There are two key elements to almost every Bond film’s
credits sequence; the main theme, the best of which we’ll be addressing next
week, and the title sequence that accompanies both it and the credits. Since
the James Bond series first began in 1962, there have been three main people,
and one company, that have been responsible for all the title sequences of
every Eon produced Bond film. First there was Maurice Binder, who not only
created the opening titles for 14 of the first 16 Bond films but also the
iconic gun barrel sequence that opens almost every Bond film, save for the
Craig films in which they appear later on or before the credits. The two title
sequences that Binder did not produce, ‘From Russia With Love’ and ‘Goldfinger’,
were instead developed by graphic designer Robert Brownjohn, who implemented
what would become one of the main staples of Bond title sequences;
scantily-clad women. Following Binder’s death in 1991, Daniel Kleinman took
over as the series’ main opening titles artist. The only Bond title sequence he
didn’t create was ‘Quantum of Solace’, which was instead done by animation
company MK12, who had worked with director Marc Forster on some of his previous
films like ‘Stranger than Fiction’. But Kleinman did return to do the opening
titles for ‘Skyfall’ and will of course be creating the opening titles for
‘Spectre’. So today, continuing on with Rhode Island Movie Corner’s second
annual Bond Month, I’ll be listing my Top 10 personal favorite Opening Title
Sequences from the past 23 Bond films. But first, I’ll start with my Top 5
Least Favorites.
5. DIE ANOTHER DAY
I don’t necessarily fault Daniel Kleinman for this film’s
less-than-stellar opening credits sequence because for what it’s worth, his
contributions to it are actually pretty solid. I do like the contrasting use of
fire and ice, even though fire never really plays a major part in the film
compared to the ice (e.g. Gustav Graves’ ice palace). But the one major
downfall to these titles is that it doesn’t feel like Kleinman was able to have
full control over it, as his visuals are set over scenes of Bond being tortured
while he is held captive in Korea after the events of the pre-credits sequence.
Obviously it helps to move the story along but it truly does feel like Kleinman
was limited in what he could do when it came to designing the sequence because
he had to work around the footage. There’s literally no other Bond film that’s
like this when it comes to actually having the titles play over a scene from
the film. The closest that these films ever came to having something similar to
this was in ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ but in both of
these sequences it was the clips from the film, or ‘films’ in the case of the
latter, that were implemented in and not the other way around. So ultimately
this title sequence just becomes one of the many weaknesses of ‘Die Another
Day’, the film that effectively resulted in the series being rebooted four
years later.
4. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
This sequence was notable for being the first Bond title
sequence to actually implement the singer of the main title song, in this case
Sheena Easton, into the sequence itself. But ultimately I don’t think that this
is a particularly stand-out sequence as far as Bond Opening Titles are
concerned. The same thing could actually be said for the film ‘For Your Eyes
Only’ in general as it was a rather ‘middle-of-the-road’ entry in the series;
not bad but not particularly great either. Prepare to hear this next point a
lot during this post, but this sequence ends up utilizing the same old motifs
of silhouetted women and watery backgrounds that were basically the basis for
almost all of Roger Moore’s Bond films’ title sequences and, suffice it to say,
it got old after a while. And part of me kind of feels that the use of Easton
in this sequence is rather awkwardly executed. Even Easton has admitted that
shooting the sequence was a rather unpleasant experience, to the point where
Maurice Binder had to attach her to a chair so that she wouldn’t move when the camera
zoomed into her lips. All in all, I don’t think that this is a ‘terrible’ title
sequence but I think it could’ve turned out better.
3. MOONRAKER AND 2. THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
I’m pairing these two title sequences together because
ultimately I can’t really say that much about either of them. The only real
thing I can say about them is that the reason why they’re in the ‘Bottom 5’ is
the same argument that I made earlier with ‘For Your Eyes Only’. These two are
prime examples of when the standard motifs of the franchise’s title sequences
started to get old. The titles for ‘Moonraker’ don’t even have a lot of
references to the film’s theme of space save for a few shots of the moon, the
earth, and the night sky. But with that said, those shots that are in there
keep ‘Moonraker’ from being ranked lower than ‘The Living Daylights’. That
film’s title sequence is as standard as you can get when talking about James
Bond title sequences. It’s nothing but the same old motifs of scantily-clad
women floating in water and that’s really about it. There’s an interesting
motif of having a man and woman standing side by side holding guns but the
thing is, that doesn’t actually connect that much to the film because while I
do think that Kara was a solid Bond girl, she doesn’t actually do much in the
film and is really just along for the ride with Bond. So because of this, ‘The
Living Daylights’ has a much blander title sequence compared to ‘Moonraker’.
But at least it looks better than my pick for the series’ worst title sequence.
1. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
Not only is the ‘same old stuff’ argument once again in
effect here for ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’s title sequence, but another big
issue with it is that it feels kind of cheap, especially when watching this
film in HD on Blu-Ray. Obviously this was just 1974 and it was a long time
before the crisper visuals of the Kleinman era but even at this point in time,
it feels very low-tech even by the franchise’s standards at the time. This
sequence is really nothing more than just the usual motif of scantily-clad
women distorted by rippling water. And quite frankly, it’s primarily because of
how water is implemented into this sequence that makes it look as bad as it
does. It both distorts all of the imagery in the sequence and contributes to
the cheapness of it all. Other Bond title sequences that have primarily revolved
around women and water have turned out much better due to how better balanced
they were compared to this sequence. And this is ultimately why ‘The Man with
the Golden Gun’ has the worst title sequence in franchise history. With no
disrespect towards the phenomenal work that Maurice Binder has done for the
James Bond series, this sequence feels like he wasn’t really giving his all and
given the fact that ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ was one of the series’
weakest installments, that’s not really surprising.
And now for the Top
10…
10. LIVE AND LET DIE
Kicking off the top 10 is a fiery credits sequence, both
figuratively and literally, that partners well with the upbeat rock tune that
is the title song of ‘Live and Let Die’ performed by Paul McCartney and Wings.
The credits sequence features quite a lot of native elements in it, which
perfectly connects to the film given the fact that most of the action takes
place in the Caribbean, and tons of striking visuals, including faces turning
into skulls whenever the main beat of the song kicks in. The overall pacing of
the sequence is also well-connected to the song as well, starting off slow and
peaceful and then becoming fast and bombastic. Admittedly some of the elements
of this title sequence haven’t aged very well, like the use of fiber optics
after the line ‘you gotta give the other fellow hell’, but it’s still a highly
memorable title sequence nevertheless as ‘Live and Let Die’ the film helped
start Roger Moore’s Bond career on a solid note.
9. A VIEW TO A KILL
The title sequence of ‘A View to a Kill’ is very similar to
the one in ‘Live and Let Die’. Both emphasize the use of fire as part of their
visuals and both are backed by more upbeat Bond songs. But ultimately I rank
this sequence higher than the one in ‘Live and Let Die’ because I think it has
aged a bit better. The sight of women covered with luminous paint is quite a
unique and striking visual. And of course, it’s paired perfectly with the title
song by Duran Duran. While I do sort of question the use of Bond in this
sequence due to the fact that it’s the younger Roger Moore Bond that was used
in the title sequence for ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, though ultimately I guess it
is better than having old Moore from ‘A View to a Kill’ featured instead, my
least favorite Bond film in the entire series does get the benefit of having a
really kick-ass title sequence.
8. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE/GOLDFINGER
I’m pairing the two Bond title sequences done by Robert
Brownjohn, ‘From Russia With Love’ and ‘Goldfinger’, together because they’re
basically the same thing save for a few cosmetic differences. They utilize the
same technique of projecting the titles onto the models. The major difference
is in regards to ‘what’ is projected in each of these sequences. In the case of
‘From Russia With Love’, the credits are projected over belly-dancers.
Admittedly, sometimes this results in the credits being rather unreadable but
it’s still a unique aesthetic. ‘Goldfinger’ actually features clips from the
film itself and even a few clips from the previous two Bond films. That and,
keeping with the theme of the film, they’re all projected onto a gold-painted
woman just like how in the film Jill Masterson is found dead covered with gold
paint from head to toe. If I had to pick one over the other, I’d probably give
the edge to ‘From Russia With Love’ because I think it looks just a bit nicer
but I decided to honor them both here. They’re both simpler title sequences in
terms of execution but the end results provides us with a pair of title
sequences that are arguably just as memorable as the more complex title
sequences that would come later.
7. THUNDERBALL
‘Thunderball’ was another landmark entry in the franchise
when it came to its title sequences. This was the first to effectively combine
two elements that would result in a prime combination that would define Bond
title sequences for years to come; scantily-clad women and water. As I noted earlier,
admittedly this led to some less-than-stellar Bond title sequences, like the
‘run-of-the-mill’ opening credits of ‘The Living Daylights’ or the very
low-quality looking titles of ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’, due to the fact
that they started to blur together due to how similar they looked. But as for
‘Thunderball’, being that it was the one that started this whole trend, it
still stands as one of the series’ best title sequences. Vibrantly colorful, it
also connects perfectly to the film’s emphasis on underwater sequences. So
whereas later Bond films tried to copy the same visual cues of ‘Thunderball’s
title sequence, nothing could ever beat the original.
6. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
The title sequence for ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ is perfectly
executed, which is quite something considering that the visuals are arguably a
bit standard as far as the franchise is concerned. For the record, I’m not
saying that this is a bad thing. It’s just more impressive that this sequence
manages to stand out so much for basically being ‘business as usual’ as far as
Bond title sequences are concerned. But the rise in quality going from the
titles of ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ to the titles of ‘The Spy Who Loved
Me’, which also perfectly correlates with the overall quality of both films, is
so staggering that it’s very much clear that the three-year gap between these
two films was highly beneficial to everyone who worked on ‘The Spy Who Loved
Me’, and that definitely included Maurice Binder. This is also without a doubt
one of the best marriages of title sequence and theme song with one of the
all-time greatest Bond themes, ‘Nobody Does It Better’. What more can be said
about what is pretty much a near-perfect James Bond title sequence from a
near-perfect Bond film?
5. TOMORROW NEVER DIES
Okay, full disclaimer; these Top 5 are all from the Kleinman
era. No offense to Maurice Binder but these 5 sequences are easily some of the
most visually appealing title sequences in the entire franchise. Kicking off
the Top 5 is the title sequence of Pierce Brosnan’s second Bond film, and
coincidentally Kleinman’s second Bond title sequence, ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’.
While I do have some issues with the title song (more on that next week), I
really love the sequence as a whole. The use of technology and computers as
visuals ties in nicely to the main villain, media mogul Elliot Carver, and it
was definitely fitting for someone like Kleinman to work on this sequence given
his love of technology. I love the smashing of screens, the women formed out of
circuitry, and the diamonds around a woman’s neck becoming ‘satellites’ in the
night sky. In fact, apparently there was a deleted line from the screenplay in
which Carver remarked about something similar to this but of course it got cut,
which is another sign that the film’s production wasn’t a smooth one. Still,
‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ was another solid success as far as Kleinman’s titles
were concerned. And as we’ll soon see, they would only get better and better.
On that note…
4. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH
Yes, we now move to the next immediate Bond film after
‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, ‘The World is Not Enough’. The word I’d use to describe
the titles for this Bond film would be luscious. Like its immediate
predecessor, this title sequence does a great job of connecting to one of the
main themes of the film, in this case oil. I loved the use of oil as a key part
of the visuals, from the women disappearing into oil to shots of oil pumpjacks,
which of course ties to the film’s main villain; oil heiress Elektra. All in
all, it produces a nice array of layered visuals, hence why it’s definitely one
of my favorite opening title sequences in the entire franchise. This sequence
notably doesn’t appear until 14 minutes into the film after the series’ longest
pre-credits sequence but it’s still a nice start to a Bond film that may be a
mixed bag but it still very enjoyable to watch. And of course it’s paired
perfectly with one of the best Bond title songs ever by Garbage… but again more
on that next week. Though ultimately, as far as the Pierce Brosnan era Bond
title sequences are concerned, nothing was better than, fittingly enough, what
came from his first outing as 007.
3. GOLDENEYE
Daniel Kleinman made his official debut as the creator of
the Bond title sequences in one of my absolute favorite entries in the entire
series, ‘GoldenEye’. Seriously, the jump in visual quality between the opening
titles of 1989’s ‘Licence to Kill’ and 1995’s ‘GoldenEye’, is stunning.
Kleinman basically added in a whole new dimension to the series’ opening titles
sequence while also placing greater emphasis on the backgrounds whereas Binder
usually just set all of his title sequences against a black background. But
even with all of the new tools that Kleinman had at his disposal, ‘GoldenEye’s
opening titles still very much have the Bond feel to them. And just like how
the visuals have a more modern feel to them, the sequence itself is aided by
the fact that ‘GoldenEye’ resurrected the series as it entered the post-Cold
War era. You can definitely see that through a good chunk of the visuals in
this sequence like falling hammers and sickles, collapsing statues of Communist
leaders like Stalin, and women destroying both the statues and the hammers and
sickles. Starting and ending with a contrasting view of the classic gunbarrel
sequence and full of absolutely gorgeous visuals, it was just another reason to
love the film in general.
2. CASINO ROYALE
‘Casino Royale’ marked a new beginning for the Bond
franchise as it showed Bond before he truly became Bond. And as such, the
film’s title sequence has the feel of ‘starting fresh’. For one thing, there’s
no scantily-clad silhouetted women. But these titles didn’t need that because
they work so well in producing amazing visuals that not only connect to the
themes of ‘Casino Royale’, but also feel very much fitting for the new era that
was set to start with Daniel Craig in the role of Bond. Most specifically, this
sequence highlights the film’s more hard-edged and violent style of action.
Instead of the usual silhouetted women cavorting around the screen, we instead
see Bond take out numerous goons and when they ‘die’, they then turn into the
various suits found on playing cards. And it ends quite nicely as the camera zooms
in onto Craig’s face, which I think was a prime example that Craig was about to
prove his biggest critics wrong. The Bond title sequences were only getting
more and more advanced with each new entry. So with that said, that leads into
what is, yes, my #1 favorite Bond title sequence out of all of the 23 films in
the franchise… and they come from the most recent Bond film.
1. SKYFALL
I would go as far as to argue that ‘Skyfall’ has the most visually
cinematic opening titles in the entire franchise. I loved how much layers there
are to the sequence and how there is so much vibrant imagery in each and every
frame. This is one of those credit sequences that requires additional views in
order to catch everything that appears in frame and I don’t mind that at all.
Some may not like that these titles foreshadow events in the film, like showing
Bond’s old home Skyfall or even placing Judi Dench’s credit in front of a
tombstone which of course signify the end of her tenure with the franchise. But
I didn’t mind that at all as I feel that it makes these particular titles the
best in the series if solely in terms of being closely tied to the film. Other
elements of this sequence that I like include the appearance of Silva as one of
Bond’s shadows, the ‘Rorschach test’ style visuals near the end, and Silva’s,
shall we say, ‘insignia’ of a red skull. With no disrespect towards MK12, the
opening titles for ‘Quantum of Solace’, while kind of cool, were also rather
lackluster, like the film itself. Simply put, ‘Skyfall’ definitely benefitted
from Daniel Kleinman’s return to the franchise and doing what he does best;
producing amazing Bond opening titles and as far as his best, I’d say that
honor goes to his most recent endeavor; the opening titles for ‘Skyfall’.
NEXT WEEK: I list my
Top 10 Favorite James Bond themes
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