Rank the Pre-Title Sequences

I am surprised no one has posted this before.

We have a thread for rank this and rank that and poll this and poll that but not for the Pre-Title Sequences.

:D

Vote for one and then post and discuss why you chose it.

;)

p.s. sorry but you can only pick one.

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my choice will be OHMSS.

I think that was a fitting and proper and exciting introduction to the first EON James Bond not played by Sean Connery.

For me it's a tie between GE and CR pre-title sequences because of all of them they are flawless. I love the one for OHMSS, but Peter Hunt made the stupid decision of leaving in the outtake of Lazenby breaking character and the fourth wall.

I feel the CR PTS being shot in Black and White kind of took away from it.

It made the movie feel old and that's just my opinion.

It's like watching a flashback.

Was that PTS intended to be a flashback?

TWINE
GF
GE
OHMSS
FRWL
TND
QOS
OP
TLD
TSWLM
TB
MR
YOLT
DAF
TMWTGG
FYEO
DAD
CR
AVTAK
LTK
LALD

Something like that...

CR's pre-titles are pretty much perfect. Even after a hundred viewings (I'm sure), the cut from Dryden's office to Bond fighting Fischer always makes me jump.

I also like GE's pre-titles. I love the sequences that are almost stand-alone films in their own right, and GE does this almost perfectly.

As much as I dislike GF, the pre-titles are awesome, and possibly the best part of the film. They're really the prototype for what many films would try over the years, but never perfected until GE.

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On the other hand, I love FYEO ... but I think the pre-titles are pretty flat. Bond and Melina escaing Gonzalez's villa would be a better sequence. As it is, the whole thing feels unnecessary and clashes with the rest of the film. And then there's the delicatessen line.

TMWTGG is also at the bottom end of this list, because while I can describe everything that happens in every other pre-title sequence, I can't recall anything that happens in TMWTGG's sequence.

TND is also fairly hit-and-miss for me. EON knew they got it right with GE, and tried to repeat it for the Brozzer's second outing. But it lacked the sense of danger that was rife in GE's sequence; there was never any feeling that Bond could get caught and killed at any moment. But it was nice to see Geoffrey Palmer sparring with Judi Dench.

TND took Bond's newfound love for automatic weaponry to ridiculous levels.

CJB wrote:

TND took Bond's newfound love for automatic weaponry to ridiculous levels.

It certainly did in the second half of the picture! I thought its PTS was pretty dam' good, though.

Voted for Gun's PTS. Beautiful opening shot of Maud on the beach at Phuket and then the most bizarre opening line of just about any film: "Nick Nack, Tabasco!"

Then that crazy funhouse. Great visuals, and beautifully shot. It's certainly the most unique PTS in the series.

Tricky question as soon ayou think oh it must be....you think of another, but on balance I plumped for The Living Daylights.

1. TLD
2. GF
3. OHMSS
4. GE
5. MR
6. TWINE
7. TB
8. FRWL
9. LTK
10. TSWLM
11. YOLT
12. TND
13. QoS
14. OP
15. DAD
16. AVTAK
17. DAF
18. CR
19. TMWTGG
20. FYEO
21. LALD

j7wild wrote:

I feel the CR PTS being shot in Black and White kind of took away from it.

It made the movie feel old and that's just my opinion.

It's like watching a flashback.

Was that PTS intended to be a flashback?

They were going for a film noir look.


I see TWINE is now the highest ranked. If it had been only the bank job, I might rank it higher, but the boat chase is is a pointless rehash of earlier Roger Moore boat chases and the whole set up makes no sense.

Agreed, MP. The interminable boat chase really lowers TWINE's PTS to my mind.

Yup and continues the bad trend of the Brosnan flicks having the PTS go on longer than necessary. It's worse too since all the MI6 scenes got cut to hell for timing (although that big breasted women remark by M was an awful attempt of the making the flick self aware)

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER




TWINE's PTS is awful, in my opinion. Boring and ridiculous.

The confrontation with Blofeld should have gone a bit longer I think, it feels anticlimatic the way it ends so quickly.

I think the main point was to show that Connery was back and down to business. The bikini bit was classic.

100% successful, in my opinion.

CASINO ROYALE's PTS was arguably the best scene in the entire film.

Who voted for TWINE's PTS?

What a waste of a fine Italian woman!

Didn't Michael Jackson play "Cigar Girl" in the TWINE PTS?

Wow very good point j7wild, he didn't even bang her either.

Control wrote:

Didn't Michael Jackson play "Cigar Girl" in the TWINE PTS?

He was in the running, but lost out to Monica Lewinsky.

Control wrote:

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER




TWINE's PTS is awful, in my opinion. Boring and ridiculous.

DAF's PTS was weird, macabre and gruesome. As such, it effectively prefigured the film to come.

OHMSS. The most Bondian moment in all the film series. The world immediately becomes painfully real, with the Univex name on an official sign on a London street displaying the all too real covert nature of the job. Then we cut to a frustrated M attempting to reason where in the hell his best agent has gone off to. Moneypenny displays all of the resources of MI6 that are totally useless in tracking down 007, and Q's hawking of radioactive lint just underlines the absolute ridiculousness of gadgetry. Then with M's last line there is a perfect cut to the frustrated roar of an Aston Martin with tires squealing out of a Portugal city at dawn. John Barry's score rises up with a never before heard low brassy quality that reassures you that this time it's for real.
The pure Fleming moment of a disaffected Bond being passed at speed by Tracy is perfectly handled, and then we get everything we need to know by Bond simply murmuring to himself.
The setup, cinematography, color, scoring, pacing, editing, lighting, performances, fight choreography is superb. I've always loved this entire sequence and there is no other moment that better displays 007. Hunt knew exactly how to work the character and this is one of those moments where Lazenby outdoes even Connery. You could frame moments from this PTS on your wall.

Rough estimate of the rest:
1.OHMSS
Goldfinger
TSWLM
TB
TLD
FRWL
YOLT
MR
DN
GE
LALD
TMWTGG
DAF
AVTAK
FYEO
LTK
OP-too dull.
DAD
TWINE-too long.
TND-boring, overdone, too simplistic, and rather dull.

DN didn't have a PTS, and where would CR and QOS PTS rank?

Can't be arsed ranking all of them but my favourite ones are probably GF, OHMSS, TLD & GE.

I reckon we need another PTS with Bond on a military-esque mission a la TLD & GE (granted, the former was merely a training exercise initially).

Couldn't vote, mine's a 4-way tie between Moonraker, FYEO, Octopussy and TLD.

Brozzayawn's TWINE gets an honourable mention.

Craig better deliver an action packed pre-title this time...Solace was a downright disappointment...

DAF
GF
TB
TLD
FRWL
MR
CR
OHMSS
YOLT
TMWTGG

TSWLM
OP
FYEO
AVTAK
GE
LTK
LALD
DAD
TND
TWINE
QOS

I am surprised that TSWLM and DAD (I know there are a couple of members here who thinks DAD is the best Bond film ever) didn't get a single vote.

hegottheboot wrote:

OHMSS. The most Bondian moment in all the film series. The world immediately becomes painfully real, with the Univex name on an official sign on a London street displaying the all too real covert nature of the job. Then we cut to a frustrated M attempting to reason where in the hell his best agent has gone off to. Moneypenny displays all of the resources of MI6 that are totally useless in tracking down 007, and Q's hawking of radioactive lint just underlines the absolute ridiculousness of gadgetry. Then with M's last line there is a perfect cut to the frustrated roar of an Aston Martin with tires squealing out of a Portugal city at dawn. John Barry's score rises up with a never before heard low brassy quality that reassures you that this time it's for real.
The pure Fleming moment of a disaffected Bond being passed at speed by Tracy is perfectly handled, and then we get everything we need to know by Bond simply murmuring to himself.
The setup, cinematography, color, scoring, pacing, editing, lighting, performances, fight choreography is superb. I've always loved this entire sequence and there is no other moment that better displays 007. Hunt knew exactly how to work the character and this is one of those moments where Lazenby outdoes even Connery. You could frame moments from this PTS on your wall.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Imagine what direction the Bond film franchise would had taken if Lazenby came back to make 4-5 more Bond films.

I think the franchise would had went straight to Dalton in 1981 (4 films for Lazenby) or 1983 (5 films for Lazenby), skipping Connery's one film come back and totally skipping Moore.

It would have been awesome!!

Saltzman and Broccoli really screw the pooch!!