Most movies these days are pretty terrible. You know it, I know it, and most importantly, the movie studio knows it. They know that you’ve just thrown down precious moneys for 90-150 minutes of familiar people doing generally predictable stuff that will make you vaguely regret your life choices – or at least, the ones that led you to this darkened room full of flickering light and the sounds of popcorn being chewed by a hundred hungry mouths.
In order to cover for the almost certainly not-so-great experience you’re about to have, movies generally save the best for first: a kick-ass opening sequence followed by a truly inspired credit sequence. Often title sequences are done by an entirely separate firm, with their own budget and creative direction and everything. Their mission? Create something eye-popping and pulse-stirring that generates enough goodwill and adrenaline to keep the audience in their seats until they forget they have a choice.
But forgive my glibness: there are plenty of great movies out there, and they have great and innovative title sequences to go with them. Here’s my top five.
5. Watchmen (2009)
Sometimes a great title sequence will condense a story into a few thematic images. And sometimes a director will go in the opposite direction, stretching a title sequence out until it’s a little mini-movie of its own. That’s the strategy that Zack Snyder used in Watchmen to encapsulate the fearsome and knotty backstory of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s comic. Watchmen posits an alternate history in which superhero vigilantes actually existed in the real world instead of comics, and Snyder runs through this history in a series of what I can only call ‘motion stills’. It’s amazing to watch. The rest of the movie doesn’t live up to the credits, but then, how could it?
EMBED-Watchmen :) Intro – Watch more free videos
4. Delicatessen (1991)
Probably one of the most innovative and clever opening title sequences ever filmed. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who went on to make Amelie, co-directed this tale of cannibalism and Rube Goldberg machines with fellow mad genius Marc Caro. The great thing about this title sequence is that every object relates to the job that the person performs; just watch and you’ll see what I mean.
Here are the opening sequence and the credits, because both are just plain awesome.
Delicatessen intro by cinedelnorte
3. Raging Bull (1980)
Jake Lamotta was (and still is) many things: a world-class boxer, a past-his-prime sadsack, a charismatic athlete, a lout who spent his life trying to confine his violent nature to the ring. Scorsese manages to telescope Lamotta’s character in this title sequence, a single fixed image of the character (played by Robert deNiro) shadowboxing in slow-motion as flashbulbs slowly pop in the background and the intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana floats above. Some critics have pointed out that the horizontal ropes of the ring resemble the bars of sheet music, and deNiro seems to be trapped and raging against the very design of the film. All I know is that I could watch this clip over and over again.
2. Vertigo (1963)
I know. I’m sure every stick-up-their-butt critic out there wants to drone on and on about Vertigo, but the title sequence really takes the cake. Everything you need to know about the subject of the film is distilled into these two minutes: a woman’s face, a devouring obsession with appearances, an endless spiraling void. Saul Bass made a number of great titles, including The Man With the Golden Arm and North by Northwest, but this one is a little miracle of compression.
Vertigo 1958 Alfred Hitchcock Start Titles by generique-cinema
1. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Even after 56 years, the title sequence of Kiss Me Deadly still surprises and jars the viewer. A young woman (Cloris Leachman in her first role) in a trench coat stops a man in a roadster on a highway at night. She gets in, breathing heavily in fear and pain. Nat King Cole starts in on the soundtrack… and the credits begin to scroll down. It takes a moment to register exactly what’s wrong with the way the titles are presented, but the slightly jarring effect is perfect for a movie that seems to be set off its axis. Even though the look and feel of Kiss Me Deadly has been looted repeatedly by later filmmakers (David Lynch’s Lost Highway is a really strange love letter to this film), this particular technique has rarely been attempted.
This is barely the beginning. What are your favorite title sequences? What deserves to knock these contenders out of the top five?
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