Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Which Buster Keaton?
Here's a fine but slightly infuriating list of great opening scenes in movies. It's a fair enough list but it chooses Scorsese's Goodfellas; the opening of his Casino, with De Niro dropping through flames to the sound of Bach's Matthew Passion, is far better. Also it fails to mention the greatest opening sequence of all. Train wheels are rushing by and then a horizontal Buster Keaton drops into the shot. Immaculate. Unfortunately, I can't remember which Keaton film it is. Any ideas?
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Good choice. Casino is very underrated, though ruined by Sharon Stone's Oscar quest. And the opening also had Saul Bass involved, which always meant something a bit special.
ReplyDeleteA bit of a dull list, though. Nothing but well known films. Why couldn't they include something a bit less well known but equally as great? 'Oldboy' or one of Takashi Kitano's films, they have some great openings.
You're not thinking of the Keaton film where he sits between the wheels? The General, perhaps? Though that bit isn't at the beginning.
No, I know it's not The General, some shorter piece I think.
ReplyDeletea bit of detective work suggests it could be The High Sign. Sadly no youtube submissions on that one but a few excellent clips of other stunts.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest opening scene is the extraordinary prologue hot-air balloon scene of Andrei Rublev.
ReplyDeleteAnd here I was, Andrew, so sure you were going to choose the opening of 'The Fast and the Furious: Toyko Drift'...
ReplyDeleteEither that or the opening meat cleaver scene in Big Bad Cop 3- Return to Rage, Chip.
ReplyDeleteWithnail and I (naturally enough, it being the best film ever made) has a particularly fine opening scene that makes use of King Curtis's version of Whiter Shade of Pale.
ReplyDeleteArtsy-fartsy choices for effete faux-existentialists pontificating in big words in Paris cafes. Bryan, I thought you stood for the defence of classical High Culture. How could you possibly forget the nonpareil of film openings?
ReplyDeleteSurely it's the mark of a crap director to put their best effort into the beginning. who would pay good money for a cinema seat and leave within the first half hour?
ReplyDeleteWhat we should be celebrating is best film endings.
In that case, Ian, my vote goes to either Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon. Both would be considered pedestrian choices these days, I imagine, but all the same...
ReplyDeleteI've never understood why everybody rates 'Casablanca'. Bogart's best film was 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre', which has to be one of the best films of all time, followed by 'Key Largo' and 'To Have And Have Not'. 'Casablanca' just leaves me cold. I just don't think Bogart doesn't do suave.
ReplyDelete'I just don't think Bogart doesn't do suave.'
ReplyDeleteForgive me. You know what I mean.
Best closing scene would be Nostalgia, again by Tarkovsky. Though his final scene to Solaris is also up there.
ReplyDeletebest opening would surely be Patton, that great speech: "now there's another thing I want you to remember: no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country - he won it by making the other poor bastard die for his!"
ReplyDeleteand surely the greatest ending would be Manhunter, with Will Graham, newly scarred, looking out onto the ocean as the soundtrack plays: "Heartbeat, woohoo! listen to my heartbeat! Ye-yeah!"