Saturday, March 27: Mississippi Mud
SETTING THE STAGE
by John M. Floyd
I and my colleagues at Criminal Brief (and several guest bloggers) have occasionally done pieces on the subject of effective openings in fiction. That’s probably because openings, like endings, are fun to write — but whatever the reason, all of us know it’s important to gain reader interest right away, often in the first paragraph of a story. Sometimes even the first sentence.
Credibility
It occurred to me the other day that the same thing is true of the opening credit sequence in a film. Even though the action itself might not yet have started, something needs to grab the viewer’s attention as soon as the movie begins. In olden days it was sometimes enough to blare a song at the audience while listing page after page of cast and crew on the screen (Edith Head’s name always comes to mind) in creatively designed lettering. I think today’s audiences expect more. We want either memorable images (Up in the Air), a memorable score (The Magnificent Seven), or both (Cat People, Lord of War, The Natural).
Opening sequences also tend to establish the mood of the film. Consider the difference between, say, the beginning sequences of Batman and The Sound of Music. Those few minutes give the viewer more than just the names of the director and the players and the producers; they give him a pretty good idea of what kind of movie he’s about to see.
First impressions of the best kind
As Leigh said recently, I’m fond of lists, so — sure enough — here are the names of fifty films whose credit sequences I particularly enjoyed.
NOTE 1: These aren’t necessarily the opening scenes; these are the scenes that accompany the opening credits. If I remember correctly, movies like Pulp Fiction, Romancing the Stone, the James Bond films, etc., all had long opening scenes before the credits ever began to roll.
NOTE 2: My ten all-time favorites are listed first.
The Big Country (1958)
Top Gun (1986)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
High Noon (1952)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1987)
Psycho (1960)
Goldfinger (1964)
Superman (1978)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
Escape from New York (1981)
Dirty Harry (1971)
The Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Body Heat (1981)
Casino Royale (1967)
Forrest Gump (1994)
A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
The Great Gatsby (1974)
What’s New, Pussycat? (1965)
Up in the Air (2009)
Unforgiven (1992)
The Betsy (1978)
Cat People (1982)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Third Man (1949)
Hatari! (1962)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
Cliffhanger (1993)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Our Man Flint (1966)
Halloween (1978)
The Natural (1984)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Crossing Delancey (1988)
Lord of War (2005)
Quigley Down Under (1990)
Cat Ballou (1965)
Terminator 2 (1991)
Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
The Shining (1980)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Jaws (1975)
I’ve left out many, many great openings, but these are the ones that readily come to mind. What do you think, about this kind of thing? Do you rarely notice opening credits in films? Do you feel they’re important? If so, what sequences are your favorites? And what about them makes them your favorites?
If you’re like me (God help you), you can picture those opening scenes as soon as you see or hear the name of the movie — and just thinking of this stuff makes me smell popcorn and feel my shoes sticking to the floor. Or at least picture a red-and-white envelope waiting in my mailbox.
Which reminds me — I need to go update my Netflix queue.
I watch every credit (or lack-my favorite btw) from the first and on to the very end when the credits quit. The clean up persons at the theatre dislike me intensely.
Sometimes my husband and many friends get irritated as well.
Like that bothers me.
alisa, I do the same thing. I’m not sure why — I don’t suppose I really care who the gaffer or the best boy or the assistant wardrobe person is, but I watch anyhow. Hey, I sometimes wind up getting pretty good character names from those credits.
I still like cranking up the bass and playing the opening from Top Gun. And the opening credit sequence from Once Upon a TIme in the West is fantastic — a cinematic masterpiece. Love that stuff. There’s probably a special place in the loony bin for folks like me . . .
Okay, don’t laugh, but I do it because if my name were on there, I’d want some fellow loony bin credit checker out there saying…..ohhhhhhhhhh, she was a fellow loony bin-ner on CB!
I look for all y’all names in the credits.
Just in case. Y’never know. That’s a fact.
😉
And…another don’t laugh, I wonder how much they really do; do they get paid well; what is a best boy; even to the point of I knew I recognized that singers voice and I thought he/she wrote that; to the popcorn’s gone….gotta go.
I even have a reason why I so anal about this.
My loony bin requires padded walls.
Certainly the opening of Blake Edwards’ The Pink Panther is a classic; the music and the cartoon panther set the tone for the entire movie.
I trace my end-of-the-credits-itis to the James Bond flicks. I couldn’t leave the theater until the “James Bond will return in…” announcement.
Jerry, I went back and forth trying to decide whether to put The Pink Panther or its sequel, A Shot in the Dark, in my list, and chose ASITD. Loved ’em both. As for the Bond flicks, I enjoyed all of them, mainly because of John Barry’s music behind the credits. I’m a sucker for a good soundtrack. My second favorite Bond opening credit sequence was — after Goldfinger — On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. What a good way to introduce a different (if short-lived) 007.
I’m late with this comment but feel the need to add a point or two. I don’t really care if the opening credits add to the film experience–the old-fashioned listing with music in the background was fine with me–but I hate the contemporary trend of putting all the credits at the end of the film. I like to be reminded up front who I’m seeing in the main parts, who wrote the script, who the director is. Also, I’m old-fashioned enough to believe that screen credit should be limited to people whose work shows on the screen. I had an uncle who worked for years at Twentieth Century Fox under Thomas Little, whose usual credit was “set decorations.” Since my uncle’s work showed on the screen (cobwebs were one of his specialties), he would make the credit cut now, but I’m pretty sure he never got a screen credit in his life–in those days, only the department head was credited. Best boy and key grip deserve a credit, but location caterer or star’s personal assistant, no. I realize if my idea were put into practice, it would eliminate half the producers, but there we are.
Good points, Jon. As you said, I’ve actually seen a few movies lately that feature no credits at ALL at the beginning. The film just starts, and no names are listed until the end.
If you had your wish and the list were shorter, I would certainly make it home sooner, like all those folks who are having to climb over alisa and me to get out.
Here’s some more I thought about:
Alien
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Ninth Configuration
The Lion King
Johnny, I almost included Alien and Close Encounters in my list — in fact I had both of them in there and then bumped them. (So many good examples, so little space.) And I liked the last two of yours as well.
Great minds think alike . . . (?)
Two of my favorite movies ever: “The Spirit Is Willing” whose credits sequence (following the triple murder)gives us a glimpse of what happens in the 60+ years leading up to the main body of the movie. Music by the great Vic Mizzy. “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” Credits are styled like the Bayeux Tapestry. (Wait ’till you see what substitutes for Halley’s Comet!)I love the scenes they show for the composers, arrangers & choreographers.
Dovetailing nicely with the last, I saw “Mary Poppins” recently and loved the opening of Poppins flying over the long-gone pre-World War I London.