Brilliantly tense scenes that shouldn't be

Manxman

There are many very tense scenes in Bond films — two classics include the laser scene in Goldfinger and the rock climb in For Your Eyes Only. But what about those moments that shouldn't be tense but are, thanks to fantastic acting, music and directing?

A case in point in the scene in OHMSS when Bond breaks into Gumbold's office. It was a clever decision to give Bond a slow-acting safecracking machine, not an instant one as he had in You Only Live Twice. Lazenby plays it very effectively, appearing bored and dispirited until he discovers the hidden copy of Playboy, which cheers him up enormously. Meanwhile, the tension ratchets up as the time ticks by and John Barry's music subtly builds, before Gumbold's long shadow approaches the building, exuding considerable menace.

It's a real tour de force, especially as the stakes are just about zero. If Gumbold discovers him, he will probably give him a stiff talking to and very likely call the police. M will have to sort it out and Bond will get shouted at, but nobody will die and (if Bond lies convincingly) Blofeld probably won't even be alerted. Yet thanks to the superb film-making, the scene creates genuinely sweaty palms.

Can anyone think of any other good examples?

Matt S

If Bond is caught, it's very likely Blofeld would be alerted since it regards his documents. It could do a lot of damage to Bond's mission, but you're right that the stakes are not nearly as high as other scenes. It's quite a brilliant scene.

Absolutely_Cart

Usually the game scenes. Whether Bond wins or loses at poker or golf doesn't really affect his overall mission.

Matt S

Absolutely_Cart wrote:

Usually the game scenes. Whether Bond wins or loses at poker or golf doesn't really affect his overall mission.

Apart from Casino Royale when it does matter, how often are the game scenes tense? The casino games in DN, TB, OHMSS, DAF, FYEO, GE and TWINE plus the Bahamas poker game in CR are not at all tense. Maybe the backgammon game in OP is a little tense, but only until Gobinda crushes the dice. It's similar with the golf game in GF. It's not at all tense, just fun, but gets just the slightest bit tense when Oddjob crushes the golfball. There aren't a whole lot of unusually tense scenes in Bond.

AlphaOmegaSin

The Entire Climb outside The Whitehouse in DAF. If the Pegs failed to hold due to Bonds Weight , then it would be a very long Drop.

MilleniumForce

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

The Entire Climb outside The Whitehouse in DAF. If the Pegs failed to hold due to Bonds Weight , then it would be a very long Drop.

I think when he's climbing out of the elevator shaft is quite tense - if he slips on the ledge he's going to fall.

AlphaOmegaSin

And the possibility of the Lift crushing him.

Penfold Heart

I really like the beginning of TLD (after the PTS which is pretty tense itself).

The counter-sniper mission and extraction of Koskov I think is very tense. It feels like proper spy stuff, the whole atmosphere for that scene is great.

The only part that lets it down is when the lady "takes care" of the supervisor, which is ridiculous and spoils it a bit.

AlphaOmegaSin

I've never really found anything wrong with Supervisor Scene. Even the more serious Bonds have there Humor -{

Penfold Heart

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

I've never really found anything wrong with Supervisor Scene. Even the more serious Bonds have there Humor -{

True, but I always thought it was so out of place in such an excellent and otherwise serious scene.

broadshoulder

Penfold Heart wrote:

I really like the beginning of TLD (after the PTS which is pretty tense itself).

The counter-sniper mission and extraction of Koskov I think is very tense. It feels like proper spy stuff, the whole atmosphere for that scene is great.

The only part that lets it down is when the lady "takes care" of the supervisor, which is ridiculous and spoils it a bit.

It actually made me laugh..

A new topic. What has made you laugh in Bond?

Matt S

broadshoulder wrote:

Penfold Heart wrote:

I really like the beginning of TLD (after the PTS which is pretty tense itself).

The counter-sniper mission and extraction of Koskov I think is very tense. It feels like proper spy stuff, the whole atmosphere for that scene is great.

The only part that lets it down is when the lady "takes care" of the supervisor, which is ridiculous and spoils it a bit.

It actually made me laugh..

A new topic. What has made you laugh in Bond?

Second unit director Victor Tourjansky, the man with the bottle/glass, all three times.

Absolutely_Cart

What I meant was that the directing gives the game scenes a sense of heft by paying special detail to every little movement and facial expression. It shouldn't matter whether Bond loses to Goldfinger in golf or not, but in the moment, it's all the concern.

lueth2048

The scene in Gumbold's office was the first one I thought of.

A couple more I thought of:

In From Russia, With Love when Bond and Kerim are stalking Krilencu and the two cops appear.

The scene with the Orient Express when Bond is looking for his contact on the platform and Grant is shadowing him from inside the train.

Two nearly identical scenes in Thunderball and OHMSS when Bond is unarmed and being pursued at the different festival. Connery bumps into the man who looks like a Marine and Lazenby is frightened by the camera flash (and probably the man in the bear costume holding the camera).

Manuela being trapped in the alley with Jaws during Carnival in Moonraker.