“Bond. James Bond.” It’s the most famous introduction in movies, of course, establishing Sean Connery as Bond and his special mixture of danger and sex. Yet our first real intro to 007 is the more iconic gun barrel teaser by title designer Maurice Binder, which has become an indispensable part of the cinematic ritual.
White dots move across the screen and expand into the swirling rifling of a gun barrel, and then a silhouetted Bond walks, turns, and fires directly at us, causing blood to crawl down the screen and the barrel to wobble and fall. It’s pure Pop Art and symbolic of Bond always in motion and always in danger, according to Binder (better known for creating the erotically silhouetted girls in the main titles as further stylization). Bond is actually portrayed by stunt double Bob Simmons instead of Connery in the first three films (shot in black and white). But the trope has obviously been tailored for each actor while also becoming a reassuring sign of Bond’s return. That’s why fans were thrilled at the gun barrel’s deconstruction in “Casino Royale” but horrified when it was missing from the opening of “Quantum of Solace” (2008). Better late than never, though: the gun barrel appeared at the end to signal the completion of Bond’s rite of passage.
But, as Connery suggested, he had to create Bond on the spot. So when we discover him playing chemin de fer, his face is obscured, dealing cards, winning, and flirting with the tantalizing Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson) to raise the stakes. Interestingly, our full glimpse of Bond in a tux, smoking a cigarette and looking self-satisfied, is both refined and rough (you can never take the Scot out of Connery). This makes Bond uniquely appealing and unpredictable.
READ MORE: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/06/06/bond-james-bond-at-50-a-man-who-needs-dr-no-introduction/
No comments:
Post a Comment