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| Let's see you get out of this one, Mr Bond... (oops, sorry, wrong Yaphet Kotto movie) |
Dr. No (1962-Sean Connery) C (slow start to the series but it has its moments)
From Russia With Love (1963-Sean Connery) B (much improved but a weak ending)
Goldfinger (1964-Sean Connery) A (self effacing, good humoured, silly, a great theme song and a terrific climax. It also contains my favourite Bond dialogue: Pussy: "I'm Pussy Galore." Bond: "Of course you are.")
Thunderball (1965-Sean Connery) B (pretty thin beer this, too many underwater sequences, but three gorgeous female leads)
You Only Live Twice (1967-Sean Connery) B (I quite liked this one and it had the first classic Bond secret-fortress-explosion-denoument)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969-George Lazenby) B (a bit of a shocker this: Lazenby is good! Diana Rigg is great. The music is fantastic. The ending perfect)
Diamonds Are Forever (1971-Sean Connery) D (wrong direction completely for the series here)
Live and Let Die (1973-Roger Moore) A (Moore's first. Great theme, great villain (Yaphet Kotto), great Bond girl (Jane Seymour) lots of witty scenes and stunts)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974-Roger Moore) F (what a disaster, even with the impeccable Christopher Lee)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977-Roger Moore) A (ever notice the connection between great opening titles and themes and the better James Bond films? - is this the best Bond theme song? The rest of the film is pretty well crafted too)
Moonraker (1979-Roger Moore) D (Yikes. They keep doing this to Roger Moore, just when he has some momentum going they stick him in a clunker). For Your Eyes Only (1981-Roger Moore) D (Carol Bouquet is in this one which gets it above an E)
Octopussy (1983-Roger Moore) E (its starting to get embarrassing now)
A View to a Kill (1985-Roger Moore) F (the nadir)
The Living Daylights (1987-Timothy Dalton) C (Timothy Dalton gives it a shot - he's ok)
Licence to Kill (1989-Timothy Dalton) E (the poor chap looks tired and fed up all the way through)
GoldenEye (1995-Pierce Brosnan) B (new life in the franchise but I'm not really convinced by Brosnan)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997-Pierce Brosnan) C (it's getting pretty silly already)
The World is Not Enough (1999-Pierce Brosnan) D (over the top and not very bright)
Die Another Day (2002-Pierce Brosnan) E (please stop now. Oh, they did, I see)
Casino Royale (2006-Daniel Craig) C (lots of people loved this, not me. I thought it was at least half an hour too long and often quite dull)
Quantum of Solace (2008-Daniel Craig) F (tied with Golden Gun for the worst Bond)
OTHER BONDS
Casino Royale (1967-David Niven & Peter Sellers) C
Never Say Never Again (1983-Sean Connery) B
21 comments:
I haven't seen all the Bond films, but those I have seen, my thoughts pretty much run in tandem with yours with the possible exceptions of the Timothy Dalton films (I liked 'em) and Never Say Never Again, which I thought was dull dull dull.
I think I was five or six when my parents took me to the cinema to see Live and Let Die. It terrified me. I had nightmares for weeks about snakes and black guys with painted faces. To this day, Voodoo scenes in films freak me out.
Michael
I'll admit that in Never Say Never Again I was slightly distracted by the worry that Bond's wig was going to fall off. Had the same concern in Wrath of Khan when Kirk shouts "Khaaannn!"
I haven't seen them all, but for the ones I have seen, I'd pretty much agree except for Golden Eye, I rather liked that one, and the last two I'd give an F. I couldn't even keep my eyes open for them.
The books however have been fun to read, and I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying them.
Ive been falling asleep to Bond movies for the last couple of weeks. Ive been lent the whole lot.I like them all except the Brosnan and Daniel Craig. Craig looks like a brickie to me. I went to a Bond exhibition with all the gadjets and cars, that was fun.
Your ratings are spot on - at least that's how I see them now, I would have given quite different ratings when they first came out (I started seeing them in the theatres from about Live and Let Die on until about A View to a Kill and then I took a break until Casino Royale and I agree with you about that one).
I also remember the MAD Magazine take-off on Live and Let Die that was mostly about how the movie might not be that good but they had Paul McCartney doing the theme song (you kids may not remember that in the mid-70's with Band on the Run and then Wings Over America McCartney was repesctable.
Adrian:
If you want to take a break from the Bond-movie marathon, take a look at a post on Crooked Timber titled, "Political Fiction and Contemporary Ireland" http://crookedtimber.org/2011/03/09/political-fiction-and-contemporary-ireland/#more-19243
Brosnan could not throw a punch convincingly. Both he and DiCaprio have legs like twigs - be like having a piece of paper thrown on you.
Glenna
Goldeneye was the best of the Brosnans certainly.
Frankie
I find Craig very unconvincing. Some people really like him though and he somehow wooed Rachel Weisz from one of the most powerful directors in Hollywood and you've got to give him points for that.
John
Its got some dodgy racial politics too Live and Let Die. I wouldnt want to read what bell hooks has to say about that one.
Speedskater
Dec Burke has been the same thing for years now. Its definitely a trend, the whole crime fiction thing.
Matt
Have you seen this bit from Steve Coogan's The Trip?
James Bond...kill the villains, love the tawny jiggling ladies and leave 'em smiling on the touseled round bed in the Busted Flush when the sun rises on a warm spring day in South Florida. The brilliance of a new sun breaks over Bahia del Mar and made me believe for a moment that all was right with the world. Until I spotted the shiny new Bentley with a man I knew leaning against the fender. Bond. James Bond. The man who had tried to kill me.
BRIGHT WIND FROM MOUNTAIN
My friend Rachel has never seen a Bond film. Not a single one.
I recently read a few of the books and think that Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig have got the closest to the character.
The books do have the problem of racism/misogyny etc. but I suppose you have to read them as being 'of their time'. They are terrificly good fun and don't hang around longer than they need to.
As for theme songs, most of them are great but I agree on the Carly Simon.
This is the best cover version of it
p.s. I though the Sebastian Faulks Bond book was terrific fun and it just stayed the right side of pastiche.
p.p.s. The Trip is one of the funniest / best things I have seen for ages.
p.p.p.s. This is one of those great 'what if' stories
Ben Hecht Writes Bond
Tangentially on topic, I really liked Sebastian Faulks' Engleby. It's somewhat creepy, but good.
Completely off topic, I read a very interesting interview about the publishing industry in Poets and Writers today. The interviewee is someone who has actually studied the mechanics of the whole thing. It's discouraging, but enlightening.
Bright Wind
And of course in Thunderball we discover that the city they are going to nuke is Miami. An odd choice considering its spread out nature but there you go
Rob
The Trip is great.
Jason Statham ... need I say more?
You cant have grown up in the UK and not seen a Bond film unless you were really dedicated about it. Its pretty impressive in its own way.
Seana
The model just doesnt work anymore. It just doesnt. I suppose my children are going to starve.
Thank god it's a two income household.
Also, that your children seem quite resourceful. Better be nice to them now, before they wield all the power.
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