# Best movie opening/credits sequence **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2002, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578 "2002-07-18T08:18:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/41 "2002-07-19T23:52:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blalron \* > \*\ ***The Shining** : Great bird’s eye view of the colorado landscape. \*\* I like the opening of **The Shining** but it’s always ruined for me by the one opening shot where you can see the shadow of the camera helicopter. Better for me, and much more understated but trememdously silly if you know what it means is the opening of **Dr. Strangelove**. First of all, I LOVE the typography. One of the subtle themes of the movie is the sexual nature of the bomb and of the people who attempt to control it _and_ more generally of the military in general. So we have the Bombers being refueled as an obviously phallic and penetrative act while the background music plays “Try a Little Tenderness.” ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/42 "2002-07-20T03:20:16Z")
Going back (WAY back to the time of my birth, actually): **It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World** Love that circus style music of Ernest Gold! **The Pink Panther** (pretty much any of them), and **A Shot in the Dark**. Anyone notice a trend here? I like animated openings. **HELP!** - the Beatles second film. I love the way the bad guys are throwing darts at the screen showing the film of the Beatles playing a concert. I’d imagine that freaked out a few people when it came out (kind of like the roaches on the TV screen ads that Orkin shows). **Patton** - just for the music. Question about the **Superman** opening - was the bit with the kid and the comic book always there, because I don’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/43 "2002-07-20T03:25:45Z")
Actually, the beginning of _Touch of Evil_ is my favorite movie opening. It’s like watching one huge piece of black and white taffy being pulled thinner and thinner, and looped over and under itself, but not breaking. Way cool. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/44 "2002-07-20T06:05:14Z")
You know, when my little girl is 4 or 6 or so, I’m going to put on Disney’s **Beauty and the Beast** and just watch her eyes light up at the opening number, _Belle_. 🆒 😃 ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/45 "2002-07-20T06:30:32Z")
I can’t think of my all-time favorite opening right now (these Sam Adams Lights are surprisingly good), but I’m surprised that no one has mentioned **The Godfather** ’s “I believe in America” speech, and the wedding party sequence in general, which I’ve always rather liked (dig Luca rehearsing his lines, and then flubbing them). ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/46 "2002-07-20T22:21:30Z")
Ruthless People has very cool opening credits. The Hidden is an obscure film but a very cool grabber to start it out. ---
**Author:** ![airdisc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19adc/32.png) [@airdisc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/airdisc)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/47 "2002-07-20T22:35:37Z")
Most Bond movies. Especially Goldeneye. ---
**Author:** ![jharek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9dc877/32.png) [@jharek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharek)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/48 "2002-07-21T10:43:14Z")
NOBODY has mentioned **PAYBACK** with Mel Gibson. That opening sequence is unreal. I also agree with Vertigo. great opening. Also that visual in opening of Star Wars, but that is just good due to sentimentalities. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/49 "2002-07-21T13:48:41Z")
**Mad Max** best car chase ever and its only the opening scene! ---
**Author:** ![Lapin\_de\_poussiere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a4c791/32.png) [@Lapin\_de\_poussiere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lapin_de_poussiere)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/50 "2002-07-21T13:49:41Z")
Another set of votes for _Contact_ and _Monty Python & the Holy Grail_… I think the switch from the mööse to the llamas is what gets me. _cue funky organ music_ No one’s mentioned _A Few Good Men_ yet, either! The absolute perfection of the Marines’ drill gets me every time, just watching the whole thing flow up and down the line of soldiers… and the only thing you hear is the clicking and clacking of the gun hardware and the smack of the gloved hands against the rifles. WOW. ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/51 "2002-07-21T19:29:00Z")
I liked the opening comic book credits for **Chasing Amy**. Another big vote for Star Wars, Superman, Terminator 2, and Se7en. Kickass openings, all. Also, I have a special fondness for the very start of Aliens 3, where the 20th Century Fox logo music morphs into a mournful choir singing in a minor key. Brilliant. Shame the move was so dissapointing. ---
**Author:** ![Spoonbender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spoonbender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoonbender)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/52 "2002-07-21T19:46:59Z")
I second _Star Wars_ and _Contact_. Also, the reverse-murder opening of _Memento_. ---
**Author:** ![Seraphim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Seraphim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seraphim)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/53 "2002-07-21T20:02:49Z")
**Alien 3** The rest of the movie is blah, but I love the way the movie hangs on the last note of the 21[sup]st[/sup] Century Fox theme before slowly fading to a shot of space. Then your treated to a haunting musical score intermixed with quick shots of the facehugger causing mischief to the cryotubes. Way cool. On preview I see Sealemon beat me to it. Grrr… ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/54 "2002-07-21T23:03:05Z")
**Beetlejuice**. Flying over the small town of Winter River, Conneticut and then it morphs into Adam’s model of the town and settles on the little model house and the huge spider crawling over it. Plus, the title music is awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/55 "2002-07-21T23:13:40Z")
Nothing new to add, except to second **Patton**. And not just for the music. The whole opening scene… George C. Scott kicks ass. Tenebras ---
**Author:** ![askol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@askol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askol)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/56 "2002-07-22T01:37:48Z")
I seem to remember **Life Or Something Like It** having badass opeing credits. I may be wrong, though. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/57 "2002-07-22T15:40:38Z")
I’ll second **Dead Man on Campus**. That was a riot. ---
**Author:** ![krazy\_kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@krazy\_kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krazy_kat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578/58 "2002-07-22T15:56:26Z")
“there was me, that is alex, and my 3 droogs…” **A Clockwork Orange** And c’MON people! “what the f\*\*k was I talking about?..” **Resevoir Dogs** followed by the “Little Green Bag” sequence in a word: totally bitchin’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-opening-credits-sequence/119578.md?page=2)