Every Bond Movie Pre-Title Scene Ranked - Worst To Best
20. A View To A Kill (1985)
It’s hard to think of a more jarring and out of place song choice for a snowbound chase scene than a cover of “California Girls”, but that’s what we’re subjected to in Roger Moore’s final outing.
While the action itself is sound (Bond recovers a microchip from the body of a fellow 00 agent in Siberia before making use of skis and snowboards to escape machine guns and helicopters), the completely bizarre song that suddenly kicks in is all anyone remembers.
A red-faced, visibly older Moore snowboarding to the tune of a Beach Boys tribute band was a grave misjudgement in tone. It’s such a poor fit for the scene, in fact, that one genuinely wonders if someone in the editing room had accidentally placed the wrong song over the sequence.
It’s made worse by the fact that the score initially seems to be building with musical vibes of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” before suddenly switching. It feels much the same as accidentally hitting shuffle at a key moment on your iPod. Screw it, hurry up and get to Duran Duran’s title track.
Best moment: Bond brings down a chopper with nothing but a flare gun. He’s a one-man wrecking crew.