# Greatest opening/closing numbers on film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005 "2006-10-11T01:21:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/21 "2006-10-12T06:46:18Z")
“Anything Goes” from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom :ducks and runs: ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/22 "2006-10-12T07:04:33Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] All these posts in and no mentions for Disney movies? Do they not qualify under some reason I’m not getting? (I’m not at all knowledgable of musical/stage tradition, so that’s actually a serious (not snarky) question). [/QUOTE] Nice recap of what is, indeed, a great opening of Beauty and the Beast, **John**. I see no reason why Disney movies shouldn’t be included in the list, which brings to mind another famous Disney opening – “Circle of Life” in The Lion King. Actually, that’s the only other Disney movie I can think of that opens with a song, though I’ve seen very few Disney movies from the past ten years or so. [QUOTE=JohnT] To me, the finest opening number is Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. With no less than 22 separate singing voices, each one getting their own measure in the sun, plus four different ensemble arrangements, the song itself shows a songwriter, Howard Ashman, at the height of his powers… right before he died of AIDS. [/QUOTE] You know, I can’t help but think that Disney wouldn’t be in significantly better shape today if Ashman hadn’t died so young. Ashman and Menken’s collaborations really provided the soul in the brief Disney renaissance in the early '90s. Disney’s reliance on crappy pop songs after Ashman’s death have, IMO, contributed to the collapse of the studio’s animation department. Even Menken’s collaborations with other writers haven’t yielded the same magic. It’s really too bad. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/23 "2006-10-12T07:05:49Z")
[QUOTE=Tangent] “Anything Goes” from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom :ducks and runs: [/QUOTE] Hey, I love that opening! That’s what introduced me to the music of Cole Porter. Of course, I’ve always been in a minority on that whole movie: as a kid, it was my favorite of the Indiana Jones trilogy, though apparently most people think it’s the worst one. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/24 "2006-10-12T12:27:54Z")
Opening: **Deliver Us** from Prince of Egypt Closing: **Can’t Take It In** by Imogen Heap from Chronicles of Narnia. Electro-ethereal wonderfulness framing the last bits of the film. **Wunderkind** by Alanis Morissette and **Winter Light** by Tim Finn were nice as well. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/25 "2006-10-12T12:48:26Z")
Opening Fiddler on the Roof Bram Stoker’s Dracula Jesus Christ Superstar Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark [Enemy Mine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_Mine_%28film%29) and since someone else brought up animated films, The Lion King (trite now, but not at the time) Curse of the Were-Rabbit Closing Mother India The Lion King Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Enemy Mine Star Trek: The Motion Picture Star Trek The Wrath of Khan Star Trek Generations ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/26 "2006-10-12T13:04:08Z")
Julie Andrews’ voice is one of the treasures of cinema. The underrated _Darling Lili_ (1970), directed by Blake Edwards, opens and closes with the same song: the lovely, mysterious “Whistling Away the Dark”, sung by Julie from a spotlight on a darkened theater stage as she entertains wartime audiences during World War I. The reprise at the end also serves as a reunion of all the main characters of the story, revealed one by one as the camera moves along the stage. Magical. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/27 "2006-10-12T13:12:16Z")
For closings, I’d like to mention “The Continental” number in _The Gay Divorcee_. It runs over 20 minutes in a movie that’s little over an hour an a half long, and pretty well stops the show (there’s just a little bit about Ginger Rogers’s character wrapping up her divorce troubles afterwards.) It starts with Fred and Ginger leaving a paper cutout of themselves on a phonograph turn-table to sneak out of a hotel room to go out dancing, then tons of people in different black-and-white outfits dancing, then some girl we don’t know singing a counterpoint and Erik Rhodes standard comic Italian guy playing the concertina, all to a catchy song that will not leave your head no matter how much you want it to. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/28 "2006-10-12T13:16:11Z")
Opening? Star Wars. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/29 "2006-10-12T13:20:39Z")
Most inspired musical opening: the singing at the very opening of LOTR: FOTR. The singing starts before anything is shown on the screen, and before any word is spoken. This mimics, most likely intentionally, the order of media as portrayed in Tolkein’s Silmarillion: the first thing in existence was the song, and only then were words and then sight introduced. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/30 "2006-10-12T13:30:28Z")
Well, _Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy_ was hit-or-miss with people, but I liked the opening song, _So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish._ ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/31 "2006-10-12T14:02:42Z")
Opening and closing of _Gangs of New York_. Opening is a drum and wrird flute duet as they’re marching to battle through the caverns beneath the church. People are dancing, sharpening weapons, kids are scurrying. It’s lit yellowish with lots of unfinished timber about. Great costumes. Closing is an electric guitar driven theme as Scorcese ages New York City through time, and then slams “GANGS OF NEW YORK” up on the screen. Actually, I can’t precisely remember when the music starts but there’s something about it that seems out of place, yet perfect. Robbie Robertson was executive music director for that movie. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/32 "2006-10-12T14:16:20Z")
Monty Python’s ‘Every sperm is sacred’ from ‘The Meaning of Life’ Queen’s ‘We will rock you’ from ‘A Knight’s Tale’ (though the rest of the film was poor :eek: Cole Porter’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ from Woody Allen’s ‘Manhattan’ ‘Carmina Burana’ from some Arthurian legend film with knights riding along a skyline (the name escapes me, because again the film was weak) ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/33 "2006-10-12T14:36:29Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Julie Andrews’ voice is one of the treasures of cinema. The underrated _Darling Lili_ (1970), directed by Blake Edwards, opens and closes with the same song: the lovely, mysterious “Whistling Away the Dark”, sung by Julie from a spotlight on a darkened theater stage as she entertains wartime audiences during World War I. The reprise at the end also serves as a reunion of all the main characters of the story, revealed one by one as the camera moves along the stage. Magical. [/QUOTE] If I rent that from Netflix, is the whole movie worth watching, or should I just fast-forward, after the opening, to the end? ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/34 "2006-10-12T15:10:46Z")
Does Strangelove count? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/35 "2006-10-12T15:21:42Z")
[QUOTE=Dooku] I personally loved the closing of **40 Year Old Virgin**. [/QUOTE] Same here. Classic. Does everyone in the thread realize that the OP is talking about musical numbers that open and close films? Not just musical numbers IN films, or opening and closing scenes? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/36 "2006-10-12T15:37:18Z")
I’ll cast the first vote for the opening of the original Superman film. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/37 "2006-10-12T15:57:26Z")
[QUOTE=glee] Cole Porter’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ from Woody Allen’s ‘Manhattan’ [/QUOTE] George Gershwin ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/38 "2006-10-12T16:00:46Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Julie Andrews’ voice is one of the treasures of cinema. The underrated _Darling Lili_ (1970), directed by Blake Edwards, opens and closes with the same song: the lovely, mysterious “Whistling Away the Dark”, sung by Julie from a spotlight on a darkened theater stage as she entertains wartime audiences during World War I. The reprise at the end also serves as a reunion of all the main characters of the story, revealed one by one as the camera moves along the stage. Magical. [/QUOTE] Mention of Julie Andrews reminded me of the opening of “The Sound of Music”! I’m surprised no one remembered it before now. It’s been mocked and parodied to death, but that scene of her spinning around on the mountain top singing certainly deserves a nod. And for endings, does the “Also Sprach Zarathustra” bit from the end of “2001” count? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/39 "2006-10-12T16:21:41Z")
…but it almost could have been: The final sequence of _20,000 Years in Sing Sing_ (1932). Spencer Tracy has just gone to the chair. The cons are all lined up for roll call. Suddenly, optically printed numbers appear on each man: **25 YEARS. 60 YEARS. 7 YEARS.** etc. The camera trucks along the line. The cons and their numbers get smaller and smaller, filling the screen, moving in formation like a dance number (how the _hell_ did they do this technically in 1932?)…all to thundering major brass chords…all the **YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS** finally giving meaning to the previously unexplained title: **20,000 YEARS IN SING SING** ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005/40 "2006-10-12T16:29:46Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] If I rent that from Netflix, is the whole movie worth watching, or should I just fast-forward, after the opening, to the end? [/QUOTE] Well, now that I’ve spoiled the ending, why bother. 😉 No, you should rent it. It’s a multi-genre crowd pleaser: musical, war movie (with aerial dogfights), espionage, romance. The version shown on TV today has been edited by director Blake Edwards to remove some Inspector Clouseau-type comedy and make it a slightly more serious movie. It was drubbed by the critics when first released, for no better reason, I think, than that it and a previous Julie Andrews movie _Star_ came at the tail end of the series of big-budget musicals that blossomed in the 1960s. With the advent of the New American Cinema like _Bonnie and Clyde_ and _Easy Rider_, such movies were beginning to look like dinosaurs. Watched today without that prejudice, it looks better than the critics gave it. Think of it as the best Jeannette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy movie they never made. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-opening-closing-numbers-on-film/376005.md?page=3)