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What are the essential Bond movies?


Rimbo

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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.

 

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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. 

6a8599888a094e708d00437b737cf5e0.jpg

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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

 

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

 

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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.

 

daylights.PNG

kill.PNG

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

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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.

 

daylights.PNG

kill.PNG

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.

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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 GunThe 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. 

 

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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.  

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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.

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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.  

 

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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.

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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.

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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

 

 

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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?

 

 

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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.

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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. :(

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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.)
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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.

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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…

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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.
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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.

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