10 Greatest Opening Lines In Movie History

1. "As Far Back As I Can Remember, I Always Wanted To Be A Gangster." - Goodfellas

Trainspotting movie
Warner Bros.

It speaks volumes to the legacy of the iconic soundbite from the early going of Martin Scorcese's Goodfellas that many film goers mistakenly believe the drawled words of Ray Liotta's Henry Hill is actually the first line of the movie. In fact, Goodfellas' first spoken words are Hill asking "what the f*ck is that?"

Flashing the film's credits in stark white letters against an all black background, Goodfellas begins with what looks like an average road trip. Liotta is driving - with a sleeping Robert De Niro in the passenger seat as Joe Pesci rides in the back - when the unseen Billy Batts begins thumping around in the trunk, prompting Liotta's profanity laced question.

Even the less dedicated movie buffs amongst us all know how this ends. With faces illuminated crimson in the glare of the car's tail lights, the trio pop the boot before Pesci's Tommy DeVito viciously stabs and shoots the stricken Batts to death. Liotta surveys the bloody mess in front of him with scarcely any perceptible emotion before slamming the boot - his narrator's voice booms out for the first time and drops his now signature phrase;

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

Thanks to Scorcese, audiences had just witnessed firsthand what being a gangster meant. The unexplained, shockingly violent nature of the film's introductory events combined with Liotta's slick delivery instantly set the scene for what is conceivably the greatest gangster film ever made.

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