Favorite Main Titles (1 Viewer)

[Sultanofcinema]

Folks are currently still discussing their favorite James Bond Title Sequences. How about all...of the other films that exist with innovative, very different and or out of this world title sequences (Barbarella) that are wonderful. Saul Bass always comes to mind, but so do Maurice Binder's titles for Deadfall and The Tamarind Seed. I love the titles for 1967's The Fearless Vampire Killers, The Liquidator and North By Northwest.

 

[Sam Favate]

The opening titles that I still find thrilling are those for Superman: The Movie (1978).

These days, titles come at the end, so opening titles are something of a lost art.

 

[David_B_K]

A couple of Saul bass sequences I love are The Big Country (1958) and Spartacus (1960). Both feature great music scores, and sort of tell the story of the films in miniature.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Vertigo, Kiss Me Deadly, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

 

[Rob W]

The Pink Panther films
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Life of Brian
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein

 

[Walter Kittel]

A few that come readily to mind include, mostly because they establish mood very early:

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery - Love everything about the opening from the bright color, the fashion, and the callbacks to cinema of the '60s. Lots and lots of fun.
Monty Python and The Holy Grail - Just absurdly silly.
Alien - The score and the slow reveal of the title are very memorable.
Se7en - Another disturbing opening sequence (both graphically and audibly) that established the film's mood.

A few that I'll mention just on the basis of the title song are:

The Big Country - The opening titles feature what I consider to be the definitive classic Western score (at least until the spaghetti Westerns with Morricone reinvented the Western score.)
Chariots of Fire - Terrific theme music from Vangelis.
Goldfinger - Features what is still my favorite Bond opening theme with Shirley Bassey just belting out the title track. Works every single time.

- Walter.

 

[Worth]

Dr. Strangelove.

 

[SD_Brian]

Lots of great sequences already listed. I'll add a few from the world of horror:

The Omen (1976) - Not the most visually interesting, maybe, but great Jerry Goldsmith score makes the opening one of the movie's highlights.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) - From the John Larroquette narration, to those distorted flashbulb noises with the decaying bodies parts fading in and out, then finally onto the stock footage of the sun. Creepy stuff!

Psycho (1960) - Saul Bass + Bernard Herrman = Bliss (I would have gone with Vertigo, but that has already been listed)

Halloween (1978) - Another great score, courtesy of John Carpenter, and a creepy looking Jack-o-Lantern that keeps getting closer and closer.

 

[Keith Cobby]

OHMSS
North by Northwest
The Big Country

and...
Where Eagles Dare - probably the best action film.

 

[David_B_K]

The Omen (1976) - Not the most visually interesting, maybe, but great Jerry Goldsmith score makes the opening one of the movie's highlights.

Jerry Goldsmith's scores really made the main titles of several movies exciting. I remember sitting in the theater in 1975 when the main title sequence started for The Wind and the Lion. The visual background was just some Moroccan architectural detail with the titles displayed in an Arabic-styled font. But when that thunderous music started, I was thinking "oh, hell yeah, this movie is gonna rock".

 

[Sultanofcinema]

How about baby Garp being bounced in the air in slow motion by his mom to The Beatles When I'm 64.

 

[KPmusmag]

Say what you will about the film overall, but I love the main title of MAME (1974) with superimposed images from Warner films of the 1930s. It really evokes the feeling of the time period and is very well done IMO.

 

[bujaki]

The alley cats in Walk on the Wild Side. Great Elmer Bernstein music.

 

[Worth]

Lord of War is another great one - you might as well turn the film off after the titles.

 

[TravisR]

Lots of good choices already listed but the first one that came to my mind was:

Halloween (1978) - Another great score, courtesy of John Carpenter, and a creepy looking Jack-o-Lantern that keeps getting closer and closer.

It's pretty simple but the music and the length of the slow push in on the pumpkin make it work great.


Another winner from Carpenter is The Fog where it's just minor supernatural events happening in the town over a very long amount of time for opening credits.

 

[Josh Dial]

The Kingdom:

 

[richardburton84]

Anything by Saul Bass will do very nicely, especially the three he did for Hitchcock. On that note, I do have to say I also like Maurice Binder’s Bass imitation for the opening titles for Charade.

I’m not sure who did the credits, but a more subdued main title sequence I like is that for To Kill a Mockingbird, which perfectly sets the tone for the film (helped on by Elmer Bernstein’s gentle scoring).

 

[Sultanofcinema]

Anything by Saul Bass will do very nicely, especially the three he did for Hitchcock. On that note, I do have to say I also like Maurice Binder’s Bass imitation for the opening titles for Charade.

I’m not sure who did the credits, but a more subdued main title sequence I like is that for To Kill a Mockingbird l, which perfectly sets the tone for the film (helped on by Elmer Bernstein’s gentle scoring).

That would be Stephen Frankfurt

 

[Jeffrey D]

A few great mentions- Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Lord Of War, and SE7EN.
I’ll throw in Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can.

 

[dpippel]

Let's not leave out 2001: A Space Odyssey. Short if you don't consider the Overture, but certainly one of the most memorable in film history.