25 replies to this topic

[Ytadel]

No Bond film has ever had a perspective completely limited to 007 himself. The narrative frequently switches over to villains, Bond girls, Bond allies, the MI6 crew, and so on. This has led to some terrific scenes (such as Professor Dent talking to a disembodied Dr. No), and some very questionable scenes ("Yo mama!").

My question is this: what Bond film do people think has the least screentime for 007, altogether, and which has the most? Is there any that dips below 75% of the scenes featuring Bond? Any that goes above 95%?

[plankattack]

I'm not sure that any of the films feature less than 75% screen-time with our hero (CR '67 excepted, of course). But TMWTGG definitely tried to add a sense of split narrative, contrasting 007 with Scaramanga. But I can't think of a film where Bond is (relatively) peripheral to the plot. GF perhaps, in that Bond is along for the ride.

Welcome to CBn!

Edited by plankattack, 25 March 2007 - 09:03 PM.

[Royal Dalton]

I'd say Bond probably has the least amount of screen time in From Russia With Love.

I suppose, considering that they're longer films, he would've had the most screen time in either OHMSS or Casino Royale.

[triviachamp]

Least: A View to A Kill. Isn't it mainly the stuntmen?

[plankattack]

Least: A View to A Kill. Isn't it mainly the stuntmen?

No...that would be Octopussy

[Shadow Syndicate]

Id say GoldenEye didnt have all that much on account of Natalya

[DaveBond21]

FRWL, I would say.

We don't see Bond until we've already seen Grant in action, the chess match, Blofeld, and Tatiana's briefing.

[Tiin007]

I'd say Bond probably has the least amount of screen time in From Russia With Love.

I suppose, considering that they're longer films, he would've had the most screen time in either OHMSS or Casino Royale.

Oddly enough, after seeing Casino Royale for the first time, I thought Bond had less screen time than he deserved. Subsequent viewings, however, made me realize that Bond had plenty of screen time, and G-d knows why I ever thought that in the first place.

[Qwerty]

My guess would be From Russia With Love, taking into account the plot and the film's slightly shorter run time compared to many of the others.

[DaltonCraig]

Cheers for an interesting topic...

[RazorBlade]

You would think somebody would have all this recorded somewhere. We are nothing if not film geeks here.

[freemo]

In terms of least % of the total runtime, I'd say GoldenEye, which spends a fair bit of time painstakingly laying out the plot, and Golden Gun, in which, as plankattack points out, Scaramanga has a number of scenes without Bond are the two least.

OHMSS the most, probably. Aside from Q prattling on about lint in the beginning, and a minute or two of Blofeld and Tracey's poetry duel, Bond's practically in every frame.

[00Twelve]

Most - Probably CR, as it is (arguably) more about establishing Bond than any other film, and it's the longest.

Least - Probably GoldenEye, as freemo suggested. Seems that way, anyway.

[Mister Asterix]

[mra]Great topic, though I

[Judo chop]

The real answer is probably something we'd never think of, like LALD or MR. We're just going to have to find out the hard way I think; DVD, stop watch, pen and paper.

Divide and conquer, I say. I'll take TB and will report back in a few days.

[Ytadel]

I'm glad people find the topic interesting. I agree with the person above - the correct answers could easily be movies we're completely forgetting about. Divide and conquer may be the only way! If other people would be interested, I wouldn't mind hitting up Octopussy and/or Tomorrow Never Dies.

Another thing we could discuss in this thread: all-time favorite Bond film scenes with no 007 in them.

I really like the Professor Dent / Dr. No scene in Dr. No, the chess match and Blofeld meetings from From Russia With Love, most of Le Chiffre's scenes in Casino Royale, most of Scaramanga's scenes in Man With the Golden Gun, and I have to admit that I've always been amused by the scene where Zorin dumps the guy from the blimp in A View to a Kill.

As for worst.... well, as I mentioned above... I need say no more than "Yo mama!"

[JimmyBond]

Goldeneye, definately.

[DaveBond21]

Favourite scenes with no Bond:-

Dr No - Dent and Dr No's voice

FRWL - chess match, briefing with Blofeld

MR - Corinne chased by Drax's dogs through the trees

Octopussy - Q swapping with Ajay on their watch

[Qwerty]

You would think somebody would have all this recorded somewhere. We are nothing if not film geeks here.

This would definitely take some time though!

[DaveBond21]

Another good scene not involving Bond:-


QOS - M's meeting with the Defence Minister.

[The Richmond Spy]

Ha! Maybe there's a correlation between "Bond screen time as % of film (or not as a %)" and "Quality of film." We'll use average rankings by CBn members to determine the latter. Put them in Excel and run this...

I know CR and OHMSS are popular #1 picks and they are long films probably with a lot of Bond in them.

[Mr. Blofeld]

If you think about it, TSWLM has relatively few minutes actually featuring Bond up on screen towards the beginning; the film lays out the plot painstakingly, with the submarine, George Baker, General Gogol, XXX, and M scenes all coming before our reintroduction to Bond in the log cabin, and the General Gogol/XXX briefing scene, along with Stromberg's dispatching of the treacherous secretary and expendable scientists (let's not forget Sandor and Jaws!), edges out Roger Moore's screen time considerably after the PTS.

Of course, let's not count out the numerous stuntmen filling in for Moore during the actual PTS ski chase...

[john.steed]

Of course, let's not count out the numerous stuntmen filling in for Moore during the actual PTS ski chase...

So how do we could count the scenes in which George Baker dubs for George Lazenby?

[hilly]

Can we count the 1967 Casino Royale? Given that all the main characters are named or re-named James Bond 007?

[YOLT]

Goldeneye. Is it a 007 film indeed? I thought it was Natalia tv show.

[MicroGlobeOne]

Divide and conquer, I say. I'll take TB and will report back in a few days.

Wow. This thread is apparently over two years old...

Did anyone undertake the assignment? Do we have reliable recorded statistics for any of the films? I'm glad someone rediscovered the thread, because this is a fascinating question, particularly considering how it might reflect on the narratives of various 007 adventures. Of course, it's also somewhat trivial... but fascinating nonetheless!

Is there anyone still interested in embarking upon this as a serious project? It would take a serious and committed team effort, but I'd be happy to sit down with a stopwatch and go through a few of the films.