Best movie prologue

[celedhring]

So, was discussing the upcoming Odissey movie with a friend, and whether they would adapt all the bits in the beginning with several characters recounting the Illiad into some kind of prologue, ala LOTR. From there, we drifted into discussing our favorite movie prologues.

And since it's been a while since my last movie poll, here I am!

By movie prologue, I mean any scene at the beginning of a movie that gives exposition explaining the past events leading up to the narrative you're about to see, or sets up the world, the theme, etc... The prologue of Fellowship of the Ring is the perfect example. It doesn't need to be a full fledged scene or montage - text or voiceover count if they are memorable (Star Wars or Conan come to mind).

Again, the field is very large, so feel free to go beyond the ones I listed and take this as a way to discuss your favorite ones.

I'm not going to be too hipster here: the Star Wars crawl, the Galadriel prologue and Up's opening montage still give me goosebumps.

[frunk]

Up's opening montage is one of the greatest short films ever made, but I also voted for 2001 and The Big Lebowski.

[Tonitrus]

I suppose it is sometimes hard to distinguish an opening "prologue" with what would be more said to be just the start of the film.

Would something like Wargames up until "Turn your key sir!" count?  

[Savonarola]

It isn't quite what you had in mine, but I would pick Patton's Speech to the Third Army from Patton.  It doesn't really summarize the preceding events, but it summarizes the character in just over six minutes.

[Sophie Scholl]

I voted for Up and Fellowship. Random ones that come to mind that aren't listed are the opening of Goldeneye (Bond and Trevelyan), The Dark Knight (Joker robs a bank), Once Upon a Time in the West (Two too many...), and Inglourious Basterds (Interrogation).

[Oexmelin]

Voted for Dracula. Thanks to this poll, I realized I am a sucker for shadow puppet / theater prologues, which means they tend to stick with me the most. Hence, even if the execution isn't great, I've prefered the concept of the Bakshi prologue to the Jackson prologue, for LOTR.

I also quite like explicit narration - and the contrast between Lynch's Dune opening and the music also stuck with me a lot, but that may simply be because my dad loved the movie, and it played a lot at home when I was a kid.

I love Up's opening - but I am of mixed feelings, because I think this shows Pixar is often at its best for short- or medium-length features, with little to no dialogue. I think the rest of Up is almost superfluous. Likewise, I think Wall-E becomes a lesser movie once the humans are involved. 

[The Minsky Moment]

Patton
Kane
2001

[celedhring]

Patton
Kane
2001

Yeah, I was torn between adding Kane or not. I don't think the Rosebud scene is what I was looking for, but the newsreel part that follows certainly is and an amazing example.

[celedhring]

I also quite like explicit narration - and the contrast between Lynch's Dune opening and the music also stuck with me a lot, but that may simply be because my dad loved the movie, and it played a lot at home when I was a kid.

Funnily, I believe the opening narration for Lynch's Dune was imposed by the producer - since Lynch had in the script a different prologue featuring the reverend mother in Arrakis talking about the main players of the story much more vaguely, which was shot and then cut. While I've always liked Irulan's monologue (hence why I put it on the list), the original opening was more enigmatic. Probably too much and hence the removal

If you're curious, it's the second scene in this collection, after the cut bits of Irulan's speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKiG_TN5p6U

Oh, and I love the soundtrack of Lynch's Dune too. From Toto of all bands, never thought they'd have that in their pocket.