Thoughts on the TITLES alone

Jarvio

Out of all 23 bond films, what are your thoughts on each TITLE? I'm not talking about the films themselves here - just the titles alone.

Here's my thoughts:

Dr No - It's ok. Kinda sounds sci-fi though and immediately makes me think of Dr Who.
From Russia With Love - Not bad. Paints a picture well and the title is quite memorable too.
Goldfinger - Name of a villain and straight to the point. Works well.
Thunderball - This is one of my favourite titles. It just sounds so cool and grabs my attention.
You Only Live Twice - A nice play on a saying which works well.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Even though it is clear and to the point, I find it rather dull.
Diamonds Are Forever - I never understood this title. Seems like an odd choice of wording.
Live And Let Die - Basically what I said for YOLT.
The Man With The Golden Gun - To the point, catchy, memorable - I like it.
The Spy Who Loved Me - Meh - Love and romance, not interesting to me.
Moonraker - Not bad. Different. Makes me think of 'Moonwalker' though...
For Your Eyes Only - I see it as more of a romantic title rather than a spy dossier like it's supposed to be.
Octopussy - Let's face it - this sounds like a porno.
A View To A Kill - Sounds grammatically odd. It's different though and I kinda like it.
The Living Daylights - Love this title. For some reason though it sounds Western to me...
Licence To Kill - One of the worst bond titles ever. We already know he has a licence to kill...
Goldeneye - Just another body part coupled with the word gold/golden. It works though.
Tomorrow Never Dies - It's originally intended title would have worked better for the film... but this one sounds better.
The World Is Not Enough - Part of me likes it, but part of me finds it too long.
Die Another Day - Pretty much been there done that.
Casino Royale - Location name which makes it stand out.
Quantum Of Solace - Sounds VERY sci-fi...
Skyfall - Didn't sound bondian to me at first although I still liked it.

I admit... it's hard to say what I think to the titles without relating them to the films and the context of them etc, and I'd imagine that most people will have that problem too seeing as we all know the films so well (and the books too for you readers). But either way, why not give it a go? Let me know your thoughts.

Charmed & Dangerous

Good topic Jarvio!

Diamonds Are Forever: I like the title. It means that diamonds, being the hardest substance in nature (so they stay) will last forever - unlike love, hate, people. So quite Bondian as diamonds are the goal of Blofeld/ the Spangs (film/book respectively).

My personal favourites are Thunderball (it's so punchy and dramatic), Quantum of Solace (makes you think and has meaning) and Skyfall ( for much the same reasons as Thunderball).

-{

Dalkowski110

Pretty much agree with your list, although there's one worth giving a response to...

Jarvio wrote:

Moonraker - Not bad. Different. Makes me think of 'Moonwalker' though...

In that case, let's all heave a collective sigh of relief that Lynn Holly Johnson or a similar, Bibi Dahl-esque character was not in it...

Blackleiter

I'm somewhat partial to the one word titles, with Goldfinger, Thunderball and Moonraker being among my favorites. They just sound "Bondish" to me (and I think the title Shatterhand would be a worthy addition to the list.) My other favorite is On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Classic!

Barbel

Jarvio wrote:

Diamonds Are Forever - I never understood this title. Seems like an odd choice of wording.

The jewellers De Beers had been using the line "A Diamond Is Forever" in their advertising since 1948; Fleming liked the sound of it, and used the plural form. The phrase is mentioned, or rather paraphrased, at the end of the book.

ZorinIndustries

Always thought Pierce had the best titles

Brosnan_fan

To me the titles themselves are pretty much spot-on, though with LALD they could have changed it to something different, and it really wouldn't have made much difference.

CmdrAtticus

I had read that Fleming always struggled with the titles....for example, CR was originally
supposed to be "Too Hot To Handle". Still, it's obvious that he was better at it than EON (well, after all, he's the man who created Bond). I think he would have liked SF, LTK and GE.
The rest of the EON developed titles...not so much.

screename

Dr.No- underwhelming for me being brought up in the Brosnan/Craig era.
From Russia With Love- One of my favorite. It sounds so Bondian.
Goldfinger- Hard to rate objectively as it's become an icon, but it works well.
Thunderball- Another of my favorites. Punchy and dynamic. Great 60's Bond title if not the best.
You Only Live Twice- Boring. sounds too much like a romance.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service- too much of a mouthful.
Diamonds are Forever- I like it. Sounds Bondian enough with diamonds and such.
Live and Let Die- Again hard to judge as I knew this as a song beore a film, but I think it's too long and to much of a mouthful.
The Man With The Golden Gun- very long, but sounds very imposing at the same time. one of the last "classic" Bond titles.
The Spy Who Loved Me- waaaay too 70's!
Moonraker- Very good title. it sounds very high stakes like if Bond fails something really bad's going to happen to our poor moon!
For Your Eyes Only- Another 70's romance!
Octopussy- enough said.
A view to a kill- I really like this as well.
The Living Daylight- sounds like a Clint Eastwood film, neither does it relate to the film at all. Poor choice.
License to Kill- boring, should've stuck with License Revoked.
Goldeneye- Feels like it's reaching for Goldfinger too much and failing terribly. Doesn't really entice me to watch the film.
Tomorrow Never Dies- Again a good title, albeit not a classic one.
The World Is Not Enough- Like this one as well, a bit lengthy but it sounds nice and it relates to bond well.
Die Another Day- average title but tainted by the film.
Casino Royale- Great title, before even knowing anything about the film, this was the #1 Bond film I wanted to see.
Quantum of Solace- I think it fits very well coming after CR and Vesper, but on it's own it doesn't tell you anything about the film.
Skyfall- great, great title really got me excited for the film, and then I was disappointed.

Napoleon Plural

Our recent suggestions on the William Boyd thread in the Literary forum knock all these into a cocked hat.

ZorinIndustries

I must add, when I heard Skyfall for the first time, I was a bit puzzled as to why they would choose a name like that. But as time went on, it made its mark among all the other Bond titles

hehadlotsofguts

The titles for Dr No seem like an epileptics nightmare, especially the first bit with the brightly coloured circles and dancers


My mistake, i thought you meant the title SEQUENCES until i read Jervio's post


I like the titles named after the main villains

Stawaz

I know that I constantly talk about how much I love TND, but it is my favourite title, as well. :v

always shaken

On Her majestys secret service ,great title for a Brit spy film leaves you in no doubt
what the film will be about ,worst title Octopussy I hoped it was about a women with 8 vaginas,
but turns out she kept a blue ring octopuss as a pet

raptors_887

You can't just mention to your girlfriend you plan on watching Octopussy later and then change the subject.


I love all the other Bond titles though. There's something so magical about them. Especially with the longer names.

Golrush007

CmdrAtticus wrote:

I had read that Fleming always struggled with the titles....for example, CR was originally
supposed to be "Too Hot To Handle". Still, it's obvious that he was better at it than EON (well, after all, he's the man who created Bond). I think he would have liked SF, LTK and GE.
The rest of the EON developed titles...not so much.

The first paperback edition of Moonraker was published in the US as 'Too Hot to Handle', and the first US paperback of Casino Royale was called 'You Asked For It'. I'm not sure if Fleming had anything to do with these titles or if the publishers came up with them. I suspect the latter because they are pretty lame titles.

Barbel

Golrush007 wrote:

the first US paperback of Casino Royale was called 'You Asked For It'. I'm not sure if Fleming had anything to do with these titles or if the publishers came up with them. I suspect the latter because they are pretty lame titles.

It was the publisher, American Popular Library, who bought the paperback rights to CR (and, of course, the later MR) under condition that they could change the title since "the Great Unwashed won't know how to pronounce "Royale" ".
I'm sure a certain burger chain might disagree with this...

Fleming was allowed to suggest alternatives "if "You Asked For It" turn[ed his] stomach bright green", and came up with "The Double-O Agent" and "The Deadly Gamble", but wasn't bothered too much- "Please don't worry about it either way". (Info cribbed from John Pearson's biography of IF)

Interestingly, the version of MR published as "Too Hot To Handle" had its text Americanised (in idioms, currency, and so forth) with some notes by IF to explain a few points.

CmdrAtticus

Golrush007 wrote:

CmdrAtticus wrote:

I had read that Fleming always struggled with the titles....for example, CR was originally
supposed to be "Too Hot To Handle". Still, it's obvious that he was better at it than EON (well, after all, he's the man who created Bond). I think he would have liked SF, LTK and GE.
The rest of the EON developed titles...not so much.

The first paperback edition of Moonraker was published in the US as 'Too Hot to Handle', and the first US paperback of Casino Royale was called 'You Asked For It'. I'm not sure if Fleming had anything to do with these titles or if the publishers came up with them. I suspect the latter because they are pretty lame titles.

You're right ....my mistake. They were changed because as in the case of CR, they thought American readers might have problems with "Royale" and wouldn't get MR. Stupid publishers. It's been said newspapers are printed on the reading level of a twelve year old. That must extend to book titles as well.

Bodie

Always thought Fleming had a real knack for good titles. The titles have suffered a bit in the movies in that they are not always explained in the way they are in the books, QOS being a prime example.

DN - good title for its sheer oddity.
FRWL - one of the classic titles (I remember a 70s TV series called Jason King where he was the author of a series of spy novels and one of the titles was From China Yours Sincerely).
GF - great title and now iconic.
TB - great title. Very powerful. Would definitely make you want to read the book and see the film.
YOLT - Fleming was very good at taking expressions and altering them to be dramatic.
OHMSS - bit long but a great title again altering an old British expression.
DAF - catchy title which is never explained in the movie. In the novel the diamond smuggling pipeline operates through the House of Diamonds in Hatton Garden. When Bond visits their office the is a sign saying 'Diamonds are Forever'. At the end of the book Bond says only death is forever.
LALD - another catchy title which is not explained in the film. In the novel an FBI agent says to Bond about Mr. Big that until they can get evidence against him they have to adopt an attitude of 'live and let live' to which Bond replies with people like Mr. Big his attitude is 'live and let die'. I think this could have been easily worked into the film. Maybe they didn't think RM could say it convincing enough.
TMWTGG - great title and one of the most self explanatory.
TSWLM - always thought it sounded a bit Mills & Boon. Worked well for the novel which is told from the point of view of the heroine. Bloody awful book, great film.
MR - another great one word title.
FYEO - another catchy title.
OP - was good as a short story title but never really worked for me a movie title. Calling the Maud Adams character OP seemed very contrived to work in the title.
AVTAK - another snappy title. Its inclusion in the movie dialogue seemed very contrived. The original short story title was From A View To A Kill which was a line from a poem.
TLD - again worked as a short story title but do not think it works as well as a movie title. Great movie though.
LTK - I suppose it was inevitable that when the producers ran out of Fleming titles LTK was going to be used. Good enough title but offers no explanation as to what the film was about and could have been used for any Bond movie.
GE - another great one word title and plays nicely on the association with GF
TND - the original Tomorrow Never Lies would have been better given the plot of the movie
TWINE - in some ways I'm surprised Fleming didn't use this as the title for OHMSS as it appears in the book. Great title.
DAD - never worked for me. Sounds like the production team sat around a table and decided that they needed a title with die, gun, day etc. in it and if possible two or more.
CR - short, snappy and relates to the story
QOS - OK the organisation is called Quantum but I don't remember them offering much solace.
SF - another great one word title. Fleming would probably have approved.

The only two short story titles not used are Property Of A Lady (mentioned in OP) would work as a movie title and James Bond in New York which would definitely not.

LetTheSkyfall

Bodie wrote:

The only two short story titles not used are Property Of A Lady (mentioned in OP) would work as a movie title and James Bond in New York which would definitely not.

Also the titles for "The Hildebrand Rarity" and "Risico" have not been used...and for good reason when it comes to the former. It would be extremely difficult to find a way to make that title work or force it into a storyline.

Charmed & Dangerous

LetTheSkyfall wrote:

Bodie wrote:

The only two short story titles not used are Property Of A Lady (mentioned in OP) would work as a movie title and James Bond in New York which would definitely not.

Also the titles for "The Hildebrand Rarity" and "Risico" have not been used...and for good reason when it comes to the former. It would be extremely difficult to find a way to make that title work or force it into a storyline.

I'd say they could have a crack at The Hildebrand Rarity... It's no more awkward than Quantum of Solace...

Bodie

Forgot about The Hildebrand Rarity and Risico.

ZorinIndustries

Bodie wrote:

QOS - OK the organisation is called Quantum but I don't remember them offering much solace.

I always believed this to be referring to Bond and his search for revenge and then peace of mind regarding the whole Vesper tragedy.

Bodie

Me too but I think it would have been nice if it had been explained a bit in the dialogue.

Thunderpussy

Agreed -{
It would of been nice to have M say something about......
" I hope you recieved at least a Quantum of Solace.... "
at the end of the film.

CmdrAtticus

I like the The Hildebrand Rarity title, but don't think they would ever used it. It sounds a bit too much like a Conan Doyle title...."The Adventure of The Hildebrand Rarity"...see? Risico sounds nice, but they would never use it because they'd think American audiences would have too much of a problem pronouncing it and they certainly would never call it "Risk".

Barbel

"Risky Business"? Weak title, but better than just "Risk" perhaps.

Blackleiter

Barbel wrote:

"Risky Business"? Weak title, but better than just "Risk" perhaps.

"Risky Business" was already used as the title of the 1983 Tom Cruise comedy. I'd hate to see a Bond film confused with that!

Barbel

True, but it hasn't stopped them before. LTK and GE had been used for other films- the latter even being about Fleming, and shot only a few years before the official GE.

Blackleiter

Barbel wrote:

True, but it hasn't stopped them before. LTK and GE had been used for other films- the latter even being about Fleming, and shot only a few years before the official GE.

Of course you are right, titles are recycled all the time. But I guess I'm speaking more about the "type" of film which with the title has previously been associated. A raunchy teen comedy (or whatever category the Cruise film would fall into) is not really the type of movie I would want folks to confuse with a Bond film. I realize it's pretty unlikely that would happen, but that's the first thing that came to mind when the title "Risky Business" was mentioned.

James Suzuki

I like the title 'weapon of Choice' also the title of that song where Christopher Walken dances in a hotel room. Out of the leftover Bond titles, Property of a Lady is the only one I like.
Other one's I created are-
Death's Shadow
Bloodpool
The Midnight approval