 The "explosion" effect at the start of the films credits was  achieved by splicing in a few frames of the beginning of a roll of  film, which was exposed when loading the camera.  Sid Davis (I) (qv) and editor Arthur Swerdloff (qv) followed  that with a cut to a second palm tree, beside the first, without a  top. They placed something near the top of the tree to smoke, making  it appear as if the gang boys had blown the top off a palm tree.