Tough, I have two favorite Connery's, same for Brosnan but I also like OHMSS. If I only had 3 I'd go with Goldfinger The Spy Who Loved Me Goldeneye I omit the Daniel Craig movies cause those are good spy movies that riff on Bourne and not really cinematic Bond movies. Even when other Bond movies were adapting other cinema styles to the franchise as noted earlier the series still retained a strong sense of Bond style that the moviegoer had come to know. The Daniel Craig Bonds are a pale reflection of that which came before.
Oh God I can't believe I did that VTAK might have worked if they hadn't surrounded Moore with lots of old people on his side, then faced him off against really young villains!
Tie between On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Casino Royale. Oh, that's only two... well, never mind.
Goldfinger is the definitive Bond, but From Russia With Love is, for me, a better film. It's Bond, but not too over the top and it has a story I can watch over and over again. I'll pick The Spy Who Loved Me as my third choice, since it's my favourite of the Roger Moore films.
I question that assessment; Connery was a little less than enthusiastic in YOLT, and was only there for the money for DAF, so I find it hard to believe that he would have turned it around for OHMSS. Just my 2¢ on the subject, anyway. Yeah, at least a .44 Magnum is badass. Way more badass than fighting a midget with a wooden chair.
I like them all to one degree or another, with the exception of Quantum of Solace which I hate. But my favorites, according to actor are these: Sean Connery: Thunderball George Lazenby: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (What else is there in his case?) Roger Moore: Moonraker (first one I ever saw, I was nine) Timothy Dalton: The Living Daylights (Not only my favorite Dalton, but my personal favorite Bond film period) Pierce Brosnan: The World is Not Enough Daniel Craig: Casino Royale (If I must pick one of his)
You can mine Goldfinger (no pun intended) for plot holes and general absurdity, but for me, it's still the definitive Bond film -- maybe because I saw it at the tender impressionable age of 11 or so. It's one of the best written and paced Bond films. It has one of the best Bond songs, and two of the most memorable Bond women: Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore and Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson (the chick who got painted gold). But Thunderball had that cool yacht that split in two and became a superfast hydrofoil. The villain in Never Say Never Again just had a regular old boat. Then again, Never Say Never Again had Kim Basinger.
Awww, I didn't pick 'Casino Royale.' The three I did pick where: *Thunderball (Luciana Paluzzi...sexy; and the girl who portrays Domino Petacch--er, Vitali).. *The Spy Who Loved Me (Forget Roger Moore; I'm only acknowledging this because of Barbera Bach...who looks like Vanessa Angel, and the singer Pebbles). *Diamonds are Forever (A silly Bond film that manages to still be cool because of Connery; and that song and the feel is so 70s...which I like).
I'd go further, I think Connery might have actually ruined the film. The film hangs on believing Bond loves Tracy, in fact I'd go as far as saying the film hangs on the final scene. For all his faults Lazenby plays it perfectly, I just can't see Connery's Bond being that broken over the death of a woman, he's just not vulnerable enough.
^ Agreed. Connery remains my favourite Bond, but OHMSS wouldn't have been anywhere near as good with him, IMO - particularly if he'd offered the kind of performance he turned in in You Only Live Twice. And much as I like him in the role, I doubt he could have credibly conveyed the vulnerability necessary for Bond throughout the movie. I reckon Lazenby got it just right; given everything that went before it, Connery simply wouldn't have been believable in OHMSS.
Its a shame Lazenby didn't do Diamonds. Would have been nice to see him go after Blofeld (even if it wasn't the same Blofeld ) As it is we had to wait for Rog to get revenge for Tracy!
Obviously we don't know whether he would or not, and I'm thinking "Connery at his best" would have made the perfect OHMSS - but we should also bear in mind that a lot of why he's so dull in YOLT is down to the punishing levels of press and fan intrusion while filming that movie in Tokyo, with hordes of J-paparrazi even following him into the toilets. That'd put anybody off their best.
Bond has certainly always worn the influences of its era as well as prefiguring them (YOLT predates the kung fu craze, for example), but it's never been so much just another one of a set of movies before, as LTK is just another rogue-cop-goes-after-drug-dealer flick.
I think they went a little too far with Licence, but then you could argue they didn't go far enough (Bond still has the gadgets, it's a made up country etc). For me the trouble with LTK is that it feels very 1989 (Dalton's hair certainly is at times).
Films generally liked: From Russia With Love Goldfinger On Her Majesty's Secret Service The Spy Who Loved Me The Living Daylights Goldeneye Casino Royale Little love for: Thunderball For Your Eyes Only Tomorrow Never Dies The World Is Not Enough Seems no real love for: Dr. No You Only Live Twice Diamonds Are Forever Live And Let Die The Man With The Golden Gun Moonraker Never Say Never Again Octopussy A View To A Kill License To Kill Die Another Day Quantum Of Solace
It's interesting because I think the whole Bond/Vesper dynamic from Casino Royale is reminiscent of the whole Bond/Tracy dynamic in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I always wanted to see a sequel to OHMSS where Lazenby's Bond went after Blofed for revenge, but we kind of got that sequel, albeit spiritually, with Quantum of Solace. That may be part of the reason why I like it so much.
Goldfinger The Spy Who Loved Me Casino Royale (If I could vote for 2 more, they would be The Living Daylights and Goldeneye)