No matter how you felt about the 1982 film “The World According to Garp” it’s hard to imagine anyone not loving its title sequence.
The great Beatles song “When I’m 64″ plays in the background while an infant gently floats up and down before the camera.
Simple and priceless. Plus, it highlights a key theme in the movie – Garp’s lasting memories of both being lifted as a baby and the occupation of his late pappy – a combat flier.
So what are your favorite movie title sequences?
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The movie “Woodstock” – plays CSN&Y “Long Time Gone”
probably any of the number of sequences that Saul Bass has done. my favorite is probably the one he did for Scorsese’s ‘Casino’ or any of the number of sequences he did for hitchcock most notably the one he did for vertigo.
I need to revisit “Casino,” Ronn … one of Scorsese’ unsung films.
You know, just picking the perfect song can make a movie opening complete.
I remember seeing a sweet romance, “Untamed Heart,” and the first scenes feature that ‘doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo” nonsense singing from Suzanne Vega – that “Diner” song?? It set the mood perfectly.
I’ve always liked the title sequences in films from the ’60s. Off the top of my head: Charade, The Pink Panther (the original), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.
And, from a decade later, there’s the title sequence in the original Halloween: A jack-o-lantern surrounded by blackness, with the eerie theme music playing over it.
Vertigo, hands down.
That Bernard Hermann score is so eerie and haunting that it will stay with you for days.
Alien. Jerry Goldsmith’s frankly disturbing music playing as the credits fade-in/fade-out, all the while the title is appearing one little bar at a time. Immediately set the tone, and even the pace, of the film.
Honorable mention: Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Paramount mountain dissolving into an actual mountain, the low music by John Williams and some rough hombres trekking through the jungle, culminating in the first reveal of Indiana Jones.
Magnolia
Touch of Evil
Hate to be so contemporary, but the opening of Watchmen really blew me away, far more than the rest of the movie.
Don’t you hate when a movie peaks in the first 10 minutes? “Watchmen” did … so did new “Fast/Furious.”
Many of the Maurice Binder title sequences for the older “Bond” films…
The title credits for Spider-Man 2 and 3 provided a nice visual recap of prior events…
…and “Kung Fu Panda” had the best closing credits I can think of…
(…and I liked the opening for “Watchmen”, too…)
The only one that sticks in my head is the opening titles for 101 Dalmations, the original animated film. A perfect blending of music and animation.
Guys, you can’t forget the original Star Wars…I mean, come on. That opening impacted generations. Of course it’s lessened a bit when George jumped the shark.
“The Innocents,” 1961. Based on “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James. A black screen, and a very young girl sings an unearthly folk song. She sings the last notes as the Twentieth Century Fox logo comes up. Then, a monochrome Cinemascope screen, and Deborah Kerr’s hands, just her hands, on the left side of the screen beside the credits, she is weeping softly, beyond consolation. Her face comes on screen as the credits end, and her voice from offscreen, “all I wanted to do was save the children, not destroy them.” This is a credit sequence that reaches out of the screen for your neck.