One thing that I feel has become under appreciated in most modern films is the opening credits. Given that the opening is how you would set the tone immediately, many opening credits don’t really take the extra step to be creative and do just that for what you sat down to watch. Hell, even opening credits are becoming a thing of the past since you rarely see them in front of a movie anymore. I recently had that thought on my mind and it got me thinking of opening credits that I’ve enjoyed that I’ve seen over the years. So, I decided to have some fun with it and share some of my personal favorites that came to mind.
Honorable Mentions:
“The Omen (1976)”
“Deapool”
“Grease (1978)”
“Pi”
“Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers”
So, this is an odd choice right off the bat. Given the memorable of the close zoom in on a Jack-O-Lantern set to John Carpenter’s iconic score in the original movie and its sequel alongside the equally memorable digital Jack-O-Lantern of Halloween III, this one doesn’t stand out amongst those three. For me though, it’s an equally impressive opening. The opening gives us a quiet, eerie glimpse of Haddonfield on the eve of Halloween set to an ambient minimalist score by veteran franchise composer Alan Howarth that sets a dreadful, haunting mood that serves as a remember of the town’s tragic past with Michael Myers and the reputation it has left on the holiday. Halloween 4 may not be my favorite entry in the series, but it certainly had a memorable opening for me.
“Alien”
A still shot of a foreign planet, the slow pan across the screen, the strange and off-putting music from Jerry Goldsmith, and the film’s title being put together piece by piece. It’s easily one of the best ways to set up the tone of isolation in outer space that Alien carries throughout the film.
The Opening Credits of Gaspar Noe
Gaspar Noe is quite the controversial director. While he’s only made a handful of movies, the content that comes with them is quite the surprise to the unsuspecting viewer. They’ve covered many things of the New Extreme market that are always bound to shock and stir the audience such as live sex on camera, graphic violence, and that notorious rape scene that goes on for quite a while in “Irreversible”. Regardless though of how you feel about his work, they way he handles his credits is very creative. His credits sequence for each film are all different in how they are presented that can range for having them spinning around and being shown backyards, having them flash heavily and using basically every font they could think, and even having them show up throughout the movie in dance sequences. They definitely have their own unique presentation and style that are some of the highlights that I look for when (or if) I decide to watch his work.
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
Nothing assures an iconic opening with a grand tale of a Moose and which have been changed in a completely different style at great expense at the last minute. Not to mention those responsible had been sacked in the process.
“The Graduate”/”Jackie Brown”
These are two that you will frequently see mentioned or put together for a simple reason: they’re basically the same. It’s no secret that Quentin Tarantino got inspiration from the Graduate and decided to tweak it for Jackie Brown with only three changes to the iconic hallways of LAX: You have Pam Grier in place of Dustin Hoffman, The halls are more colorful, and you get to hear Bobby Womack’s “Across 110th Street” aside from Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence”. Regardless of which you prefer of the two, they are both very iconic openings.
“Do The Right Thing”
Much like the rest of the film, the opening of “Do The Right Thing” easily stands out from many other movies from the 1980’s. It single handedly grabs your attention right at the start and chooses to not let go until the movie is over. Starting off with a soothing saxophone upon the title card, we quickly become pumped up as we get treated to Public Enemy’s iconic song “Fight The Power” while Rosie Perez dancing throughout the credits while being set in a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY that are sequenced perfectly with some of the emotions that are portrayed throughout the movie. Not to mention the various outfits she wears perfectly capture the wears throughout the decade, though that may date it for some given the 80’s aesthetics. It’s definitely one of the best ways to engage the viewers and prepare them for what’s in store.
Anything designed by Saul Bass
If there is one man who is easily one of the most important, yet underappreciated, artists in this industry these days, it would be Saul Bass. He was a graphic designer who worked throughout the 1950’s to the 1990’s among the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, John Frankenheimer, Otto Preminger, and Martin Scorsese primarily as a Poster Artist but also work quite a bit behind the camera as he designed and worked on many iconic openings in movies such as “North By Northwest”, “Psycho”, “Seconds”, “West Side Story”, “The Last Temptation of Christ”, “Anatomy of A Murder”, “Vertigo”, and so many more that have made easily shown how much an opening can affect your movie simply by its presentation.
“Watchmen”
While I am not the biggest Zack Snyder fan, I did enjoy his adaptation of “Watchmen”. While trying to adapt something like “Watchmen” can be a challenge given its length, it would be pretty obvious that a lot of it would end up on the cutting room floor otherwise you’d end up with one of his stupid Director’s Cuts that go on way too long (especially with his recent DC efforts). That being said though, I actually liked how he used the credits to set up the backstory for the film. It chronicled the rise of costumed heroes during Wartime, the creation of the Minutemen, the many tragedies that befell the group, the formation of the Watchmen and the current state of the world they live in. All the while, the entire montage is, appropriately, set to Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin'”.
“Napoleon Dynamite”
The opening credits of the movie are all set on different dishes of food that were written with a different condiment or are a part of some text on an item that Napoleon would have on him. The accompaniment of having the White Stripes song “We’re Going To Be Friends” definitely gives the opening a Wes Anderson style to it that is a creative way to pull your opening off with a low budget.
“Flash Gordon”
It’s a comic book montage set to music by Queen. What else can I say about except that it’s awesome?
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”
Honestly, how could I not include this? Those lips are one of the most iconic openings to not only any musical but pretty much any movie ever made. Not to mention that “Science Fiction/Double Feature” is one of my favorite songs in Rocky Horror as it serves as an ode to the classic B-Movies of the 1940’s and 1950’s (much like the musical itself). While they originally were going to use clips from the movies mentioned in the song, the lips were the cheaper option and ending up being more memorable that a montage which held up favorably against the test of time.
Anything designed by Pablo Ferro
Much like Saul Bass, Pablo Ferro was a graphic designer who was working at the same time as Saul and was equally important to the film industry. Pablo contributed to films such as “Dr. Strangelove”, “Bullitt”, “The Addams Family”, “Stop Making Sense”, and many more along wit his unique font style he used that has made him a prolific member of the film industry.
“Fahrenheit 451”
How do you make your opening credits stand out among the standard flair? Well, how about not having any credits at all on screen and instead spoken to you? For his first time working in an international production, Francois Truffaut’s take on the iconic novel from Ray Bradbury decided to have a unique opening with this choice all while being shown random close ups of antennas and chimneys that are tinted to different colors as the narration tells us of who worked on the production. It definitely works along the idea of the novel and film where reading is not allowed at all.
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The Rocky Horror intro is iconic
It’s easily one of the most iconic openings ever.