Poll: Favorite James Bond film

Goldfinger for me.

 

Same here(except The Man With The Golden Gun) - Moonraker is underrated.

 

I also think Moonraker is one of John Barry's best scores for the series.

 

I've always had a soft spot for You Only Live Twice because of the theme song, the location, the ladies and the fight sequences, although I admit it gets silly toward the second half (volcano, "Little Nellie"). So I'll go with that one to give it some love here.

Goldeneye would have been my next choice, because the franchise seemed nearly dead until it came along. I still feel that Pierce Brosnan had a couple good Bond films left in him. That said I think Craig has done a good job, and I did think Skyfall was quite good.

I enjoy all the Bond films, even the bad ones

 

Some of those are pretty bad. But I think Pierce Brosnan made a terrific Bond, and I enjoyed most of his films. I think when the films kind of disintegrated into total self-parody, they lost a lot of the danger of the earlier films.

I would put On Her Majesty's Secret Service at the top of Barry's list.

 

There are a number of ways this could go. I can't merely choose one so I voted for my first and childhood favorite Live and Let Die.

As far as a best overall choice, it has to be down to the Terrence Young crafted From Russia With Love and the masterful On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The former has more of the movie magic of 007, where the latter has more of the Fleming literary magic of 007.

As it wore on the series became more and more of a tried and true old friend and less of the innovative, dangerous and exciting ride it was in the early 60's. This occurred for innumerable reasons, but chiefly I think due to the leaving of key team members over the years and a greater desire to market directly to tastes of the times. What has most hurt the films in the modern era is the distinct lack of presence and identity. The stories have never been centrally rooted or defined, an thus the films begin to flap around like a fish out of water. This severely damaged any effectiveness Brosnan had or could have had, and is absolutely insurmountable in the filth today.

You know, now that OHMSS and Lazenby are actually acknowledged by people other than us raving mad Bond fanatics, maybe its time that more people give Timothy Dalton the credit he so richly deserved 37 years ago. God, he was magnificent! What George did so well in OHMSS was convey the sense of a misused and beaten agent who had grown tired of the games as Fleming had written. But Dalton went unbelievably beyond this and actually embodied the character of this blunt instrument who was yet very much still his own man caught in the irony of being a licensed killer who dislikes killing, a knight errant kept on a string-all without losing or desecrating who and what the character was!!!!!! Cubby Broccoli was absolutely right in that an audience does not want to see a rookie Bond, a shadow of the hero the world adores, and what you must do is somehow achieve the perfect balance between the reality of Fleming's creation and the cinematic fantasy.

Again it all boils down to the inescapable method: A Terrence Young Bond or a Guy Hamilton Bond. A From Russia With Love or a Goldfinger.

Best Bond performance: tie for Connery in Dr. No, Lazenby, Moore in Live and Let Die, Dalton in The Living Daylights
Best score: OHMSS
Best script: Any of Richard Maibaum's. He was the heart of the series.
Best female companion: Tracy
Best cinematography: FRWL, YOLT or OHMSS
Best villains: Unseen Blofeld, Dr. No, Emilio Largo
Villain in need of a better film: Zorin
Last great Bond film: The Living Daylights

Most underrated:
score-The Man With the Golden Gun followed by Goldeneye and Licence to Kill
film-The Living Daylights

And for the last time: Moonraker is not bad nor is The Man with the Golden Gun!

 

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the one I don't watch and have only watched twice.

 

Lazenby was ruthless in his non acting!

 

I don't get the fascination of this film either......I thought it was terrible....and one of the worst James bond films. It did terrible at the box office

 

From Russia With Love is my choice. Goldfinger would be a close second.

 

My personal list:

Dr. No: B+
From Russia With Love: A+
Goldfinger: A+
Thunderball: C
You Only Live Twice: C-
On Her Majesty's Secret Service: B+
Diamonds Are Forever: B-
Live and Let Die: B
The Man With the Golden Gun: C+
The Spy Who Loved Me: B+
Moonraker: D
For Your Eyes Only: B-
Never Say Never Again: A+
Octopussy: A-
A View to a Kill: C
The Living Daylights: B+
Licence to Kill: A+
Goldeneye: A-
Tomorrow Never Dies: C-
The World Is Not Enough: B+
Die Another day: D-
Casino Royale: A
Quantum of Solace: C
Skyfall: A

 

My choices for best Bond film for each Bond Actor:

Connery: From Russia With Love
Lazenby: What else?
Moore: The Spy Who Loved Me
Dalton: License to Kill
Brosnan: GoldenEye
Craig: Casino Royale (based on the 2 that followed, I doubt he will top his Casino in the future)

 

Goldfinger

 

Only Bond films with the kiss kiss bang bang factor get graded.

Dr. No: A
From Russia With Love: A
Goldfinger: A
Thunderball: B
You Only Live Twice: B
On Her Majesty's Secret Service: A+
Diamonds Are Forever: B
Live and Let Die: B
Never Say Never Again: B+
Casino Royale: A

 

I'm confused. Did you not watch it, or did you watch it twice?

It's actually a good movie, but I'd agree that George Lazenby was not a great actor. The script and production were phenomenal, and it actually sticks very, very close to the novel. Old school Bond films traditionally will tell you that Goldfinger, From Russia with Love, and OHMSS are the three films that came the closest to the books, and all three work well as films, too.

 

And what truly makes OHMSS special is twofold: 1. Richard Maibaum was finally allowed to write a Bond script that stuck to the novel faithfully without deviating wildly. 2. Editor Peter Hunt was finally allowed to direct after editing the first five films. An avowed follower of director Terrence Young, he brought his innate knowledge of the series and a conscious desire to bring 007 back to earth in all his two-fisted human glory. The opening teaser is still the best Bond moment ever filmed.

As a film alone it is the best of the series. As a Bond film, it is arguably No. 1.

I can argue for any of the films...even the lesser ones have great qualities within. It's when you get to the 90's that things start to unravel-primarily in the story department and having a general lack of direction. Never Say Never Again is a mess, and Casino Royale is a pop art trash kitchen sink masterpiece. Then I try and forget post-2002 ever happened.

 

I'll add the opening of The Living Daylights is pretty faithful to the short story. The rest of the film is an attempt to carry on past the story's ending.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs (a horrible Bond nerd who has seen all the films and has read all the original and the continuation novels featuring the adult James Bond...)

 

You're not the only one! I love the glazed over look that usually comes with suggesting a Gardner or Benson novel.

 

I only this year got around to reading Pearson's James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, which is a bit of a hoot.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

A few votes for this one.

 

Yes. I agree !

 

Have to go with OHMSS although it was super tough between Casino vs. this one.

Something special about OHMSS from opening scene with this never happened to the other fella right to the very end with Tracy dying...

Never realized Bond would actually fall in love and get married...

 

Sean Connery is my favorite Mr. Bond, so voted for Goldfinger

 

For that reason, I think that OHMSS would be a good candidate for a remake with Daniel Craig, despite the fact that the first film was one of the best Bond movies.

Perhaps the theme of a lost love interest was similarly covered in "Casino Royale" but he didn't actually get married in that film.

Imagine a 2 or 3 film arc, Bond finally gets married, his wife is killed at the end by the megalomaniacal head of an international crime ring and he spends the next film tracking down and exacting revenge on his wife's murderer. That could have happened in the 1970s, I am not sure why they did not pursue that angle because it appeared to be set up that way at the end of OHMSS. And no, don't tell me that this is what happened in Diamonds are Forever.