“The Look of Love” (Dusty Springfield)

Today’s classic song from a movie of the day is “The Look of Love,” as performed by Dusty Springfield in the 1967 James Bond spoof, Casino Royale. Released as a single in July of 1967, the song peaked at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song (it lost to “Talk to the Animals” from Doctor Dolittle) and, in 2008, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

“The Look of Love” was written by Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal David (lyrics). Burt wrote the entire soundtrack for Casino Royale, and it’s terrific. The film itself is a bit of a guilty pleasure, a mish mash of different directors and writers and styles, with David Niven as James Bond 007, Peter Sellers also as baccarat expert and new James Bond 007 Evelyn Tremble, Woody Allen as nephew Jimmy Bond, Orson Welles as SMERSH bad guy Le Chiffre, Joanna Pettet as James’ daughter Mata Bond, and Ursula Andress as the delectable Vesper Lynd. The film is really quite bad but so bad it’s good. I always watch it when it comes on the viewing device, as much to listen to Bacharach’s score as anything else.

The song, “The Look of Love,” plays underneath a slow-motion romantic interlude between Sellers and Andress in her posh digs. The score for Casino Royale is a perfect representation of the Swingin’ Sixties, as later parodied (with Mr. Bacharach’s assistance) in the Austin Powers movies. It is one of the best soundtracks of that or any era, and the original vinyl album is long-recorded by audiophiles as a state-of-the-art aural treat.

Burt Bacharach tapped Dusty Springfield to sing this one and she brings it to life with a sultry breathiness that just oozes sex. This isn’t your pristine, innocent little Dusty of “Wishin’ and Hopin'” or “I Only Want to Be With You;” this is a sexy, mature Dusty who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. Her performance is entrancing, as is Mr. Bacharach’s arrangement.

Dusty’s single version of the tune is not from the movie but a slightly different (and shorter) arrangement. The song has been covered by literally hundreds of other artists, from saxophonist Stan Getz to crooner Andy Williams to jazz vocalist Diana Krall. The most successful cover was by Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, which went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May of 1968.

And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the “Look of Love” sequence from the movie, Casino Royale, starring Peter Sellers and Ursula Andress. Love the fishies!