20 Greatest Opening Movie Scenes Of All Time

1. Once Upon A Time In The West

Once Upon a Time in the West isn't just Sergio Leone's best film, it's also the best western ever made.

Leone did, of course, have time to perfect his craft. The Italian famously directed all three entries in the Dollars Trilogy, and while follow ups to Once Upon a Time would soon follow, the 1968 classic is a tour-de-force of the Western genre, flawlessly composed from start to finish.

Leone himself was no stranger to a good opening scene, with both A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More both sporting memorable introductions for the Man With No Name and The Man in Black respectively. Once Upon A Time, however, goes one step further. It takes its time, focusing on three anonymous figures as they await the arrival of a traveller. The traveller happens to be Charles Bronson's Harmonica, a gunman the three characters introduced earlier are not overly pleased to see.

It's shot wonderfully, with Bronson's character getting the drop on the three henchmen just as Ennio Morricone's 'Man With a Harmonica' commences. There's only one possible outcome, and with Bronson delivering a true all-timer of a line when he remarks how his enemies have brought two horses too many, he dispatches all three in quick succession.

It's the perfect scene in a story filled with perfect scenes, and perhaps the best introduction ever put to film.