So much going on here. The grimy look of the New York City of the early 1970's, the cold, the time of day this scene was shot, Roundtree strutting along cutting across traffic in that leather coat as only he could, and the characters he encounters on the streets. You learn quite a bit about this man in just a few minutes before the story even starts. And did I mention the music?
I just love the End Titles happening at the START of the movie.
For older films it's usually the main titles (from the days when you got less than half a million names on the credits), & the one that comes to mind is The Charge Of The Light Brigade, animation by Richard Williams & music by John Addison.
Some great choices here...How about the opening to WHERE EAGLES DARE? I was eight years old when my Father took me to, what was, The CINERAMA (ABC) Cinema on the Bristol Road in Birmingham. I remember the snow covered Alps, that German Junkers carrying Burton, Eastwood and co. and Ron Goodwin's famous theme scaring the hell out of me.
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.
