First & Last 021
Sunday, July 16, 2023 at 10:00AM Can you guess the movie from its first and last shot?
Okay, this is technically the end of the first shot (but the first image is non-descript... it's only trees shot from above -- hundreds of films begin with flying overhead shots of nature, so that's not even worth a guess). But do you recognize this town?
The last image after the jump will give it away...
Yes, it's Beetlejuice (1988) which was Tim Burton's second film and Winona Ryder star-making role.
Winona was 16 when the movie opened, though she'd had one small eye-catching role in Lucas (1986) and one leading role before it in a film called Squaredance (1987). In the two years following Beetlejuice's massive success she'd co-star in the period piece 1969 (1988) and the biopic Great Balls of Fire (1989), headline both one little seen indie Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael (1989) and a new cult classic Heathers (1989), and chase those with another Tim Burton hit Edward Scissorhands (1990), become a tabloid star with an engagement to Johnny Depp and drop out of The Godfather Part III (1990) citing "exhaustion". Oh and secure a Golden Globe nomination for her hugely entertaining duet with Cher in Mermaids (1990). All of this happened betwen the ages of 16 and 18. Can you imagine? By the time she was 19 she was already an indisputable icon of Generation X. Other major hits (and 2 Oscar nominations) were around the corner.
first and last
Reader Comments (6)
And Geena Davis would star in cult classic Earth Girls Are Easy, win an Oscar for The Accidental Tourist and then go on to be Thelma and Dottie Hinson! Love me some Geena. Oh, and if you haven’t, definitely read her autobiography!!
My first thought was Witches of Eastwick or Crimes of the Heart.
I don’t know how—probably because I’ve seen this movie way, way too many times—but yes, this was one that I got pretty immediately. It doesn’t seem like a particularly distinctive town in that shot, but somehow, some part of my brain just went “wait, that’s the town from Beetlejuice…” and yup, sure enough.
Still my all-time favorite film by Tim Burton. I love this film as I grew up on it on HBO and learned the word "fuck" from that film. Anyone growing up in the 80s during elementary school saw that film and said "NICE FUCKIN' MODEL!" This is Michael Keaton at his finest.
Where I fell in love with Winona and Catherine O'Hara (and honestly probably Geena and Alec too.)
The kids don't get understand that C O'Hara has been a STAR since SCTV. #legendary