This came up recently because I've had Mychael Danna's "The Winner Is" from Little Miss Sunshine. What, in your opinion, is the greatest opening montage? Do you have any favorites?

I thought the one from Little Miss Sunshine was fantastic. Other recent ones are Amélie and I Stand Alone and Royal Tenenbaums - these are all with voiceovers though and not entirely musical like LMS's.

JFK - Perfect historical montage set to John Williams' magnificent score.

Lord of War

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was the first one that came to mind. By the end of the opening eight minutes, I was in Middle Earth.

I seem to remember (too late tonight) Miracle having a good opening. Showing things about the late 70's.
But, I can't remember if that was the opening or later on.

I don't know if it's the greatest, but Goldmember definitely ranks up there.

The opening scene to Grand Prix had a good montage of drivers and cars getting ready for the race in Monaco. It made the viewer feel as though you were part of
the race.

The Naked Gun movies. That cop car could go ANYWHERE!

It's not an opening montage, but there's a great montage scene in Oldboy. It's a split screen chronogically scrolling through things that are going on while he is locked up. Very effective in showing the progression through time.

The Player

I like the recap of Superman: The Movie at the beginning of Superman II.

Raising Arizona

The Alex Ross artwork montage recapping Spider-man 1.

Star Wars: A New Hope...with the ships going overhead and then Darth striding out of the smoke...nothing tops it...period.

I agree with Royal Tenenbaums and Raising Arizona but my two favorites would have to be Trainspotting and American Gigolo. Both had great songs to go along with great editing.

Saxon

...and ripping off Superman II.

Actually, I thought the pre-credits scene for Mission: Impossible III was the one of the best I've seen ever...but that's not a montage, just a set-up for the movie.

Apocalypse Now.

I can only think of Army of Darkness and The Pianist which wasn't much to write back home about. But L.A. Confidential did have a great opening montage.

Contact has a pretty great opening

Ooooh, good one!

Terminator 2

Oh yeah, Boogie Nights is probably my favorite.

Miike's DOA1