1965 and James Bond

1965 blogging, part 5 of 5

James Bond opening credits

In these long breaks between the signature 21 Essays series, I relax by considering possibilities for future series.  I spin the roulette wheel to pick a year (or set of years) and then brainstorm on some potential essay topics.  This time the wheel spins, gradually slows, then clicks to a stop, pointing at:  1965. 

First, some suggestions from my Facebook page for some potential 1965 21 Essays material:  Ideas included The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, King Rat, and The Hill (thanks Robert!), Darling (thanks Rosemary!), and The Collector, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Story of a Prostitute, Red Beard, Tattooed Life, Tokyo Olympiad, and Sword of the Beast (thanks Christianne!).  All great suggestions!  While I don’t plan on tackling any of these specific suggested topics, I definitely am looking forward to opportunities to write in-depth about directors Akira Kurosawa and William Wyler, and am intrigued by the possibility of delving into the works of director Seijun Suzuki and author John Le Carre.

And now here’s my fifth 1965 series possibility:  21 essays on James Bond opening credits and their songs.

From the opening credits:  Goldfinger (1964).

I suspect that no one above suggested James Bond because the actual 1965 Bond movie release—Thunderball—signaled something of a drop in franchise quality.  Nevertheless, 1965 was a year dominated by Bond because the series slipped off the screen and onto the radio for the first time.  Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger” was one of the biggest Top 40 hits of the year, creating an expectation that subsequent Bond movies would feature sensual opening credits choreographed to powerful hit pop songs.

My proposal is 21 essays on 21 James Bond opening credits and their songs.  Yes, I realize it’s not technically a 1965 topic but what year would be more appropriate?  In a classic one-two punch, Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones helped make 1965 the year of James Bond, both onscreen and off.

Shout out to Deborah Lipp (internationally respected James Bond expert, Mad Men blogger, and long-term cinephile friend):  Feel free to help out!

This is the last of my official 1965 ideas (with no promises that we’ll necessarily be getting to any of them…) but there’ll be one more bonus entry of great 1965 movies that’s been saved for last.  I hope to post it tomorrow.

Next year(s) up on the random year(s) generator:  1811-1815.  (Coming soon…)

© 2012 Lee Price