James Bond’s iconic gun barrel opening sequence has become synonymous with the character of 007 himself – and has been reimagined just as many times. With the onscreen arrival of Britain’s greatest spy in the early 1960s, movie-goers were witnessing the birth of a truly legendary action franchise. Along with his explosive theme music, James Bond arrived with sweet rides, famed one-liners, and highly-specific shaken not stirred Martini preferences in tow. And alongside the gadgets and cars came one of Bond’s most identifiable trademarks: the gun barrel sequence.
From the opening titles of his first adventure, Dr. No, 007 has introduced himself to audiences with a confident strut and a fatal shot to the camera — all framed by a would-be assassin’s gun barrel. Since that first dynamic introduction, the sequence has become a staple of the Bond franchise, signalling the arrival of every Eon-produced Bond film since.
And while the memorable sequence has only ever lasted a few seconds, its history is richer than one might think. With each new era of Bond, filmmakers and leading men have put their spin on the gun barrel opening, often paying homage to the films that came before, and sometimes entirely overhauling the whole thing. With the 25th Bond movie, No Time To Die, set to appear in November this year — following its delay due to coronavirus — what better time than now to review the most memorable character introduction in action movie history.
The first film of the franchise, and a fan-favourite, 1962’s Dr. No saw 007 take on the eponymous villain in a stunning Jamaican setting. But the tropical locale wasn’t the only Bond trademark introduced in the film. Before Sean Connery even utters his legendary introduction, audiences are greeted with the first ever gun barrel opening. While it has now become a renowned piece of cinematic history, the creation of the original sequence was actually a fairly low-tech affair.
Designed by film title artist Maurice Binder, the sequence starts with a single white dot, moving left-to-right across the screen until it’s straddled on either side by the names of producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. Working in a time before CGI, Binder actually used small white stickers, intended to be price tags, to create this simple design feature. Accompanied by some crude computer sounds, which Binder said he acquired from a “little old lady in Surrey,” the dot then moves to the right and the iconic gun barrel opening unfolds.
In this first iteration of the sequence, Bond enters from the right as the gun barrel motif emerges around him, creating the impression that 007 is the target of an unknown shooter. Binder managed to recreate the rifling of a gun barrel by using a small pinhole camera to take an actual photograph of the barrel of a pistol — widely thought to be a .39 caliber. This particular image would remain part of the sequence for an impressive 32 years, before Pierce Brosnan’s first outing as Bond in 1995 used computer graphics to reinvent the intro.
Bond’s suit and hat combination would also remain a staple of the sequence for the next ten years, mirroring contemporary design trends until a far more informal Roger Moore would stride on-screen in 1972. This Simmons opening would be used for the next two Connery films: From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger. Only in 1965 would Connery appear at the end of Binder’s barrel, when the opening was recreated in color for the release of Thunderball. The fourth Bond film’s use of Panavision’s anamorphic format necessitated a new, widescreen intro – though the white dot and barrel design was maintained. The lead actor did, however, switch things up in terms of performance, foregoing Simmons’ pre-shot jump, staying in the center of the circle, and taking a lower stance when pulling the trigger. The new Connery sequence would appear in black and white at the start of 1967’s You Only Live Twice, and was reused again in 1971 for Connery’s return to the franchise in Diamonds Are Forever.
The close of the 60s saw the arrival of a new Bond, with Aussie George Lazenby taking on the title role in 1969’s On Her Majesty's Secret Service. A new 007 meant a new gun barrel sequence, and while Binder’s original design was kept, Lazenby’s take on the intro was wholly original. Accompanied by the subdued tones of a Moog synthesizer, Lazenby strolls onscreen before becoming the only Bond to ever kneel while shooting his weapon during the famous opening. His entrance is also notable for its strange tracking effect, whereby the camera keeps moving as the actor turns, making it appear as though he’s walking on some sort of invisible treadmill.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’s gun barrel sequence is also the first and only instance of the blood effect actually erasing Bond from the center of the frame – a fitting design element considering Lazenby would never return in the role following his one outing.
The opening of 1972’s Live And Let Die featured the relaxed gait of a new James Bond played by Roger Moore, who enters the frame surrounded by Binder’s familiar gun barrel design, but this time sans hat – a first for the franchise. With George Martin’s take on the Bond theme playing, Moore introduces yet another first for the sequence as he fires the fatal shot with both hands gripping the gun. The Man With The Golden Gun would use the same footage in 1974. The Spy Who Loved Me sees Moore striding onscreen against an off-white background in a tuxedo with flared pants, making Moore the first actor to reshoot the gun barrel sequence during his time as the leading man.
It wasn’t just the attire that changed with Moore’s second gun barrel appearance: this updated version is notable for being the first time the prop gun isn’t actually fired. Prior to this, the guns used in the footage emitted a visible puff of smoke, but for Moore’s second time in the crosshairs, he simply turns to camera and a shot is heard before the frame freezes. The subsequent James Bond movies Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and A View To A Kill would all reuse this footage before Bond was once again recast in the mid-80s.
After the light-hearted Roger Moore years, Bond was ready for a more austere reinvention, and Timothy Dalton was the man for the job. Swinging the gun towards camera with one hand, Dalton’s dinner-suited take on the classic introduction shares a lot in common with the original Connery version. Though the hat doesn’t make a return, Dalton brought back the actual firing of the weapon during the gun barrel sequence. That familiar puff of gun smoke can be seen, larger than ever, in the gun barrel sequence for 1987’s The Living Daylights. The same footage would also be used for Dalton’s only other outing as Bond in 1989 – Licence To Kill.
1995 gave viewers Pierce Brosnan’s super-suave take on the super-spy, with GoldenEye ushering in the age of the computer-generated gun barrel opening. Designed by title sequence artist Daniel Kleinman, GoldenEye’s CG gun barrel still pays homage to the original design, with the reflections in the barrel riffling mimicking those of the Binder barrel. Brosnan also arrives much like his predecessor, clad in a tux and wielding his pistol with one hand. This time, however, the filmmakers added a muzzle flash to the gun, with the blood following over the kill shot appearing much darker than previous iterations.
The new Bond’s arrival is also accompanied by the film’s unique, synth-laden score, marking the beginning of a trend that would see Brosnan’s 007 appear without the main theme in all his gun barrel sequences. Love it or hate it, the film’s gun barrel sequence heralded a new age in the Bond franchise, and Serra’s novel musical accompaniment certainly signalled that change.
With 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies and 1999’s The World Is Not Enough reusing this same intro footage, Brosnan’s Bond wouldn’t get a revitalized gun barrel opening until 2002 when Die Another Day hit theaters. Rather than overhaul the intro completely, director Lee Tamahori opted to add in a CG bullet. As Bond turns and fires, the bullet shoots directly at the camera and presumably down the barrel of the opposing gun.
In keeping with the 2000's trend of doing grounded takes on action heroes, Bond’s 2006 outing was to be a decidedly darker affair than its predecessor; the new direction Casino Royale was headed was established by the film’s gun barrel sequence. Daniel Craig’s first Bond film is also the first to completely do away with the original Binder design in favor of having the entire gun barrel sequence happen within the narrative of the film. Having just beaten the living daylights out of a henchman and trashing a public bathroom in the process, Bond bends down to retrieve his pistol and deliver the kill-shot. Once he makes the 180-degree turn and fires a round, the gun barrel motif surrounds him. But this time, it’s a completely overhauled CG design that shifts quickly in and out of frame as an entirely new blood design cascades down the screen. While Binder’s 1962 white dot design is nowhere in sight, there is a significant link to Bond film history with this being the first black and white gun barrel opening since 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever.
The bruised and rugged Bond at the end of Casino Royale’s gun barrel was a symbol for the forthcoming film’s unrefined aesthetic, and signaled a shift in the franchise’s direction for the foreseeable future. But Binder’s now-iconic 1962 design wasn’t out of the race just yet. 2008’s Quantum Of Solace stuck with the damaged Bond of Royale, but resurrected the classic white dot motif from erstwhile Bond films. Yet again, the gun barrel was redesigned, this time more closely mimicking Binder’s initial snapshot, while a business-suited 007 fires off a shot with one hand.
But perhaps the most striking thing about this version of the sequence was that it appeared at the end of the film. Yes, Quantum Of Solace marks the first time in franchise history that the gun barrel opening isn’t an opening at all. This is a trend repeated in 2012 with Sam Mendes’ Skyfall. Once again, Bond’s gun barrel walk-on is reserved for the closing moments of the film, and this time there’s a few more subtle throwbacks to Bonds past: for the first time since the Roger Moore years, there’s no visible muzzle flash or gun smoke – just the sound of a shot going off. With Skyfall’s attempts to backtrack on the gritty character of the previous two films by reintroducing classic Bond tropes such as the Aston Martin and Q-Branch, it’s not surprising this film would see a return to a more traditional gun barrel sequence.
This fondness for past Bond eras would come full circle with 2015’s Spectre. The gun barrel itself was once again redesigned for Mendes’ follow-up, and looks much closer to the original Binder barrel. This time, Craig’s Bond is silhouetted against a background with a slightly yellowish hue, recalling the off-white tone of the character’s early color sequences. After 24 Bond films, the franchise had returned to its roots in both tone and design, with Maurice Binder’s original vision still proving effective almost 60 years later.
