Movies which don't show the title until the end

[Keebleman]

The Guinness Book of Film Facts and Feats, which I received as a present in 1980, states that the only film with the main title at the end rather than the beginning was Who Pays?, a 1916 flick which was the first film directed by Henry King (who spent the subsequent four decades as the archetypal Hollywood hack).  The film, according to the entry, "was about a girl who has an illegitimate baby and marries another man after the father has been erroneously reported killed.  The father eventually reappears.  King decided it would be more appropriate to pose the question when the audience knew why it was being asked."

Who Pays? may have been the first movie with this distinction, but to say it was the only one wasn't even correct when the book was published - Head, Woodstock and Apocalypse Now all kept you guessing what film you were watching until the end credits rolled - but since then it has become almost commonplace.  First Man is the latest that I have seen, but others that come to mind include Robocop 2, Gangs of New York, Zero Dark Thirty, Wes Craven's New Nightmare.  A few years ago I saw two movies on the same day - a ghost story called The Awakening and some Dutch thriller I've forgotten the name of - and both refused to divulge their titles until the end!

Why the hell is this?  What benefit does it confer on the film?  I have long mourned the decline in credit sequences - even the most matter-of-fact and mundane are wonderful opportunities for scene- and mood-setting - but when a film has no opening title I spend the first 15 minutes of it like I'm anticipating a sneeze that never comes.

[Mister Six]

Doesn't the first RoboCop film wait until the end to show the title too?

[Keebleman]

Doesn't the first RoboCop film wait until the end to show the title too?

No, that has the title at the end as well as at the beginning, in case we'd forgotten.

[Replies From View]

The Chris Nolan Batman films.

[Replies From View]

Which is helpful because for example at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, when the Dark Knight hasn't really done any rising whatsoever, a random policeman called Robin starts literally rising up on a platform and then the title comes up.

A sensible choice, Mr Nolan.

[Wet Blanket]

Right now I wouldn't be surprised if more films do this than don't. It's a strange affectation, like putting the title page at the end of a book.

And those that do put it at the beginning just have the title in white on a black screen and move on. I miss proper opening credit sequences.

[Replies From View]

I have a bit of a soft spot for credits at the start of films, from an era when you were meant to rejoice in who had made what you were seeing and film crews were relatively small so the credits didn't last over 20 minutes.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Completely irrational but I really hate this. Pretty much all superhero films seem to do it now. You spend two hours watching a film about a bloke called Black Panther where everyone keeps talking about the Black Panther and then at the end it comes up saying Black Panther. What are you supposed to think? Ahhh that's who that was. But the most egregious recent one for me was Call Me By Your Name. I honestly think there should be a law enforcing credits and title at the start of the film.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Which is helpful because for example at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, when the Dark Knight hasn't really done any rising whatsoever, a random policeman called Robin starts literally rising up on a platform and then the title comes up.

There's that bit where Batman climbs up a thing.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Punch Drunk Love does this.

I really like the film " Punch Drunk Love ". One reason being that whenever I say the title out loud, it reminds me of how Northern I am.

[Keebleman]

Another film that does this is Once Upon a Time in the West.  You'd think that if there was ever a film which would never put its title at the end, it would one which had the words 'Once Upon a Time' in it.

Making it even odder is the fact that the rest of the credits are all up the front as per normal.  In fact, my ever-untrusty Guinness Book of Film Facts and Feats said that this particular credit sequence is the longest ever at 12 minutes.  Complete bollocks, it's about 6.  I assume it was because the author was fiddling with his dodgy stopwatch that he didn't notice the actual title didn't appear.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I wonder if anyone's ever gone to the wrong screen and then the title's flipped up at the end and they've been all like 'oh fuck's sake mate I've gone and watched the wrong film like a fucking wally haven't I? I bet they'll not let me see the film I want now 'cos I've watched this one, fuck.'

[New Jack]

Children of Men flashes up at the end of, uh, Children of Men, and seems a wee bit cheesy to me for such an ace fillum

[Replies From View]

I wonder if anyone's ever gone to the wrong screen and then the title's flipped up at the end and they've been all like 'oh fuck's sake mate I've gone and watched the wrong film like a fucking wally haven't I? I bet they'll not let me see the film I want now 'cos I've watched this one, fuck.'

Probably why they do it.  "I thought I was watching the 2026 Poltegeist reboot, not Pixar's fucking Inside Out 2."  "Sorry mate; you stayed in for longer than 25 minutes which is the new official cut-off."

[mothman]

Obviously there have been phases of titles.

As others point out, for a long time - decades - the credits were all at the start, and weren't really ever representative of everyone who worked in the film. All you'd get at the end was, well, The End.

There was also an interregnum where you started getting a cast list at the end. Again, not everybody listed though.

Then at some point, you started getting full credits at the end, but still a title sequence. And over time, not always though, they came to be proper title sequences. You know, like Saul Bass did - but even some of his were at the end of the film (In Harm's Way, for example). And, really, this is still the default or most common theme you get in films: opening title sequence, rolling credits at the end.

But then, sometime in the 90s, opening titles started getting shorter. You started getting a title card and that's it. I don't know if the reverse title sequence - you know, every thing you'd get in an opening titles, but in reverse order - started at the same time though?

And now you have many films where they don't even bother with a title card at the start anymore. I don't think the MCUs were the first, but they've taken it and run with it.

The big question is, can we pinpoint dates and/or films when these phases, transitions, started?

(full disclosure: I really like some of the MCU end titles. Ragnarok, IM3, Ultron...)

[Avril Lavigne]

It's highly annoying because I screencap the title frame of every movie I watch & save it in a folder organized by month and year, and if they don't put it near the beginning I worry if it's even going to appear at all.

[a duncandisorderly]

irritates me greatly when I see the name of various proprietorial types pop up at the end of a movie, one after the other, & then "presents..." & then the name of the flick.

I'm like "mate! you've spliced this in in the wrong place!"

fucking idiots. but you have to sit through the thousands of poor rotoscopists & best gaffers & whatnot to get to the tiny bit of post-credits teaser for the next instalment. by this time the lights are on & the cleaners are trying to shoo you out, & you can see only too well that the carpet is scabby & the curtains are one repair away from landfill.

[thecuriousorange]

The title of There Will Be Blood appears only at the very end. By which point there had been blood.

It would have made sense at the beginning. There Will Be Blood.

[a duncandisorderly]

The title of There Will Be Blood appears only at the very end. By which point there had been blood.

It would have made sense at the beginning. There Will Be Blood.

"there was blood". I bet at least one review said that.

[Keebleman]

The title of There Will Be Blood appears only at the very end. By which point there had been blood.

It would have made sense at the beginning. There Will Be Blood.

No, it's at the very beginning too.  But as with Robocop, it also appears at the end as a handy reminder.

[Keebleman]

And now you have many films where they don't even bother with a title card at the start anymore. I don't think the MCUs were the first, but they've taken it and run with it.

I've only seen two of the Marvel films, Spiderman and Guardians of the Galaxy, and both of those had all principle credits at the start, old-school style.  Spiderman, I think, even had a Bass-style animated sequence.

Oh wait, I've also seen Iron Man, and that had all the credits at the end.  I think the title was at the start though.

[BlodwynPig]

The Chris Nolan Batman films.

Memento?

[New Jack]

Wonder what film this would absolutely ruin. The Shining would really suffer, would be funny for some reason.

[Jerzy Bondov]

It's highly annoying because I screencap the title frame of every movie I watch & save it in a folder organized by month and year, and if they don't put it near the beginning I worry if it's even going to appear at all.

I used to do this as well. Can't be bothered now.

[greenman]

I've only seen two of the Marvel films, Spiderman and Guardians of the Galaxy, and both of those had all principle credits at the start, old-school style.  Spiderman, I think, even had a Bass-style animated sequence.

Oh wait, I've also seen Iron Man, and that had all the credits at the end.  I think the title was at the start though.

Guardians actually one of the better opening credits scenes of recent years as well. Marvel does at least put some effort into the most film credits sequences as well so its not really laziness even if they increasingly feel out of place as they've moved beyond origin stories. Generally though it does feel like good opening credits are a bit of a dying breed.

[Wet Blanket]

Fun fact: the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis doesn't have a title card anywhere, front or back.

[Brundle-Fly]

As others point out, for a long time - decades - the credits were all at the start, and weren't really ever representative of everyone who worked in the film. All you'd get at the end was, well, The End.

I was thinking that after watching Amicus's Tales From The Crypt (1972) the other night. When did putting 'The End" at the end of films drop completely out of fashion? The early eighties? I'm sure some examples must have featured since, but only tacked on in a 'knowing' way or in homage to the past.

I really hope when they finally cancel Coronation Street they'll screen this image...



...and play out with the longest list of end titles ever; crediting every person who has ever worked on the show since it began in 1960.

And you know what? The end titles still probably wouldn't last as long as an average Marvel movie sequence or have as many contributors.

[Avril Lavigne]

when they finally cancel Coronation Street

I think before that ever happens they'll get to a point where new episodes are just being auto-generated by an AI that's been fed every previous episode. Like they've done with The Simpsons for the past few years.

[Replies From View]

Memento?

Yes after being clobbered by Bane, Bruce Wayne started experiencing time in such a fucked way that the titles of his adventures started appearing all over the fucking shop.

I don't feel bad for him; he has loads of money.

[Bad Ambassador]

Fun fact: the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis doesn't have a title card anywhere, front or back.

Unless you count any shot of his album cover.