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Rank the Bond films

Best James Bond actor?

  • Sean Connery

    Votes: 36 53.7%
  • George Lazenby

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Roger Moore

    Votes: 4 6.0%
  • Timothy Dalton

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Pierce Brosnan

    Votes: 9 13.4%
  • Daniel Craig

    Votes: 22 32.8%
  • John Turner

    Votes: 4 6.0%
  • Carrots

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    67
  • Poll closed .
Fun bass fact about "Diamonds are Forever" - the taller, balder one of the "pair of villain underlings" is Putter Smith, a phenomenal DB player. He used to teach at BIT (perhaps he still does), and one of the first things I did after meeting him was to watch "Diamonds" and go "holy guacamole, that's PUTTER!"

The story, which is kind of funny, is that he was at a party in Hollywood and someone came up to him and said "I want to cast you in the next James Bond movie, here's my card, can I have yours?" And this being Hollywood, Putter thought the equivalent of "yeah, right..." until he got a call later that week.

Funnier part - Putter's wife is an actress, done some small parts - nothing as big as the Bond villain role...
 
Today: Licence To Kill

After the high standard set by The Living Daylights, it would've taken a whopper of a movie to top it. Licence To Kill did not achieve that, despite being pretty awesome.

Cons: This movie seemed to be trying to push the limits, to see what it could get away with. I think every death in this took on a more brutal tone than any previous film. Nowadays, it's not so much of a big deal (Pixar has more disturbing deaths), but I imagine it wouldn't have gone over too well on initial release. Is this the reason for Dalton not being held in too high regard?

Pros: Dalton! Despite the above paragraph, I still really like this guy! In this movie he seems to have settled into the role a lot better.
Also, Robert Davi made a great villain (as did young Benicio Del Toro)

And sadly, that's all for Dalton. :crying:

OVERALL RANKINGS:
1. From Russia With Love
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. The Living Daylights
4. Goldfinger
5. The Man With the Golden Gun
6. Diamonds Are Forever
7. Licence To Kill
8. Thunderball
9. A View To a Kill
10. Octopussy
11. You Only Live Twice
12. Dr. No
13. For Your Eyes Only
14. Live and Let Die
15. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
16. Moonraker


Up next: Goldeneye!
 
Brief intermission: I've kept a running "Overall Rankings" for the movies, but here's some other categories.

BOND ACTORS
1. Timothy Dalton
2. Sean Connery
3. Roger Moore
4. George Lazenby

BEST VILLAINS
1. Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) - Goldfinger
2. Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) - A View To a Kill
3. Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) - Licence To Kill

BEST BOND GIRLS
1. Solitaire (Jane Seymour) - Live and Let Die
2. Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) - From Russia With Love
3. Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) - The Spy Who Loved Me

Any other categories?
 
Today: GoldenEye

I realize this will eliminate any credibility my opinions have, but: I didn't like this as much as I should have. I mean, Pierce Brosnan is doing a good job on his first outing, Judi Dench is awesome in nearly anything, and it was great to see Q still played by Desmond Llewelyn, despite all the cast members changing.

Sean Bean and Alan Cumming made for pretty good bad guys too.

But my main complaints are Famke Janssen's performance, and the writing for the dialogue was pretty bad. There was far too much time spent explaining things that weren't necessary, or that were pretty well demonstrated by the acting.

As for the action scenes, some were cool, some were eye-rolling over the top.

I dunno, I should probably watch it again later. But for now, here's the ranking.
Prepare the tomatoes, Bond fans (yes, I put A View To a Kill above GoldenEye... I said you wouldn't be happy!)

OVERALL RANKINGS:
1. From Russia With Love
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. The Living Daylights
4. Goldfinger
5. The Man With the Golden Gun
6. Diamonds Are Forever
7. Licence To Kill
8. Thunderball
9. A View To a Kill
10. GoldenEye
11. Octopussy
12. You Only Live Twice
13. Dr. No
14. For Your Eyes Only
15. Live and Let Die
16. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
17. Moonraker


Up next: Tomorrow Never Dies!
 
Today: Tomorrow Never Dies

I actually really liked this one. It had a perfect blend of being serious and humorous, having a dramatic story line but also visual flair, action without being so totally reliant on it that it was the entire movie.

However, the best thing about this movie was Jonathan Pryce as Elliot Carver. This, I think, is about the most believable villain/plot as they've ever done.
Come on, a media mogul influencing world events just for a better story? Sadly, I can totally believe that happening.

I also really liked Joe Don Baker's return as the CIA agent, and Michelle Yeoh was one of the most useful Bond girls yet.

While it wasn't a perfect movie, it really didn't have anything I disliked!

OVERALL RANKINGS:
1. From Russia With Love
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. The Living Daylights
4. Goldfinger
5. The Man With the Golden Gun
6. Tomorrow Never Dies
7. Diamonds Are Forever
8. Licence To Kill
9. Thunderball
10. A View To a Kill
11. GoldenEye
12. You Only Live Twice
13. Octopussy
14. Dr. No
15. For Your Eyes Only
16. Live and Let Die
17. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
18. Moonraker


Up next: The World Is Not Enough!
 
Today: The World Is Not Enough

Ugh. Only 30 minutes in, and they'd already had a speedboat chase, AND a ski chase.
And then, to add insult to injury, they threw in Denise Richards.
I think the producers were trying to make me hate this movie.

There was only two good things about The World Is Not Enough.
One was John Cleese, and the other was Sophie Marceau as Elektra King.


Sophie Marceau is :bassist::D

The rest of the movie was :atoz:

OVERALL RANKINGS:
1. From Russia With Love
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. The Living Daylights
4. Goldfinger
5. The Man With the Golden Gun
6. Tomorrow Never Dies
7. Diamonds Are Forever
8. Licence To Kill
9. Thunderball
10. A View To a Kill
11. GoldenEye
12. You Only Live Twice
13. Octopussy
14. Dr. No
15. For Your Eyes Only
16. Live and Let Die
17. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
18. Moonraker
19. The World Is Not Enough


Up next: Die Another Day!
 
To me, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is one of the best Bond movies. Its only problem is that it's the only movie made by George Lazenby in the lead role, so he couldn't stick in the public consciousness as a "real" bond. But it's a great movie anyway.

"Goldfinger" is the best Connery movie in my opinion and "Diamonds Are Forever" the worst (actually both rank among the best and worst in the entire series - again IMO).

"The Spy Who Loved Me" and "For Your Eyes Only" are the best Moore-starring Bond movies.

I don't consider the Timothy Dalton entries bad, but didn't impress me either. Maybe because he's perhaps the less charismatic Bond so far.

"Goldeneye" is a must (with Pierce Brosnan).

I liked "Casino Royale" with Daniel Craig a lot. Mainly because it shows a different Bond that definitely works. I haven't seen "Quantum Of Solace", but sadly the reviews haven't been positive.

So in a nutshell and chronological order: "Goldfinger", "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", "The Spy Who Loved Me", "For Your Eyes Only", "Goldeneye" and "Casino Royale" are my top Bond picks.
 
OVERALL RANKINGS:
1. From Russia With Love
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. The Living Daylights
4. Goldfinger
5. The Man With the Golden Gun
6. Tomorrow Never Dies
7. Diamonds Are Forever
8. Licence To Kill
9. Thunderball
10. A View To a Kill
11. GoldenEye
12. You Only Live Twice
13. Octopussy
14. Dr. No
15. For Your Eyes Only
16. Live and Let Die
17. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
18. Moonraker
19. The World Is Not Enough


Up next: Die Another Day!

Many Bond fans don't list "From Russia With Love" among their favorites because it's considered one of the slowest-paced Bond movies, but I think it's a terrific one. Actually, if any Bond movie deserves to be called "slow", that would be "Thunderball" in my opinion.

"Die Another Day". Well, it's an entertaining movie as most Bond films are, but... :scowl: