Best opening lines from a Movie, Book or Song?

OutlawPete

So, what opening lines from Movies, Plays, Books or Songs do you think are the best?

My choices would be:


Book:

"It is always difficult to find a beginning." - An Evil Cradling, Brian Keenan.


Movie:

"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a Gangster" - Goodfellas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaPseYjMNao

Song:

"Your daddy works in porno
Now that mommy's not around,
She used to love her heroin
But now she's underground"

My Michelle - Guns n' Roses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18dBU55S6P0

EDIT: Could people quoting a movie, book or song please say which movie, song or book that it comes from.

Saves people (particualrly me) having to Google it.

Dudess

/sits back to watch several "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times" roll in.

IvySlayer

The Lion King - Circle of Life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Novel - "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."

Kafka - Metamorphosis


Movie "****! ****! ****! ****! ****! ****! ****! ****! ****! ****! ****! ****! ****! ****!"

Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Rhyme

Call me Ishmael.

But yeah, the Evil Cradling intro is a great one.

chakotha

Trainspotting - Choose Life

El Siglo

Film and Song - Apocalypse Now and The End.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU0DxJVWhGw

"Saigon... shit; I'm still only in Saigon... Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle. When I was home after my first tour, it was worse. I'd wake up and there'd be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said "yes" to a divorce. When I was home after my first tour, it was worse. I'd wake up and there'd be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said "yes" to a divorce. When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I'm here a week now... waiting for a mission... getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter."

Book - "Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring." - Animal Farm, George Orwell.

Morlar

"it was the day my grandmother exploded."

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

A man in a hat entered the room.

Someone was goin to go it - might as well get it out of the way.

GrizzlyMan

Movie: When I was going up the stairs, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today, I wish, I wish he'd go away - IDENTITY

Song: Ministry - Rio Grande Blood

And now a message from the President of the United States George W. Bush:
I've adopted sophisticated terrorist tactics
And I'm a dangerous, dangerous man
With dangerous, dangerous weapons
I want to drain the coal resources in America
And foreign sources of crude oil.
I'm a weapon of mass destruction
And I'm a brutal dictator
And I'm evil

From a movie I watched recently..

Ass Invaders 14

Cindy: "Oh you forgot your work tools, why don't you just fuk me instead?"

Great plot actually.. but largely centered around that opening line.

civis_liberalis

The start of Intermission. Could only find the Spanish version on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCu6dxil5D4

The dialogue was pretty forgettable anyway, since it was what happens that was interesting.

Garth Marenghi: The Told - (TV Show "Darkplace" Episode - "Scotch Mist")

Nina's eyes popped out of what was left of her back. Why oh why had she opened that tomb? The sand turned red. This was because she was bleeding on it. Blood - ruby-red blood, her blood. Blood… and piss and shit. This was the worst day of her life.

EraseAndRewind

''we were somewhere around barso on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.."

Opening line from Fear and Loathing in LasVegas

OutlawPete

civis_liberalis wrote: »

The start of Intermission. Could only find the Spanish version on youtube..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8EGCC9NNvo

Tigger

either

Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your home on the wedding day of your daughter. And may their first child be a masculine child.

or

People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden.

El Siglo

civis_liberalis wrote: »

The start of Intermission. Could only find the Spanish version on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCu6dxil5D4

The dialogue was pretty forgettable anyway, since it was what happens that was interesting.

FYP:D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8EGCC9NNvo

The dialogue is brilliant, it's key to the whole scam so it is, especially how semi-poetic he was trying to be!

EraseAndRewind

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Riskymove

Tigger wrote: »

either

Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your home on the wedding day of your daughter. And may their first child be a masculine child.

that aint the first line (in the film anyway)

D1976

I was twelve going on thirteen the first time I 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. I was living in a small town in Oregon called Castle Rock. There were only 1281 people, but to me it was the whole world.

bonzodog2

Book: The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

"Sometimes I wish I had a cat. All I've ever had was a head, and that the seagulls took."

Song: A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum)
"We skipped the light fandango"

OutlawPete

"Okay, so what do you call yourself? Heh, como se llama?"

"Antonio Montana. And you.. whatchu call your self??"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtrZ-q6z0ME

Tigger

Riskymove wrote: »

that aint the first line (in the film anyway)

oh


i believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom, but -- I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boyfriend; not an Italian.


yeah thas even better

OutlawPete

D1976 wrote: »

I was twelve going on thirteen the first time I 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. I was living in a small town in Oregon called Castle Rock. There were only 1281 people, but to me it was the whole world.

I don't know why Stephen King writes so much horror.

From that one non-horror book, Different Seasons, three movies were made.

Amazing.

biko

This was a triumph. I'm making a note here, huge success
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Magnus wrote: »

This was a triumph. I'm making a note here, huge success
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction

Well, know that you've finished fapping, would you care to answer the OP's question?

OutlawPete

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Well, know that you've finished fapping, would you care to answer the OP's question?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNh1FcuaU00

Riskymove

“I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on, you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be 'Sir!' Do you maggots understand this?”



"Let me tell you what 'Like a Virgin' is about. It's all about a girl who digs a guy with a big dick. The entire song. It's a metaphor for big dicks."

ascanbe

All the streets are crammed with things
Eager to be held
I know what hands are for
And I'd like to help myself
You ask me the time
But I sense something more
And I would like to give you
What I think you're asking for
You handsome devil
Oh, you handsome devil

The Smiths - Handsome Devil

First thing to spring to mind, for whatever reason.

humanji

"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea." - Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Although you cuold keep going with the rest of the book. It's all good.

I_am_Jebus

Song.

Fair Warning by Todd Rundgren

You know, wishing won't make it so
Hoping won't do it, praying won't do it
Religion won't do it, philosophy won't do it
The supreme court won't do it,
The president and the congress won't do it
The UN won't do it, the H-bomb won't do it,
The sun and the moon won't do it
And God won't do it,
And I certainly won't do it
That leaves you, you'll have to do it

RobbieTheRobber

best song opening could be NWA

Let's describe a certain female. A female with the disease of character
and attitude. If you will a snob. However in a view of NWA...

Penn

Mallrats:

One time my cousin Walter got this cat stuck up his ass. True story. He bought it at our local mall, so the whole fiasco wound up on the news. It was embarrasing for my relatives and all, but the next week, he did it again. Different cat, same results, complete with another trip to the emergency room. So, I run into him a week later in the mall and he's buying another cat. And I says to him: 'Jesus, Walt! What are you doing? You know you're just gonna get this cat stuck in your ass too. Why don't you knock it off?' And he said to me: 'Brodie, how the hell else am I supposed to get the gerbil out?' My cousin was a weird guy.

chakotha

Rounders - "Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker."

Morlar

Song
Ghostrider by Suicide

ghostrider, motorcycle hero
bebebebebebebe he's lokkin' so cute
sneakin' round round round in a blue jumpsuit


Rollins Band On My Way To The Cage lyrics

On my way to the cage
I'm getting taught a lesson
On my way to the cage
I'm choking on the medicine

I_am_Jebus

Or

Song (Spoken)

Love and Death and an American Guitar (aka Wasted Youth) by Jim Steinman

I remember everything!
I remember every little thing as if it happened only yesterday
I was barely seventeen, and I once killed a boy with a Fender guitar
I don't remember if it was a telecaster or a stradacaster
But I do remember that it had a heart of chrome and a voice like a horny angel

Tigger

OutlawPete wrote: »

I don't know why Stephen King writes so much horror.

From that one non-horror book, Different Seasons, three movies were made.

Amazing.

short well written stories are a much better basis for a screenplay than novells

that book was brilliant

AnonoBoy

"Holly held the blue cotton sweater to her face and the familiar smell immediately struck her, an overwhelming grief knotting her stomach and pulling at her heart."

Absolutely sublime......

mikom

Songs........

Hello. How are you?
Have you been alright, through all those lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely nights That's what I'd say. I'd tell you everything If you'd pick up that telephone.
Telephone Line


Trudging slowly over wet sand.
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen.
Every Day Is Like Sunday

Movie............

TRUCK DRIVER: That's East Proctor, and all about 'ere are t'moors. I go this way.
JACK: Thanks for the ride, sir. You have lovely sheep.
TRUCK DRIVER: Boys, keep off the moors. Stick to the roads, and the best of luck.

American Werewolf In London

Clano

:cool:The start of once upon a time in the wild west was pretty epic!!
Barely a word spoke for 20 minutes!!

OutlawPete

AnonoBoy wrote: »

"Holly held the blue cotton sweater to her face and the familiar smell immediately struck her, an overwhelming grief knotting her stomach and pulling at her heart."

Absolutely sublime......

Damn you Anono, damn you for making me Google that

Sleepy

Film:
"What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

NothingMan

OutlawPete wrote: »

Damn you Anono, damn you for making me Google that

Damn you Pete for making me extra curious! Then again i'm extremely happy I didn't know that.

AnonoBoy

OutlawPete wrote: »

Damn you Anono, damn you for making me Google that

I'm feeling particularly evil today. :cool:

AntoSRFC

Clano wrote: »

:cool:The start of once upon a time in the wild west was pretty epic!!
Barely a word spoke for 20 minutes!!

If thats the one by the railway station ye its great.

OutlawPete

AntoSRFC wrote: »

If thats the one by the railway station ye its great.

That's Once Upon A Time In West, not sure if that's the one they mean.

Seen that in the IFI last year for the first time - amazing film.

Near three hours long but flys by.

strobe

Not really my favourite, just the ones that spring to mind.

Book:
"It wasn't a dark and stormy night. It should have been, but there's the weather for you. For every mad scientist who's had a convenient thunderstorm just on the night his Great Work is complete and lying on the slab, there have been dozens who've sat around aimlessly under the peaceful stars while Igor clocks up the overtime."

Song:
"Ain't it fun when you're always on the run
Ain't it fun when your friends despise what you've become
Ain't it fun when you get so high
Well...that you just can't come
Ain't it fun when you know that you're gonna die young"

Movie:
"I looked them up. They're aphids. They're in my hair, on my skin, in my lungs. And the pain, Barris, it's unreasonable. They're all over the place. Oh, they've completely gotten Millie too."

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

song: Steel Panther - Death to all but metal

"Fcuk the goo goo dolls, they can suck my balls!"

Lux23

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

The Catcher in the rye

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.

Middlesex

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.

The Bell Jar

McChubbin

Superbad Opening Titles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlX_O4s67Dk

Sin City opening scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M17kHj-TNOc

Clano

AntoSRFC wrote: »

If thats the one by the railway station ye its great.

Yeah thats it!! the 2 boys have 2 horses with them and your man says they have 1 too many haha