Photos
Shirley Bassey
- Self
- (archive footage)
Paul McCartney
- Self
- (archive footage)
Matt Monro
- Self
- (archive footage)
Geoffrey Palmer
- Narrator
- (voice)
Storyline
Featured review
Worth a look if you like the music and the stories and as long as you're not expecting much more than light entertainment
With the chart itself based on a UK Mori poll, this documentary counts down the public's favourite James Bond themes with contributions, memories and stories from those involving in making them and fitting them in with the Bond brand. From the opening scene I, like everyone else, knew that Goldfinger was going to top the list simply because it is the classic Bond theme that you judge all others around. Aside from this, I wasn't too fussed on the chart position of the other themes simply because I generally don't care about making lists, assigning numbers etc hence me not really voting for anything on this site.
Despite this I kept watching and was interested, not by the relative positions but with the stories and memories behind each one. This is not to suggest that the show did a good job of bringing them out but there was enough here to hold the attention. Some of the contributors are pretty pointless and have little of real value to say but mostly they are relevant and come across interesting. There are several really good nuggets in here (for example, the source of the Bond theme and Alice Cooper's proposal for "Man with the Golden Gun") which really stick in the mind and encourage you to keep watching. I would have liked more of these but the rest is still interesting enough without grabbing me.
Of course the music itself is a selling point and if you do genuinely love the songs then you should be prepared for none of them being played without people talking over them. I wasn't too fussed by this although I did wonder why on earth the makers opted not to use the original recording of Goldfinger and instead have a live performance from Bassey that is about as hammy as an alternative Christmas dinner. For those that care, the charting positions are mostly pretty fair, although I'm not sure why the unofficial Bond films of Casino Royale (1960's) and Never Say Never were allowed to be part of this but I guess if it gets people talking then the show only benefits from that.
Overall then a reasonably good list show for Bond film fans. It has a handful of great nuggets in amongst the contributions while being lively and interesting outside of these. Occasionally some of it is pretty flat but this is the risk you always take with this sort of thing. Worth a look if you like the music and the stories and as long as you're not expecting much more than light entertainment.
Despite this I kept watching and was interested, not by the relative positions but with the stories and memories behind each one. This is not to suggest that the show did a good job of bringing them out but there was enough here to hold the attention. Some of the contributors are pretty pointless and have little of real value to say but mostly they are relevant and come across interesting. There are several really good nuggets in here (for example, the source of the Bond theme and Alice Cooper's proposal for "Man with the Golden Gun") which really stick in the mind and encourage you to keep watching. I would have liked more of these but the rest is still interesting enough without grabbing me.
Of course the music itself is a selling point and if you do genuinely love the songs then you should be prepared for none of them being played without people talking over them. I wasn't too fussed by this although I did wonder why on earth the makers opted not to use the original recording of Goldfinger and instead have a live performance from Bassey that is about as hammy as an alternative Christmas dinner. For those that care, the charting positions are mostly pretty fair, although I'm not sure why the unofficial Bond films of Casino Royale (1960's) and Never Say Never were allowed to be part of this but I guess if it gets people talking then the show only benefits from that.
Overall then a reasonably good list show for Bond film fans. It has a handful of great nuggets in amongst the contributions while being lively and interesting outside of these. Occasionally some of it is pretty flat but this is the risk you always take with this sort of thing. Worth a look if you like the music and the stories and as long as you're not expecting much more than light entertainment.
helpful•20
- bob the moo
- Dec 11, 2006
Details
- Runtime2 hours
- Color
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