Now, this may be because I'm too old, but I don't understand why everyone today shows no regard for watching film credits. In the past, the opening credits set the mood for a film through music and visuals. Nowadays, most commercial films don't even have opening credits; one pleasant exception was "Catch Me if You Can." But with the studios' fear of losing people's attention, they usually put them at the end, and of course, nobody, except my family and friends, stays for those either.

Now, has anyone seen any real memorable opening credits? My favorites have to be "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and "Jungle Fever"; they both set the mood in really entertaining, if vastly different, ways.

Also, why does everybody jump up at the end, sometimes even before the film "ends"? Everyone must have a bladder problem or feel the overwhelming need to peel out of the parking lot first. I started thinking about this watching the closing credits to the new Harry Potter. We were the only ones who watched it who stayed until the real end and were rewarded with a cool finish to the entire experience. Some people stay to see Pixar or Jackie Chan bloopers at the end, but for years, several films have been throwing in codas after the "film proper" ended. My favorite has to be "Young Sherlock Holmes." (There's a Chris Columbus connection.) Anyway, that movie keeps playing right through the credits and actually comes to its complete conclusion after the credits are over, casting everything that went before in a different light.

Well, I hope I didn't scare everybody off by being too long-winded. Somebody must have something to say.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark f,

My favourite ending credits would have to be Seven and my favourite opening ... I cant really think of any off the top of my head right now other than Fight Club.

BTW, does the Matrix have opening credits?

I actually don't remember seing opening credits in the Matrix, which is kind of strange.

Anyway, I think one of my favorite opening credits would be the beginning of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The scene Guy Ritchie shows during the credits is ultra-cool and really puts you in the right mood for the film.

And of course Pulp Fiction for playing Jungle Boogie during the opening credits.

K-Dog

Favorite Opening: Suburbia

Favorite Closing Credits: Dr. Strangelove

The opening credits to Catch Me If You Can were absolutely, positively amazing, and the best part of a rather lame movie IMHO.

As for closing credits, I remember really enjoying Kill Bill 2's.

opening- School of Rock. Only because I wasnt expecting that good of a one shot in a kids movie that I wasnt expecting much from. Of course, it is Richard Linklater we're talking about so I guess I was a bit naive.

closing- I guess I am guilty of not staying for the closing credits. The last one I stayed all the way through for, was Kill Bill vol. 2

Just thinking about it, the Dawn of the Dead remake's opening and closing credits were excellent!

Of course, all the "Pink Panther" films, directed by Blake Edwards, have great opening credits, and for that matter, so does Edwards' "The Great Race" and another around-the-world flick from 1965, "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines". Doesn't anyone have any favorite Hitchcock titles, considering there's so many to choose from?

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Favorite Opening: Suburbia

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Which Suburbia? Just curious.

As for credits ... I'm one of those awful people who can't wait to leave once the movie's over. I'll stay if i want to see who did something particularly good, like an actor I don't recognize or who the cinematographer was, or who composed the score. But I'm really not interested in who the ice machine filler was or who they want to thank, or even who the special chief executive producer was. Trivia just isn't my thing. (Unless I'm playing trivial pursuit, and then it is).

But I remember that Ferris Bueller's Day Off had some good stuff at the end credits which my brother and I discovered during the period when we watched it on video every day for a month. And I do remember the School of Rock end credits were good, since Music Editor is one of those nice people who pays attention to credits and so nowadays I have to stay and watch them, at least until I can peer pressure him into leaving.

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Originally posted by KT:

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Favorite Opening: Suburbia

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Which Suburbia? Just curious.

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Richard Linklater's "Suburbia" with Giovanni Ribisi, Steve Zahn, and Nikki Kat. The song "Town Without Pity" plays over a never ending chain of strip malls... Very cool.

Oh, okay. I have never seen that one. There's another "Suburbia" that was written and directed by Penelope Spheeris in 1984 (where Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers makes his acting debut) about a boy who runs away with his younger brother and falls in with this group of punk rock kids squatting in an abandoned house. There are also appearances by early 80s punk bands.

I was curious though, since no one except one of my ex-boyfriends and his friends seems to know this movie, and they worship it. It is pretty good, but I think I would have liked it more if I'd first seen it as teenager like they did, instead of in my 20s. I always get excited when some other person outside of that circle references "Suburbia," but it always turns out to be the Richard Linklater film.

I remember the Spheeris Suburbua, KT. I don't know that you would have liked it more if you had seen it as a teenager. I didn't see it in the theatre, but did see it a few years later, so I would have been in my teens. I liked it and think today it's puzzling that it's so overlooked, but I probably appreciate it as a document of 80s punk than as a solid piece of film-making.

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Yay! I agree that it's memorable more as a documentation of 80s punk and the lifestyle depicted in the movie than as a film in the film-making sense.

The reason I thought I might have appreciated it more if I had seen it first as a teenager, was that the love of my friends for it, stemmed from how much they identified with the characters and their feelings and motivations on first seeing it as teens. The same way I have a deeper love for 'Quadrophenia' than some I have watched it with because I first saw it when young and trying to discover my identity and could relate to Jimmy on that level pretty intensely. The same way I always have a place in my heart for "Reality Bites" because at the time of its release, the experience of the characters was very much like my own and watching it was like a catharsis for my own feelings of uncertainty about my life. But if I watched that movie for the first time right at this moment, I probably wouldn't be impressed at all because I wouldn't have the same identification with what I was watching.

That said, I'm just really excited that someone else knows what I am talking about at last!

True dat, KT.

Where you are when something reaches your eyes or your ears for the first time makes such a difference in how you experience it (hmmmm...sounds like the topic of another discussion around here, right now). Films and albums I felt PASSIONATELY about once upon a time don't always have the same impact on me today, but they often help remember how it felt. It's as close as I will ever come to having the chance to grab that kid and say, "Don't worry. You'll figure some of it out sooner or later."

I'm curious, and just to derail the thread a bit further (I'm begging your indulgence, mark), did you see the film Quadrophenia first, KT, or hear the album?

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Originally posted by LinnTate:

I'm curious, and just to derail the thread a bit further (I'm begging your indulgence, mark), did you see the film _Quadrophenia_ first, KT, or hear the album?

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It's alright with me, LT. I'm glad to see you over on this side of the forums too, but maybe you can throw in something about opening or closing credits. There's plenty of Hitch's to choose from. Remember, it doesn't even have to be full credits, just the title at the beginning. The opening title in the new Harry Potter was extremely well-done.

Oh by the way, I saw "Quadrophenia" in 1979, after I'd heard the album, but I'm not going to hijack my own thread!

Oh yes, it's not on topic, but just to answer the question ... I heard some songs from Quadrophenia before seeing the movie, but had never listened to the entire album.

I personally am not a stickler for staying on topic, so long as the discussion remains interesting and is at least somewhat related to what came before.

I wish I had more to say about credits ... unfortunately, I don't. Except to agree with Mark F. that 'Catch Me If You Can' had fantastic opening credits.

I was just curious, KT, because Quadrophenia was (and remains) my favorite album by The Who. I had such a clear vision of it in my head that I was a bit let down by the film when I finally saw it. Though, not so let down as I was by Tommy.

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Originally posted by mark f:
[SNIP]...maybe you can throw in something about opening or closing credits.

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As far as opening credits go, the first movie that comes to mind is The Player, that long, long opening shot prowling around the studio lot without an edit.

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Spider-Man 2 had excellent opening credits. Very stylized. Very cool.

I would have to say for opening credits: "Montey Python and the Holy Grail", "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", "School of Rock", and "The Great Race" come to mind.
For end credits I would have to say: "Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban".(There are probably more though.)

As a bit of an off topic side note, you know what is really stupid about the laws regarding opening credits? In any opening credits, the names that appear have to stay on screen for a certain amount of time, otherwise you are liable to get in trouble by the actors guild, BUT it is totally OK not to have any opening credits at all.