Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.

One of the most enduring characters in cinematic history is James Bond. The debonair British secret agent was created by writer Ian Fleming for a series of novels that showed Bond protecting the world from villainous threats. The sophisticated detective was first brought to life on the big screen in 1962 with Sean Connery in the starring role. Connery appeared in six Bond films with George Lazenby interrupting that run once in 1969. Connery was succeeded by Roger Moore who starred in seven films. Connery made one extra showing as Bond in 1983 in a non-sanctioned Bond outing. Timothy Dalton followed for two more films before Pierce Brosnan took over for an additional five. The current incarnation, Daniel Craig, marks his fifth and final outing this weekend with No Time to Die. The glossy era of Connery, Moore, and Brosnan was replaced with the Craig films, grittier versions of the novels similar to those of Dalton’s, but attempting to keep the suaveness of the prior incarnations rather than delving into the grimier world made popular with the Jason Bourne films.

This marks the 25th film in the Bond series with Connery’s Never Say Never Again and David Niven’s appearance in the comedy version of Casino Royale as outliers bringing the total to twenty-seven. Craig goes out with a bang, but what of his rank within the Bond oeuvre. Well, that’s a hot topic of debate with some believing his films to be among the best and others finding them as pale imitations of the Bourne films and shadows of their former selves. I find them somewhere in between, better than some of the cringier Moore films, but not nearly as good as some of the Connery output. It has been far too long since I’ve seen the films themselves, but I have recently familiarized myself with the opening credit sequences and songs that have accompanied all of the prior films. While I do not feel that the new song form Billie Eilish is all that good, I will reserve final judgement for seeing it along with the opening sequence.

The history of the opening title sequence is modestly storied. The original film was very much a product of its day with title designer Maurice Binder creating every James Bond title sequence of the Connery/Lazenby/Moore/Dalton era with two exceptions. From Russia with Love and Goldfinger were those two titles and they were crafted by Robert Brownjohn. Since then, Daniel Kleinman has crafted all of the titles, save the one for Quantum of Solace, which was designed by MK12. All of the title sequences have been memorable with a few standing out above the others for their creative energy. The original Dr. No with its mass of circles and GoldenEye with its exploration of the fall of Communism were two of the most notable. I could do a separate list for best title sequences, but I would need more time to devote to such an effort. The songs are a much easier ranking and that’s why I’ve chosen to celebrate my favorite title tracks.

First, let me throw out a couple of honorable mentions to “Surrender” by K.D. Lang from Tomorrow Never Dies, and “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” by Dionne Warwick. The former was a secondary song included in the film. The latter was originally intended to be the main title theme for Thunderball, but producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli decreed that title songs had to mention the title of the film, so it went unused except for the melody that plays throughout the film. The song with lyrics wasn’t even released until the 1990s. As to actual Bond songs, I find that the ones sung by women are generally better than the ones performed by men and some tracks like “A View to a Kill,” “The Living Daylights,” and “Die Another Day” do not deserve the scorn they often receive.

As for the worst? The post-GoldenEye landscape has been one of the most bereft creatively with nearly all of the songs a miserable lot. While I’m not a fan of Sheryl Crow’s “Tomorrow Never Dies,” Garbage’s “The World Is Not Enough,” Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” from Casino Royale, or “Another Way to Die” from Jack White and Alicia Keys, I don’t hate them the way I do Sam Smith’s atrocious keening wail on “Writing’s on the Wall” from Spectre. It’s an abysmal song that grates on the ears and somehow the Academy thought it was the best song of the year. How wrong they were. It’s easily the worst of all of the Bond songs by a large margin.

Now, let’s look at my five favorites and, surprisingly, three of these are even among my five favorite Bond films as well.

Goldfinger (1964)

Setting the bar high for all future Bond chanteuses, Shirley Bassey’s rich, bountiful voice gives the title tune by Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, and John Barry its vibrant sound. Run over a titles sequence that features gold-painted women, the music and visuals blend perfectly helping to establish a standard of expectation for all future Bond films. Sure, the compelling sale-sticker-inspired intro to Dr. No is great, but there was no song and it was reminiscent of a lot of other designs in that era.

The film itself is also among the best James Bond films, giving us many of the now-standard motifs we’ve come to expect with a truly memorable villain, even though Gert Frobe had to be dubbed due to his limited knowledge of English, and one of the best henchmen, Oddjob. Bassey’s vocals are tremendous and her skill at weaving a potent and hard-hitting musical tract was so successful, that she came back for another two Bond title song performance.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Bassey’s second outing came in this 1981 finale to the Sean Connery run in the Eon film universe. Eon owned the full rights to all but two of the Ian Fleming James Bond novels, Casino Royale and Thunderball. Thunderball had shared rights upon initial release with an option to produce further adaptations of the novel, which is why Connery returned in Never Say Never Again in 1983. Casino Royale was adapted twice, once for television, and once as a parody, but the rights were eventually purchased back in 1999, allowing them to re-start Bond in 2006 with the Daniel Craig Casino Royale.

As for “Diamonds Are Forever,” it is one of the weaker Connery efforts, but is still an engaging film. Even if it weren’t, that title song is killer with Bassey once again lending her bold, soulful voice to the effort. This is also one of the best Bond title songs yet produced and the accompanying title sequence is equally well done. While her third effort for Moonraker doesn’t make this list, it’s still a solid, if middle of the pack effort.

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

The 1970s and 1980s Bond films are an acquired taste as they introduced Roger Moore as the charismatic secret agent and he seemed to lean into the hokiness of the concept a bit more than he should have. The efforts weren’t particularly great, but they were still enjoyable films. The first and only singer to record the title track and also make an appearance in the opening title sequence was Sheena Easton, a hitmaker in the 1980s who landed the title track and gave “For Your Eyes Only” a textured depth in spite of her higher register voice.

While the film and the credits are among the weaker of that eras productions, “For Your Eyes Only” is one of the more catchy and popular tunes to come out of Bond films. The film itself was a return to the more accessible spy thriller genre and earned an uptick in positive reviews after the disastrous sci-fi themed Moonraker. It was the second highest rated film of the Moore era, falling just below the consensus on The Spy Who Loved Me.

GoldenEye (1995)

The Timothy Dalton Bond films were well reviewed, but resulted in mediocre box office, both of which sit in the bottom five most successful box office tallies in Bond history with only A View to a Kill and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service ranking below one of them. The franchise was reset as the 1980s turned into the 1990s and a new, more suave and debonair Bond was selected in the guise of Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan’s debut feature, GoldenEye remains one of the best box office performers the franchise has seen, sitting squarely in the top ten.

GoldenEye was also the first Bond film to open with a title sequence not done by legendary designer Maurice Binder since Brownjohn’s efforts in 1964 on Goldfinger. A new Bond and a new designer gave many an uneasy feeling. Could it live up to the past or would it pale in comparison. As I’ve already mentioned, the box office was great and the film was popular with audiences, but what of the song and credits? Tina Turner’s rendition of “GoldenEye” is among the best that’s ever been, sitting well within the top five, obviously, but perhaps paling only in comparison to Bassey’s rendition of “Goldfinger.” The title sequence is also spectacular, employing a lot of the motifs we’ve come to expect while pulling in a more thematic element into the design. The film was the first in the post-Cold War era and thus had to transition to a place where the old enemies of the Bond franchise to date were replaced with more modern ones and the result is a great design that’s perhaps one of the best that may ever be done.

Skyfall (2012)

I don’t hate the movie Skyfall. On the contrary, 70% of it is really good thanks in large part to Roger Deakins’ gorgeous cinematography. The plot is fairly solid, but two elements tend to grate on my nerves. You cannot fault Javier Bardem for working with what he’s given, but his villain is thinly written and incredibly homophobic. He’s a gay man with mommy issues. Such a pathetic and stereotypical, one-dimensional villain he is. While I applaud Craig for not making a big deal of a sexually-tinged thigh graze, the whole scene comes off incredibly tone deaf.

The second issue has to do with the shabby way they treated Judi Dench’s M. Even if M was going to be leaving the franchise for good after becoming the first female M, the least they could have done was played on the opening sequence with Bond in hiding and bookended the film with same. It was not only a missed opportunity, it was characteristic of the sexist way the series has always treated its female characters.

But I digress. We’re talking about title songs and for the first time in almost two decades, the title song wasn’t either a huge departure from tradition (like “Die Another Day”) or a bland, forgettable effort (everything else after “GoldenEye”). Adele, who was an incredibly hot property at the time showed off her characteristic vocal skill in parlaying “Skyfall” into not just the best of the Craig era, but one of the all-time best James Bond title themes.