Here's a list of some of our favorite cinematic characters and so much of what made them so great is their opening scene - it immediately set the tone for what we could expect from them and left us wanting more of their presence.
Which of these character introductions do you believe to be the most memorable?
But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me "Godfather." You come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married and you ask me to do murder - for money.
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Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008)
I believe, whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you...stranger.
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Jeff Bridges
But sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here. Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude, in Los Angeles.
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R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket (1987)
If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth.
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Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
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James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Big –– see! I don't want one for one night. I want something for
a thousand and one nights, with plenty of room for labels from
Italy and Baghdad, Samarkand...a great big one.
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Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The introduction of Luke.
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Harrison Ford in Star Wars (1977)
It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. I've outrun Imperial starships. Not the local bulk cruisers mind you, I'm talking about the big Corellian ships now.
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Orson Welles in The Third Man (1949)
Well, I can give you two prices for it - a hundred and fifty thousand the way it is, two hundred and fifty if it's properly cut.
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Elliott Marks, SMPSP
The arrival of Captain Jack Sparrow.
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Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
The days go on and on... they don't end. All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people.
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Christian Bale in The Dark Knight (2008)
The arrival of Batman.
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Saw (2004)
Hello Amanda, I want to play a game...
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Anthony Perkins in Psycho (1960)
Oh, we have 12 vacancies. 12 cabins, 12 vacancies.
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Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Delighted to meet you, sir. Overjoyed, enraptured, entranced. Are we ready? Yes, good. In we go.
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Kevin Spacey in American Beauty (1999)
Look at me, jerking off in the shower... This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
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Christian Bale in American Psycho (2000)
I live in the American Gardens Building on W. 81st Street on the 11th floor. My name is Patrick Bateman. I'm 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine.
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Robert Shaw in Jaws (1975)
$10,000 for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.
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#22
As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.
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#23
Have you ever considered any real freedoms? Freedoms from the opinion of others... even the opinions of yourself?
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Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Get three coffins ready...My mistake. Four coffins.
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Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
I'm just a sweet transvestite, from Transsexual Transylvania.
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Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Monsieur LaPadite, while I'm very familiar with you and your family, I have no way of knowing if you are familiar with who I am. Are you aware of my existence?
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F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus (1984)
The attempted suicide of Antonio Salieri.
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Javier Bardem in Skyfall (2012)
The two survivors. This is what she made us.
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Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan...No one cared who I was until I put on the mask.
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Carrie-Anne Moss in The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
I said, is everything in place?
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Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator (1984)
The arrival of The Terminator.
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Jack Nicholson in The Departed (2006)
When I was your age they would say we can become cops, or criminals. Today, what I'm saying to you is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?
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Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange (1971)
There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening.