Recently I had a fascinating and unexpected film
conversation with a co-worker whom you would never expect to say that Adventures in Babysitting (1987) is one
of his favorite and most inspirational movies.
That weekend while I planned to continue my cinematic journey through
the works of Ingmar Bergman (via that wonderful Criterion Collection box set),
that conversation stuck with me and I instead ended up re-visiting Adventures in Babysitting and had
forgotten how good the opening credits sequence for that picture is. It really does a fantastic job and setting up
the conflict while being catchy, commercial and memorable at the same time.
The opening titles for Adventures
in Babysitting features star (and my teenage crush) Elizabeth Shue
preparing for the date of a lifetime as she dances to “Then He Kissed Me” by
the Crystals. The man she’s in love with
is Bradley Whitford, who would later grace the halls of NBC’s The West Wing as Deputy Chief-of-Staff Josh
Lyman. The choreography and editing in
this sequence are top notch as she lip-syncs and moves in perfect anticipation
for this guy that she believes (and we get this without any dialogue at all
being spoken) is ‘the one.’ I mean, she
even pretends her curtain is a bridal veil. Granted the marriage part is also in
the song, but the song choice here is also inspirational as it telegraphs the
full tale of what is going on inside this woman’s head. You also have the very 80s looking neon
titles flying by, but it’s really the cutting together of the sequence with
Shue’s choreography that makes it stand out as a key example of using an
opening credits sequence to get across a vast amount of character and story
set-up while still being entertaining (and of course aids in selling soundtracks).
The best part about this sequence is that it sets up just
how wrong this woman’s evening is about to go. She’s way too happy, and clearly
the man she is anticipating is going to let her down (emphasized even more when
his car shows up in her driveway with the license plate reading “so cool”
meaning he’s clearly a douche and won’t be the right guy for her) and her night
is going to go to hell and fast. The
title is of course Adventures in
Babysitting, so clearly this important date must go south so that Elizabeth
Shue ends up having to take the babysitting job. I mean, the ‘Babysitting Blues’ don’t just
happen without some sort of inspiration!
And be sure, you just don’t F- with the Babysitter.
For a commercial teen
comedy that at first glance seems nothing more than a fluffy, teen, popcorn
movie, this is a very clever way to open the picture. This was Chris Columbus’ directorial debut,
and he would later go on to direct Home
Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire and the first two Harry
Potter pictures among others. There
is something about this picture that has made it stand up to the test of time. Sure,
Elizabeth Shue is dressed very 80s and smartphones let alone consumer
cellphones aren’t a thing yet (and probably would have helped the evening go
much smoother), yet the movie somehow manages to feel ageless.
