29 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

Robert Brownjohn, Danny Kleinman, and of course, Maurice Binder have all created some of the most phenominal sequences to show off the credits and open up the Bond films in style. In my opinion, the sequence is one of the most important in a Bond film, and always look forward to it.

Which is, of all of the sequences, the one you feel is the weaskest over all?

My vote I suppose would have to go to The Man with the Golden Gun. I know many things aren't favored in the A View to a Kill sequence, but I rather think that one works okay. With TMWTGG however, there doesn't seem to be much going on. The golden gun and nude women lying around, but it doesn't have the spark a normal sequence does.

Your choices?

[americanbond]

Licence to Kill

Its hard for me to describe where it goes wrong... it's just plain bad.

[PaulZ108]

The Living Daylights has by far the worst title sequence. What really makes it awful is that hideous woman floating in the water toward the end....the way her eyes are sort of half open makes her look like a corpse someone threw into the jacuzzi.

[Kingdom Come]

Binder's titles on the whole, were fairly poor. Licence To Kill was appalling and should have been recommisioned , also MWTGG / Goldfinger / DAF.

Binder did design fantastic titles for Octopussy, which must rank as his best work.
A View To A Kill's are also excellent.

Bottom line; Licence To Kill & Man With The Golden Gun & Diamonds Are Forever are the 3 weakest. The best titles are TWINE.

In response to the post underneath, sorry to have gave the impression that Binder designed the Goldfinger titles, I was just listing it as one of several that needed to have been recommissioned thats all. Having said that, 10% of the Goldfinger titles have some of Binders designs, which was made clear in a doc on one of the DVDs.

[Qwerty]

Noe that's where I tend to choose differently. With Diamonds Are Forever, I know it doesn't seem like his best, but there's something about that one that I think ransk as one of his better ones, although I like alot others more.

The Living Daylights's was indeed average at best.

[Bon-san]

Binder's titles on the whole, were fairly poor. Licence To Kill was appalling and should have been recommisioned , also MWTGG / Goldfinger / DAF.

Binder did design fantastic titles for Octopussy, which must rank as his best work.
A View To A Kill's are also excellent.

Bottom line; Licence To Kill & Man With The Golden Gun & Diamonds Are Forever are the 3 weakest. The best titles are TWINE.

Actually, Robert Brownjohn did the titles to Goldfinger.

I shall have to check out the Octopussy titles tonight (can't seem to recall them at the moment, and you've piqued my interest).

Agreed that TWINE's are supreme.

[Loomis]

Agreed that TWINE's are supreme.

Supremely sickmaking, IMO.

[Triton]

The simplest title sequence in the series has to be Robert Brownjohn's work on From Russia with Love. I wouldn't say that the sequence "went wrong" or was "weak", since I presume that multi-colored titles projected on moving body parts was innovative in 1963.

I think that A View to a Kill and Tomorrow Never Dies are examples of two title sequences that went wrong.

After the innovative use of lasers in Octopussy, the title sequence of A View to a Kill came as a big disappointment to me. I thought that the title sequence was just ugly with female models wearing flourescent make up and covered with strips of flourescent-color painted paper lit by a black light. I thought that the chartruese color laser firing revolvers were just ridiculous.

After his splendid debut with GoldenEye, I was disappointed by Danny Kleinman's titles for Tomorrow Never Dies. This sequence looks like it cost a fortune to create and the final result was hideous for the most part. I especially disliked printed circuit board women on the red background were just hideous. Perhaps I would have liked this sequence better if Kleinman had chosen another background color, but the silver and red was so ugly and garish.

[SPECTRE ASSASSIN]

I would say that TMWTGG was a dissapointment in my opinion. Especially with that awful Lulu theme song playing in the background.

Tomorrow Never Dies was ok, but not great.

I would say the worst was probably Licence to Kill.

[Triton]

Agreed that TWINE's are supreme.

Supremely sickmaking, IMO.

I'm very surprised that you have that reaction to this title sequence because I think that is was brilliant and one of the best in the series. I found it satirical that nude women were swimming in pools of oil and showers of oil became the shapes of nude women, a comment about the western hemisphere's love and dependence on oil.

[Qwerty]

I think Tomorrow Never Dies had the greatest. I think it's quite a different approach with the women being "apart" of the sequence.

Licence to Kill's was an improvement from The Living Daylight's, but it could have been better.

[SPECTRE ASSASSIN]

Has anyone mentioned OHMSS?

I am quite of fond of it, yet I disliked the "montage" of previous films in it, just because it of a new James Bond.

[Loomis]

Agreed that TWINE's are supreme.

Supremely sickmaking, IMO.

I'm very surprised that you have that reaction to this title sequence because I think that is was brilliant and one of the best in the series. I found it satirical that nude women were swimming in pools of oil and showers of oil became the shapes of nude women, a comment about the western hemisphere's love and dependence on oil.

To each his own. I personally find the psychedelic colours (more appropriate, surely, to a Grateful Dead LP sleeve than a Bond title sequence) and blobs of oil enough to make my eyes hurt, my head swim and my stomach come over all queer. I appreciate what they were trying to "say", but I just don't find the result aesthetically pleasing - quite the reverse.

I like the other Brosnan era title sequences, though.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Has anyone mentioned OHMSS?

I am quite of fond of it, yet I disliked the "montage" of previous films in it, just because it of a new James Bond.

That's my favorite(w/honorable mention to TB, YOLT, FYEO, and GE). I love the "nod to the past" in the title sequences. I bet it helped to "establish normality" for 1969 moviegoers having to adjust to a post-Connery Bond world.

My least favorite would probably be LTK. Binder just seemed to be running out of inspiration by then and the technical quality of the filmmaking isn't as good as his earlier efforts. That may have been because they were filming at Churubusco not Pinewood. FRWL and GF look primitive by today's standards but I still love them and can appreciate their innovation in the time period they were made.

[SPECTRE ASSASSIN]

I would say Thunderball, Goldfinger, Live and Let Die, A View to a Kill, The World Is Not Enough, Moonraker and From Russia with Love were some of my favorites.

[Qwerty]

Has anyone mentioned OHMSS?

I am quite of fond of it, yet I disliked the "montage" of previous films in it, just because it of a new James Bond.

It's a bit lacking in originality, but I can understand it at the time of the film and I'm fond of it now.

[Bizzare8]

I personally thought that LALD has one of the weakest main title sequences in the series, although LTK and TLD dont rank very high. LALD just seems a bit boring. GE remains my favorite though.

[Bond111]

I agree, the main titles are a very prominent feature that I really look forward to in each Bond movie.

First off I have to say that the TLD sequence is actually a favorite of mine. It goes well with the song itself and it really sets the mood of a cold-war spy thriller, which leads perfectly to the subsequent 'defection' scene.

I wouldn't say the From Russia With Love sequence is necessarily bad, average at best, it just doesn't do anything for me. Also, it can be rather annoying at times when I'm actually trying to read the credits.

The Man With The Golden Gun is a disappointment, in my opinion, much like the movie itself.

For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and A View To A Kill are very lacking in originality, mostly the latter two. Octopussy is perhaps Binder's worst work, and it doesn't help that I don't care for the title song itself. The flourescent girls in A View To A Kill are almost unsightly.

Lastly, Licence To Kill could have been much better, but I like the casino theme throughout. It works on some levels.

I've been pretty pleased with Kleinman's work so far, and I eagerly await to see what he does for Bond 21.

[Qwerty]

I wouldn't say the From Russia With Love sequence is necessarily bad, average at best, it just doesn't do anything for me. Also, it can be rather annoying at times when I'm actually trying to read the credits.

Ah, that bothers you too 111? It's a very neat idea, but sometimes that drives me nuts when I'm trying to read all of the credits, and some are rather difficult to see sometimes.

[Bond111]

I wouldn't say the From Russia With Love sequence is necessarily bad, average at best, it just doesn't do anything for me. Also, it can be rather annoying at times when I'm actually trying to read the credits.

Ah, that bothers you too 111? It's a very neat idea, but sometimes that drives me nuts when I'm trying to read all of the credits, and some are rather difficult to see sometimes.

Yes that infuriates me every time. While the title sequence sounds good on paper I'm not sure how well it worked on screen. Just doesn't seem all well suited for the credits.

[Qwerty]

I wouldn't say the From Russia With Love sequence is necessarily bad, average at best, it just doesn't do anything for me. Also, it can be rather annoying at times when I'm actually trying to read the credits.

Ah, that bothers you too 111? It's a very neat idea, but sometimes that drives me nuts when I'm trying to read all of the credits, and some are rather difficult to see sometimes.

Yes that infuriates me every time. While the title sequence sounds good on paper I'm not sure how well it worked on screen. Just doesn't seem all well suited for the credits.

I'm sure it must have seemed like a neat idea when his wife inspired it, but you need to be able to easily see the credits!

[Tarl_Cabot]

TND is unsightly and so TWINE and Goldeneye. I hated DAD the film but the credits sequence was fresh and interesting...

My favorites are FYEO and YOLT.

[Donovan]

This is a good topic.

I guess I'm more 'forgiving' of some of these titles than what seems to be the majority of posters in this thread.

I would certainly agree that some come off as lackluster compared to others. I was never sure of the photography motif that was used in "Licence To Kill" but liked the transitions into and out of the title sequence in that film. And I don't find actress Diana Lee Hsu's presence particularly interesting or useful.

I think the best Bond titles are the sexier ones that convey a major story visual, which most of the titles have done: belly dancing, swimming, voodoo, space, post-Cold War, etc. Kleinman's titles are very well-executed, but for me they lack that sexual suggestiveness and Bond style. I really feel "GoldenEye" remains his best title design. Yeah, the oil thing in "The World Is Not Enough" is crude, no pun intended. The girls on fire in "Die Another Day" leave me cold.

I think Binder's best work is "You Only Live Twice" which not only has interesting visuals and animations, but the whole sequence flows smoothly, like volcanic lava. I like the way the credits in "Thunderball", "Live And Let Die", and "The Man With The Golden Gun" warp onto and off the screen.

I sort of nit-pick decisions like Moore's face jump-cutting to a silhouette in "The Spy Who Loved Me". But I think the girl unzipping her parka to reveal the 007 logo on her cleavage in "A View To A Kill" is one of the best ideas to come along in the series.

What I like about Binder/Bond/Brownjohn's designs are the resourcefulness. A computer program can really make you look good, if you know how to use it, and I'd say Kleinman & company have been suitably clever. But back in the days of optical printers, filters, gels, fog machines, etc. you had to have a lot more skill to pull off some of the tricks the old school guys managed.

[Roger Moore's Bad Facelift]

The Worst: Licence to Kill
The Reason: Uninspired.

At this point in the series it was (unfortunately) all too clear that the Maurice Binder well-of-creativity had completely runeth dry. There is nothing remotely memorable about this title sequence whatsoever. Nothing.
(However, I must confess that the Gladys Knight title song is quite the catchy tune. A guilty pleasure of mine, really. Shhh. Just don't tell anyone. )


TWINE's credits seems to divide the fans straight down the middle. Some say Kleinman's credits are positively nauseating, while others say they are radiantly beautiful. I have read the "nauseating" complaint elsewhere other than just here on CBN.
Likewise, some love the Shirley Bassey-esqueness of Garbage's TWINE title song, while others think it sounds too old fashioned and just yet another uninspired Goldfinger wannabe knock off.

Edited by Roger_Moore's_Bad_Facelift, 24 May 2004 - 05:50 AM.

[Turn]

I'll go with LTK because it's like Binder was going through the motions. That and the bland title song didn't help. It was like give us something harder edged for what was to follow. Instead it was a romantic song for what was hardly a romantic film despite the wedding and all that.

With TLD, there was some all-around excitement with the new Bond, so that carried over and at least the song was upbeat even if the lyrics made no sense.

I'm also not big on MR, which I don't think was mentioned. The flying girl whose body pixilates seemed kind of goofy.

[Qwerty]

I'm also not big on MR, which I don't think was mentioned. The flying girl whose body pixilates seemed kind of goofy.

Oh really Turn? I thought that was his best work ever. He seemed to take what he did in The Spy Who Loved Me and make it better!

[Turn]

I'm also not big on MR, which I don't think was mentioned. The flying girl whose body pixilates seemed kind of goofy.

Oh really Turn? I thought that was his best work ever. He seemed to take what he did in The Spy Who Loved Me and make it better!

Maybe it's just that scene. I just dislike the song a lot and if you don't like that, it's hard to like the rest.

[Qwerty]

I suppose so. I've found it interesting how it sometimes seems that if Octopussy and Licence to Kill, two often disliked songs, aren't favored, then the sequence doesn't seem as good.

I thought Octopussy was good on both accounts, LTK could've improved the sequence.

[Von Hammerstein]

Loved Robert Brownjohn's Goldfinger Titles. For the 60"s projecting action and titles on the nude body of golden girl was exciting and innovative. I always think of the sequence where they show the helicopter fight from FRWL reflected in the woman's golden thigh when I hear Shirely Bassey sing Goldfinger. And I always enjoyed Binder's titles. I think, apart from GoldenEye's which were superb,Kleinmann's titles have been the weakest, I did not get that thrill of being plunged into James Bond's world from his last three outings. Pity.

[Qwerty]

The one thing that had always had me wondering the first few times I saw the film Goldfinger was why it seemed that Brownjohn had taken the helicoptor shot from From Russia With Love and put it in those pretitles.