In Goldfinger (1964), Sean Connery’s Bond wakes up airborne and in a tranquillizer dart-induced haze. I love how an out-of-focus woman’s face comes into focus as if the movie audience recovers from Bond’s point of view.
Pussy Galore’s named introduction still elicits a guffaw reaction in me even to this day, and I’d imagine a theater-going audience would have audibly laughed at Bond’s “I must be dreaming” quip. Short scenes and exchanges like this from early Bond movies stand the test of time and fans can only hope future Bond movies are filled with gems like these.
Quantum Of Solace (2008) is generally not the preferred Daniel Craig James Bond movie. I would tend to agree that (aside from the blasphemous No Time To Die) it’s one of Craig’s weakest overall performances as 007. But as with any James Bond movie, there are always bright spots!
Without question, Quantum‘s opening sequence car chase is one of these bright spots. The first 30 seconds of my theater experience watching this opening sequence on an IMAX screen with a packed audience is one of my most memorable James Bond theater experiences. I had goosebumps it was so awesome!
This polarizing scene from Octopussy (1983) starts out lighthearted but ends with high tension as an undercover James Bond disguises himself as a circus clown to defuse a nuclear bomb. All in all, it is by far the dorkiest look of Roger Moore’s Bond, but looking past his costume and apparent masterful makeup artistry, I’m not sure there is a more defining “James Bond saves the world” scene in all of the movies.
Sure, Bond has defused many a bomb in his time, and even another nuclear one in Goldfinger (1964) albeit without a large audience like Bond has here. And yes, maybe they could’ve dressed Bond in something more flattering (a ringmaster with a top-hat, perhaps?), but the buildup for this scene and how an obstinate American general eventually tells everyone in the audience to shut up and let the absurdly dressed clown Bond defuse the bomb makes it all the more climactic. You can feel the tension! And I also think (to a degree) Bond’s look of desperation is made even more urgent because of his clownface makeup!
I won’t get over Bond’s look in this scene any time soon (and I wish at the end of the scene he would’ve just kept his red nose on for the full effect or took it off entirely, rather than having it hang awkwardly on his neck), but I also won’t let it take away from it significance amongst other times in the series when Bond heroically saves the world. Not many other scenes can top this one in that regard!
1. Roger Moore’s clown costume in Octopussy (1983) takes the cake…the ultimate dorkiest Bond moment!
One of the, if not *the*, most out of place sounds/music in any James Bond movie has to go to the use of the song “California Girls” from the “snowboard” scene from the opening sequence of A View To A Kill (1985). Yes, I get that Bond eventually travels to California (and meets girls there I guess?) in the movie and he is technically snowboarding with the snowmobile blade (which is like “California surfing” I guess?), but I’m still going to give the song choice a thumbs down.
I may have approved if the song chosen was the original version by the Beach Boys, but a quick Google also shows this is a cover by Gidea Park, and it sounds like an average one at that. They should have scrapped the idea. How Bond maintains his feet on the blade and gains enough momentum to surprise the skiing bad guys was puzzling enough for the chase, let alone the song choice. It’s fun for sure, but not particularly great.
I was also unfortunately reminded of this scene after watching Pierce Brosnan’s Bond’s absurd snowboarding/gliding scene from Die Another Day (2002):
*shudders*
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.
