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James Bond Opening Scenes Review
James Bond - Dr. No
- Year: 1962
- Song: Kingston Calypso and James Bond Theme
- Running Time: 9:00
The opening sequence actually takes place directly before the film, after the opening music, so I used my discretion to determine what was the end of the opening scene, there are two places it could occur, one is the end of the sequence set in Jamaica, but I decided that ending it after James Bond has made his first stage appearance is more fitting.
The film starts with someone farily dodgy sound effect, but the classic walk on of James Bond viewed down the barrel of a gun is used, and it looks good. However, then we enter into a very 1960's opening with lots of coloured squares and circles flashing on the screen, I think they were conducting some secret epilepsy experiments. It then cuts to the Calypso music, and there are dancing silhouettes, which are quite reminiscent of the iPod advertisements. The last section of the opening graphics involves three blind men silhouettes, which then cuts to three blind men walking somewhere and begging while going there. They arrive at Queens Private Club.
There are four gentlemen playing cards, and talking and looking ever so British. But Dr. Strangways is murdered by the three blind men, we now know they aren't blind after all, shock-horror! Dr. Strangways secretary then contacts London for a scheduled rendezvous, however she is also killed and some of the worst fake blood is used to show us she's been shot. Two files are taken from Dr. Strangways filing cabinet, one called 'Crab Key' and the other titled 'Doctor No'.
Cut to London, and the ringing of the bells in Big Ben, just so we know for sure we're back in London. The secret communication room determine that there is a problem in Jamaica and MI6 are notified. We move to the Le Cercle card club in London where a gentlemen is looking for James Bond. At the card table a number of people are seated, a woman is playing against a man, and she keeps losing. The first time we see the mans face he utters the phrase which has entered the annals of film: "Bond, James Bond".
Classic Quote:
James Bond: I admire your courage, Miss...?
Sylvia Trench: Trench. Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mr...?
James Bond: Bond. James Bond.
James Bond - From Russia With Love
- Year: 1963
- Song: From Russia With Love (Matt Munro)
- Running Time: 3:05
A slightly smoother start to the film, the opening looking-down-the-barrel-of-a-gun graphic feels more polished than in Dr. No, the first scene has James in it right away, although there is a second man, unknown to us following him. James has his gun drawn, and is alerted to the other man's presence when he accidentally breaks a twig. James takes a shot a the second man, after seeing a movement in the corner of his eye, he misses.
Tension is successfully created with the addition of apt music, and well cut scenes. The second man draws a garrote from his watch, and an uncharacteristic mistake from James allows this man to get the drop on him, he grabs him from behind and strangles him.
At this point it is revealed that the setup is in fact a training exercise for a Soviet agent and the man we had believed to be James Bond is in fact a different man wearing a James Bond mask. This is the first time we meet Walter Gotell (as a Soviet Handler) although he does not play General Gogol in this film, instead he plays a character called Morzeny.
Scene fades to black and changes to the opening credits, which are vastly superior to Dr. No's, with a nicely polished Bond song and a belly-dancing woman onto which many of the credits are projected, starting the tradition of scantily clad women posing in the credits.
A good opening scene in my opinion.
Honorable Mention
The sound effect used when they remove the mask form the fake (dead) James Bond.
James Bond - Goldfinger
- Year: 1964
- Song: Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey)
- Running Time: 4:50
James' first appearance in this film is with a duck on his head, though it's alright he's using it as camouflage. This James Bond can probably be credited with the first appearance of the inept guard: James fires a grappling hook over a wall, a guard notices this, sees the rope and just looks puzzled, before James jumps on him and immediately knocks him unconscious!
Sneaking into a bunch of silos in a factory of some sort, he runs directly to one of them, and flips a secret switch a concealed door swings open, inside he runs. There is an office of some sort, which also houses high explosesives it would seem. James lays some of his own explosives over these barrels and sets a timer. He runs out.
A classic moment comes next, he removes his dry-suit, and underneath is a white tux, calmy, ever so cooly, he walks into a bar situated beside the silos. Checking his watch, and lighting a cigarette, the bombs go off, he has no reaction while the rest of the bar go crazy running outside, shouting. Another man sits at the bar, he also doesn't react to the explosion. The man warns him of returning to his hotel, and to be on a plane leaving for Miami in an hour.
James walks in on the belly-dancing girl in the bath, she is his 'unfinished business'!
Another classic moment follows, the girl is working for the bad guys, and as they kiss, a thug walks up behind James, he sees him coming in the reflection of her eyes! Swinging her around, she gets hit on the back of the head by the thug. After disposing of the thug (by eloctrocution) and saying a one-liner ("shocking"), he walks out.
Note: James still wears a hat in the opening gun barrel scene.
Classic Quote
Girl: "Why do you always wear that thing?" (reffering to his gun)
James: "I have a slight inferiority complex."
James Bond - Thunderball
- Year: 1965
- Song: Thunderball (Tom Jones)
- Running Time: 4:35
Once again an ambiguous start, a funeral is taking place, and draped across the coffiin is a cloth bearing the initials JB. Thankfully, it is not James Bond in the coffin. James is attending the funeral, which is for Colonel Jacque Bouvere (sp?). James isn't too happy about this, wanting to dispatch this man himself, as he had "murdered two of his collaegues".
James looks on inquisitively as the grieving widow gets into the car. At this point he reiterates that he will be seeing the lady from the "French Station" later too. They rush off.
The widow returns to her mansion, where James is waiting in the room she enters. James says he is there to "pay his respects", he then punches her in the face. It is at this point that it is revelaed that the grieving widow is in fact Jacque Bouvere.
A fight breaks out, during which everything in the room is destroyed! James wins out, choking Jacque with a poker. Before leaving the room, despite the guards trying to smash down the door to discover what the commotion is about James throws tulips onto Jacques corpse.
James then makes his getaway using a jetpack to fly over the wall of the mansion, before getting into the back of the French Station lady's car. They use a bullet-proof shield to stop some bullets and spray water all over the guards to stop them, before making their getaway!
Is this a classic start to a bond film? I'm not sure, however the jet pack, well, that is classic!
Classic Quote:
Girl: "Is there anything else our French station can do for Monsiuer Bond?"
James: "... Later perhaps" (with that sly grin on his face!)
James Bond - You Only Live Twice
- Year: 1967
- Song: You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra)
- Running Time: 6:00
We start in space... considering this is 1967, very on the ball. A United States Jupiter capsule is orbiting the earth. Some chatter is going back and forth, between the capsule and mission control. One of the astronauts goes on an EVA, while tethered to the capsule.
Suddenly, the Hawaii tracking station detect a large unidentified object closing fast on the capsule. Another spacecraft comes in fast to the capsule, the front opens up, and swallows the Jupiter capsule, but the astronaut on EVA gets trapped outside, and his tether is cut as the capsule is captured by the unidentified spacecraft.
A meeting between the USSR, the UK and the USA is taking place, in a remote location. The USSR denies capturing the capsule, while the USA believe that the Russians are trying to enforce dominance in space. The UK delegates report that they believe it landed in the sea of Japan, and they have a man in Hong Kong investigating now.
James (Sean Connery) is on the scene now, in bed with a Japanese woman of course! It would seem though, she's not on his team, she presses a button, and the bed closes in against the wall, and some men run in with machine guns and spray the wall/bed James is now behind.
James is declared dead! But, as the police say "at least he died on the job.".
James being dead is quite a shock, and keep in mind this was the fifth James Bond. They could still have conceivably killed him off. Not like now, James can never die, he's an immortal character.
Classic James:
James: "Why do Chinese girls taste different from all others girls?"
Japanese Girl: "You think better, eh?"
James: "No, just different"
James Bond - OHMSS
- Year: 1969
- Song: Insturmental
- Running Time: 6:35
George Lazenby's first, and only, role as James Bond. Q is selling to M some new piece of tech, but M wants to know where James is, he's missing, and nobody knows where he is, despite the PM looking for him.
James' face is kept hidden for a long part of the opening scene, I would assume this was to increase the tension with regard to who the new 'face' of James Bond was going to be.
He is driving along, and is overtaken by a fast driving car, driven by a woman. He follow her, and she starts wading into the ocean in her clothes.
It is only know, over 3 minutes into the film that we see James' face for the first time. He rushes across the beach to pull the mystery lady from the ocean. ... She's still alive!
Two men arrive on the scene, pointing a gun at James, and threatening the woman with a knife. Just as they are about to kill James, he strikes, kicking the gun from the man's hand. A fight ensues, in the dusk light. The first man is left in the ocean, seemingly drowned by James, and the second then strikes. Once the villains are dealt with, he returns his attention to the mystery lady, but she has made her escape in her car.
All that is left is a witty comment by James (which is below).
The song for the opening sequence is all instrumental, and is used as an alternate to the 'James Bond Theme' throughout the film also.
Note: The song used variously in the film, and finally at the very end, "We Have all the Time in the World", is in many ways the true theme song for this film. It was composed and recorded for the film, and has more recently become well known, mostly thanks to its use in a Guinness advertising campaign.
Opinion: In my opinion, this film has the single most significant event in the history of James Bond, and it is mentioned occasionally in the following films, this event is the marriage of James to Countess Tracy di Vicenzo, followed by her death, at the hands of Blofeld.
I feel that in Casino Royale there was an attempt to relive that moment in James's life, with Vesper Lynd. I wasn't too happy with them doing that to be honest. It belittles the experience in OHMSS, and it is done so well.
OHMSS is often cited as one of the weaker Bond's, and least liked, but it is a fantastic story, and if it is a Bond you have written off, I highly recommend a re-visit.
Honorable Mention:
Bond: "This never happened to the other fella"
James Bond - Diamonds Are Forever
- Year: 1971
- Song: Diamonds Are Forever - Shirley Bassey
- Running Time: 4:45
In an unusual move, the start of this Bond follows very swiftly on from the end of OHMSS, i.e. the death of James's wife, at the hands of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. We kick off in a Japanese home... a man flies through the paper walls. Thrown in by Bond (we don't see his face, it's to add to the suspense over who is playing him I would guess). He's asking "Where is he?, Where is Blofeld?". Cairo... that's the destination.
We cut to a casino in Cairo. Another unknown man is in the frame. Hit by Bond. "One chance, where can I find him?".
The next scene, Bond is revelaed to us, and Sean Connery is back! "Bond, James Bond" - the line that never gets old.
Bond attacks the woman on the beach, strangling her until she gives up the location of Blofeld.
Finally, we see Blofeld, we are in a clinic at an unknown destination. He is having a procedure done to change his facial features. But Bond has made his way into the clinic. He drowns a man in mud! Checking if it was Blofeld... it's not!
Blofeld appears behind him, he has James cornered again. The chops on one of his guards are brilliant! It turns out that he was trying to make a double. A trap in James suit takes out one of the guards, he kills the other guard with surgical knife throwing!
Blofeld is strapped to a gurney and thrown into boiling mud.
"Welcome to Hell Blofeld."
James Bond - Live and Let Die
- Year: 1973
- Song: Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney
- Running Time: 4:45
Live and Let Die, a Bond I've always liked, for two reasons:
- Roger Moore becomes Bond, I reckon this is mostly an age thing, but I think Roger Moore is a great bond, I liked the dry wit he brought to the role.
- A great song!
This is another one of the intros where we don't see Bond, it's purely an intro to set the scene, but a scene that is rather loosley related to the main plot it has to be said!
We start off in the UN building, in New York city, the delegates look very bored! The here is a main performing a translation of the speech, an unkown assailant sends a fatal pulse via the earpiece of the UK UN envoy. He drops dead. Rather amusingly, nobody notices for a few seconds. Ahhh.. the UN!
We move to Louisiana, a funerla procession marches along the street, past a man in a suit, who is clearly watching a bar across the road. There are some fantastic fros. Then a short man stabs the watcher, and the coffin is placed on his body to pick him up... then the funeral procession, still with casket, becomes a party, classic!
We move again to 'San Monique - An island in the carribean'. There is another party going on here, this time it's to kill a man, currently unknown to us, who is tied to a pole. A poisonous snake is the means of murder.
Cut to song....
"When you were young and your heart was an open book..."
Bond does not appear, and this intro creates lots of intrigue. we have no idea what any of these events mean... in my mind, that is a good first 4 minutes and 45 seconds of film. It draws you in, and you start wondering who these people are, and why they were murdered, and by whom, and how does it all tie together?
