"Key Grip, Aye? Very... Interesting" (Intro Credits)

This is a minor rant that applies mostly to older films, but one that I reflect on often (in fact, whenever I find myself sitting through a text-only list of names when I wanted to see a movie). My issue is with pre-movie credits that lack any inspiration whatsoever. I understand perfectly well that the cast and crew is proud of their accomplishments and rightly wants recognition, but testing audience patience with five minutes of white on black text that they stare at blankly just isn’t a good way to kick start a film.

Creative opening credit sequences can go a long way towards getting an audience excited for the film, or squeazing in some backstory or engaging in artistic play. Before I get too far, I should mention that the old disembodied-hand-turning-the-pages-of-a-book-with-the-same-title-of-the-movie just doesn’t cut it. Nor does the Japanese staple of the 1950’s and 60’s work for me: white credits on a woven/textured background that hold interminably while traditional music plays (Sorry, Kurosawa and Ozu). That being said, it is often the choice of music which makes a good intro work (as in almost all Tarantino films).

While coming up with good examples, this post became a list (in no particular order) as they doubtlessly often will. I welcome other suggestions in the comments.

1) Humorous cartoons like those at the beginning of most of the “The Pink Panther” series and also “Catch Me If You Can.”

2) The variously amusing or eccentric Bond openings culminating recently in “Casino Royale.”

3) The clever font integration of films like “Panic Room” where the text is placed along skyscraper walls with proper perspective maintained (by Kyle Cooper). Satoshi Kon’s anime “Tokyo Godfathers” (2003) commoditizes the credits by integrating them onto billboards, signs and other ads.

4) The scratchy atmospheric “Se7en.” (also by Kyle Cooper)

5) The minimalist graphic art styling of “Hard Candy.”

6) The silk-screened exuberance of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” with credits timed to bullet and cannon fire.

7) The engaging alternation of text and image in films like “A Zed and Two Noughts.” Many excellent examples of this exist but I like the rhythmic use of Michael Nyman’s score in this example.

8) The playful cafeteria food credits in “Napoleon Dynamite.” (by Pablo Ferro)

9) The thematically-relevant Polaroid undeveloping in “Memento”

10) Politically-minded embedded short stories like ‘The life and times of a bullet’ from “Lord of War.”

11) The self-consciously read-out-loud credits from “Contempt” (Especially humorous since the day-lit open-air shot contrasts so prominently with the previous shot: an extended, dark and intimate dialogue between Michel Piccoli and a thoroughly naked Brigitte Bardot.) Godard made numerous other great credit sequences with silk-screened text in primary colors.

12) “Thank You for Smoking’s” witty integration of text onto vintage cigarette containers accompanied by a hilarious little ditty.

13) The poetic and simple “Raging Bull” intro showing DeNiro boxing alone.

14) Ambiguous, challenging montages like the science/technobabble credits of “Pi.”

15) Similarly, the punk-charged raucous roadmap montage of “Repoman.”

16) The flowing dance through a pile of bric-a-brac and text in “Delicatessen”

17) The compositional balancing of text on semi-surreal images that accompanies the intro of “City of Lost Children.”

18) Saul Bass’s plot-themed 60’s and 70’s credits like the body part intro of “Anatomy of a Murder” and the Las Vegas lightshow credits of the original “Oceans Eleven.”

19) The graphic art noir cutouts of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” with its perfect juxtaposition of red stains: lipstick and blood.

20) Jane Fonda’s zero-G striptease credits from “Barbarella.” There, I said it. It’s certainly one way of holding viewer attention. As far as pure hormonal response goes, I also have to give credit to “Planet Terror’s” (2007) go-go dancing intro credits with Rose McGowan.

Additions since the original list:
21) "Paprika" (2006)
22) "Ginger Snaps" (2000)
23) "Walk on the Wild Side" (1962) (Thanks to Self-Styled Siren)