The Greatest Opening Scene in Movie History

What is your favorite opening sequence in a movie? For me and quite a lot of other film fans, it's the opening shot of Touch of Evil. Citizen Kane often tops the list of the greatest films of all time, but as far I'm concerned it's not even Orson Welles' greatest movie. That honor belongs to Touch of Evil, a thriller that actually benefits from the jarring presence of Charlton Heston playing a Mexican. Yes, you did read that correctly.

When I say that the greatest opening in movie history is just a single shot it may be misleading. In today's MTV-influenced cinema, a shot often lasts just a single second or two. By "shot" I am referring to a single uncut sequence of film. In the case of Touch of Evil the opening shot lasts a little over three minutes.

The film opens with a close-up of a timer on a bomb being set and thus begins a startling sequence that takes the viewer on a tour of a small border town. The camerawork in this shot involves a crane, tracking, the camera both moving and stationary. The bomb has been placed inside a car and the sequence begins with the bomb being placed in the car before focusing on the Heston character and his wife walking down the street. The car comes back into the scene as Heston and his wife, and the couple in the car stop at the border checkpoint. The shot finally ends at the moment that Heston and Janet Leigh kiss and the car explodes off-screen.

It is an extraordinary accomplishment. Not only does the shot involve a myriad of complicated camera movements, but there are a number of extras walking in and out of the scene, and there is dialogue to boot. Most directors shooting the scene today would do away with the dialogue and substitute it with a song. The opening of Touch of Evil is justifiably famous and is one of those movie moments that inspires directors to pay homage to it. One of those directors was Robert Altman who attempted to outdo Orson Welles with his opening shot in The Player. Altman's long shot is about twice as long as the Touch of Evil, but because Welles was there first it seems kind of pale in comparison.

Martin Scorsese was inspired to pay his own homage in Goodfellas in the long tracking shot that follows Henry Hill through the bowels of the nightclub to the tune of the Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me." The scene in Goodfellas works better than Altman's, I think, because it rings thematically truer. The whole point of a long tracking shot like that is to impress; it calls attention to itself. And the sequence in Goodfellas is intended to convey a turning point in Henry Hill's life; Henry is showing off, proving he's not just a schmuck, but a wiseguy.

The opening of Touch of Evil also calls attention to itself to make a cinematic point. What does it accomplish? For one thing, the shot establishes both the physical geography and the cultural geography of the setting. The film will examine the cultural distinctions between American and Mexican justice and the dizzying visual exploration of the openigsets the stage. In addition, Touch of Evil is partly about the interconnectedness of society, how people who briefly enter into our sphere of existence can play significant roles in the course and direction of our lives. The long shot is filled with many characters who will eventually become major players in the narrative. The long shot that is the opening scene of Touch of Evil isn't just a director showing off; it's a thematic foundation upon which the film will continue to build. Finally, Touch of Evil is a suspense film, a thriller in which the good guys and the bad guys aren't easy to distinguish. The first image of this amazing scene is a close-up of a bomb. From the very beginning, the sequence is used to create suspense and the question of whose hands set the timer on that bomb and why become the crux of plot that continues to expand outward.

While that opening shot is perhaps the most famous part of Touch of Evil, over the course of the movie Orson Welles dips into his prodigious bag of cinematic tricks to create a movie that bears repeated viewings. Only Robert Altman ever came close to Orson Welles in using overlapping dialogue to such brilliant effect and in Touch of Evil you really have to pay attention to what's being said and by whom. In addition, the motel clerk paid by Dennis Weaver almost certainly inspired Alfred Hitchcock's direction of another motel clerk that would be played by Anthony Perkins a few years later. The scene where Charlton Heston literally drags a suspect down the length of a bar still stands as one of greatest fight scenes ever filmed. And if the opening sequence is justifiably famous, the long cat and mouse sequence at the end where Heston is trying to get Orson Welles to admit to breaking the law to a man wearing a wire while he follows beneath them should be just as famous. Almost every scene in Touch of Evil is a cinematic tour de force, and unlike Citizen Kane the movie doesn't suffer for being a little too calculated, studied and cold.

Many movie fans question the elevation of Citizen Kane to the top of the heap on lists of greatest movies of all time and I think it's because the movie is more impressive than engaging. At its heart there is a coldness to Kane; it's a story that is difficult to embrace and get emotionally involved in. That isn't the case with Touch of Evil. While just as impressive a technical achievement-if not more-as Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil engages the gut as well as the intellect. One can view it purely for the pleasure of watching filmmakers at the very top of their game or one can enjoy it as one of the best thrillers of all time. Orson Welles' character, Hank Quinlan, is not just one of the greatest villains ever, but one of the most psychologically complex villains ever. And the film is populated with memorable supporting roles played by familiar faces ranging from Zsa Zsa Gabor to Marlene Dietrich. In fact, it is Dietrich who has the most famous line from the movie. When Quinlan asks her to tell his future she presciently replies, "Your future is all used up."

Touch of Evil is about corruption in the name of the greater good. Orson Welles' Hank Quinlan is a cop who has regularly put away bad guys with trumped-up evidence to bolster his case. Usually, the suspect's guilt was never in doubt. But lately Quinlan has been getting lazy. Rather than trying to find evidence to bolster a case, he just invents evidence to bolster his suspicions. There is a valuable lesson to be learned from Touch of Evil regarding the politics of fears in America today.