
out what rosebud meant but the audience
learns that it epitomizes the one thing
the richest man in the world couldn’t
buy his lost childhood if you could have
found if that rosebud mint had that that
would have explained everything no I
don’t think so
no mr. Kane was a man who got everything
he wanted and then lost it
maybe rosebud was something he couldn’t
get her something he lost bringing
everything full circle it’s easy to see
why Citizen Kane is a masterpiece from
beginning to end
what’s Ross but that’s what he said when
you’re bad do you agree with our list
well why not what opening movie line
instantly piqued your interest I’ll bet
you’re the kind of guy that would
personalize to goddamn common courtesy
to give him a reach-around for more
entertaining top 10s published every day
be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
okay you promise yeah I promise promise
I just said I promise that’s three times
promise
Oh
Who am I you sure you want to know
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top 10
movie opening lines
hello my name’s Forrest Forrest Gump for
this list we’re taking a look at the
most iconic first lines of dialogue
spoken in movies since many of these
opening lines tie into major plot points
and larger themes a spoiler alert is
probably called for wait a minute wait a
minute you ain’t heard nothing yet wait
a minute
you ain’t heard nothing number 10 a
hundred thousand streets drive there’s a
hundred thousand streets in the city
known only as the driver our nameless
protagonists entire identity revolves
around automobiles good time in a place
I give you a five-minute window he works
as a getaway driver but will only offer
his services for exactly five minutes
after that you’re on your own anything
happens in that five minutes and I’m
yours no matter what
anything happens a minute either side of
that and you’re on your own
you understand five minutes might not
sound like much and not every getaway
goes off without a hitch however the
driver knows the streets of the city
like the back of his hand and he knows
how to make himself disappear even
better reminiscent of a film noir
antihero the drivers opening lines say
so much about his emotionally detached
character while also saying so little
which is only appropriate for a man of
few words you won’t be able to reach me
on this phone again
number nine choose life Trainspotting
choose life choose a job choose a career
choose a family when you’re an addict
you dedicate your entire world to one
thing and one thing only I chose not to
choose life I chose something else and
the reasons there are more reasons for
these reasons we would go ahead on
junkie mark rent boy Renton has been a
slave to heroin for years now he’s
looking to finally choose something else
I’m cleaning up and I’m moving on going
straight and choosing life as Renton
states in the poetic opening of
Trainspotting there are so many things
one can choose a job a career a family
the list goes on and on above all else
Renton encourages his audience to choose
life I’m looking forward to I ready I’m
gonna be just like you all the wonderful
things life offers can be easy to pass
up though when you’re convinced heroin
is all you need you can’t change you’re
only doing a bit heroin in sick oh thank
you pump whatever I mean the guy is de
Dana me number eight the drugs began to
take hold
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas we were
somewhere around Barstow on the edge of
the desert when the drugs began to take
hold
speaking of drugs Fear and Loathing in
Las Vegas plays like one big acid trip I
remember seeing something like I feel it
lightheaded
oh you should drive it’s only
appropriate that Rowell Dukes story
begins just as the drugs begin to take
hold
suddenly there was a terrible roar all
around us and the sky was full of what
looked like huge bats all swooping and
screeching and diving around the car
from the second our main characters
reached the edge of the desert the film
takes a nosedive into madness and never
lets up thirty minutes it was going to
be very close
in addition to perfectly setting the
stage this opening also captures the
essence of our narrator Duke is
constantly making observations and
talking as if he’s typing a novel in his
head there is nothing in the world more
helpless and irresponsible and depraved
than a man in the depths of an ether
binge and I knew we didn’t that rotten
stuff pretty soon of course most of his
rants are completely ludicrous man could
only come from a totally whacked-out
mind our energy would simply prevail we
had all the momentum we were riding the
crest of a high and beautiful wave
number seven I am gunnery sergeant
Hartman Full Metal Jacket
I am gunnery sergeant Hartman your
senior drill instructor few directors
know how to open a movie better than
Stanley Kubrick Alex’s first monologue
from a Clockwork Orange continues to
give us chills to this day it was me
there’s Alex and my three drugs that is
Pete Georgie and dim however we’ve
decided to single out gunnery sergeant
Hartman’s exhilarating introductory
speech from Full Metal Jacket here you
are all equally worthless and my orders
are to weed out all non hackers who do
not pack the gear serving my beloved car
this film immediately throws the
audience into basic military training
which can feel just as hellish as actual
combat when you have a ruthless drill
sergeant barking orders you’re not even
human fucking big Hartman is an
unrelenting
force that never stops insulting his
cadets
I’m telling you brother sir fun night
sir hi but nine I didn’t know they
stacked shit that high from the second
he opens his mouth it’s clear he’ll
eventually push one of these young
maggots over the edge no sir then wipe
that disgusting grin off your face
sir yes sir number six the music or the
misery high fidelity what came first
music or the misery although pop music
is often viewed as peppy and fun a
majority of the genre songs are
surprisingly about heartbreak rejection
pain misery and loss people worry about
kids playing with guns
or watching violent videos some sort of
culture of violence will take them over
nobody worries but kids listening to
thousands literally thousands of songs
about heartbreak rejection hold misery
at loss so why do we keep listening to
them it’s pop music the root of all our
misery or do we listen to pop music
because we’re miserable these are the
questions Rob Gordon malls over at the
beginning of high-fidelity you have to
go the second you can stay until
whenever with a love life that plays
like a broken record
Rob contemplates if sad music can be
even more harmful than toy guns and
violent movies in any case Rob could
definitely use a sunnier mixtape did I
listen to pop music because I was
miserable
because I listened to bottle music
number five Tyler Durden Fight Club
people are always asking me if I know
Tyler Durden so you know that spoiler
warning we talked about earlier that was
primarily for anyone that still hasn’t
seen Fight Club with a gun barrel
between your teeth you speak only in
valve this masterpiece from David
Fincher is notorious for having one of
the greatest movie twists ever revealing
that Edward Norton’s narrator is also
Tyler Durden I’m not
Tyler dirty told us you’d say that too I
am time’ didn’t what’s so ironic about
this twist is that the narrator
basically gives it away with his very
first line throughout the entire movie
however the audience is completely
oblivious I know this because Tyler
knows this it isn’t until you watch
Fight Club a second time that you catch
this ingenious foreshadowing which makes
you appreciate the film even more
we have front-row seats for this theater
of mass destruction number four the
first time I saw a dead human being
stand by me I was 12 going on 13 the
first time I saw a dead human being
stand by me is all about the
life-changing moment that marks a kid’s
transition into adulthood for Gordie
LaChance that moment was when he first
saw a dead human being it happened in
the summer of 1959
a long time ago but only if you measure
in terms of years the opening of the
film finds an older Gordy looking back
on his childhood friendships and the
journey that changed their lives forever
I was living in a small town in Oregon
called Castle Rock there were only
twelve hundred eighty-one people but to
me it was the whole world
aside from hooking the audience in this
opening line highlights the bittersweet
sense of nostalgia that makes us long
for a simpler time it happens sometimes
friends come in and out of your life
like Busboys in a restaurant childhood
goes by fast and is easy to take for
granted as Gordy completes his memoir
though he remembers the importance of
looking ahead to the future I’m never
gonna get out of this town on my gory
you can do anything you want man number
three I believe in America The Godfather
I believe in America America’s made my
fortune and I raised my daughter in
American fashion we’re all taught to
believe in the American dream the sad
truth though is that sometimes the
American Dream lets us down and the only
way to get justice is by seeking out
somebody like Don Vito Corleone and
votes to bastard they smile at me then I
said to my wife for justice we must go
to the colony the masterful opening of
The Godfather centers on an Italian man
pleading with Vito to kill the boys that
disfigured his daughter I’ll give you a
anything you ask
and none each other many years but this
is the first time he ever came the
council Vito ultimately agrees to give
him justice and have the youths horribly
beaten except this justice is a gift oh
my god his wedding day as The Godfather
gives his enforcer instructions we are
forced to contemplate if he’s keeping
the American dream alive or if he’s why
the American Dream is dead
I want my liable people people aren’t
gonna be carried away number two as long
as I can remember
Goodfellas as far back
I can remember I always wanted to be a
gangster some boys dream of being
president but Henry Hill always wanted
to be a gangster this line sums up Henry
in a nutshell to me being a gangster was
better than being President of the
United States like many of the other
characters in Goodfellas he’s a selfish
sob he does whatever he wants and takes
whatever he wants with little regard for
those that get caught in the crossfire
for most of the guys killings got to be
accepted murder was the only way that
everybody stayed in line he got out of
line you got whacked everybody knew the
rules in Henry’s mind being a gangster
means to own the world it was there that
I knew that I belonged to me it meant
being somebody in a neighborhood that
was full of nobodies Henry does indeed
achieve all the power and wealth he ever
dreamed of that is until his inevitable
downfall an average nobody get to live
the rest of my life like a schnook even
then Henry’s just glad that he got a
taste of the gangster lifestyle and he
wouldn’t change a thing see the hardest
thing for me was leaving the life I
still loved the life before we get to
our top pick here are some honorable
mentions there’s an old joke um two
elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain
Resort and one of them says why the food
at this place is really terrible the
other one says he I know and such small
portions well that’s essentially how I
feel about life they may do yeah he
didn’t comedy flat him to me you’re a
darling League appearances
Cheers I still ring in my ears three
years have remain in my thoughts yes
this is Sunset Boulevard Los Angeles
California it’s about five o’clock in
the morning
that’s the Homicide Squad complete with
detectives and newspapermen between the
time when the oceans drank Atlantis and
the rise of the sons of Arrius there was
an age undreamed-of number one rosebud
Citizen Kane
sometimes one little word can have the
greatest impact of all in this case
rosebud initiates what is often
considered the best movie of all time
Charles Foster Kane ‘he’s dying word
rosebud sends a reporter on an
investigation to uncover its true
meaning Foster Kane died he said just
one word rosebud yes road eyes calling
rose one word he never exactly figures
out what rosebud meant but the audience
learns that it epitomizes the one thing
the richest man in the world couldn’t
buy his lost childhood if you could have
found if that rosebud mint had that that
would have explained everything no I
don’t think so
no mr. Kane was a man who got everything
he wanted and then lost it
maybe rosebud was something he couldn’t
get her something he lost bringing
everything full circle it’s easy to see
why Citizen Kane is a masterpiece from
beginning to end
what’s Ross but that’s what he said when
you’re bad do you agree with our list
well why not what opening movie line
instantly piqued your interest I’ll bet
you’re the kind of guy that would
personalize to goddamn common courtesy
to give him a reach-around for more
entertaining top 10s published every day
be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
okay you promise yeah I promise promise
I just said I promise that’s three times
promise
Oh
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