LACMA Exhibits the Opening Sequences from 22 James Bond Films
Author:Lindsey ShookSunday night’s Mad Men fifth season finale ended on a sultry note with Nancy Sinatra singing the title track of the fifth James Bond film, You Only Live Twice. While we can’t be sure, we’d like to think that the scene was, in fact, Mad Men creator Matt Weiner’s nod to the original Mr. Suave.
In the years since the original 007 film, Dr. No, was released in 1962, the franchise has left a definitive mark on pop culture. Now, join the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as they celebrate fifty years of Bond.
Courtesy of the LACMA
Co-organized by the museum and Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television (SFTV), the new exhibit …Is James Bond features the complete opening credit sequences from all twenty-two Bond films. The show opened last Saturday, June 9 and runs through September 9.
The sequences, fourteen of which were designed by the late film title designer Maurice Binder, are as much a motif of the films as the car chases, stiff drinks and Bond girls that define 007.
Courtesy of the LACMA
You can see them all, including the iconic gun barrel sequence, on 40-inch monitors in the Art of the Americas Building at LACMA. The museum, in partnership with Film Independent, will also screen James Bond double features every Thursday in July and September.
John Lautner’s Sheats-Goldstein Residence in Beverly Hills
In a recent announcement about the exhibit, SFTV’s Dean Stephen Ujlaki noted the immense impact that the franchise has had on music, automobiles and fashion, but 007’s influence can also be seen in the world of design. Among the film’s many stunning international destinations are John Lautner’s Sheats-Goldstein Residence in Beverly Hills and The Elrod House in Palm Springs (interestingly, Ian Fleming, the author behind the original Bond books was rumored to despise modernism).
The Elrod House in Palm Springs
So, forget dropping the $300 on the massive Blu-ray box set Bond 50 and get your fix now. The exhibit should tide you over until the fall release of the twenty-third film Skyfall.
…Is James Bond is open through September 9. LACMA; 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, LA.
