Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86689 posts
Tue Jun-29-10 01:48 AM
"GOAT Opening Credits"
Recently?
Catch Me If You Can is an obvious winner. Terrific music and animated credits.
Watchmen has one of the most compelling opening sequences I've ever seen. The opening credits easily are among the GOAT.
Superbad-- fun, set the tone, pretty much perfect.
All time?
Do the Right Thing is an obvious pick.
The Third Man is an obvious pick.
Goldfinger is an obvious pick.
The Pink Panther is an obvious pick.
The Naked Gun is an obvious pick.
I've always been partial to the opening credits of It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Also, the opening credits to Monty Python and the Holy Grail are appropriately insane.
North by Northwest has great animation and one of my favorite scores of all time.
The Austin Powers films are very good picks as well.
7. "Superman" In response to Reply # 0 Tue Jun-29-10 10:57 AM by lfresh
don't kill me for my childhood nostalgia...
and yes austin and pink panther
i'll be back i have to review/remind myself ~~~~ When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries. ~~~~ You cannot hate people for their own good.
11. "sweeney todd and charade also" In response to Reply # 0
~~~~ When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries. ~~~~ You cannot hate people for their own good.
24. "^^ what i came in here to say" In response to Reply # 17
the NiN tune, the 'clues', the tones used... it sets the tone so, so well for the film. Doesn't look tacked on, doesn't jar with the flow of it... just works so damn well.
23. "Grease" In response to Reply # 0 Tue Jun-29-10 03:44 PM by lfresh
and raiders of the lost ark and out of sight and warriors and kiss kiss bang bang and westside story and sherlock holmes and coraline and a kiss from tokyo(does this count? it's an online thing but it has classic movie elements which i love) and puras joyitas and dean spanley and bombay talkie and strange than fiction
i'm partial to most opening credits for bond movies
ok i'll stop now yes i'm a title sequence fan ~~~~ When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries. ~~~~ You cannot hate people for their own good.
agreed ~~~~ When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries. ~~~~ You cannot hate people for their own good.
39. "lord of war, napoleon dynamite, ESOTSM, fight club, superbad" In response to Reply # 0
catch me if you can. good the bad and the ugly live and let die watchmen.
________ "2ndly u think FAMILY and niggas i done grew up wit for 20+ years gon let some random nigga show up and whup my ass on my block and hop in his corolla and pull off?" spm
40. "damn how i forget "vertigo"?" In response to Reply # 0
saul bass = goat
________ "2ndly u think FAMILY and niggas i done grew up wit for 20+ years gon let some random nigga show up and whup my ass on my block and hop in his corolla and pull off?" spm
41. "I've always really liked the ones in "Hustle and Flow"" In response to Reply # 0
Terrance Howard and Taryn Manning riding in the Caddy, with Buddy Guy's "Baby Please Don't Leave Me" blasting out of the speakers. But as soon as they have him switch it to a country music station, it goes downhill. In fact, pretty much the whole movie goes downhill from there.
Foxy Brown (1974) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLfykjWNPQ0 These are so awesome, I have not yet finished the movie, from rewinding and RE-rewinding the opening credits. Obviously, this is where the idea for the "Superbad" credits come from.
An American Tail (1986) (can't find the credits. This is the main title theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoxP--U0j7M) The combination of James Horner's music and the various abstract and literal uses of snow (including having all of the credits blow away int snowflakes) sets up a movie that isn't your average cartoon feature. Most animated films have rather unmemorable credits sequences.
Way Out West (1937) (Mistakenly believing this film is no longer under copyright, someone has uploaded the whole thing to YouTube. I'm not linking it; I'll use this link instead: http://www.lordheath.com/modules/gallery/albums/Way_Out_West_credits/img/111226030032_way_out_west__credits_.jpg) A number of other Laurel & Hardy films could go here instead (Babes in Toyland, for example), even some of their shorts. The Hal Roach films always had elaborate and interesting opening title cards until they standardized them in the late 1930s. The "Way Out West" opening credits aren't elaborate so much as uniquely pleasant. Since the film is a wild-west parody, the credits are drawn up with Old-West scripts and illustrations, accompanied by a great Marvin Hatley tune.
Dreamgirls (2006) http://www.picturemill.com/Dreamgirls.html (These are actually closing credits. The film has no opening credits.) Almost overdone (some credits complained that the credits were damn near "For Your Consideration" adds embedded into the actual film), "curtain call" style credits don't get more elaborate than this. The ones from the 2007 remake of "Hairspray" are less showy, but similar.
I can't say much more than has already been said about them in this post. While Vertigo's are probably the best, Sal Bass gets credit on the "North by Northwest" titles for his silver-on-green variant of the Leo the Lion MGM logo.
I know, I KNOW. But... The opening credits to "Barbershop 2", though I despise the cheesy-looking CGI main title card, are fun and silly in a way most urban comedies are (oddly) not, showing black hairstyles (and how white folks appropriated many of them) through the years via Ken Burns effects. The Michael Jackson photo montage - from little black MJ to old white MJ - is hysterical.
I enjoyed the movie, but if someone made the statement that the rest of the movie didn't live up to the opening credits, I'd have a tough time arguing...
53. "hmm...these are all good but not GOAT" In response to Reply # 0 Mon Jun-11-12 03:22 PM by SankofaII
that would require us to mutually all agree on criteria that defines a "GOTA" opening credit sequence, etc. its clear in this post we don't...
Movies:
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (US) Se7en Fight Club In The Cut (2003) Scream Across 110th Street Sin City The Last Of The Mohicans Basic Instinct Prometheus Dollhouse Torchwood (BBC version)
just off the top of my head
TV: The Wire Rubicon (RIP) Mad Men ER Fades (BBC) Bedlam (BBC) X-Files Millennium Miami Vice LA Law
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