Without showing who he is, audiences can put two and two together and figure out the man at the wheel is James Bond. It then cuts to a man driving with the theme music playing. The film opens with the familiar faces of M (Bernard Lee) and Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) looking for 007. But these are out of order compared to Dr. The first reaction against Connery comes from George Lazenby, who took over the role in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. There are still some familiar elements in the OHMSS opening, like the music, the cigarette, and withholding Bond’s face until the right moment to reveal it. In one way or another, every new actor to play Bond has his introduction set up as a call-back to, or reaction against, Connery’s introduction. This scene also set up a few tropes for the rest of the franchise to follow.

Add in Connery’s suave delivery of the line and it’s impossible to not be charmed and intrigued by the character right away. For audiences, just seeing him feels like a reward. Withholding the view of Bond’s face builds anticipation for his reveal when he responds to Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson) asking for his name. The camerawork in this scene keeps Bond’s face off-screen until the moment when he says his name, lights his cigarette, and the iconic theme music kicks in. There’s the baccarat game, the Bond girl, and the famous words “Bond, James Bond.” No can likely recognize parts of this scene. The most famous of these introductions is undoubtedly Sean Connery‘s introduction as Bond in Dr. Introduction 1: Make him as cool as can be. There’s a lot to be learned from these introductions to the character, so without further ado, let’s get into it.

These moments are vital to the film’s success and, depending on how they go, can potentially set an actor up to change the character forever. Specifically, the first time a new actor playing Bond is seen on screen and how this sets the tone for the film. There’s a lot that could be said about what components keep audiences coming back for more, from the locations to the gadgets, but I want to talk about just one: Bond himself. One of the reasons the franchise has done so well over 56 years is that it has found a balance between following a formula and coming up with new material. Meanwhile, the James Bond film franchise has not only survived since 1962 - it’s thrived.

Other films have a good run with a sequel or two and then get rebooted in a few years, and rebooted again a few years after that. So far Star Wars has stood the test of time, but it also took some breaks in between trilogies. “Franchise fatigue” is the buzzword for superhero movies that are a decade old. It takes a lot for a film series to survive for over half a century.

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