Every Bond Movie Pre-Title Scene Ranked - Worst To Best
Bond begins with a bang... almost every time.
There are few cinematic traditions more beloved and firmly entrenched than the James Bond pre-title sequences.
With every new entry to the Bond saga, the opening scene is always among the most anticipated - and the most impressive. The demand for breathtaking stunts and awesome action sequences before the title song begins has only increased over the decades, as the tradition has come to necessitate that Bond films open with a flourish.
From standalone sequences to previews of key elements of a given film’s main plot, the opening chapter of 007 adventures help each film to establish its own identity. As cinematic trends have changed over time, the pre-title scenes have also served as reflections of the era in which they’re set.
It’s been a staple of the films dating back to 1963 (Dr No, the franchise’s debut in 1962, didn’t have one) and will surely remain so for as long as James Bond continues to return.
While almost as difficult a task as ranking the best Bond films, it’s nonetheless a question well worth tackling. As the long wait for Bond 25 continues, let's ask: which scenes sent their films rocketing out of the gate, and which left them having to catch up after a false start?
23. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Viewers could’ve been forgiven for expecting Diamonds Are Forever to open with a vengeful 007 hell-bent on making Ernst Stavro Blofeld pay for the murder of his beloved wife in the previous film. If Bond was indeed supposed to be burning with rage, it was hard to tell from Sean Connery’s utterly bored and markedly aged appearance.
Lured back to the role only by an incredibly lavish (for the time) fee, Connery can all-but stifle a yawn as Bond pummels various goons around the world and strangles a woman with her own bra in his quest to find Blofeld.
It all comes to a bafflingly light and low-key head as Bond locates the weakest iteration of Blofeld yet (played by Charles Gray) and, after enduring the lamest of quips (“making mud pies, 007?”), pushes him into a pool of steaming, well, mud.
Dated terribly by modern expectations of serialised storytelling and continuity, the slapstick nature of the action and laughable acting by all involved reduces what should be a proud and bombastic cinematic segment to a joke.
Best moment: Bond uses a conveniently placed mousetrap to get the better of a mutton-chopped henchman in the midst of frisking him. A sophisticated device straight from Q Branch!