As a companion thread to discussing the Craig Bond films here's a poll to discuss your favourite Bonds of the lot. You can like quite a few of them, but we'll focus on the top three you like. Note: I've left out the 1967 spoof version of Casino Royale (with David Niven and Woody Allen) since it's so out of the mainstream. For me it's (in no particular order): From Russia With Love - I love both the film and the book and this feels most like Fleming's Bond. The Spy Who Loved Me - The first Bond I saw on the big screen and it's a huge guilty pleasure. Casino Royale - Bond properly updated for the times while still resonating with the original source material.
Only three?!? After some internal debate, I went with some fun ones- Goldfinger, Goldeneye, and Casino Royale. My next three picks would have been From Russia with Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and The Spy Who Loved Me. ETA: Hmm, I accidentally voted for Quantum instead of Casino. D'oh!
My favorite? Mission: Impossible II. Runner-up? Austin Powers I. From among the official ones? Okay, okay... Casino Royale, definitely, and while I haven't seen the last 25 minutes or so of The Living Daylights, I enjoyed the hell out of the rest of it a while ago. The thing about Bond movies is that most of 'em just aren't very good, and are too long to boot. I much prefer the songs.
Well I wanted to keep it manageable. I'm only asking you to choose three for the poll, but there's no reason you can't list all the ones you like in a post. And for the sake of completion the ones I like (in no particular order): Dr. No**** From Russia With Love***** Goldfinger**** Thunderball*** You Only Live Twice** On Her Majesty's Secret Service*** Diamonds Are Forever** Live And Let Die** The Man With The Golden Gun** The Spy Who Loved Me**** Moonraker** For Your Eyes Only** Never Say Never Again** The Living Daylights*** Casino Royale***** Quantum Of Solace** Note: I should really get around to rereading the books again. I've got a playlist on my iPod of all the Bond themes excluding the 1967 spoof...but then of course I could always add The Look Of Love. I have yet to add the QoS theme.
I'm curious about the inclusion of Never Say Never Again as one of the options. My understanding was that it is generally not considered to be part of the franchise proper since it was not an Eon Productions film and was essentially a Thunderball remake due to Kevin McClory's lawsuit.
True, but I threw it in anyway. And it's not as off-the-wall as the '67 Casino Royale spoof...then again I'm suspect someone out there must like it.
My choices as well. Goldfinger is just the prototypical Bond movie, and an absolute joy to watch. Goldeneye and Casino Royale both revitalized and brought extra depth to the franchise, and are also a lot of fun to watch.
Good picks Kelso Even though Sean Connery is my favorite Bond, my top 3 films are On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Goldeneye and Casino Royale.
My top three.... From Russia With Love For Your Eyes Only The Living Daylights Casino Royale would be my number 4 pick. I love them all because they all so realistic and down to earth. Bond doesn't have to save the world or avert nuclear war. He only has to help someone defect, stop the Russians from finding a decoding device, stop a corrupt Russian and western arms dealer, and keep terrorists from receiving funds. Dr. No ****½ From Russia With Love ***** Goldfinger **** Thunderball ****½ You Only Live Twice **½ On Her Majesty's Secret Service ***½ Diamonds Are Forever *½ Live And Let Die *½ The Man With The Golden Gun ** The Spy Who Loved Me ***½ Moonraker ** For Your Eyes Only ***** Never Say Never Again - Never saw it. Octpussy ****½ A View to a Kill *½ The Living Daylights ***** License to Kill ***½ Goldeneye ***½ Tomorrow Never Dies ** The World is not Enough * Die Another Day ½ (and that's being generous) Casino Royale ***** Quantum Of Solace ****
Really? You should just for the fun of it. It isn't awesome, but I recall in '83 how it was nice to see Connery back in the role. Mind you this was Connery more like he was in Diamonds Are Forever rather than Dr. No or From Russia With Love.
I actually prefer NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN to THUNDERBALL. The villains are much more colorful, and the underwater scenes don't drag as much. "I do hope we're going to have a little gratuitous sex and violence . . . ." And it was certainly better than OCTOPUSSY, which came out the same year. Who cares if it was produced by someone else?
Agreed, for the same reasons. Honourable mentions would include OHMSS, The Living Daylights, TSWLM and FYEO. Yes, two Moore movies. Though FYEO would have been so much better with Dalton in the lead.
^ Moore made some really good ones (The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy). The problem is, he also made some really bad ones (Live and Let Die, A View to a Kill, Moonraker). Of the three I picked (From Russia With Love, For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights), I'd say FYEO is the best. Which means I think Roger Moore turned in the best single performance of any of the actors.
^I agre with you about FYEO and TSWLM and also about View and Moonraker. Totally disagree about Octopussy (I hate it) and LALD (pretty good debut). Moore is my least favourite Bond but I don't deny that his tenure had entertaining moments and you have to acknowledge that he had the longest run. I think if he'd quit after FYEO, he'd probably be a bit more fondly remembered. For my money, that would have left him with LALD (7/10), TMWTGG (5/10), TSWLM (8.5/10), Moonraker (3/10) and FYEO (8/10). He was too old for FYEO but it would have been a good swansong. But Octopussy (4/10) and VTAK (3/10) totally titled the balance in favour of duds, IMHO. He should have known to always leave them wanting more. Or Moore.
My Top Three are pretty easy to choose: Goldfinger On Her Majesty's Secret Service (I actually rewatch this one about once a year, around Christmastime). Casino Royale If you asked me to choose my favorite among those three, I'd have a much tougher choice. Funny story: As the beginning of this summer, I went to go see Goldfinger in NYC's Bryant Park. It was great to see it on a big screen with a huge group of people. At the very end of the movie, when Auric Goldfinger came out of the cockpit of the plane Bond was on, the woman next to me went, "Unlikely!" I turned to her and said, "You're choosing THIS moment to stop suspending your disbelief?" She & her boyfriend were laughing for the entire last five minutes of the movie.