Poll: Favorite James Bond film

I agree there.

 

Same here.

 

Mine too! I have two different ones. One is the big band theme and the other is the guitar theme.

 

Not the only one, just the .0001%

 

I watched them all again a few months ago. My opinion hasn't changed and for the same reason.
Its 'Dr. No'
If that turned out to be a bust, then no From Russia with Love or Goldfinger. No series, it would have died

 

No, generally all there are are behind-the-scenes shots, interviews with the filmmakers and actors, and so on. I agree, it'd be interesting if the studios and the Broccoli family (Eon Productions) would dive into the vault and release all the cut scenes from the various Bond films. Watch them do this when all the Bond films are inevitably released in 4K...

I don't completely agree with you, but I've said many times that I thought the first 20 minutes of Thunderball was the best segment of a Bond film ever -- the jet pack, the guy getting electrocuted at the SPECTRE meeting, the whole thing. Just fantastic. But once the underwater scenes start happening, it gets boring very quickly. It would've worked much better as a straight 100-hour movie, not a 130-minute boring mess. Thunderball is at least half an hour too long.

 

You want 100 hours of "Thunderball"? That's crazy talk!

Though I'd be happy with 100 hours of this:



Or this:

 

Well, if they had another 5-6 minutes of Goldfinger or You Only Live Twice or From Russia with Love or even the later films, I don't think anybody would sweat it.

BTW, I hear they're frantically working on the editing of SPECTRE, which is a troubled film. I hope they can get it together by November, when the film opens...

 

I hope you mean minutes because if you do - in fact - mean hours, I'm worried for you...seriously worried.

All kidding aside, I completely agree with your assessment on the first part of that movie. It's tight, it's suspenseful and it's got action. As for underwater fight scenes, if they never put them in another Bond movie, I'd be happy. Actually, would be happy for no underwater scenes at all. Recently watched the Nolte film The Deep and I swear almost a good hour of that movie is ruined by underwater scenes (well, except for the opening scene, which is just...classic).

 

Dr No surprised me when I recently re-watched it. Tight, noir-style film with limited gadgets and a lot of mystery and probably my favorite of Connery. The ending was a bit of a letdown, although I was cracking up when Bond was walking around in the lair with that radiation suit on, obviously pretending to blend in. It's a scene ripe for spoofing (I'm sure someone's done it before).

 

Beggars belief !!!
What no for votes Olga ?

 

Sorry, a late-night typo -- minutes it is.

I worked on both versions of that movie (extended version and theatrical cut), and both are very, very, very long. The studio was desperately hoping for another Jaws sensation, and it didn't quite happen.

The underwater John Barry music also got tedious after awhile. He did brilliant work under some circumstances -- I think the score for On Her Majesty's Secret Service was stellar -- but sometimes the music of the later films sounded derivative and draggy.

 

I can't choose. One of these three:

From Russia With Love
The Living Daylights
GoldenEye


shocked at how many votes Casino Royale got.

 

What about the two Dalton films?

 

Shoot' brain fart typo.
What no votes for Olga ?

 

Why could you only vote for one??

I have many I love!!

 

Every "James Bond" film ranked from worst to best:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayl...0151105?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Although I disagree with quite a few things on this list, it's still an interesting write-up.

 

I was swapping TV channels last night and I noticed that "Dr. No" was on followed by two more recent flicks (one was "Die Another Day" - I forget the other).

I turned in to "Dr. No". I've never watched it all the way thru... and alas, I couldn't do it this time either - because I tuned in too late.

Looks like the same three titles will be repeated several times on the same channel this week (UHD - or Universal HD - I think).

I was very impressed with how good the "Dr. No" print looked. For some reason, I expected black and white. Was "Dr. No" the second in the series or first ?

The bikini scene with Ursula Andress is most definitely worth its legendary status.

I fell asleep at some point and woke up when the later titles were airing... they were far too noisy in comparison. Just constant special effect noise (gun shots, explosions, etc). The older title actually had the famous guitar instrumental in a scene in the middle of the movie. I'm used to that only being used briefly - like during the gun barrel thing at the intro.

 

Dr. No was the first. It was chosen because it had only one location (Jamaica) thus making it cheaper to film than, say, Thunderball.

 

One of my favorite characteristics of Dr. No is how much it feels like a detective movie rather than a flat-out action film.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

I was torn between voting for DR NO or ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE.

I went with DR. NO. It's one of the best films ever made by the British. Imaginative, innovative, bold. A milestone. Expertly directed and superbly written. Sean Connery is brilliant in it. He's everything James Bond should be, intelligent yet blunt, cruel yet compassionate, suave and romantic, gracefully athletic, dangerously dedicated. And he's the only authentic 007 because he's the only actor who had the advantage of conferencing with Ian Fleming.

This is what James Bond looks like:

 

I am surprised there aren't more votes for The Spy Who Loved Me - I always thought that was one of the best, if not the best, of the Moore films.

 

Connery: Goldfinger
Moore: The Spy Who Loved Me
Craig: Casino Royale (Skyfall a close second)
Other: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

 

And I would agree:

http://www.dvdmg.com/spywholovedmeue.shtml

However, the best Moore doesn't compete with the best Connery, which is why "SWLM" isn't getting more votes...

 

The Spy Who Loved Me looks spectacular; the camerawork by Claude Renoir is immaculate.

But I have zero tolerance for the film. It was a serious misstep in tone and approach. Jaws just ruins it. Jaws undermines the viability of the whole thing. An indestructible giant with stainless steel teeth played for laughs takes me out of the story and makes me aware I'm watching a very stupid movie. Before anyone compares him with Oddjob, remember that Oddjob was vulnerable and could be beaten; he wasn't required to be superhuman. So long as Jaws is involved there is no suspense, no sense of risk or danger, no suspension of disbelief. From that point on the film turns into self-parody and slapstick to such a degree that Bond ceases to have any value or believability as drama, as character interaction, as an action - espionage thriller. They make a steaming pile out of it. A lot of Bond fans in the summer of 1977 were pretty disgusted with the producers when they saw what had been done to the franchise, even as the film misled a whole new generation into thinking that a James Bond film was supposed to be like a Pink Panther extravaganza.

Take away Jaws and the second ending and there might be a James Bond film in all that mess.