# Best movie title sequences **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2018, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381 "2018-02-07T18:46:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/1 "2018-02-07T18:46:32Z")
Watched Blake Edwards classic film “The Pink Panther” the other day and was reminded how great the opening credits were. The 1960’s spawned a number of other films with memorable title sequences e.g. all of the James Bond movies come notably to mind. The Pink Panther title sequence was good enough to spawn a whole Saturday morning cartoon series during the 1970’s. The 1970’s was also decade that saw the creation of what is probably the [funniest title sequence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvIKL_pTZFE) ever. What films stand out in your mind as having the best or most memorable title sequences? ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/2 "2018-02-07T19:12:50Z")
_Walk on the Wild Side_ (1962) Arguably the best of many fine Saul Bass directed title sequences. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/3 "2018-02-07T19:14:21Z")
The first (Christopher Reeve) “Superman” movie credits come to mind. Just seemed a really cool way to display the cast names. I think the James Bond movies, particularly the Sean Connery ones (because of the years these came out), were very innovative. Not really “credits”, but the intro fake trailers to “Tropic Thunder” need an honorable mention. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/4 "2018-02-07T19:16:49Z")
Charade [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IWfPwkXLrUA/maxresdefault.jpg "Charade (Openings Title) 1963") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWfPwkXLrUA) And Arabesque too. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/5 "2018-02-07T19:25:27Z")
[Joe Vs. The Volcano.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwuc5k-LKFU) ---
**Author:** ![turtlescanfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@turtlescanfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turtlescanfly)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/6 "2018-02-07T20:04:25Z")
Deadpool. Grease. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/7 "2018-02-07T20:21:49Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > _Walk on the Wild Side_ (1962) > > Arguably the best of many fine Saul Bass directed title sequences. [Spartacus](https://youtu.be/Pdos02NooVI) is my favorite Bass title, but they’re all terrific. I also love the Wayne Fitzgerald titles for [Total Recall](https://youtu.be/tvHgxTubFSQ) and [Basic Instinct](https://youtu.be/423DTON838U) (and it doesn’t hurt that they both have music by the great Jerry Goldsmith). ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/8 "2018-02-07T20:23:11Z")
I always liked the opening credits for [Hitchcock’s North by Northwest](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBxjwurp_04). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/9 "2018-02-07T20:30:10Z")
> [@cormac262](#): > > The first (Christopher Reeve) “Superman” movie credits come to mind. Just seemed a really cool way to display the cast names. > > I think the James Bond movies, particularly the Sean Connery ones (because of the years these came out), were very innovative. > > . I’ll second the Superman title sequence, because I think it’s the overall best transition from the humble comic book reading on the living room carpet, through space, to Krypton. The R/Greenberg Associates slit-scan title sequence, following on the heels of the innovative trailer they made, really blew people away. slit Scan had been around for over a decade, but their application was fresh and new. as a result, R/Greenberg got to do a lot of other titles ( **Alien, Altered States, Flash Gordon** , not to mention effects work in films like **Flash Gordon** and **xanadu**. I’ll second the Bond title sequences, too, at least after the first three ( **Dr. No** used animated dots, then **From Russia with Love** and **Goldfinger** had the credits projected onto women). Starting with \*\*Thunderball \*\* we had the signature Maurice Binder titles with nude silhouettes over colorful backgrounds and artistically changing images. Binder did them all after this until **License to Kill** in 1989. He died during the hiatus, but they carried on in his style after that. I’m sure that **madsircool** mentioned **Charade** and **arabesque** because Binder did those titles, too. He also did the animation for **Dr. No** , and he contributed a “dream sequence” to the 1979 Frank Langella **Dracula**. Another title sequence that has to be mentioned, because it has a Hitchcockian suspenseful edge to it, is Orson Welles’ **Touch of Evil** , with the bomb placed in the trunk of the car we follow through the border checkpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/10 "2018-02-07T20:39:08Z")
I agree with the Bond film suggestions, and of course you can’t go there without adding the Weird Al [Spy Hard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7KMMxAQp8I) title sequence. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/11 "2018-02-07T20:40:58Z")
There are plenty of other great title (or at least “opening”) sequences **Monty Python and the Holy Grail Star Wars The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad Jason and the Argonauts 2001: A Space Odyssey The Day the Earth Stood Still Forbidden Planet** ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/12 "2018-02-07T20:47:30Z")
[Baby Driver](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYv2a_VF328) is something else. I felt that I got everything I was gonna get from that movie in the first ten minutes, but what a ride those ten minutes were–and the opening credits were shameless and fun, in their depiction of a dude who dances through life perfectly in tune with the music he listens to. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/13 "2018-02-07T20:57:47Z")
David Fincher’s **Se7en** and **Fight Club** are both excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/14 "2018-02-07T21:58:46Z")
The opening sequence of [Top Gun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNxvXj9nff4) awes me every time. This version of Faltermeyer’s anthem is the perfect backing music for this segment: they eliminated Slash’s obnoxious guitar work, turning it into a mellow and reverent hymn. No special effects here, you’re watching a real carrier deck crew up at the crack of dawn prepping for the day’s flights, guiding heavy machinery into position to be flung off the deck and into the air. And then you get Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” jacking up your adrenalin while you watch planes launch and trap - afterburners screaming for release, airframes shuddering as they land HARD on the fantail. _Metal under tension, begging you to touch and go…_ Sadly, this segment is over all too soon and you’re left to face 90 minutes with a smirking dickweed Scientologist. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/15 "2018-02-07T21:59:41Z")
_Crime of Passion_ (1934) Title sequence by Slavko Vorkapich, a master of montage. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/16 "2018-02-07T22:23:18Z")
[It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World](https://youtu.be/s1A7bJD3atk) [Kiss Kiss Bang Bang](https://youtu.be/_bpP9sI72bM) ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/17 "2018-02-07T22:47:46Z")
Brain Donors (1992) had a very nice claymation opening: [Brain Donors - Opening (Claymation) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dROd6VF1em4) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/18 "2018-02-07T22:49:58Z")
Not a great movie but a great title sequence: _[Lord of War](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LUEiKs2UAo)_ ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/19 "2018-02-07T23:11:50Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > _Crime of Passion_ (1934) > > Title sequence by Slavko Vorkapich, a master of montage. That should be _Crime Without Passion_ (1934). Sorry for the confusion. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381/20 "2018-02-07T23:58:05Z")
_Superman_ was the first one that came to mind for me, too. Also to cross my mind are some of the more recentish animated movies. _The Little Mermaid_ counts because some credits play during the opening sequence. _The Lion King_ probably doesn’t count, because all it shows is the title at the very end. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-title-sequences/808381.md?page=2)