Favorite John Barry Bond movie cues. And why they're magnificent.
MrGore
Posts: 129MI6 Agent
I’ve given up even thinking about Bond25. He wil return. He always has.
So, I decided to post some things about this beloved franchise. Things that genuinely move me and have given me great enjoyment over the years.
First.
My love for the music of John Barry. From the first time I heard Thunderball in the cinema in 1965, and ran out to spend my pocket money on the vinyl 7 inch Tom Jones theme from John Menzies, Barry’s music has been a part of the soundtrack of my life. I saw him conduct his music at the Albert Hall, London, in 1998. An amazing evening.
So, I decided to post my Top Three Barry Bond music cues. With each of these, I only have to hear the music and the scene is vivid in my mind. And the emotion evoked instantly. To me, Barry used very unorthodox patterns in his music. Like Bernard Herrmann using repeating sequences in Psycho and North By Northwest to enhance tension, Barry's music added layers to the visuals.
He was an authentic genius. Barry built story with his music cues.
1 Goldfinger “The Laser Scene”
In this the repeating 9 note string theme, cycling endlessly, becoming tighter and tighter, perfectly reflects Bond’s state of mind and body. Patient. Steady. Unrelenting. Astonishing piece of film music. IMHO
2 You Only Live Twice “Capsule In Space” Same idea of a repeating pattern building to a crescendo. Lifting. Rising. And with an undercurrent of threat. Delicate flutes countered by heavy horn theme.
3 Moonraker “Flight Into Space”
Sublime is the only word which comes to mind. Has a religious quality to it matching the idea of ascending into a new world. Drax’s nightmare.
So, I decided to post some things about this beloved franchise. Things that genuinely move me and have given me great enjoyment over the years.
First.
My love for the music of John Barry. From the first time I heard Thunderball in the cinema in 1965, and ran out to spend my pocket money on the vinyl 7 inch Tom Jones theme from John Menzies, Barry’s music has been a part of the soundtrack of my life. I saw him conduct his music at the Albert Hall, London, in 1998. An amazing evening.
So, I decided to post my Top Three Barry Bond music cues. With each of these, I only have to hear the music and the scene is vivid in my mind. And the emotion evoked instantly. To me, Barry used very unorthodox patterns in his music. Like Bernard Herrmann using repeating sequences in Psycho and North By Northwest to enhance tension, Barry's music added layers to the visuals.
He was an authentic genius. Barry built story with his music cues.
1 Goldfinger “The Laser Scene”
In this the repeating 9 note string theme, cycling endlessly, becoming tighter and tighter, perfectly reflects Bond’s state of mind and body. Patient. Steady. Unrelenting. Astonishing piece of film music. IMHO
2 You Only Live Twice “Capsule In Space” Same idea of a repeating pattern building to a crescendo. Lifting. Rising. And with an undercurrent of threat. Delicate flutes countered by heavy horn theme.
3 Moonraker “Flight Into Space”
Sublime is the only word which comes to mind. Has a religious quality to it matching the idea of ascending into a new world. Drax’s nightmare.
Comments
Moonraker, the dog chase scene in the woods.
I love dafs soundtrack as a whole, but ohmss is just a tour de force up there with Tb for me.
P. S I'm also weary of the Bond 25 no news guessplogy game.
I adore John Barry's music beyond any bounds of reason, and have done since the 60s. OHMSS main theme; 007; Capsule In Space. Main reason (apart from their beauty) is their aptness for the story.
Chriscoop points out. On any stand alone listen, they can evoke such memories and images that on many
occasions I have a Barry score playing in my head.
Honourable mention: The James Bond Theme. Without getting into the details (and you all know I have spent a lot of time doing just that) of how much is Norman and how much is Barry, it's the exact piece of music required at specific times.
I'm stressing this just to show how right Barry's music is for certain scenes.
I have a difficult time singling out individual cues from Barry's scores. His scores are entire pieces of music, while individual cues are only part of a whole.
I also have an automatic built in Barry player in my head, cues and title songs pop in there and can stay with me for ages. I love his textured use of instruments from sweeping harps to punctuating brass. Just watching tmwtgg I love that score too, right up until lulu starts.
Totally agree! {[]
Many, many other Bond/Barry scenes I can think of but this was the standout for me. -{
And here was me thinking it was only me who hears that life soundtrack in my head.
Non Bond scores have also hit me hard over the years.
I remember the cue for the scene in King Kong where Kong strips Jessica's gown off underneath the waterfall. Only Barry could make a giant ape stripping a tiny woman sound authentically romantic.
Also, my favourite non Bond score is Body Heat. I saw that movie on a very hot Glasgow summer evening (now that is a true rarity). Came out the cinema and couldn't get the theme music out of my head for days.
Gumbold's Safe
Love the synthesisers and the brass. I love how it gets louder, when Gumbold is on his way back to the office. Really emphasises how suspenseful it is,that Bond could be caught. The part near the end when Bond leaves Gumbold's office and you get those plucked guitar strings. I think it sounds cool.
Dusk At Piz Gloria
Sounds very romantic and peaceful. Not in the finished film. I wonder if leaving it out works best. Makes the part where Bond gets shocked, more impactful.
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
Great compositions.
James Bond With Bongos - From Russia With Love is my favourite Bond film, and I just love this arrangement of the James Bond Theme, followed up the very evocative bongos and bass section at the end.
Escape From Piz Gloria - a great action cue, making full use of Barry's brilliant OHMSS main theme.
Capsule in Space - Classic Barry. Repeated musical phrases, slowly building. Terrific atmosphere and tension.
The runners up were:
Oddjob's Pressing Engagement
Hercules Take Off
Flight into Space
Snow Job
Gumbold's Safe
Favourite cues?
Cafe Martinique as mentioned already because of its elegance and the impression it gives of the idle rich holidaying in Nassau.
Moonraker - both the six minutes of flight into space and Bond lured to the pyramid.
007 theme from the stealing the lektor scene.
Hercules take off from TLD.
So many great cues from Barry. If only he had scored GE.
On a side note, I feel that David Arnold must return for B25 - his CR and QoS scores were great and it'd be lovely for him to do the final Craig.
That is a magical combination of talents.
Maibaum was a fantastic screenwriter who knew movie Bond inside out. Young was the best Bond director IMHO. Established so much of what is distinctive about movie Bond.
Another favourite is the music as Bond goes mountaineering above the Whyte House in DAF: this has a nocturnal, suspenseful atmosphere to it, again with playful elements but darker undertones too.
Barry's Bond-action swansong - for the final confrontation with Whitaker in TLD - moves and thrills me as a reworking of some of his staple Bondian motifs; it recalls, indeed, one of his first incidental pieces for the series, 'Stalking' in the FRWL PTS -
reinforcing the point he made in an interview that scoring the Bonds was essentially like doing variations on the same movie/themes.