As Bond is surveilling the Ning Po freight liner, his cover is eventually blown and he attempts to escape a throng of henchmen. Although the music is a bit happy sounding for a chase scene, the sweeping camera angle of the rooftop chase gives great context to what Bond is up against and how unlikely an escape is, which turns out to be true. Kudos for the camera angle though. In the age of heavy editing and camera shakes, a steady shot like this during an otherwise tense scene is refreshing, even for a non-Bond movie.
The opening sequence for The Living Daylights (1987) is pretty underrated and has it all: a thrilling MI6 training exercise gone wrong and a daring 007 parachute escape from a falling/exploding munitions vehicle. It ends in true James Bond fashion, on a luxury yacht with a damsel (not in distress, mind you) yearning for a “real man.” Lucky for her Bond drops in (literally) and Timothy Dalton’s James Bond delivers his coolest moment, easily a contender for coolest James Bond moment of all time as well.
It’s a shame Dalton only had a chance to portray 007 twice on-screen. Surely one or two more films and he would be more widely considered the best James Bond actor (he is in the upper echelon for me!). That look alongside the champagne glass where you can literally see him decide between work or play and choosing at least a little more play is a perfect intro to a new James Bond and cemented Dalton’s portrayal from the start!
The presence of James Bond’s daughter (eyeroll) in No Time To Die (2021) instantly reminded me of this awful, campy scene from Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Kids and James Bond movies do not mix. They instantly suck the energy out of any scene and annoy me as soon as they appear. Not only is it blatantly cringe that the kid is somehow in a Las Vegas casino (I guess they had kid friendly games in the 1970s? Regardless I would never want to bring a child to Las Vegas!), but his interaction with Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) is made even more awful with her line “Blow up your pants!” – a truly terrible one-liner on the Mount Rushmore of all bad James Bond movie one-liners.
Say no to kids in James Bond movies!
Me waiting for this awful scene to end
The end of the opening sequence of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) was just brilliant! I’m sure moviegoers were clamoring to see what a “new Bond” would bring and the fact that they decided to break the fourth wall to acknowledge the change is just awesome. I wonder if any theaters erupted in laughter or applause?
James Bond (George Lazenby) lights up at the beginning of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
What on earth are Jimmy Bond and Leiter doing with the matches in this scene? Is it purposefully coordinated and focused on? Is there some hidden signal? A bizarre spectacle whenever I watch this scene from Casino Royale (TV – 1954).
Safin’s masked character from No Time To Die (2021) easily gave the biggest jump scare of any James Bond movie ever:
As a whole, the opening sequence of NTTD was a highlight, but the entire movie was marred by an ending scene that was the worst scene of any James Bond movie. Yes, it was so bad that it singlehandedly made NTTD the worst James Bond movie ever. Read my skewering of the movie here.
As I mention in the review, I would have preferred Mathilde not exist rather than watch her drag that stupid Dou Dou bunny around the movie. Ugh.
It’s sometimes overlooked and odd to think about that James Bond villains have to have a physical headquarters. They need a place to reside, meet and plot. Over the movies, we have seen them in all shapes and sizes, from a hollowed-out volcano lair, an abandoned satellite, an off-shore oil rig or a gold refinement factory.
In Thunderball (1965), we get to visit SPECTRE (Special Executor for Counterintelligence, terrorism, revenge, extortion) headquarters, of which Ernst Stavro Blofeld is its leader and Emilio Largo is number two in charge. What’s unique about Thunderball, however, is that we see the exact perspective of a villain leaving the public world (this time a city) and every step of their commute to their proverbial work desk. Here, Largo enters the Centre International D’Assistance aux Personnes Replacées (International Brotherhood for Assistance of Stateless Persons), goes to the back of the office and opens a secret door to the SPECTRE meeting room via buttons on a custom cigarette holder.
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I may be biased since TND was the first James Bond movie I saw in theaters, but the remote control BMW scene is nothing but fun from start to finish. I distinctly remember smiling ear-to-ear just as Brosnan does at the end of the scene, and the theater’s collective ooh’s and aah’s as each new gadget appeared on screen. This was nothing short of action movie magic, and is a top-tier action scene in all of the James Bond movies. Who wouldn’t want to drive a car (BMW, nonetheless) remotely and look as cool as James Bond doing it?!
Something about this seemingly innocuous scene (where James Bond meets Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever (1971)) elevates its notoriety in my book. Maybe it’s the loungey, daydreamy, nap-inducing version of the DAF theme, or the way Bond questions endearingly “Weren’t you a blonde when I came in?” Something about it makes me love it. And the Van Cleef & Arpels quip…classic! 🙂
A “recovering” James Bond endearingly says this friendly quote after a session with his rehab aide Patricia Fearing. Although a playful, funny quip, Bond shows his nonchalance (and the 1960s misogyny he’s sometimes known for) after coaxing Fearing for a romp after her incompetence leaving 007 trapped and unaccompanied in the stretching rack machine.
