# Best opening credits ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083 "2008-01-11T04:13:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/1 "2008-01-11T04:13:07Z")
I bet this has been done before, but what the hell. For best movie opening credits ever, my choice is [Dog Day Afternoon](http://youtube.com/watch?v=C-3wza6rnck) with Elton John’s _Amoreena_ playing over an amazingly evocative montage of New York during the summer. It’s all the more striking because of the fact that it’s the only music in the movie - the rest of the film completely lacks any soundtrack, which adds to the drama and suspense of it. For television show, I’d nominate _The Sopranos._ I haven’t watched a lot of TV shows, but I think it’d be pretty hard to top this one in terms of the mood it sets and the music. Since most video games have opening credits, I think that’s also a category, and for it I’d choose the classic intro to Final Fantasy VII, with the still-amazing and truly revolutionary for its time FMV pan through the city of Midgar, giving a great feel for the cyberpunk/high-tech feel of the environment and making a perfect segue into the beginning of the game with the attack at the train station. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/2 "2008-01-11T04:23:59Z")
[Harold and Maude](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=robvBGcQw4E). ---
**Author:** ![Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tool_of_the_Conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/3 "2008-01-11T04:29:16Z")
Imaginary Forces has done some great work, particularly for [Seven](http://imaginaryforces.com/project/110). ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/4 "2008-01-11T04:35:42Z")
\*The Player \*does it all in a single eight-minute tracking shot–a huge technical feat. Also, I kinda liked the way the searchlights in the Fox logo abruptly switched off in the _Live Free or Die Hard_ opening credits (where terrorist hackers manage to shut off half the nation’s electricity). ---
**Author:** ![8675309](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/ea5d25/32.png) [@8675309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/8675309)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/5 "2008-01-11T04:41:04Z")
Apocalypse Now has an incredible opening sequence. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/6 "2008-01-11T04:42:48Z")
_The Stuntman_ ---
**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:** [January 11, 2008, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/7 "2008-01-11T04:43:16Z")
**Superman, the Motion Picture** The shot opens on one of the pre-wide-screen-era movie curtains. They open, and you hear the gentle purr of an old-style projector. You’re looking from a kid’s point of view as he lies on the floor and opens his copy of a comic book (obviously “Superman” on an old-fashioned patterned rug; he must be reading this on the living room floor. The kid’s voice over reads the narration in the comic book panels. The camera closes in as you get to the last panel – the top of the Daily Planet building, with its iconic Planet, and the scenes dissolves into a realistic shot of 1930s architecture with a believable art deco Planet on top. The camera continues past it into the night sky. The narration stops, the music swells into fanfare, and the stars start to fly by. he credits appear dramatically in 3-dimensional-looking Slit Scan camera work, appearing at dramatic angles as the fanfare blares, and pass by with a Sssshhhh sound. We pass by various galactic things, and at the end of the credits pass the Red Sun of Krypton, then to the planet Krypton itself, and the scene blends into the Faces of the Council and we hear Jor-El’s voice saying “This is no fantasy…” Beautifully done, transporting you from the dreary days of the Depression through space to place you square in the fantasy, which self-awarely proclaims it not to be so. R/Greenberg and Associate’s innovative slit-scan effects work transformed credits sequences when they produced the original (which took leftover footage from Ice Station Zebra of the POV passing over and though cinematic clouds, and imposed those same 3-D credits over them.), and was the glitziest stuff before CGI came along. The Galactic Sights weren’t up to the stuff used in **2001** during the “Trip” sequence (which also used slit scan for the most part, but included some superb work depicting star formation and galaxies expanding), but I can ignore that. The Red Sun looked like it was made of red cloud, but I’ll let that pass too. The overall effect, especially with John Williams’ score (the man _knew_ how to write a fanfare. And still does) is engrossing. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/8 "2008-01-11T04:51:45Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] **Superman, the Motion Picture** The shot opens on one of the pre-wide-screen-era movie curtains. They open, and you hear the gentle purr of an old-style projector. You’re looking from a kid’s point of view as he lies on the floor and opens his copy of a comic book (obviously “Superman” on an old-fashioned patterned rug; he must be reading this on the living room floor. The kid’s voice over reads the narration in the comic book panels. The camera closes in as you get to the last panel – the top of the Daily Planet building, with its iconic Planet, and the scenes dissolves into a realistic shot of 1930s architecture with a believable art deco Planet on top. The camera continues past it into the night sky. The narration stops, the music swells into fanfare, and the stars start to fly by. he credits appear dramatically in 3-dimensional-looking Slit Scan camera work, appearing at dramatic angles as the fanfare blares, and pass by with a Sssshhhh sound. We pass by various galactic things, and at the end of the credits pass the Red Sun of Krypton, then to the planet Krypton itself, and the scene blends into the Faces of the Council and we hear Jor-El’s voice saying “This is no fantasy…” Beautifully done, transporting you from the dreary days of the Depression through space to place you square in the fantasy, which self-awarely proclaims it not to be so. R/Greenberg and Associate’s innovative slit-scan effects work transformed credits sequences when they produced the original (which took leftover footage from Ice Station Zebra of the POV passing over and though cinematic clouds, and imposed those same 3-D credits over them.), and was the glitziest stuff before CGI came along. The Galactic Sights weren’t up to the stuff used in **2001** during the “Trip” sequence (which also used slit scan for the most part, but included some superb work depicting star formation and galaxies expanding), but I can ignore that. The Red Sun looked like it was made of red cloud, but I’ll let that pass too. The overall effect, especially with John Williams’ score (the man _knew_ how to write a fanfare. And still does) is engrossing. [/QUOTE] Damn. I came in here to mention exactly that movie, though without as much technical information. I was about ten or eleven years old when I saw that movie at the biggest screen in Austin. The opening sequence was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. And the music… It was on TV not too long ago, in 5.1, and I was blasting it in the living room. My wife got home and wondered what in the he\*\* I was doing. Another I would add, though not really credits, is the prologue from _Star Wars_. Presenting the back story in simple text was great. But then the rebel cruiser followed by the star destroyer passing over head. Pure excitement. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/9 "2008-01-11T04:57:11Z")
I think that [Contact](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGyq7d62oPQ) deserves a nod. (Not really the credits per se, but a great opening sequence, all the same.) ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/10 "2008-01-11T06:24:59Z")
**"Blood Simple**", another Coen Brothers masterpiece. Seen from the inside of a car travelling on a Texas highway at night in the rain. As a car passes in the other direction, the headlights flash a credit on the screen, which is then wiped away by the windshield wipers. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/11 "2008-01-11T06:47:33Z")
In a similar thread on this topic not too long ago, I linked a number of Saul Bass opening credits. Here are a few more good ones I don’t think I linked in the other thread. –[**NIne Hours to Rama**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwFI55COceI) –[**Casino**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwydIuP31Ls) ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/12 "2008-01-11T06:54:09Z")
While I wasn’t crazy about _Napoleon Dynamite_, I thought the [opening credits](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiJmPUkVTFA) were truly brilliant. They (and the rest of the movie) clearly got much of their visual style from Aaron Ruell. He played Napoleon’s brother Kip in the movie, and is an [accomplished and distinctive photographer](http://www.aruell.com/) in his own right. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/13 "2008-01-11T07:02:17Z")
Will Vinton’s Claymation opening credits for _Brain Donors_. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/14 "2008-01-11T07:14:22Z")
**Deadwood**. I sometimes wish the rest of the show was more like the credits. Though it’s not far off, really - it certainly sets up an accurate feeling of it. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/15 "2008-01-11T08:55:47Z")
[QUOTE=Eonwe] [Harold and Maude](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=robvBGcQw4E). [/QUOTE] That’s the one I came in to mention. Then there’s _Bambi Meets Godzilla_ where the beginning credits and the ending credits meet in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/16 "2008-01-11T08:58:30Z")
I was thinking Superman as well… wierd. I thought I was going to be mocked even. Funny… Credit as well to Superman Returns… only because they copied this very opening, and when that John Williams score started with the faint beginnings of the score- I don’t think I could have been more excited for a movie to start. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/17 "2008-01-11T09:38:29Z")
Saul Bass’s opening credits for _Walk On The Wild Side_ with the black cat slinking it’s way down an alley throughout the titles. I love the opening credits of _Dexter_ too, very evocative. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/18 "2008-01-11T11:30:05Z")
_Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ in a walk. ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/19 "2008-01-11T11:45:15Z")
[QUOTE=Mr Shine] _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ in a walk. [/QUOTE] So true. Not an opening _sequence_ as others have nominated but standard (other than special parts of the text) no glitz (until the Llama takeover) credits–that everyone reads and laughs at. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083/20 "2008-01-11T11:47:46Z")
_Once Upon a Time in the West_’s 10 minute credit sequence, with three tough guys waiting at a train station to ambush Charles Bronson’s Harmonica, would have to be up there. It’s like a microcosm of the whole movie: little to no dialogue; the camera lingering on the actors’ faces for what in any other movie would seem like an eternity; and of course, a beautifully paced crescendo up to blink-and-you’ll-miss-it violence. If I end up watching more than 30 seconds of that sequence, I have to watch the whole movie, which at nearly three hours can prove a mite disruptive to my day. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-credits-ever/433083.md?page=2)