Best Opening Shot Ever: Bonfire of the Vanities
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- Directed by Brian DePalma, this is one of the most complex and amazing tracking shots ever filmed.
Allow me to point out I agree this is a bad movie. Doesn't change the fact it starts with something remarkable.
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The movies starts out in the underground access areas of the former World Trade Center, where the 1993 bomb exploded. The palm trees in the Winter Garden area of the World Financial Center was covered in soot and broken glass and steel beams. So surreal to see it before 9/11.
So there was a way to get from The World Trade Center to The World Financial Center without going outside?
Just imagine for a second if Willis’ role had been played by John Cleese, as the filmmakers originally wanted. What a different scene this would have turned out to be...
That would be strange casting: an English comedian playing an English journalist in a comedy? Why not the guy from Die Hard?
Or Julian Sands or Alan Rickman.
@@Myndir Thing is, Willis had shown comedic talent in Moonlighting and Blind Date. They thought he could handle the role.
How about a different movie?
@@Mario_N64 Sands can't act either
She mentions the mayor getting hit with a mayonnaise jar. I remember that scene from the book vividly as well. It was a political rally and the mayor very briefly stops when it gets out of hand and wonders who on earth would bring a half eaten jar of mayo to a political rally.
For the making of this film, read Julie Salamon's classic "The Devil's Candy." Kirkus Reviews said, "Its like watching the Twin Towers topple onto Wall Street." No kidding.
Wow! Talk about an example of Predictive Programming 🙄...
Holy Fuck
That's not funny to say at all. There is even a mention of the Twin Towers in the book, which I have been reading, and it is amazing.
In the book, Peter Fallow is a British journalist based on Christopher HItchens. In the film, he is an American journalist-novelist based on Tom Wolfe. We see this in this clip, from the title of his book "The Real McCoy" (compare to Wolfe's "The Right Stuff") and the description of the mayonnaise jar scene in his novel (which comes from the first chapter of Wolfe's own "Bonfire of the Vanities.") So the nationality switch, like it or not, has its own logic.
Excellent Steadicam work!
For great continuous tracking shots try "Before Sunset" (2004)
I enjoyed the music from Dave Grusin, the score conveys the adeptly whimsical sweetness of an afternoon garden ceremony.
Whoever considers this as the best opening shot ever needs to watch a lot more movies.
Been reading the book The Devil's Candy, which is about the making of this film. I think they should make that a film as well. That book, like Bonfire, is a must read.
After they made The Offer about The Godfather, maybe?
Opening shot not done by De Palma. Shot is by Eric Schwab, second unit director for the film. Read The Devil's Candy for more.
Schwab has a few shots in the film that impressed de Palma considerably, they even bet whether or not what he shot would make it it the final cut. I think most did
Indeed. The book is one of my favorites. A masterpiece.
The opening shot for Orson Welles' film Touch of Evil is the best by far.
Also check out the opening for Robert Altman's The Player.
Let’s agree to agree
Agreed - that opening shot from, "Touch of Evil" is easily one of the most memorable, well-conceived shots that I've ever seen - it's absolutely brilliant; though there are others ...
like the scene from "2001: A Space Odyssey" where the monkey/man throws up the bone and whilst spinning and twisting in the air, immediately cuts to a spaceship orbiting the earth - such a fantastic method of displaying the passage of time/human evolution - all done in that one shot!! Stunning!
"Goodfellas" (everyone knows the scene I'm talking about) when Ray Liotta's character brings his date out of the car and through the back door of the fancy restaurant whilst introducing her to his compatriots who're frequenting the place.
"Boogie Nights" opening shot (which I believe was COMPLETELY inspired by the former shot from "Goodfellas" - camera following patrons into a crowded bar...
"Children of Men" is another film where they employ the single shot technique where a character is being attacked while he's driving a car....- oh man! That's such a complex and complicated work of cinematography and choreography and direction! They must've rehearsed that particular scene for months and months just to get it perfect!
I've totally forgotten the opening shot from, "The Player" but I'm about to check it out immediately.
Just checked it out - AMAZING!!! It's so meta as well - if you remember, there's a bit of dialogue in that opening shot, where one of the guys on the movie studio's lot, is heard discussing "amazing" shots from other movies...so coy!
opening scene to boogie nights
Bruce Willis was so wrong for this movie.
so wrong for the role, definitely. He would've made a much better Sherman McCoy. Tom Hanks shouldn't be in the movie at all, his tone was all wrong.
@@mtmt88 Hanks would have been fine as the author
The role is BRITISH. Julian Sands would have been great....depending on the director. I read the book twice
Great opening scene, well filmed and coordinated.
The Plot Thickens Season 2 is all about the making of Bonfire of the Vanities narrated by the WSJ Film Critic who was on the set for this movie. Fascinating and worth a listen. I now want to go back and read the book and watch the movie:)
I love you Mr. Bruce forever..
And to think all that ig gone...those were the garages at the former WTC...son unreal!
no this was film in the tunnels leading too Merrill lynch building d building elevator he came off the big elevator called the jumbo big elevator for food j 34 jumbo car I work there for 2 yrs with some good guys and a lot of loser lowlife scum that hopefully where killed in the attack under the tunnels running out. as for my friend joseph k he change was not the same guy he was in century21 Brooklyn and the vomit work by his side the big shot ran the elevators hopefully his death was slow and painful what could have been a life time wonderful paying job for me turn out to be a nightmare both day and night shift till finally I did not care and was let go but the favor was for me but good thing is I get paid now steady and never have to worry about a stinking nyc cleaning company job payment comes once a month but worth it shame the building was not destroyed
@@thomasbrunn3876 Well, at least you're not bitter.
This is a great scene, but it deserves a much better movie to follow it.
'Mr Fallow they're waining...sorry WAITING - ahh sorry guys I messed up my line, guess we'll have to do that all again!'
It's crazy to think that every location in this shot is no longer there.
The movie is not quite as bad as people have made it out to be. It's been subject to some fierce (and unfair) criticism because it was based on a very popular book, but if you forget about the book, it's an entertaining movie.
It's miscast and not that great
The problem with most actors is that they have only one or two characters "inside them". Bruce Willis has NO characters inside him.
Bruce Willis isn't an actor. He's a movie star. There is a critical difference.
Brilliant DePalma opener!! The technicality behind that shot is staggering!
Of course, the film itself is another matter.
Mr. Fallow, Mr. Fallow, Mr. Fallow, Mr. Fallow, Mr. Fallow, Mr. Fallow, etc
MintyFreshTurds might as well be the president lol
If you think this is the best opening shot of all time, you should see Touch of Evil.
No kidding! I was expecting precisely something of that caliber. This is just average cinematic slop.
Agreed.
@@Susie_Floozie It's not average slop
Credit should be given to the Steadicam operator, Larry McConkey. A cam. asst. was injured during the first take.
Trivia: The PR woman is played by Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks's wife.
The security guy on the back of the cart is Brian De Palma. He also apparently pops up in other parts of the scene. It was the only way he could monitor the filming, as he knew he'd be seen on camera sometimes.
The funny thing is that the woman who is with Peter Fallow there is Mrs. David S. Pumpkins. I'm talking about at the beginning on the cart.
Agreed - Russian Ark is staggeringly beautiful.
Director were excited about their steadicams in those days.
Best book ever. Pity I can't say the same for the film.
Even though the movie has its detractors nobody can deny the great cinematography on display in the movie. One problem I had was that I could not buy Tom Hanks having an affair with Griffith in this movie, when his wife is Kim Cattrall (early 90s). Melanie didn't look her normal sexy self in this, (however in Milk Money and Crazy in Alabama she was smoking hot.) Willis' on and off again accent, Morgan Freeman is miscast, Perhaps Hanks and Willis should of traded roles. You can buy Willis being a Wall Street, Master of the Universe type, and Hanks being the writer. Zsigmond's cinematography/ De Palma's direction is the reason to watch this movie. The screenplay is terrible..Why didn't the studio have Wolfe adapt his own book? Perhaps the answer is in The Devils Candy..which I have but haven't fully read yet. Does anybody know if Pauline Kael reviewed this? She was a early supporter of De Palma, her take would be interesting, I do not always agree with her but I enjoy reading her criticisms.
Did you ever read the book and get an answer
The book wasn’t wonderful either. Such a dim view of soulless people to read or watch 🤷🏽♀️why bother to watch⁉️ sheer malice is my best guess, Ill will like watching surgery to remove a huge malignant tumor sans anesthesia for the patient. You can’t choose which is worse : the nastiness of the surgery or the sadism of the process. A Man in Full even more repugnant , unreservedly ugly peoples in ugly situations who remain ugly. Oh and the one hapless victim with whom I suppose we’re supposed to identify. Double 🤷🏽♀️ 🤷♂️. That one got Wolfe run out of Atlanta where the very people he wrote about fed and groomed him in their palatial homes for months until the release of the book. No consequences; yet, but could be the current chaos is a BP sequence of that kind of reprobate thinking. So. ATL got worse, and Wolfe stayed immaculate if friendless in his bespoke white suits.
Wolfe saw his book as unfilmable. He knew it was almost impossible to adapt to a movie without major changes.
Can't buy Willis being able to read and write
@@Mario_N64 But he took the $750,000 anyway?
This is great but the one in snake eyes is longer and kind of better
That also has at LEAST 8 cuts. Granted, this shot has at least 1, and probably 3. But Snakes Eyes hidden cuts are well documented.
seriously people i enjoyed this movie a lot! i think it was, not outstanding, amazingly overwhelming or oscar worthy, but a pretty damm REASONABLE and FINE peace of acting and movie making. Didn't you guys find the court scene at the very end of it a pretty damm good scene? i thought it was not really that bad... you know... at all.
@MrBunnerabb Oh! You mean when Kane is playing outside and it tracks into the kitchen through tables and junk? that is an amazing shot!
Just goes to show that great technical ability is no substitute for good writing, good direction and good acting. This movie was a stinker. A total flop. F. Murray Abraham wouldn't even let them put his name on it.
I wonder what Bruce Willis' character's last name is...???
Fallow. His name is Peter Fallow.
Miscast. Robert (don't call me Morton) Downey, Jr. should've played the Bruce Willis role, and he should've played it British. Alan Arkin, who was fired, should've played the judge instead of Morgan Freeman. And the script was bad. The screenwriter and director seemed unable to grasp that this was social satire. I feel like they tried to play it too straight.
Best tracking shots can be found in I Am Cuba.
Being Russian, Now, just watched this movie in 2020 when America in chaos.
yea bet you and Putin love that
I am an American and have zero animosity toward the people of Russia or any country... the rulers of all lands are the problem. Be sovereign. Be free.
@@thomasbrunn3876 no Sir, i feel really sorry for people there and for the loss of innocent people. Politics are playing wars, people are suffering.
This isn't a tracking shot, excellent though it is. It's a Steadicam shot. Tracking shots usually use tracks (hence the name) and baiscally only move laterally (ie: they can't climb up into golf carts).
To see REALLY good tracking shots that will blow your mind, check out "I am Cuba". And for the mother of all Steadicam shots, check out "The Russian Ark" which consists of a single 90 minute camera shot through Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (and uses a cast of something like 2000 people).
A handheld or Steadicam mounted camera following a similar trajectory is called a tracking shot as well.
@@NostalgiNorden You're absolutely right that it is a tracking shot but some people (i.e. Autostade67), think they know what they're talking about and it's too much effort to explain sometimes!!!
I remember seeing this with you at a screening.... BTW.. I am the Stranger my wife is Kandi.. hence the name... but you knew me then as... VideoDave
I can not state this strongly enough . . . read the book first.
Owes something to the opening scene of "Raging Bull."
Citizen Kane was pretty good.
It's fuckin' great! Inspired so many films, even recent ones like Titanic and Man of Steel.
Definitely at least one cut.
Not according to the book.The Devil's Candy about the making of the film.
Literally the only good thing about this movie
Please. Children of Men, refugee camp uprising scene. Single shot with no cuts, 360 track with ordinance, SFX and squibs. No overacting, no bad overdub, no hallways to keep actors on their marks.
There are cuts. They're just hidden by CGI.
I said OPENING shot.
The book made no prisoners - the mother of the deceased was a completely corrupted and disgusting human being in the novel.
@MonsieurRondu Children of Men.
resembles the Hitch
It is based on Hitch.
@@sourcescience I’m not sure how true that is, hitch always denied it was based on him, the character is after all a celebrity chasing hack something which Hitch never was. The drunkenness of Fallow defiantly has echos of hitch though.
One of the best comments I've ever read.
It'd be an amazing movie if they mic'd properly and didn't settle for VO work.
+Sean Michael Smith It is though quite the shot.
Ooops, my bad. Opening GARGOYLE shot is Schwab's, tracking shot is De Palma.
Best Opening Shot Ever! IN GLORIOUS 240P!!!!!
Isn't that Rita Wilson?? {Tom Hanks Wife} In the first two and half minutes in the movie?
Yes
DePalma gets the credit for Zsigmond's shot. Sounds about right.
dictionaryofwords Actually it's Larry McConkey's shot...
+dictionaryofwords Poor cinematographers. Zsigmond had previously won Oscars for his work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Deer Hunter. On the other hand, the first movie he worked on was The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies.
We talking best 'opening shots', or 'best tracking shots'? you seem to change your mind between writing the title and description...
Tracking shots: 'Goodfellas', scene when Ray Liotta enters the club through the kitchen...
That scene in goodfellas was incredible. Such a great movie from first shot of deniro liotta and pesci in the car silent with only the thud from the trunk.
Iv never watched this movis but am currently reading the book and wanted to get a feel of the movie.
I so want to read this book, but perhaps I'll settle for the movie, lazy as I am.
Don't. Seriously. Read the book.
96 minute shot.
Totally agree...
The shot would be better if they didn't have to use so much ADR when it comes to the woman's character here. It pulls me out of the scene as her dialogue is so blatantly re-dubbed in the editing process. I've a strong feeling that that's not even the real voice of the actress here...I think that they used another woman's voice all together.
Best Opening Shot Ever: Bonfire of the Vanities
I assume that you haven't seen Citizen Kane.
There are a lot better movies than citizen kane
@@steventremino5623 Yes, there are, but as far as cinematography, it was a benchmark.
@@BunneRabb that's very true but...there are better benchmarks movie wise
@@steventremino5623 Not many, if only due to the volume of films produced and you have to look at the era and the gear and methods that were in use at the time. Why you need to discount it, I have no idea and it is certainly your prerogative, but it was a brilliant piece of work, IMHO.
@@BunneRabb of course I'm not disagreeing , I just personally would choose something like scarface (1932) over it.
All the tracking shots and split diopter shots in the world won't fix this dumpster fire. Hilarious that people think it's good.
@MrBunnerabb You mean Touch of Evil?
This is amazing 😂👌🏽❤️
Fallow is doing Harvey Weinstein at 2:32.
@jnuno999 I agree it's not a bad film, although we may be in the vast minority. Sure, it's not the masterpiece the book is, but some of the critics who faulted the film on its release were misguided IMHO. It was never going to be a completely faithful adaptation. The book kind of just peters out at the end, whereas most films require a resolution of some sort, and a more sympathetic protagonist than Tom Wolfe's Sherman McCoy. Anyway, for all the film's faults, Dave Grusin's score is a joy.
Somewhere there is a Turkish luxury steak chef who has copied Bruce Willis charector body movement.
Charlie Chaplin... Orson Welles... say no more!
Great scene, from a technical standpoint. But. it's a false circumstance. Who IS Peter Fallow? A journalist. Why on earth are the paparazzi so interested in him? Why is everyone kissing HIS ass? The only answer I can think of is they needed it for this scene to work.
Haven't seen this film and wouldn't want to. I'm re-reading the book. Fallow is English, and a lot of the novel rests on nationality or perceived nationality and identification with that. So why make Fallow American?
This clip is NOT an endorsement of the movie. It shows off the spectacular cinematic technique used for the opening shot and nothing more.
@@Disinfotainment the spectacular technique being to have a Yank play an Englishman?!
Touch of Evil
Shumun
Anyone knows the brand of Peter's sunglasses?
I think they're Oliver Peoples; and, for what I saw, the same Bruce Willis used to wear them in real life.
A pity that this is the high point of the film, at the BEGINNING...
@GregOrCreg too right mate
The golf cart bit must have been quite hard, with the sudden acceleration/deceleration...!? 🤔👍
Tom Hanks wife .
She was Prego w/Colin
I liked this film so much. But never read the book so maybe that has something to do with it.
Yeah, read the book and you'll probably be disappointed.
@@sha11235 I have watched this film like 20 times and it's so entertaining. I can't ruin it now!
snake eyes is better
Snake Eyes is well documented to have AT LEAST 8 cuts. Granted, this one has at least 1 or 2 as well, but Snake Eyes has so many, no single cut is more than 2 minutes.
Thats right!... Steam Control! for my people...what a crock!
I thought that, that was awful, twee, cliched and complacent. The film was garbage because the book (which was very good) satirized the racial conventions in NYC and the tensions that seethed beneath the surface of civility, and the film removed most of the emphasis on these things. The film was socially sanitized; the book was a lingering examination of what was behind the a facade of ethnic harmony and progress; the film was an attempt to reimpose the mendacious cultural narrative. A toothless pitbull of a film.
It should really go without saying that Willis is an appalling actor; Dudley Moore could have done better in this part; maybe he was dead by then...probably still would have turned in a better performance.
I thought they should have cast Rowan Atkinson.
wacoose oh that would be a treat
This movie is an example of how not to adapt a good novel, and how not to cast a movie.
Oof the dub
One of the greatest novels written one of the worst movie s ever. Go figure
Man I'm deffo not watching this. I thought Peter Fallow was supposed to be English, what else have they changed??
Read a book.
This is only a great shot if only form matters and content doesn't at all because the content is utter crap.
Nice misuse of semantics, and resorting to ad hominem is admitting you've already lost the argument.
what a waste of salmon...
Why is the audio/dialogue so... forced?
Go make a movie
@@jeniferpeace9600 Okay! ☺
This movie sux. You've been warned.
The OD is TERRIBLE.
Actually, I think the notion that there were no cuts in that shot is an illusion accomplished by some subtle CGI.
CGI wasn't good enough to do that sort of thing then. And wasn't used on none Blockbusters.
@@davidjames579 It may not be considered CGI, but there ARE cuts in this. And this WAS a big budget movie. Almost $50 million in 1989? (Jurassic Park which shot just 2-3 years later was only $63 million. And Batman, shot just a yer before had the same budget...and that was only because the writer's strike ballooned it from $30 million to almost $50 million. so, let's not act like this was Clerks or The Blair Witch Project here.) That is an astronomical budget. So the cost wouldn't be a big deal, even if it did cost a lot to do, which it didn't.
@@FUGP72 I already said CGI wasn't at that stage then. And wouldn't have been used on a drama, only an action movie.
@@davidjames579 And I am saying you are wrong in many ways. Yes, they do, and did use CGI for all sorts of movies. Especially ones that cost an obscene $50 million to make. And 2, just because it isn't CGI, your implication that it must be a true continuous tracking shot is wrong. Hidden cuts have been around since long before CGI. No computer needed. And this shot has at LEAST 1 cut. Probably 3.
@@FUGP72 "did use CGI for all sorts of movies" Not in 1990. This wouldn't become a thing on anything but action movies or effects spectacles until the mid-90's. "just because it isn't CGI, your implication that it must be a true continuous tracking shot is wrong". I never once said it was continuous or didn't have camera tricks. I said it didn't have CGI. Learn to read every word. It'll avoid you making lazy mistakes while accusing others of being wrong.
Complex it maybe, shame so much of the acting stinks as does the voice over. A foreshadowing of the dreadful film to come.
Bullshit! The tracking shots in "Touch of Evil" or "Tenebrae" are way better. De Palmer is a hack.
Absolute crap, style over substance, been done before... in other words: typical DePalma.
+Peter LaVigna In other other words, typical Tom Wolfe.
The movie sucks. The book was great.