To Paraphrase Zero Mostel in “The Producers” – ‘When you’re onna roll, Flaunt it, Baby. FLAUNT IT!!!’
Thus this inevitable sequel to our ‘Classic Closing Sequences” opus.
What would be your fave OPENINGS?
Having lived around, done extensive research on and even had the pleasure of making acquaintances with The Amish of Lancaster County, Pa. for well nigh over three decades, we admit we weren’t particularly enamoured of hearing Hollyweird was gonna infiltrate the area in the early 80s and do their own shoot-‘em-up version via “Witness”.
We were pleasantly surprised (profoundly so) with the impressive end result, especially the way Maurice Jarre’s wonderful mystical music set the enthralling tone for the first appearance of that fascinating sub-culture as the film got underway:
Still love those first 21/2 minutes of Midway. The windup and starting of the B-25 engines during the MCA logo fading to the credits was great! Combined with Williams' piano, snare and bass drum and tubular bells(?) as the bombers lift off the carrier and you have the best scene in the whole movie (and borrowed from Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo). Similar to Jaws, with the underwater sounds as the MCA logo was fading.
Weirdly i loved hard times (Streetfighter) with Bronson arriving on the freight train to deVorzon gentle theme, which kinda was a hymn for charlie's loner, comfortable with his solitude. Just passing thru.
Wild bunch obviously, the whole arrival and San Rafael massacre. 20 minutes have gone by and you dont realise it. Proper intro straight for the jugular. Feel free to post pics!
Patton. Thats an introduction.
Where eagles dare - that junkers and the music and the icy mountains at night - unforgettable.
I wish I could find a gif for the first few seconds of Ken Russell's THE MUSIC LOVERS: The camera is situated at the top of a structure built for sledding down. A large mass of something immediately reveals itself to be a sled ridden by Tchaikovsky and his friend; the camera stays in its same position as we see the sled reach the bottom, the panarama of a winter carnival in full flurry before our eyes.
Staying in British cinema, we can always count on arresting imagery from Powell & Pressburger - like this centuries-straddling editing match, a quarter of a century before 2001.
Mark, I'm a fan too of that opening song and scene.
Ah, so there is at least one other! I'm just amazed at the level of hatred that this film is receiving everywhere. Cinema has no more future if a clever and emotional movie like this is soundly rejected.
Check this out. The first 5 1/2 minutes (after the main titles) of RIFFRAFF (RKO, 1947). If only the rest of the movie had been of the same calibre, (it wasn't), this might have been one of the greatest of all films noir:
