A great opening scene can tell audiences almost everything they need to know about a movie. It can introduce a character, establish a tone, create an unforgettable image, or throw audiences straight into the action before they've even had time to settle into their seats. Some films, however, take that even further and deliver iconic openings that are just as famous as the rest of the picture.
The most iconic movie opening scenes aren't always the most technical or visually impressive. Sometimes, they become a part of pop culture because of one perfect image, an unforgettable death, or a legendary action sequence. From Raiders of the Lost Ark to Jaws, these are the most iconic introductions in movies.
Not many horror movies can say they introduced themselves as confidently as Scream. The film kicks off with Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) at home alone, making popcorn when the phone rings. What starts as a seemingly harmless conversation with a stranger takes an odd turn when the caller begins asking Casey about horror movies. It escalates into a terrifying game with Ghostface where Casey learns that her boyfriend is being held outside, and her life is in grave danger.
Scream's opening scene is iconic because it completely subverts audience's expectations. Drew Barrymore was already a major star, and many assumed Casey would be a protagonist, only for her character to be brutally murdered before the main story starts. The first few minutes of Scream expertly demonstrate its understanding of horror genre rules and how it's willing to break them, which would become an iconic part of the slasher franchise. Casey's phone call and the line, "What's your favorite scary movie?," became just as popular as the movie itself.
Before Jaws introduces Chief Brody, Amity Island, or even the enormous shark that will terrorize the town, it introduces its monster through a nighttime swim. A young woman named Chrissie runs off into the water, and an unseen predator attacks her from below, violently dragging her through the water as she screams in agony. An ominous score plays in the background until the creature pulls her under completely, leaving only silence on the water's surface.
That restraint is exactly what made Jaws' opening scene so effective. Spielberg didn't need to show audiences a gory, gruesome attack; he instead weaponized the fear of the unknown, which produced a considerably more frightening result. Chrissie's death also immediately establishes the movie's tone: the ocean is no longer a harmless, fun summer setting, because something enormous is waiting beneath the surface. The sequence became the blueprint for countless horror movies that followed, proving that what the audience cannot see is just as scary as what it can. Even decades later, Jaws' first death scene is an iconic sequence.
Saving Private Ryan opens with an elderly man visiting a cemetery in Normandy with his family, before the movie cuts back to June 6, 1944. The audience is suddenly aboard a landing craft approaching Omaha Beach with Captain John Miller and a group of American soldiers, who are met with devastating gunfire from German troops when their doors open. What follows is a heartbreaking extended depiction of the chaos and brutality of the D-Day invasion. As war movies go, Saving Private Ryan does everything to avoid making the conflict look heroic in the conventional sense.
Soldiers are killed almost immediately, men struggle through the water while under fire, and the beach becomes a landscape of bodies, blood, and confusion. Rather than beginning with a straightforward action sequence where the heroes look invincible, Saving Private Ryan makes the audience feel vulnerable and overwhelmed alongside them. The scene lasts roughly 24 minutes, and by the time Miller reaches the beach, viewers understand the physical and psychological cost of the mission before the search for Ryan has even begun.
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