Giving credits where credits are due.

Article in the NY Times about closing credits in movies, finally noting how long many movies' credits have become. The credits for The Return of the King lasted 9 minutes and 33 seconds, for instance, and included credits for the compositing inferno artist, the horse makeup artist, and the two guys in charge of chain mail.

Yes, I understand that sometimes - especially in independent movies - a lot of folks work for free, and the screen credit is the only compensation they receive. And sometimes the screen credit is part of the compensation package, say for travel agencies or caterers, and the free advertising allows the producers to pay less for those services. And many of the screen credits are required by the various Hollywood unions. But still: screen credits have gotten to be so long and tedious that it's become much less fun to watch them. When the number of names in special effects movies goes from 143 in the original Star Wars in 1997 to 701 in the last installment of The Matrix, it's pretty clear that too many people are getting listed in the credits, and as a result, filmgoers aren't watching the credits - which rather nullifies the purpose of having those credits in the first place.

I happily admit that I'm a credits watcher. You can often learn something interesting and fun from the credits, such as an unexpected location used in the movie (in True Lies, the car chase supposedly taking place on the highway in the Florida Keys actually takes place on a bridge between Jamestown and Newport, RI - and was something I recognized during the movie), an unexpected actor in the movie (e.g, John Rhys-Davies as Gimli), or unexpected job titles ("insect wrangler"). And sometimes they'll have scenes continuing through and after the credits (Young Sherlock Holmes and Ferris Bueller's Day Off) or outtakes from the movie, to provide entertainment while the credits are rolling. And sometimes it's just the credits themselves, as in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But this latest trend towards insanely long end credit sequences with no redeeming entertainment has made me start to reconsider my credit-watching.