What are the essential Bond movies?

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

9 hours ago, Augustus said:

I didn't want to create a new thread just for this, and I'm guessing the Skyfall thread would have been on Shaggy?  Couldn't find one here.

I'm also sure that someone--or several people--would've commented on this at the time, but I'm watching Skyfall right now and I was really kind of amazed by this.

They've just arrived back at Skyfall and Albert Finney's character Kincade is showing Bond the empty gunroom.  Then he tells him they sold everything to some collector in Idaho, except for his father's "hunting rifle."

He then hands Bond what is clearly a double barrel shotgun.

How in the blue fuck does a mistake like that get made?  Is it possible the Brits call a shotgun a rifle, as well?

That was really surprising to me.

per imdb:

 

Quote

After Bond and M arrive at Skyfall they review the available weapons with Kincade. Kincade hands Bond what looks like a double barrel shotgun and says that is was his father's hunting rifle. This is an "express rifle", a double barreled large caliber rifle designed for dangerous game at close range, and easily mistaken for a shotgun.

 

[66BUFF 2564]

On 12/29/2018 at 4:38 PM, Brandywine said:

Excellent points. I personally never got into Moore as Bond, but I still watched them when they came out. The Man with the Golden Gun was a low point in Moore-era. Other low points: the southern police chief that chewed tobacco, Jaws, the alligators that lined up in perfect order for Bond to step on and escape in LALD, Moore as a circus clown. 

No JW and Hal Needham never comes up with Buford T Justice.

[Deej 76831]

I'll always have a fondness for "For Your Eyes Only", mainly because it was on HBO or Cinemax almost every single day when I was in junior high. 

[Incredulity 11675]

My list of essential Bond

Dr No

Goldfinger

Moonraker

A View to a Kill

Goldeneye

 

All of the Daniel Craig Bonds really bleed together for me.  So maybe not as distinct "good" versus "bad" films as previous generations.

 

Dalton's Bond never happened.

 

 

 

[South Austin 52520]

Roger Moore was an okay bond.  Not the best, not the worst.  But I love how he agreed to be a part of such a goofball classic like Cannonball Run. 

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

10 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Roger Moore was an okay bond.  Not the best, not the worst.  But I love how he agreed to be a part of such a goofball classic like Cannonball Run. 

charming Roger Moore story that makes me smile every time I read it.

 

Quote

Haynes had first met his hero when he was seven years old and in an airport with his grandad.

 

 

He wrote: ‘As a seven year old in about 1983, in the days before First Class Lounges at airports, I was with my grandad in Nice Airport and I saw Roger Moore sitting at the departue gate, reading a paper. I told my grandad I’d just seen James Bond and asked if we could go over so I could get his autograph. My grandad has no idea who James Bond or Roger Moore were, so we walked over and he popped me in front of Roger Moore, with the words “my grandson says you’re famous. Can you sign this?

‘As charming as you’d expect, Roger asks my name and duly sigs the back of my plane ticket, a fulsome note full of best wishes. I’m ecstatic, but as we head back to our seats, I glance down at the signature. It’s hard to decipher it but it definitely doesn’t say “James Bond”. My grandad looks at it, half figures out it says “Roger Moore” – I have absolutely no idea who that is, and my heart sinks. I tell my grandad he’s signed it wrong, that he’s put someone else’s name – so my grandad heads back to Roger Moore, holding the ticket which he’s only just signed.

‘I remember staying by our seats my grandad saying “he says you’ve signed the wrong name. He says your name is James Bond.” Roger Moore’s face crinkled with realisation and he beckoned me over. When I was by his knee, he leant over, looked from side to side, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said to me “I have to sign my name as ‘Roger Moore’ because otherwise… Blofeld might find out I was here.” 

 

 

‘He asked me not to tell anyone I’d just seen James Bond, and he thanked me for keeping his secret. I went back to our seats, my nerves absolutely jangling with delight. My grandad asked me if he’d signed “James Bond”. No, I said. I’d got it wrong. I was working with James Bond now.’

That was wonderful enough – but the story just got better.

Haynes continued: ‘Many, many years later, I was working as a scriptwriter on a recording that involved UNICEF, and Roger Moore was doing a piece to camera as an ambassador. He was completely lovely and while the cameramen were setting up, I told him in passing the story of when I met him in Nice Airport. He was happy to hear it, and he had a chuckle and said “Well, I don’t remember but I’m glad you got to meet James Bond.” So that was lovely.

‘And then he did something so brilliant. After the filming, he walked past me in the corridor, heading out to his car – but as he got level, he paused, looked both ways, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said, “Of course I remember our meeting in Nice. But I didn’t say anything in there, because those cameramen – any one of them could be working for Blofeld.”

‘I was as delighted at 30 as I had been at 7. What a man. What a tremendous man.’

 

[Da Fino 2783]

11 hours ago, Augustus said:

I didn't want to create a new thread just for this, and I'm guessing the Skyfall thread would have been on Shaggy?  Couldn't find one here.

I'm also sure that someone--or several people--would've commented on this at the time, but I'm watching Skyfall right now and I was really kind of amazed by this.

They've just arrived back at Skyfall and Albert Finney's character Kincade is showing Bond the empty gunroom.  Then he tells him they sold everything to some collector in Idaho, except for his father's "hunting rifle."

He then hands Bond what is clearly a double barrel shotgun.

How in the blue fuck does a mistake like that get made?  Is it possible the Brits call a shotgun a rifle, as well?

That was really surprising to me.

https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Skyfall#Anderson_Wheeler_500_NE_Double_Rifle

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

2 hours ago, Incredulity said:

All of the Daniel Craig Bonds really bleed together for me. 

For you, I can understand perhaps.

But me, I gotta go with this:

 

That first reboot of the franchise was a nice one, in more ways than one.

[Macanudo 12989]

I really do like Connery as Bond and 10-15 years ago would have wholeheartedly said Goldfinger, Thunderball and From Russia With Love belong in the pantheon.  But the misogyny is kind of hard to take now.   I still like films and appreciate that they are a product of their times.   So I can still agree they belong up there but with a little less enthusiam.

[dcar00 14274]

On 12/28/2018 at 2:05 PM, Brandywine said:

If you only had the first Bond movie for each Bond, you would have a good collection. Dr. No, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Live and Let Die, The Living Daylights, Goldeneye, Casino Royale. The producers seemed to pull out all the stops when introducing a new Bond. However, my favorites are Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Casino Royale and Skyfall. I could watch those 4 all day long. Over and over. They’re great stories, locales, music, women, villains, the full package. Of course, Connery is still the gold standard but I wouldn’t say all Bond movies by Connery, because Diamonds are Forever is a cartoon that pretty well became the Roger Moore Bond film template.

I love talking Bond.

this is true.  I'd go first 4, then OHMS(you have to know the answer to the trivia question), Live and Let Die(appreciate the song as well), I'm a sucker for Living Daylights and Goldeneye.  All the Craig are very good IMO.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

Quantum of Solace is a bad movie.  Craig himself said it.  That was the writers strike Bond, recall.  Craig is a good Bond though.  

[tx 3 putt 77084]

All of them 

[rage-a-holic 4406]

3 hours ago, Incredulity said:

Dalton's Bond never happened.

That's ridiculous. License to Kill is better than Diamonds are Forever, almost every single Roger Moore Bond film and half the Brosnan ones.

Edited February 9, 2023 by rage-a-holic

[Texzilla58 4738]

I’m a purist and like them in chron order.

But if you’re skipping around I’d go

GoldenEye

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

You Only Live Twice

[Chad Fuck 17685]

That's ridiculous. License to Kill is better than Diamonds are Forever, almost every single Roger Moore Bond film and half the Brosnan ones.

Truth. Dalton takes a lot of undeserved flak. To me, he played it much more like the book Bond, and I appreciated that.

[rage-a-holic 4406]

11 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

Truth. Dalton takes a lot of undeserved flak. To me, he played it much more like the book Bond, and I appreciated that.

Exactly. Before Craig came along, Dalton was the first Bond that actually resembled the character in the novels.

[MagicSoccerSpray 1732]

2 hours ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

Quantum of Solace is a bad movie.  Craig himself said it.  That was the writers strike Bond, recall.  Craig is a good Bond though.  

 

QoS had a great opening car chase, one of the best I've seen since Ronin. I never thought the movie was as bad as folks say.

 

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by MagicSoccerSpray

[HouTex 1879]

All of them except Never Say Never Again, Octopussy, and a View to a Kill.  

[Rimbo 25980]

7 hours ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

charming Roger Moore story that makes me smile every time I read it.

 

 

I've never made a sock before. Now I want to, just so I can upvote this twice.

[Rimbo 25980]

4 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

That's ridiculous. License to Kill is better than Diamonds are Forever, almost every single Roger Moore Bond film and half the Brosnan ones.

there is something wrong with you, man

License to Kill has, by far, some of the worst acting from a leading lady to ever grace the screen in ANY movie, much less a Bond. It has nearly zero redeeming qualities.

[Rimbo 25980]

2 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

Exactly. Before Craig came along, Dalton was the first Bond that actually resembled the character in the novels.

True. Dalton's acting was great, because Dalton is a great actor. He got a lot of flak for not being Remington Steele, but also because the two movies he was in were otherwise objectively terrible.

Dalton was never the problem with the Dalton Bond movies. Everything else was the problem. Bad writing, bad direction, horrible supporting casts... ugh.

But if you want to pick one, let's at least go with The Living Daylights, which actually was a good bit of fun. 

[Parliament 14261]

2 hours ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

QoS had a great opening car chase, one of the best I've seen since Ronin. I never thought the movie was as bad as folks say.

 

1234

And while we're talking about Bond movies that get no respect, lemme throw in Tomorrow Never Dies.  It captured the 1990's better than Goldeneye, and had a better villain.  A billionaire tech genius psycho who conspired with a Communist dictator.  Sounds prophetic...

2 hours ago, HouTex said:

All of them except Never Say Never Again, Octopussy, and a View to a Kill.  

And Moonraker.

[rage-a-holic 4406]

10 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

True. Dalton's acting was great, because Dalton is a great actor. He got a lot of flak for not being Remington Steele, but also because the two movies he was in were otherwise objectively terrible.

Dalton was never the problem with the Dalton Bond movies. Everything else was the problem. Bad writing, bad direction, horrible supporting casts... ugh.

But if you want to pick one, let's at least go with The Living Daylights, which actually was a good bit of fun. 

Your opinion is wrong. And the critics agreed with me.

Just for reference, the "best" Brosnan Bond film, Goldeneye, got an 80. The other 3 got a 57, 51 and 55, respectively.

 

[C-Man 27230]

2 hours ago, HouTex said:

All of them except Never Say Never Again, Octopussy, and a View to a Kill.  

Never Say Never Again is not an "official" Bond movie.

 

34 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

there is something wrong with you, man

License to Kill has, by far, some of the worst acting from a leading lady to ever grace the screen in ANY movie, much less a Bond. It has nearly zero redeeming qualities.

I haven't seen either in years but always felt like The Living Daylights was better than License to Kill.

 

7 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

Your opinion is wrong. And the critics agreed with me.

Just for reference, the "best" Brosnan Bond film, Goldeneye, got an 80. The other 3 got a 57, 51 and 55, respectively.

 

Brosnan was a great Bond but other than Goldeneye, the scripts are pretty much hot garbage.

[Buzzrock 14922]

And Moonraker.

Tomorrow Never Dies over Goldeneye. That’s a heck of a thing to say.

[Rimbo 25980]

1 hour ago, C-Man said:

I haven't seen either in years but always felt like The Living Daylights was better than License to Kill.

 

1 hour ago, rage-a-holic said:

Your opinion is wrong. And the critics agreed with me.

Just for reference, the "best" Brosnan Bond film, Goldeneye, got an 80. The other 3 got a 57, 51 and 55, respectively.

 

Expand  

Brosnan was a great Bond

I'm not sure I'd say that. I personally have him ranked... dead last, after every other Bond. I think if he'd had better writing and been younger, maybe. Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies had some merit.

But I never liked his portrayal of Bond. Too emotional, too sappy. Even Roger Moore at his absolute campiest was a cold-blooded killer. Lazenby, and Craig in Casino Royale, both get a pass because that's part of the character's development; Tracy is one of a kind, while in Casino Royale Bond is still too early in his career to have developed that hard edge.

Brosnan had been in too many RomComs.

[Carl Spackler 3486]

My faves (in chron order):

Goldfinger

You Only Live Twice

Diamonds Are Forever

Live and Let Die

The Man With the Golden Gun

Skyfall

[Incredulity 11675]

 

 

On 12/29/2018 at 2:38 PM, Brandywine said:

Jaws, the alligators that lined up in perfect order for Bond to step on and escape in LALD,

 

credit to

@brakeman

[Texzilla58 4738]

And Moonraker.

And Live and Let Die. James Bond Blaxploitation pic going against SuperFly TNT Dolomite. With the 7up dude. And the typical dumb redneck sheriff from the era.

[notre dame joe 188]

On 12/28/2018 at 1:52 PM, Rimbo said:

I'd say this is the one exception in your list. Judging the Moore-era movies for what they were -- campy fun -- this one only fails to be the worst (to me, and of a bad lot) because of the boring slog of The Man with the Golden Gun. The Spy Who Loved Me is fantastic. Octopussy and Moonraker are fun. The rest of Moore's films are for die-hard fans only, things you watch after you've seen a middling non-essential like Tomorrow Never Dies and are wondering what you might want to see next.

This poster was referring to Live and Let Die in 2018.  We'll give him a pass because it was two years before the BLM riots.  In LALD the black mafia is just as grand as the Corleones.  They out fox the whites until right up until the end.  Unlike every drama today, it turns out that 

Spoiler

Mr. Big doesn't care about social justice, he is interested in taking control the drug trade from five families. 

 

[HouTex 1879]

19 hours ago, C-Man said:

Never Say Never Again is not an "official" Bond movie.

 

I haven't seen either in years but always felt like The Living Daylights was better than License to Kill.

 

Brosnan was a great Bond but other than Goldeneye, the scripts are pretty much hot garbage.

Correct on Never Say Never Again not being official.  That’s another reason why it’s not essential.  It’s also just not very good and while he’s my favorite Bond, Sean Connery was just too old to play Bond.  

[Rimbo 25980]

2 hours ago, HouTex said:

Correct on Never Say Never Again not being official.  That’s another reason why it’s not essential.  It’s also just not very good and while he’s my favorite Bond, Sean Connery was just too old to play Bond.  

And it was the same plot as Thunderball.

[Go Pokes 979]

5 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

And Live and Let Die. James Bond Blaxploitation pic going against SuperFly TNT Dolomite. With the 7up dude. And the typical dumb redneck sheriff from the era.

LALD came out when I was 9, so it was my first real intro into Bond.  Cool theme song by the guy from the Beatles.  The 7-Up guy.  Even at 9 years old Jane Seymour made me tingly.  But the movie is really terrible.  Bad guy is pretty lame and the movie is really slow.  What really gets me about it is the normally awesome first scene where Bond does something cool is easily the worst opening scene in a Bond movie.  It's a stupid scene from the UN and the fucking New Orleans funeral parade.  Bond isn't even in it.  Shitting all over the opening scene in a Bond film is sacrilege.   Moore skiing off a mountain and opening a big ass Union Jack flag parachute or Brosnan bungie jumping 1000 feet is a Bond opening.  This is some stupid shit that should have been the first scene after the opening credits where Moore did something cool as shit.  It was his first damn Bond movie, so you'd think our introduction to him would be memorable.  Nope, just sit over there Rog and we'll work you in eventually.  We'll make it up to you when you get to say Bond, James Bond for the first time.  

 

Just kidding.  It's this little light hearted exchange where he sounds like a total pussy

 

I think I go on this anti-LALD rant in every Bond thread and I really want someone to tell me what I'm missing.  I thought this was one of my favorite Bond films until I rewatched it after not seeing it for 40 years.  Really took a big old dump on a childhood memory.  

 

[Rimbo 25980]

4 minutes ago, Go Pokes said:

I think I go on this anti-LALD rant in every Bond thread and I really want someone to tell me what I'm missing.

Nope. I don't think you're missing anything other than childhood innocence.

And, well...we're all missing that.

It's a pretty terrible Bond movie.

[rage-a-holic 4406]

26 minutes ago, Go Pokes said:

I think I go on this anti-LALD rant in every Bond thread and I really want someone to tell me what I'm missing.  I thought this was one of my favorite Bond films until I rewatched it after not seeing it for 40 years.  Really took a big old dump on a childhood memory.  

 

The only good Moore Bond film was The Spy Who Loved Me. You could argue that For Your Eyes Only wasn't terrible, but the rest were dogshit.

[dcbc 14487]

2 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

The only good Moore Bond film was The Spy Who Loved Me. You could argue that For Your Eyes Only wasn't terrible, but the rest were dogshit.

I'll argue that FYEO was better than Spy Who Loved Me.  Spy hasn't aged well with me.  Mostly goofy.  But Moore was the Bond I grew up with.  And that saves some of his efforts where others would rank them lower.

 

This is an ongoing and ever changing list between a buddy an I.  So here's my Bond ranking list.  Obviously, I was a big fan of the Craig Bond movies.  No Time to Die probably should be higher.  I don't know.  It's a lot of movies.

 

 

Casino Royale (2006)

Skyfall

Dr. No

From Russia With Love

Goldfinger

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

You Only Live Twice

Thunderball

For Your Eyes Only

Live and Let Die

The Spy Who Loved Me

No Time to Die

SPECTRE

The Man With the Golden Gun

Quantum of Solace

Golden Eye

The Living Daylights

Octopussy

Diamonds are Forever (only Connery's presence keeps this movie from being lower)

A View to a Kill

Die Another Day

The World is Not Enough

License to Kill

Moonraker

 

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by dcbc

[dcbc 14487]

3 hours ago, Go Pokes said:

LALD came out when I was 9, so it was my first real intro into Bond.  Cool theme song by the guy from the Beatles.  The 7-Up guy.  Even at 9 years old Jane Seymour made me tingly.  But the movie is really terrible.  Bad guy is pretty lame and the movie is really slow.  What really gets me about it is the normally awesome first scene where Bond does something cool is easily the worst opening scene in a Bond movie.  It's a stupid scene from the UN and the fucking New Orleans funeral parade.  Bond isn't even in it.  Shitting all over the opening scene in a Bond film is sacrilege.   Moore skiing off a mountain and opening a big ass Union Jack flag parachute or Brosnan bungie jumping 1000 feet is a Bond opening.  This is some stupid shit that should have been the first scene after the opening credits where Moore did something cool as shit.  It was his first damn Bond movie, so you'd think our introduction to him would be memorable.  Nope, just sit over there Rog and we'll work you in eventually.  We'll make it up to you when you get to say Bond, James Bond for the first time.  

 

Just kidding.  It's this little light hearted exchange where he sounds like a total pussy

 

I think I go on this anti-LALD rant in every Bond thread and I really want someone to tell me what I'm missing.  I thought this was one of my favorite Bond films until I rewatched it after not seeing it for 40 years.  Really took a big old dump on a childhood memory.  

 

The opener is saved by the TItle Song.  The boat scene at the end is pretty great and makes what could have been a relatively forgettable movie a middling one.  Great Bond girl, and probably some other things I can't remember at the moment. 

[Rimbo 25980]

20 minutes ago, dcbc said:

I'll argue that FYEO was better than Spy Who Loved Me.  Spy hasn't aged well with me.  Mostly goofy.  But Moore was the Bond I grew up with.  And that saves some of his efforts where others would rank them lower.

 

This is an ongoing and ever changing list between a buddy an I.  So here's my Bond ranking list.  Obviously, I was a big fan of the Craig Bond movies.  No Time to Die probably should be higher.  I don't know.  It's a lot of movies.

 

 

Casino Royale (2006)

Skyfall

Dr. No

From Russia With Love

Goldfinger

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

You Only Live Twice

Thunderball

For Your Eyes Only

Live and Let Die

The Spy Who Loved Me

No Time to Die

SPECTRE

The Man With the Golden Gun

Quantum of Solace

Golden Eye

The Living Daylights

Octopussy

Diamonds are Forever (only Connery's presence keeps this movie from being lower)

A View to a Kill

Die Another Day

The World is Not Enough

License to Kill

Moonraker

 

 

You know, that's a pretty good list. I'd argue a few of them but overall, it's as good as any list I've seen.

 

 

But hell, this is the thread to bitch and argue, so here I go:

Moonraker I'd rank higher. The scene when he first finds the training facility alone lifts it up a notch. The way he gets Jaws on his side at the end is the best "Bond talks his way out of the situation" moment since Goldfinger. 

And enough people are ranking Thunderball high that I'm thinking I might need to rewatch it. I think my brain was poisoned by having seen Never Say Never Again first, making the story seem crappier than it was.

[dcbc 14487]

13 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

You know, that's a pretty good list. I'd argue a few of them but overall, it's as good as any list I've seen.

 

 

But hell, this is the thread to bitch and argue, so here I go:

Moonraker I'd rank higher. The scene when he first finds the training facility alone lifts it up a notch. The way he gets Jaws on his side at the end is the best "Bond talks his way out of the situation" moment since Goldfinger. 

And enough people are ranking Thunderball high that I'm thinking I might need to rewatch it. I think my brain was poisoned by having seen Never Say Never Again first, making the story seem crappier than it was.

Thanks. I've rearranged this list quite a few times, including before posting it here.  It's a subjective thing, but I've put more thought into it than the topic deserves over the years.

 

Moonraker: I was so over Jaws by the time I saw it.  The Jaws love in space killed it pretty hard for me.  Didn't love the villain.  Just didn't care for it.  

 

I agree that Thunderball generally is overrated.  But it's not bad either.  It got an Oscar for the underwater fight scene.  Great locale.  Cool plot.

Edited February 11, 2023 by dcbc

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

Both Casino Royales.  They make the same point from very different perspectives. 

[rage-a-holic 4406]

18 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

Both Casino Royales.  They make the same point from very different perspectives. 

The 1967 Casino Royale is in no way a Bond film

[Brothahorn 10087]

2 hours ago, dcbc said:

I'll argue that FYEO was better than Spy Who Loved Me.  Spy hasn't aged well with me.  Mostly goofy.  But Moore was the Bond I grew up with.  And that saves some of his efforts where others would rank them lower.

 

This is an ongoing and ever changing list between a buddy an I.  So here's my Bond ranking list.  Obviously, I was a big fan of the Craig Bond movies.  No Time to Die probably should be higher.  I don't know.  It's a lot of movies.

 

 

Casino Royale (2006)

Skyfall

Dr. No

From Russia With Love

Goldfinger

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

You Only Live Twice

Thunderball

For Your Eyes Only

Live and Let Die

The Spy Who Loved Me

No Time to Die

SPECTRE

The Man With the Golden Gun

Quantum of Solace

Golden Eye

The Living Daylights

Octopussy

Diamonds are Forever (only Connery's presence keeps this movie from being lower)

A View to a Kill

Die Another Day

The World is Not Enough

License to Kill

Moonraker

 

 

Thank you for giving On Her Majesty's Secret Service the respect it deserves. Too many people overlook a very good movie.

 

How many people have seen the original Casino Royale?

 

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Brothahorn

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

25 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

The 1967 Casino Royale is in no way a Bond film

They both make fun of how ridiculous James Bond movies are. 

[dcbc 14487]

5 minutes ago, Brothahorn said:

Thank you for giving On Her Majesty's Secret Service the respect it deserves. Too many people overlook a very good movie.

 

How many people have seen the original Casino Royale?

 

 

Diana Rigg

 

Also, I'm a sucker for skiing sequences, hence one of the reasons, I love for For Your Eyes Only.

[Rimbo 25980]

4 hours ago, Rimbo said:

And enough people are ranking Thunderball high that I'm thinking I might need to rewatch it. I think my brain was poisoned by having seen Never Say Never Again first, making the story seem crappier than it was.

Yep. Rewatching it now. As soon as the scenes in the clinc start, I get flashbacks to the same, but worse, scenes from Never Say Never Again. And it's hard to enjoy the scenes as they are without that other movie poisoning the experience.

[C-Man 27230]

Yep. Rewatching it now. As soon as the scenes in the clinc start, I get flashbacks to the same, but worse, scenes from Never Say Never Again. And it's hard to enjoy the scenes as they are without that other movie poisoning the experience.

OG Thunderball is greatness.

“Vargas does not drink, does not make love. What do you do, Vargas?”

(Or something like that. Been a long time since I’ve seen that flick.)

[Rimbo 25980]

23 minutes ago, C-Man said:

OG Thunderball is greatness.

“Vargas does not drink, does not make love. What do you do, Vargas?”

(Or something like that. Been a long time since I’ve seen that flick.)

Yeah, it was better than I remembered. The final act's underwater scenes drag on a bit, but most everything up to that is great.

[52-80 19169]

Im not predisposed to the whole Bond-lore and Bond-dom. Ive tried watching the entire series chronographically a few times. 

The standouts from a pure watchability perspective:

From Russia with Love. Has the most exotic feel, and all the intrigue I associate with the franchise. 

The Living Daylights. Hey…a Dalton special. Its not particularly terrific but im fond of some of the locations. 

Skyfall because Javier Bardem is great. 

Dr No deserves credit for being the original and whichever one has the ski chase for being iconic. 
 

Most of the old Bond is wayyy too hokey  and I dont understand infatuation with Casino Royale besides for Eva Green…

Edited February 11, 2023 by 52-80

[Texzilla58 4738]

Thank you for giving On Her Majesty's Secret Service the respect it deserves. Too many people overlook a very good movie.
 
How many people have seen the original Casino Royale?
 
 

OHMSS got panned from the get go because the critics couldn’t believe Lazenbyz , a model, was playing Bond. It’s always been underranked, and I believe had Connery done it it might have been his best. I always rewatch it and its aged well.

[Augustus 3061]

22 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

The only good Moore Bond film was The Spy Who Loved Me. You could argue that For Your Eyes Only wasn't terrible, but the rest were dogshit.

For Your Eyes Only wasn't bad at all.  I've always enjoyed that one.

You get Topol, who's terrific, and you get a young Carole Bouquet who was Drop. Dead. Gorgeous.

As Bond films go, it wasn't full of outlandish stuff.