# Films with cold openings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 13, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195 "2008-05-13T19:37:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [May 13, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/1 "2008-05-13T19:37:26Z")
This thread is about movies that begin with the studio logo and then jump right into the action for several minutes (or sometimes more) before the title credits appear. Name and discuss any that come to mind. Also, what’s the earliest example of this practice? I have trouble remembering any movies made before the late 50’s that did this. I’ll begin by citing the opening to **The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly** as an extreme example. I don’t think they get to the opening credits until they’re about 20 minutes into the movie. Incidentally, movies like **Apocalypse Now** that don’t run their title until the end don’t count. Those are movies that simply don’t have opening credits. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/2 "2008-05-13T19:48:59Z")
Raising Arizona is a good example of what you’re talking about. They don’t show the credits untill after all the backstory of H.I. multiple arrests, marrying Ed(wina) and trying to have baby until the doctor explains to H.I. that Ed’s insides were a rocky place where his seed could find no perches and then the news about the Arizona quints being born to Nathan Arizona and his wife. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/3 "2008-05-13T19:49:54Z")
IIRC, Robocop 2 has _no_ opening credits! ---
**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:** [May 13, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/4 "2008-05-13T19:53:44Z")
> [@](#): > > IIRC, Robocop 2 has no opening credits! No, bu the title appears at the very beginning, even before the NewsBreak clip, and that satisfies the OP’s requirements. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/5 "2008-05-13T19:57:24Z")
**Lethal Weapon 2** was one. Just a cartoony Warner Bros. riff, and then right into Mel Gibson whooping it up during a chase. I think **Mission Impossible III** did it as well. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/6 "2008-05-13T20:03:57Z")
Nearly all the James Bond films. The general term for this is “pre-credit sequence.” ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/7 "2008-05-13T20:09:43Z")
> [@](#): > > seed could find no perches I thought “purchase” was the word. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/8 "2008-05-13T20:51:09Z")
**Leaving Las Vegas** has a famously long cold-open. I’m pretty sure **Contact** has no opening titles at all after the movie’s title appears. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/9 "2008-05-13T20:54:40Z")
Not a film but - Eps of BattleStar Galactica do this. And then they show a short sequence of spoiler clips - during which I look away from the screen. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/10 "2008-05-13T20:57:24Z")
IIRC, **The Lion King** starts that way. They used the pre-title musical sequence (or part of it) as the movie trailer and it was really cool, especially how they slam the title in. [Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOW0MDMKbK8) the YouTube link. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/11 "2008-05-13T21:05:05Z")
The 70mm version of **Apocalypse Now** doesn’t show the title at all, except for a brief glimpse of it written in graffiti on a wall. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/12 "2008-05-13T21:07:25Z")
**The Departed** doesn’t have the credits until about 20 minutes in, after quite a bit of plot development has occurred. Refresh my memory, does **Raiders of the Lost Ark** have anything besides the famous Paramount logo dissolve to a real mountain? God, I should know that! ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/13 "2008-05-13T21:46:52Z")
Slightly off topic, but do I correctly remember an episode of Monty Pythons Flying Circus where they played the opening credits about five minutes from the end? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/14 "2008-05-13T21:50:02Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Not a film but - Eps of BattleStar Galactica do this. And then they show a short sequence of spoiler clips - during which I look away from the screen. [/QUOTE] You too, huh? I found myself doing the same for the opening of the _Justice League_ cartoons. And when I watch reruns of older shows, I’m a little surprised how often they started with, for example, “Tonight, on _Tour Of Duty_…” and five or six clips from the upcoming episode. ---
**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:** [May 13, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/15 "2008-05-13T23:28:28Z")
If I may repeat a question from my OP, what’s the earliest use in a movie of a cold opening/extended pre-credit sequence? I noticed they started to be used more frequently in the early 60’s but I’m fairly sure the practice began long before that. I’m also guessing that foreign films used cold openings before Hollywood did but I could be wrong. Also **bubastis,** I believe there were several Monty Python episodes where they did this. An ep that immediately comes to mind is the one set almost entirely in the department store. And \*\*Raiders of the Lost Ark \*\* did have title and credits in the opening sequence as Indy, his treacherous guide, and a few Indian scouts move through the jungle. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/16 "2008-05-13T23:56:35Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] I thought “purchase” was the word. [/QUOTE] You know I was never really sure and I debated as I wrote it out, but I tought “to perch” was a better match with ‘rocky place’ but I’m probably wrong. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/17 "2008-05-14T00:28:04Z")
In “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” the credits don’t appear for a long time…I’m thinking about 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/18 "2008-05-14T00:51:38Z")
One interesting thing I remember about _Gangs of New York_ is that the entire movie is a cold open. The title doesn’t appear until the very end, right before the credits. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/19 "2008-05-14T01:42:15Z")
My favorite cold opening is **Pulp Fiction**. Total WTF, then blackout and Dick Dale. What a rush. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195/20 "2008-05-14T01:47:56Z")
_Boys on the Side_ waited until the closing credits to tell you what you just watched. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-with-cold-openings/449195.md?page=2)