Modern Bond films (like Casino Royale ) tried to be "gritty," but Dr. No got there first. There are no exploding pens. Bond kills a man with a bare hand in a hotel room, suffocating him silently. He shoots Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) in cold blood as Dent reaches for a gun. "That's a Smith & Wesson," Bond quips, "and you've had your six." It is ruthlessly efficient.
The second genius stroke was the opening. The iconic "gun barrel" sequence, designed by Maurice Binder, set the stage for everything to come. The white dot, the walk, the spin, the shoot—it told audiences in 90 seconds that this was not your father's detective movie. This was sex and death. Dr. No -james Bond 007-