Favorite Bond Movie?

[KronoRed]

Krono has "The World Is Not Enough" at 13 and 20, but omits "Tomorrow Never Dies."

Whoops.

[KronoRed]

Problem with an ongoing villain is at the end you can end up with a little inspector gadget routine "I'll get you next time!"

[RedsBaron]

And as RedsBaron said earlier, Thunderball had a near perfect plot. It had it all, plausible gadgets, a real threat of stolen nukes, the perfect villians, and a magnificant babe.

Claudine Auger (whose voice was dubbed) was a beautiful woman, but she wasn't the early choice to play "Domino." At one point Raquel Welch was to play the role--THAT would've been memorable casting IMO.
I think a few of the other "Bond girl" roles could've been better cast. For example, while Denise Richards certainly was physically qualified for her role in "The World Is Not Enough," she was not credible at all as a nuclear physicist and, while she was nearly age 30 by then, she looked more like a 19 year old. A Catherine Zeta-Jones or Elizabeth Hurley would've brought the necessary beauty to the part while also appearing to be more mature. Of course, they might have demanded a bigger salary, and by then Hurley had appeared in an Austin Powers movie.
Appearing as a "Bond girl" has rarely seemed to help an actress's career, but a part I've always wished I could've cast was the role of Tatiana Romanova in "From Russia With Love." This was as close to a perfect 007 film as has ever been made, but I've never been that taken with Daniela Bianchi (whose voice was dubbed) in the role. I can think of another actress, of Russian ancestry, who would've been the right age and had the right look and acting chops for that role in 1963: Natalie Wood.
I've also never thought that Blofeld was well cast. As I previously posted, I wasn't taken by Donald Pleasence, who lacked presence of menace. Telly Savalas came off as an American gangster, nothing more. Charles Gray was just bad.

[Sean_CaseyRules]

Mine is Goldeneye, and i liked the game also, that helped me pick, but then Dr. No is a VERY close second.

[Nugget]

Not officially Bond films but then James Bond in them nevertheless.

Never Say Never Again - has a young Kim Basinger

Casino Royale - David Niven is the ultimate distinguished Englishman

[SunDeck]

I was never thrilled with Roger Moore...he wasn't really macho enough. I really liked Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan. Favorites were probably "Goldfinger" and "Goldeneye."

Agreed, and those are my two favorites, too.
One thing about Bond is that his character isn't convincing unless I feel like he can kick my tail. Then again, the fashion of the times didn't help Moore in the least. No man in sans-a-belt slacks ever looks threatening.

[Ltlabner]

I was going to start a Bond thread but found this one instead (search function is great).

There is no Bond other than Sean. All the others had moments that were good and flashes of Bond-ness, but Sean = BOND.

I liked Thunderball but prefered Luciana Paluzzi to Claudine Auger personally in the looks department. It was a strong story and had nice locations and villans. The villans didn't have goofy reasons why they were bad guys (couldn't feal any pain? Jaws?) they were just plain nasty dudes. Connery was at his best as the suave, mega-confident, smooth and arrogent Bond.

You only Live Twice was good but got a little goofy with the volcano showdown fight sceen. The poster that said Connery looked bored was right. At the time he wanted out of the Bond role and demanded $1million sallary thinking they would turn him down. They didn't and he was "stuck" doing the movie. Also, his first marriage was falling apart.

Diamonds are Forever had all the right elements but fell short in the construction of the movie. It's grown on me as a Bond movie but it still has the stink of the '70's that tarnishes it. It didn't help that the effects of age were obvious on Connery so he was no longer the dashing, good looking Bond. He beacame the Polyester Bond.

I apprecate From Russia with Love and Dr. No now that I am older. You can see Bond as a yonger agent, not quite as self-assured, not quite as suave. The sceen in Dr. No where M takes away his Berretta and the armour calls it a "womans" gun was a perfect reminder that Bond in the field was different than Bond in the office. The films were an aproximation of a young agent practicing and learning his craft. It wasn't until after Goldfinger that M begrudingly showed Bond some respect (in Thunderball a minster questions Bond's skills and M shuts him down quickly).

Goldfinger was it for me. Thunderball was a perfect answer to Goldfinger but, to me, Goldfinger holds up as the better movie. It has the glitz, the glamour, the ferocity, the sex, etc and the benefit of being first. Thunderball prob had a better villian and was more "plausable" (if that can be said about any Bond movie) but Goldfinger mixed the pluasable with the wacky take over the world stuff and made it all work.

Anyway, it's a holliday Friday and I thought I would wax a bit for my good friend, Bond, James Bond.

[Sweetstop]

You're definitely right about still-sexy-after-all-these-years Sean Connery BEING 007. I even liked him in Never Say Never Again....partial to Goldfinger though.

I wanted Clive Owen, who reminds me of a young Connery, for the new Bond, rather than the peculiar Daniel Craig choice.


Ian Fleming supposedly modeled his character after Cary Grant. If younger when the movies were started, he would have been ideal.

[Ltlabner]

Ian Fleming supposedly modeled his character after Cary Grant. If younger when the movies were started, he would have been ideal.

Interesting...I didn't know that.

Grant certinally had the polished suave bit down but I don't know if he could have pulled off the brutal/ugly side. Maybe.

[Sweetstop]

Interesting...I didn't know that.

Grant certinally had the polished suave bit down but I don't know if he could have pulled off the brutal/ugly side. Maybe.

Have you seen Hitchcock's "Notorious"? Cary definitely had a dark side.

[Ltlabner]

Have you seen Hitchcock's "Notorious"? Cary definitely had a dark side.

Yea....I guess you are right. I just get "To Catch a Theif" , "House Boat" and "Opperation Petticoat" stuck in my mind when I think of Cary.

And it's hard to go back when you have everything modeled after Connery.

[Rojo]

Ian Fleming supposedly modeled his character after Cary Grant. If younger when the movies were started, he would have been ideal.

Anybody read the Bond books. I tried once and found them off-putting. I'm not the PC-police, but the one I read was racist and misogynistic.

I'll stick to the movies.

[Ltlabner]

Anybody read the Bond books. I tried once and found them off-putting. I'm not the PC-police, but the one I read was racist and misogynistic.

I'll stick to the movies.

I've not read them personally, but everything I have heard about them is that (A) the storylines are radically different than the movies and (B) Bond's charicter is portrayed much, much differently than what they created in the movies.

[Sweetstop]

I've not read any Fleming except Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to my children years ago.

[Ltlabner]

From the Roger Moore movies:

Live & Let Die: Actually a pretty good movie. Would have liked to see Connery tackle this but I think it was more towards Moore's style.
Man w/Golden Gun: Just plain horrible.
Spy who Loved Me: The 2nd best opening story sceen (union jack parachute) good story, decent action, but the villian & his plan to start a new world order was pretty lame, Jaws was lame and the final showdown was lame.
Moonraker: Possibly worse than MWGG
For Your Eyes Only: The best of Moore's movies. Good plot, good story, The ski down the dogsled course sceen was great. The movie got off track with the horrible early 80's "lifestyles of the rich and famous" soundtrack and spending too much time on Bibi Dahl's charicter (the wild eye youngster who tried to force herself on Bond)
Octap***y: Interesting story line but Moore's age was starting to show. Some interesting action sequences and plot. Had this been done earlier it might have been a great movie. Horrible final sceen with Bond clinging to the outside of the aeroplane.
View to a Kill: Dreadfull. Moore was far too old to be believable, the plot was a rehash of Goldfinger, Roberts was just plain annoying. Bond driving a Ford LTD and wearing a "Members Only" jacket?!?!? Should have never been made. The only saving grace was Walkens villan. Shame he didn't get a chance in a different movie.

And yes, for those interested, I do need to get out more often!