In the early history of motion pictures, credits were nearly always at the beginning of movies and were handed out so sparingly that they rarely took more than two minutes of screen time. ''Honestly, if you train the horses, you don't need your name up there.'' Thomson, author of the New Biographical Dictionary of Film, said he still kept his seat until the bitter end, when the house lights come up and most everyone has left, ''but only for professional reasons.''

''It's one of those signs of the decadence in our film business altogether.'' ''I think it's monstrous,'' David Thomson, the critic, said. Is there a difference between the second second assistant director and the third assistant director, and do all these assistants really have to be named? (The answers to those questions, producers say, are ''not much'' and ''yes.'') In fact, while questions are being asked, here are two more. What about the Romanian Army liaison aide and the person described as the food stylist? (Both were named at the end of ''Cold Mountain.'') But he and others in the business have joined many moviegoers in wondering where it will end.ĭoes the set masseuse really need to be credited? (One was at the end of ''The Matrix.'')ĭoes the helicopter pilot? (Most big-budget productions nowadays seem to have one, and the pilot is invariably named, alongside accountants and publicity agents.) ''I mean, the guy who unfolds the craft table gets credit now,'' he said. ''It just seems to me that there are a lot more menial guys who get credit now who didn't several years ago,'' said Rick Sparr, a vice president at Pacific Title and Art Studio, one of the oldest title-makers.

Once, moviemakers considered anything longer than seven minutes - the credits for ''Titanic'' and ''Waterworld'' were in that range - to be pushing the bounds of propriety and audience patience.īut with the growth of computer animation, union rules, copyright laws and lots of good old-fashioned favoritism, several credit sequences have blown past that old limit.Ĭompanies that make titles say the average, even for regular dialogue-driven movies, has increased to as long as five minutes. Movie credits, which used to last an average of three to four minutes, have joined the list of other things in Hollywood - like egos and salaries - suffering from inflation. ''I didn't really notice how long they were.''īut plenty of people have.

Regular show the movie credits