From Russia to Quantum

I made this thread four years ago on MI6 after Quantum of Solace came out. For me From Russia with Love was the strongest of the five and today it still is.

Rankings:

From Russia with Love
Licence to KIll
Quantum of Solace
The Man with the Golden Gun
Tomorrow Never Dies

I know everyone's going to pick FRWL but I'll be a rebel and go with the one I watch the most...LTK. Possibly the most violent Bond ever.

FRWL, obviously.

Then QOS, mostly because I find LTK a little too brutal.

LTK is still third, though.

TND is a flawed fourth.

TMWTGG is right at the bottom of the barrel; I find it silly and inconsistent.

1. Tomorrow Never Dies (has been my favourite Bond film for years. Not sure it'll change this year)
2. From Russia With Love (the ultimate Bond film, though.
3. Quantum of Solace (Sleek, stylistic outing - better than Casino Royale)
4. The Man With The Golden Gun (One of Moore's better performances as Bond, some great moments, but some silly ones too).
5. Licence to Kill (Angry Bond doesn't cut it, and Pam annoys me, but the rest is pretty awesome.

Lumme I don't know, for me it's between FRWL and LTK. I think FRWL's my favourite Connery and it has a number of moments (chiefly it seems "007 Takes the Lektor") but LTK despite its off-screen problems has always felt a definite deal. TND I used to be quite keen on but I suspect it appealed to my tabloid-newspaper-kaboom-Bond thing when I was a ltitle younger though the loss of the Devonshire is a highlight. QOS and TMWTGG never have gone far. I'll vote for FRWL and place the rankings from top to bottom as:

LTK/FRWL, TND, QOS/TMWTGG

Ah, the troubled sophomore films.

1. FRWL
2. QOS
3. LTK
4. TND
5. TMWTGG

FRWL is really in a class of its in this list!

1. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
2. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
3. LICENSE TO KILL
4. TOMORROW NEVER DIES
5. QUANTUM OF SOLACE

FRWL, by Superman-esque leaps and bounds.

1. FRWL
2. LTK
3. QOS
4. TND
5. TMWTGG

1. From Russia with Love (Strong cast/crew, liked the story)
2. The Man with the Golden Gun (Already thinking about it whyle making LALD and release 1 year after it. The movie is under-rated.)
3. Tomorrow Never Dies (From all 5 my favorite.)
4. Quantum of Solace (4 Years it take before Skyfall)
5. Licence to Kill (Spend 3 years and then canceling and 6 year wait after this one..)

This poll would be more interesting without FRWL.

I'll rank 'em on personal preference.

1. FRWL (classic)
2. LTK (very 80's, but it works for me)
3. QOS (compromised, but still fairly compelling to me)
4. TMWTGG (problems lie with the script, and just has a depressing malaise about it)
5. TND (least favorite Bond film)

Connery is of course the only Bond actor to have a second film without major snags in the production.

Considering Young nearly died on the set of FRWL, I'd call it a major snag...

FieldsMan wrote:

Considering Young nearly died on the set of FRWL, I'd call it a major snag...

But he was shooting later in the day, right? Shit happens on set. I'm talking writer's strikes (LTK and QOS) and script problems (TMWTGG and TND) that affect the overall production and then the quality of the films.

Of course FRWL had the Armendariz situation too, but neither that nor the helicopter incident hurt the finished product.

Sharky wrote:

1. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
2. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
3. LICENSE TO KILL
4. TOMORROW NEVER DIES
5. QUANTUM OF SOLACE

Same here. In this order: Classic, damn good fun, a well meaning misstep, lite on story, and crap.

1. FRWL
2. LTK
3. QOS
4. TMWTGG
5. TND

Hilly wrote:

Lumme I don't know, for me it's between FRWL and LTK. I think FRWL's my favourite Connery and it has a number of moments (chiefly it seems "007 Takes the Lektor") but LTK despite its off-screen problems has always felt a definite deal. TND I used to be quite keen on but I suspect it appealed to my tabloid-newspaper-kaboom-Bond thing when I was a ltitle younger though the loss of the Devonshire is a highlight. QOS and TMWTGG never have gone far. I'll vote for FRWL and place the rankings from top to bottom as:

LTK/FRWL, TND, QOS/TMWTGG

Hilly, is that Christopher Plummer photo from STARCRASH, the 1979 Italian space epic starring TSWLM's Caroline Munro and scored by Bond score master John Barry?

Anyway, my quality ranking for the 2nd films is coincidentally their chronological ranking also:

001) FRWL
002) TMWTGG
003) LTK
004) TND
005) QOS

1. From Russia with Love- #2 on my rankings
2. Tomorrow Never Dies- #4 on my rankings
3. License to Kill= #5 on my rankings
4. Quantum of Solace- #16 on my rankings
5. The Man with the Golden Gun- #17 on my rankings

1. From Russia With Love
2. Licence To Kill
3. The Man With The Golden Gun
4. Tomorrow Never Dies

Odd set of 5, what made you create this grouping?

FRWL
LTK


QOS




TMWTGG




TND

@trevanian: The grouping is based on each Bond actor's second movie in the series, excluding Lazenby of course because he didn't have a second (and thankfully too!)

Yup that's the premise.

I originally made this thread on MI6forums when QOS came out. Eventually I'll set up a new poll with every third Bond film an actor made: Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me, The World is Not Enough, and Skyfall, naturally.

Makeshift Python wrote:

Yup that's the premise.

I originally made this thread on MI6forums when QOS came out. Eventually I'll set up a new poll with every third Bond film an actor made: Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me, The World is Not Enough, and Skyfall, naturally.

Can't wait to include SkyFall in the rankings! If we were to go ahead and start that thread of third Bonds, mine would stack up like this:

1. The World is not Enough
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. Goldfinger

Ew. I know for sure that after SF is released that TWINE will remain firmly at last place, including the 23 list.

@Makeshift Python: Not a TWINE fan are you? That's fine with me of course, but I like it. It's got Brosnan in a slam-bang performance, a neat soundtrack by Arnold, cool villains, and explosive action. From what I recall it's #11 on my rankings.

1 FRWL
2 QOS
3 TMWTGG
4 LTK
5 TND