10 Best Opening Movie Scenes Of All Time (According To Reddit)

8. Saving Private Ryan

Heath Ledger Joker The Dark Knight bank heist opening
Paramount Pictures

Sure, the Omaha beach landing isn't the very first scene in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, but since most people remember it as the opening of the movie, Reddit decided to give it a well-deserved shoutout.

The movie actually begins with an elderly veteran visiting a cemetery, but this scene quickly transitions into that iconic, beach-set action sequence, in which we witness the chaos and brutality of war through the eyes of Tom Hanks' Captain Miller.

Understanding that war most certainly isn't pretty, Spielberg brings this horrific situation to life with some disorienting handheld camerawork, a barrage of blood, bullets, and dirt, and a slew of smaller touches - the soldiers throwing up on the boat, the shot of Miller's hand shaking with terror - that do the best possible job of transporting the viewer into the soldiers' shoes.

It's equal parts riveting and horrifying, a cinematic masterclass that is still the most memorable scene in a war movie over 20 years later.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.