Favourite Bond films....

[Captain Craig]

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.

 

[Starkers]

Not to mention the fact that at the end of TMWTGG Bond suddenly swaps his PPK for a fuck off .44 magnum revolver ala Dirty Harry!

That was Live and Let Die. He most definitely had his PPK for his duel with Scaramanga at the end of TMWTGG.

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!

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Tie between On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Casino Royale.

Oh, that's only two... well, never mind.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

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.

 

[cardinal biggles]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service — 10/10 - believable, great fights, wonderful atmosphere, good cast... If Connery was in it would be the best ever.

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.

Not to mention the fact that at the end of TMWTGG Bond suddenly swaps his PPK for a fuck off .44 magnum revolver ala Dirty Harry!

That was Live and Let Die. He most definitely had his PPK for his duel with Scaramanga at the end of TMWTGG.

Oh God I can't believe I did that

Yeah, at least a .44 Magnum is badass. Way more badass than fighting a midget with a wooden chair.

 

[RandyS]

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)

 

[scotpens]

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).

. . . I actually prefer NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN to THUNDERBALL. The villains are much more colorful, and the underwater scenes don't drag as much.

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.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

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).

 

[Starkers]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service — 10/10 - believable, great fights, wonderful atmosphere, good cast... If Connery was in it would be the best ever.

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.

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.

 

[Orac Zen]

^
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.

 

[Starkers]

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!

 

[Shazam!]

From Russia With Love
The Spy Who Loved Me
The Living Daylights

 

[Lonemagpie]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service — 10/10 - believable, great fights, wonderful atmosphere, good cast... If Connery was in it would be the best ever.

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.

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.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Hmmmm. Live and Let Die cashed in on blaxploitation movies. TMWTGG cashed in on the popularity of Bruce Lee and kung fu. TSWLM came after Jaws and featured a shark and a villain named, er, Jaws. And Moonraker was rushed into production to cash in on Star Wars (IIRC, the end of TSWLM says that Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only).

Hardly fair to blame LTK for following trends!

Not to mention the fact that at the end of TMWTGG Bond suddenly swaps his PPK for a fuck off .44 magnum revolver ala Dirty Harry!

Bond basically only set the trend in the 60s, from then on it's always adapated itself to the times.

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.

 

[Starkers]

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).

 

[Warped9]

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

 

[RandyS]

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).

You say that like it's a bad thing.

 

[JacksonArcher]

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!

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.

 

[EMHMark613]

Goldfinger
The Spy Who Loved Me
Casino Royale

(If I could vote for 2 more, they would be The Living Daylights and Goldeneye)

 

[Admiral2]

Dr. No
Goldfinger
Thunderball

Sean Connery is the only Bond...James Bond.