A constant with the 007 film franchise is the debate over who has been the greatest James Bond. Was it Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig? Or Barry Nelson, David Niven, or George Lazenby who also had short stints as Bond. Dalton didn't impress, although some say he was the most underrated. Moore could be suave, but compared to Connery, really? Brosnan has a sexy edge. Craig, yea, he's okay. He's got it going. But for me the all time best Bond was the original, Sean Connery. (For Bond trivia experts: True, the first Bond was Barry Nelson, but he portrayed Bond in a television show, not in the film franchise.)
Another constant with James Bond films are creative opening credit sequences. In celebration of these sequences is a new exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art called "... Is James Bond." (Art of the Americas Building, Level 2, through September 9.) Co-organized by the LACMA and Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television, the exhibit pays homage to the 22 opening sequences, created by Maurice Binder, of the James Bond films.
For Bond fans, it's an exhibit made in James Bond heaven. For film fans, it's an interesting look at opening film sequences, the part of a film often overlooked, or not overlooked so much as rarely examined on its own. Watching the Bond opening sequences today, they may not seem so extraordinary, but when Bond films first hit the screen, the sequences were occasionally groundbreaking. Watching the openings one after another, it seems Binder got his stride and style early on and the later films' sequences are somewhat... familiar. But the exhibit is a fun, visual treat. And when you've had enough, you can always head to the bar for a martini, shaken, not stirred.
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