sexiest opening credits?
-
Artist:
The other night Alan Rudolph's 1984 romantic fandango "Choose Me" popped up on one of the film channels in the wee small hours, like some hallucination. Why do some movies vanish entirely from the landscape, while others get endlessly repeated and some, like this one, sneak into the schedule now and then, teasingly, only to slink back into the vaults?
Like other Rudolph films from the late seventies through the eighties ("Welcome To L.A.," "Remember My Name," "Trouble In Mind"), "Choose Me" wears its Altman influence boldly, but it has an erotic beat all its own. Maybe "beat" isn't quite the right word; more like an erotic groove, set by the relaxed flakiness of its cast (Keith Carradine, Genevieve Bujold, Lesley Ann Warren) and the velvety croon of Teddy Pendergrass.
A synopsis of the film on IMDB ("lost-soul night-owls have encounters that expose their contradictions..." blah blah) make it sound like a cinematic version of an Edward Hopper painting, but it's much more fun than that, and very sensual. This opening scene (taken from a Spanish-language print of the film, evidently) is maybe the sexiest first three minutes of any movie I know (any nominations for scene one of "Betty Blue" are coming from an entirely different place), as the street pulses with soul and neon and takes us into Rudolph's world of barflies, poets, liars, and people in need of some serious relationship advice.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (6)
Not to be a sexist loon, but the opening credits of most James Bond movies are invariably smokin'. Pin-up-o-Rama. Babe-a-licious. And with a few world-class theme songs, irresistable. The gold standard of 007 intros? Probably "Goldfinger," unless there was really a Bond film entitled "For Your Thighs Only." Might have just imagined that last one.
so R & B.
This movie is so about the Seventies meeting the Eighties. I have always thought it way underrated - a bit like Rudolph himself. And this has nothing to do with any Philadelphian''s reverence of Teddy, honest....
If I tallied up all the Rudolph films I've enjoyed, the list would rival that of all but a handful of directors. But why, Alan, why did you do what you did to "Breakfast of Champions?"
looks intriguing. just put it on my netflix Q,,, still looking for "Your Thighs Only" That's gotta be something from Austin Powers, right?
What a lovely tracking shot. I love it when stylish directors show off with long, complex single shots. Somehow, this is a Rudolph film I haven't seen. I will have to make amends.