After a brief hiatus, it’s time for another ranking category. Today, it’s the James Bond gun barrels.
So what goes into the various gun barrels? Well, you obviously have variations of the James Bond Theme, you’ve got all the 007s’ walks and pivots and poses, you’ve got the styles and lighting of the individual gun barrels, and perhaps even their placements in the films. Some may put more emphasis on various items and less on others, but to each evaluator their own.
Me, personally, I think all of their poses are pretty good so their differences don’t matter much to me. Instead, I tend to value the music and walks more. But again, the choice is yours.
So how do you rank the James Bond gun barrels?
Here’s mine:
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FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – I love me some good cowbell. Bill Conti’s effort is simply the best gun barrel of the series. Good percussion/beat and everything works with Roger Moore doing the better of his gun poses here. The only quibble is at the very end when the dot moves to the middle of the screen and suddenly a full image appears rather than a traditional, slow zoom out.
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LICENCE TO KILL – Another great gun barrel. Timothy Dalton does a strong walk and pose, and Michael Kamen implements a unique rumbling tune that lets you know that you’re in for something different.
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TOMORROW NEVER DIES – David Arnold’s first effort is smooth, stylish, and very Bondian. Daniel Kleinman, meanwhile, updates the gun barrel in a cool and sleek CGI style (that was started with GoldenEye). All that is complimented by a great walk and pose from Pierce Brosnan.
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ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – John Barry comes up with something original by using a Moog synthesizer for the first time in film history–and it works perfectly to complement the brand new 007 George Lazenby. The only slight negative is the pausing of the dots in mid-crossing to put up the names of Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli–the second and last time it would feature that way.
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LIVE AND LET DIE – George Martin brings out the funk for Moore’s James Bond debut and I’m all for it. The only quibble is while Moore’s pose is fine, his aim is a little off, and once I’ve seen it, I can’t unsee it. They should have used/done another take with him having better aim.
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THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH – Another stylish effort from Arnold and Kleinman. See TND.
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THUNDERBALL – The best of Sean Connery’s tenure. Love the use of the twangy guitar. Barry pretty much nailed all his '60s gun barrel music.
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GOLDFINGER – Another great twangy guitar bit. Just a couple of quibbles: 1) Bob Simmons walks REALLY slowly and also only takes about three steps. He needed to walk further and faster. And 2) the dot doesn’t go all the way across the screen initially, and when it disappears, it doesn’t zoom out, but rather incrementally gets smaller before the screen suddenly is filled with oil refinery tanks.
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THE SPY WHO LOVED ME – Marvin Hamlisch’s effort has a watery vibe to it and is greatly added by another twangy guitar. The only quibbles are the gun barrel looks a little washed out and the fade-in to the film inside the dot is a little sudden and jarring rather than smooth. But overall, good stuff.
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YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – The horns are a little on the shrill side, but that twangy guitar pays off handsomely. The gun barrel is a little washed out again.
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DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER – Similar to YOLT without the shrill horns and the guitar not quite as twangy, but still a good gun barrel. A little shimmer inside the gun barrel is different but not in a conspicuous way.
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THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS – Barry’s final gun barrel is solid, if unspectacular. Again, great walk and pose by Dalton, arguably the best of the series.
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DIE ANOTHER DAY – This musical effort focuses more on percussion driving the Bond theme than the guitar. Interesting and a nice variation, but not as good as the twangy guitar. And I don’t mind seeing the bullet. For the 40th anniversary and a one-time event, I like it. The only problem with it, is it led to waaaaay more experimentation in the gun barrel sequences following it than there ever should have been or even needed to be.
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THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN – A rather jaunty tune for this gun barrel but still solid. And, again, Moore’s aim is off.
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SPECTRE – Great tune by Thomas Newman, great pose (Daniel Craig’s best), solid walk. But why, oh why, must Craig let the gun be visible? It hurts the bit. Still, it’s the best of his tenure.
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NO TIME TO DIE – Hans Zimmer’s turn with the gun barrel has solid music and a good walk with Craig who manages to keep the gun (mostly) hidden. Shockingly, I actually don’t mind Bond fading away in this effort (and I have to admit I somehow didn’t even notice it the first time I watched it.
) And I actually like the zoom out through the end of the gun barrel. The gun barrel itself also looks great. -
MOONRAKER – Good, not great tune. Miss the twangy guitar.
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FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE – Good tune but played a little fast. Again, Simmons with a slow and short walk as well as the dot getting progressively smaller instead of zooming out. But once it does go black, there is a nice fade-in to lead into the stalking pre-titles sequence.
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OCTOPUSSY – Similar to Moonraker, but the tune is a little too slow.
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CASINO ROYALE – A different take, nicely done, and one coming after the PTS. I don’t like moving the gun barrel from the very beginning, but under the circumstances, I am fine with its location here. However, I don’t like the over-rifling of the barrel. And why isn’t Bond walking across the screen before he spins and shoots?
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GOLDENEYE – Eric Serra offers up the second-most unusual tune for a gun barrel with its synth-heavy sound. I’m not wild about it, but it has somewhat grown on me. Still, it’s one of my least favorites. But Kleinman’s new modern CGI take on the gun barrel itself is fantastic.
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A VIEW TO A KILL – The music is a little too fast and the gun barrel itself looks washed out.
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DR. NO – The one that started it all. Maurice Binder came up with an iconic winner of an idea right off the bat with his looking through the barrel of a gun toward a passing James Bond 007 who suddenly pivots, fires at, and kills the gunman before he can shoot. However, there is a lot that I find better elsewhere. Here is the first time Saltzman and Broccoli’s names appear during the dots moving across the screen and then the dots don’t quite go all the way across. Additionally, Simmons is first seen making his slow walk and taking few steps, and the soon to be well-known Bond theme music is absent initially, replaced with electronic beeps and such. And, lastly, the dot gets progressively smaller before becoming one of many dots in the opening titles. But there are also things this gun barrel does do well. One big one is that we get a great listen to Monty Norman’s original James Bond Theme in full glory after the gunshot. Another is that this may be the very best looking gun barrel itself of the whole series pre-CGI. And lastly, it is in its correct place at the beginning of the film, unlike my last two entries. Consequently, for his initial effort, Binder gets a chef’s kiss.
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SKYFALL – The gun barrel itself looks decent, but not too special. The music cue takes place in mid-Bond theme right off the bat rather than after the gunshot. Its segue into the Bond 50th anniversary badge was nice, but I cannot overlook the gun barrel sitting at the end of the film. It is totally wrong and drops the gun barrel ranking to here.
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QUANTUM OF SOALCE – A lot of problems with this one. Craig’s walk is too fast, after firing he walks off the screen instead of freezing in place, the gun barrel shrinks to fit in the Q of Quantum Of Solace, and of course, it’s located at the end of the film. The worst of the bunch.
So what are your James Bond gun barrel rankings?
