Our forefathers did not politely protest the British.They did not vote them out of office, nor did they impeach the king,march on the capitol or ask permission for their rights. ----------------They just shot them. MOLON LABE
I've always thought that this opening for Twelve OClock High was one of the most effective movie openings I'd ever seen when I first watched it on "big screen" when it had just been released. I still think that. FWIW, one of the novelists and screenwriters was Sy Bartlett, who flew in B17s over France and Germany during WW II.
It was also filmed when there were still plenty of serviceable B17s available for filming. Enjoy.
CLICK on "Watch On You Tube."
L.W.
I've seen most or all of the movies mentioned in this thread, but the scene with Dean Jagger on the runway in the first few minutes of the film is incredibly moving, far exceeding the effect of the openings in all the other movies.
Saving Private Ryan - watching the opening scene is the only time I have ever found myself unconsiously gripping the armrests of the seat. While there were some great opening scenes mentioned nothing ever had an effect on me like that one.
drover
223 Rem, my favorite cartridge - you can't argue with truckloads of dead PD's and gophers.
24hourcampfire.com - The site where there is a problem for every solution.
I've always thought that this opening for Twelve OClock High was one of the most effective movie openings I'd ever seen when I first watched it on "big screen" when it had just been released. I still think that. FWIW, one of the novelists and screenwriters was Sy Bartlett, who flew in B17s over France and Germany during WW II.
It was also filmed when there were still plenty of serviceable B17s available for filming. Enjoy.
The slow panning through what seemed a typical suburban home at first in a lesser-known film from 1987 called The Stepfather was unique for its time and impactful.
Terry O'Quinn's part in the initial scene got people's attention. I have noticed films since copying the technique.
Under-rated film and performance.
When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are something to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honors are something to be ashamed of . Confucius
The slow panning through what seemed a typical suburban home at first in a lesser-known film from 1987 called The Stepfather was unique for its time and impactful.
Terry O'Quinn's part in the initial scene got people's attention. I have noticed films since copying the technique.
Under-rated film and performance.
True, I've seen a lot of films copying that - stepfather, stepmother, stepdaughter, stepson.
Oh, wait, you were talking about the cinematography...
Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery. Hit the target, all else is twaddle!
Leanwolf: Indeed no opening movie scene compares to that of "The Wild Bunch" (listed as number 94 of the Best 500 Films Of All Time by the way!). Hold into the wind VarmintGuy
Leanwolf: Indeed no opening movie scene compares to that of "The Wild Bunch" (listed as number 94 of the Best 500 Films Of All Time by the way!). Hold into the wind VarmintGuy
Yes, The Wild Bunch has a very impressive opening, just as several others listed here on the thread. But, for me, !2 OClock High is my favorite. Perhaps that is because WW II had only been over four years when it was released in 1949, and I was just 12 years old. I still remembered WW II and the young men of my small town "going to war" and some not returning. I remembered all the weekly newsreels shown at the local theater I watched of the fighting in Europe and the South Pacific. (Theater newsreels were the teevee of the time.)
I remembered seeing occasionally a B17 or fighter planes flying overhead. Once, during the War, my brother and I were out in our front yard when a very low flying B17 flew right over our cow pasture perhaps fifty yards away. It was so low we could see the tail gunner in his tail turrent. My brother and I waved wildly at him. I do not know if he saw us, but to this day I like to believe he waved back at us.
So, maybe I identified with the opening of 12 O Clock High because of my memory of WW II in my early youth.
[i][/i] I did not mention it in my o.p., but the music in the opening is brilliantly composed and expresses a "normal" English day in the countryside ... and then, changes abruptly to an ominous chord indicating "things are going to get very serious, very quickly."
As an aside, one of the young men in our town who had "gone to war," had been a waist gunner on a B17. His plane was shot down over Germany, he parachuted out, and spent the rest of the war in a German Stalag. He used to say that was a very unpleasant experience ... but better than so many others who never made it back.
FWIW.
L.W.
"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)
