Yale's favorite scene in film history is.........

     

      While I was taking a shower last night I was trying to think of some of the best films I've ever seen. I do my best thinking in the shower. How can one not? You're isolated, cleansed, and refreshed, both mentally and physically. I compiled a long list in my head: Taxi Driver, Vertigo, The Godfather, The Godfather II, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, Peeping Tom, La Strada, and the list goes on and on. However, the best scene in film history is not necessarily the best film ever made, yet it's one of the best from the 90s. I turned the shower off and dried myself and then suddenly, the scene came to me like the sunrise in the wee hours of morning. It was perfectly clear to me that the opening scene in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997) is the best shot in cinema history that I've witnessed. 
      At the young age of 14, I had the guilty pleasure of viewing Boogie Nights opening night. In October of 1997, the film was only playing in one theater in Dallas. It was the United Artist Cineplex at Walnut Hill and Central. If you've followed the history of every theater in Dallas, then you'd know that particular theater closed down about a decade ago. Anyways, before I get off on my usual tangent, I'm going to analyze the opening scene in Boogie Nights and see why it remains as the most cinematic experience in film history. 
      The movie theater was packed and the slow, offbeat-broken-circus score is heard over the opening credits. Suddenly, the loud disco beat of the Emotions, "The Best of My Love," startles the audience and the title, "Boogie Nights," is plastered on the vintage marquee. The camera, which is obviously attached to a steadicam operator, filming on a high crane, tilts down, and we see people coming out of the movie theater. Ironically, for the real audience, the movie is just beginning. This part of the opening, in my opinion, is inspired by Francois Truffaut's Day For Night (1973), which is a wonderful film about the joy of filmmaking. In Truffaut's film, the camera follows a man walking a long distance, and when he is confronted by a woman further down the street, the audience realizes that it's a movie set. I think Paul Thomas Anderson is using this concept, but instead, reverses the situation. It's sort of self-reflexive, meaning, it says that we know we are watching a movie, and that the marquee in the opening image is not related to the crowd coming out of the theater, but the real audience watching the film. 
      Next, the camera suavely tilts sideways, showing a neon sign on the side of the theater, and then swiftly moves across the street towards the night club. People from the theater are crossing the street and the central characters are being greeted by the club owner as they stride into the club. At this point, the music is slightly lowered and the sound of the voices out in the street are coming to life. In the same shot, right before we follow the characters into the club, the steadicam operator has walked off the crane and enters the interior of the club. The song is now blasting and the vibe is radiating. Next, the steadicam operator follows the club owner to the center of the set, and I swear, I was literally catapulted onto that dance floor! The music, the fluid camerawork, the 70s decor, the set design, all created a moment that was better than when John Travolta struts into Odyssey 2000 in Saturday Night Fever (1977). 
      The steadicam work was obviously influenced by Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990), when Henry took Karen to the Copacabana. Furthermore, the way Paul Thomas Anderson uses a party or a natural environment to introduce all of the main characters is influenced by Robert Altman's Nashville(1975). The dialogue is natural and everyday; the simplistic nature expresses that all of these characters know one another. The most most brilliant part of this scene is that the director introduces all the main character in one single shot and still maintains this high-octane energy, which never lets go. Paul Thomas Anderson has the best of my love!