So it’s James Bond’s birthday today and, while I’m actually pretty busy, I thought I’d crank out something about 007 over lunch. So what can I say about the greatest spy who’s ever lived? It’s obvious who the best one is (Connery), and who the worst one is (Moore). It’s obvious who’s been in the worst Bond movies (Dalton). It’s even obvious which Bond movies have the worst villains (the faceless suits in ‘Quantum of Solace’). I thought about sitting through all 22 Bond films in the lead-up to his birthday but Jesus, I don’t know if I can watch ‘Die Another Day’ ever, EVER again – even though I’ve only ever seen it in snippets anyway.
Anyway, what I give you instead is something far simpler: My favorite Bond theme song.
I’m sure Adele’s will be better received today, and that everyone’s forgotten that time Jack White did one (what? when? where?!), but it should come as no surprise that my favorite Bond track ever is Duran Duran’s “A View To A Kill”. It’s got 80s synths, 80s vocals, 80s hairdos and 80s giant trench coats with the sleeves rolled up, and the awkward attempt to work the title of the film into a song that should really be called “Dance Into The Fire” (what does that even mean!?) is pretty amazing. The video was actually shot as a mini-movie with Duran Duran on the Eiffel Tower, intercut with the Roger Moore James Bond rubbish. It’s pretty much the only time Moore ever looked like he was trying to intensely do anything in a Bond movie, rather than just drift through scenes of drinking, shooting and, you know, driving his submarine car. The music video version below features that awkward flying camera superimposed throughout the original footage.
It’s awful. Love it with me.
Agree? Disagree? What’s your favorite Bond theme and why?