Every James Bond Movie Pre-Credits Scene Ranked Worst To Best
16. Live And Let Die - Three MI6 Agents Are Assassinated Around The World
One of only three pre-credits scenes in which James Bond does not appear, Live and Let Die's pre-credits scene is an interesting deviation from the formula, albeit not an entirely successful one.
This depicts the assassinations of three MI6 agents in the Americas. One is electrocuted during a UN meeting, one is stabbed in New Orleans and the other is killed by a snake during a voodoo ceremony on Dr Kananga's island.
The first and third parts of the sequence are good, but the New Orleans bit is a little too weird. The unfortunate agent sees a funeral march and asks a passer-by who's funeral it is. The man replies "Yours", stabs the agent and then the pallbearers in the procession somehow pick the body up with the coffin... before the procession starts dancing joyfully. Strange, very strange.
But aside from this, while it would've been nice to get a bit more context about who these men were, it's still an atmospheric and unsettling opening that begins the film on a very intriguing note. It has an excellent final shot as well.
Fun fact: the funeral march plays an instrumental version of 'We Have All the Time in the World'.