Rank all the Bond Films!

Drax wrote:

Drax wrote:

1) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2) Goldfinger
3) From Russia With Love
4) Moonraker
5) Thunderball
6) Dr. No
7) Quantum of Solace
8) Diamonds are Forever
9) You Only Live Twice
10) The Man With the Golden Gun
11) The Living Daylights

List extended for PKK :p

I appreciate TLD much more now than I ever have before, and I could envision it eventually creeping up to 8...we'll see :D

Cool, GL! 8) In some ways, TLD is the last truly classic Bond film partially because it's the last one with a score composed by John Barry.

EyelessCougar wrote:

It's so boring, I can't watch it.

Change the name of the character Roger Moore plays in it to Simon Templar and I'd call it the best episode of The Saint ever filmed.

Haven't done of these in a while:

001) TB
002) TLD
003) MR
004) OHMSS
005) CR
006) FRWL
007) YOLT
008) OP
009) GF
0010) DN
0011) TMWTGG
0012) TSWLM
0013) DAF
0014) DAD
0015) LTK
0016) TND
0017) NSNA
0018) GE
0019) FYEO
0020) LALD
0021) AVTAK
0022) TWINE
0023) QOS

Essentially, TLD, CR, my 3 favorite Moore films and all of the 1960s Bond films pretty much are my top half of the series.

The Spy Who Loved Me
Moonraker
Diamonds Are Forever
You Only Live Twice
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
Goldfinger
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
A View to a Kill
Thunderball
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day
Tomorrow Never Dies
GoldenEye
From Russia with Love
Live and Let Die
The Man with the Golden Gun
The Living Daylights
Doctor No
Licence to Kill
Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace

Capsule in Space wrote:

The Spy Who Loved Me
Moonraker
Diamonds Are Forever
You Only Live Twice
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
Goldfinger
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
A View to a Kill
Thunderball
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day
Tomorrow Never Dies
GoldenEye
From Russia with Love
Live and Let Die
The Man with the Golden Gun
The Living Daylights
Doctor No
Licence to Kill
Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace

Interesting list. Why Moonraker over Spy? If you'd reverse that you'd be the first person I ever met to rank MR #1 and for that I would shake your hand :D Second place is still quite commendable though. The Brosnans before FRWL and DN...that's a bit harder to swallow :p

[quote="Drax"]

Capsule in Space wrote:

Interesting list. Why Moonraker over Spy? If you'd reverse that you'd be the first person I ever met to rank MR #1 and for that I would shake your hand :D Second place is still quite commendable though. The Brosnans before FRWL and DN...that's a bit harder to swallow :p

Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me are almost tied, but The Spy Who Loved Me just edges out Moonraker for me. Why?

-I love the Lotus Esprit chase sequence. Roger at his best with his reactions to a winking Naomi, and discovering that a fish has made its way into his car/submarine (I know that many Bond fans find these elements to be very cringe worthy. Those fans might want to skip the rest of this post entirely).
-I like the opening sequence better (although Moonraker's is terrific).
-I like the music better. The title song is one of my favorites. I am a disco apologist.
-Roger Moore has his best dramatic scene of the series when his character admits that he killed Anya's lover.

I could go on and on. I'll just finish by stating that Moonraker certainly has its share of wonderful elements, but I think TSWLM might have one or two more. They were both very well done. What are your reasons for putting Moonraker so high?

I am also a Brosnan apologist. I think he was great in the role. I do like Connery better, but From Russia with Love and Dr. No are just too rudimentary for my tastes.

Capsule in Space wrote:

I could go on and on. I'll just finish by stating that Moonraker certainly has its share of wonderful elements, but I think TSWLM might have one or two more. They were both very well done. What are your reasons for putting Moonraker so high?

I have a few :)

1) John Barry As I've said before if the (much maligned) outer space sequences of this film had existed or no other reason than to turn John Barry's attention to the starry vastness of the heavens for inspiration, then that alone would have entirely justified their presence in the film. The Moonraker score is one of my favorites of the series, and one of the most potently beautiful of Barry's. The moment in Flight into Space where the sun appears and the song kicks into a march...is one of my favorite moments in the series.

2) Moore puts in his (imho) ultimate performance as Bond. LALD and TMWTGG saw him (unsuccessfully) trying to either find his way or emulate Connery, TSWLM found him finally getting his stride and in MR he perfected it. He is playing perfectly to his own strengths in the film, epitomized in the PTS when, unruffled and full Leisure Suit Larry attire his response to being told at gunpoint to exist the plane is to simply cock an eyebrow and quip "a little...premature, isn't it?". He also manages to be deadly serious and in command when need be (within the context of the movie)-- the centrefuge scene could have come right out of Thunderball. In fact I would say that MR was the closest we ever got after Connery departed in '71 to the true feel of the early classic films. Which brings me to...

3) Ken Adam and Bernard Lee both hit it out of the park, with this unfortunately being Lee's final film.

4) Lonsdale's Drax is one of my favorite villains and his plan is one of the most terrifiying and effectively evocative of all the Bond villain. schemes.

In a nutshell Moonraker to me is a perfectly realized comic-book escapist romp. They don't make them like this anymore.

Drax wrote:

Capsule in Space wrote:

I could go on and on. I'll just finish by stating that Moonraker certainly has its share of wonderful elements, but I think TSWLM might have one or two more. They were both very well done. What are your reasons for putting Moonraker so high?

I have a few :)

1) John Barry As I've said before if the (much maligned) outer space sequences of this film had existed or no other reason than to turn John Barry's attention to the starry vastness of the heavens for inspiration, then that alone would have entirely justified their presence in the film. The Moonraker score is one of my favorites of the series, and one of the most potently beautiful of Barry's. The moment in Flight into Space where the sun appears and the song kicks into a march...is one of my favorite moments in the series.

2) Moore puts in his (imho) ultimate performance as Bond. LALD and TMWTGG saw him (unsuccessfully) trying to either find his way or emulate Connery, TSWLM found him finally getting his stride and in MR he perfected it. He is playing perfectly to his own strengths in the film, epitomized in the PTS when, unruffled and full Leisure Suit Larry attire his response to being told at gunpoint to exist the plane is to simply cock an eyebrow and quip "a little...premature, isn't it?". He also manages to be deadly serious and in command when need be (within the context of the movie)-- the centrefuge scene could have come right out of Thunderball. In fact I would say that MR was the closest we ever got after Connery departed in '71 to the true feel of the early classic films. Which brings me to...

3) Ken Adam and Bernard Lee both hit it out of the park, with this unfortunately being Lee's final film.

4) Lonsdale's Drax is one of my favorite villains and his plan is one of the most terrifiying and effectively evocative of all the Bond villain. schemes.

In a nutshell Moonraker to me is a perfectly realized comic-book escapist romp. They don't make them like this anymore.

Good defense of MR. I forgot to ask earlier but I see CR has dropped out of your top 11. Where would you now rank it?

Prince Kamal Khan wrote:

Good defense of MR. I forgot to ask earlier but I see CR has dropped out of your top 11. Where would you now rank it?

Somewhere in the 2-3 films following TLD I think. It hasn't fared as well as QoS for me under repeat viewings, though. That said I should attempt to watch it soon. There are a few things about the film I really don't like, though and unlike certain other films (AVTAK) it doesn't have the magnificence of a John Barry score to aid it.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service
From Russia with Love
Casino Royale
GoldenEye
Dr No

The Spy Who Loved Me
Moonraker
The Living Daylights
Quantum of Solace
Thunderball

Licence to Kill
Live and Let Die
Tomorrow Never Dies
Goldfinger
You Only Live Twice

The Man with the Golden Gun
Die Another Day
The World is Not Enough
A View to a Kill
Octopussy

For Your Eyes Only
Diamonds are Forever

Haven't done a rewatch in a good long while, and haven't given thought to ranking lately, either, but this is where my mind is settling at the moment:

CR
FRWL
OHMSS
TLD
LALD
MR
QOS
TB
GF
DN
GE
TSWLM
DAF
YOLT
TMWTGG
FYEO
LTK
OP
AVTAK
DAD
TND
TWINE

That's a reasonable ranking. Flip LALD and LTK and it's fairly close to mine, hence the reasonableness.

:)

Always a good place to start

1. OHMSS
2. FRWL
3. GF
4. GE
5. TB
6. TLD
7. DN
8. TWINE
9. LTK
10. YOLT
11. QOS
12. DaF
13. CR
14. TSWLM
15. FYEO
16. LaLD
17. AVTAK
18. MR
19. TND
20. DaD
21. OP
22. TMWTGG
23. NSNA
24 CR (1967)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Live and Let Die
Casino Royale
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
Thunderball
GoldenEye
The Living Daylights
Licence to Kill
The World is Not Enough
The Spy Who Loved Me
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
A View to a Kill
Doctor No
The Man with the Golden Gun
Diamonds Are Forever
Quantum of Solace
Moonraker
You Only Live Twice
Tomorrow Never Dies
Never Say Never Again
Die Another Day
Casino Royale (1967)

Good ranking, dm. Switch GF with DAF and it becomes better still.

:)

Live and Let Die at number two...? For nostalgia perhaps?

FieldsMan wrote:

Live and Let Die at number two...? For nostalgia perhaps?

For awesomeness, more likely. 8)

colly wrote:

FieldsMan wrote:

Live and Let Die at number two...? For nostalgia perhaps?

For awesomeness, more likely. 8)

The only things awesome about that film are Martin/McCartney, Yaphet Kotto and Madeline Smith's knockers. Everything else is pretty dire..

Benign Bizarre in spades--so to speak--TeeHee, Whisper, tremendous costumes and choreography in the voodoo scenes, cracking good humor, and I like Pepper. Not that I rate it No.2, mark you.

It's like FielsMan said, it's more out of nostalgia. It's one of the first Bond movies I saw as a child. It had all the ingredients: crazy henchman, good humor, roger moore in one of his best performances and a great theme song. And it's also the first time I saw a 'making off' of a Bond movie. As a child I was very impressed by the stunt man running over crocodiles. I still am, actually.

I love the crocodiles part and Macca's song, but the rest is just repackaged Bond tarted up in cheap sitcom humour and nasty-ass American hijinks. Goes over like a lead balloon.

Lol, no offense of course. Any man who rates OHMSS first can't be all bad.

I'm one of the few people who thinks LALD would've been dramatically better if they trimmed off about a third of the boat chase and limited J.W. Salt'n'Pepper's screentime to a sum total of, I dunno, about ten seconds.

I like the JW Pepper and Mrs. Bell scenes. That humour works for me, and I don't really find the boat chase too long.

What slows the film down for me is the first act or so. After the awesome car without a driver scene, the film grinds to a halt. From there on till Rosy dies, it's slow, cheesy and dated.

I will grant that the boat chase is a bit overlong, but it doesn't bother me as much now as it used to, for some reason.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

I will grant that the boat chase is a bit overlong, but it doesn't bother me as much now as it used to, for some reason.

Really? It's usually the other way around.

"But, I guess, when one's young it seems very easy to decipher boat chases directed by Marc Forster. But as one gets older it becomes more difficult. The villains and the heroes get all mixed up." - René Mathis‎.