Watching the Bond films

How do you guys watch the films? Just before the release of a new one? Or is it an annual event? Just when you feel like popping one in?

I watch them all every year… When I was younger I used to watch them all every school holidays, probably why I burnt them out so quickly! I've done a few marathons and watch three in a row where the three are chosen based on similar characteristics. I did GF - TMWTGG - GE (more so because all three have Gold in their name), and OHMSS, FYEO and TWINE - which was great! However, since the release of SP, there are 24 official Bond films, which means 6 groups of 4 and 6 marathons of films which are interconnected.

The Heated Entries
Dr. No, Live and Let Die, Licence to Kill, Quantum of Solace
Tropical Caribbean locations in DN and LALD, dry, warm locations in LTK and QOS. DN, LALD and LTK feature a black ally, and all four films feature Felix Leiter. LTK and QOS feature Latino characters and locations, and feature Bond on a vendetta. DN, LTK and QOS feature a car chase on a winding, dusty road, and LALD and QOS feature boat chases.

The Romance Collection
From Russia With Love, Octopussy, The Living Daylights, Casino Royale
Two of them feature Venice, a prominent love story in CR, and a well developed relationship with the leading Bond girl in the other three. A greater focus on espionage - three with heavy focus on the Cold War.

The Gold Standard
Goldfinger, The Man With The Golden Gun, A View to a Kill, Goldeneye
Mostly just for three of them having 'gold' in their titles, but A View To A Kill is added for the story being an update on the GF model, plus a mentioning of an electro-magnetic pulse, which is what the Goldeneye weapon produces. All four films feature some of the series best villain/henchmen duos and 3 of the leading Bond girls are blonde, too!

The Grandiose Fourths
Thunderball, Moonraker, Die Another Day, SPECTRE.
Some say the Bond actors are most confident and cool in their 4th Bond films. TB, MR and SP all feature a street parade, TB and SP looking deeper into SPECTRE as an organisation and include a meeting scene. MR and DAD have 'space' motifs. The wanted bigger and better than the films before them, with varying degrees of success. There are French Bond girls in three of the films, and in TB and SP, a French and Italian Bond girl. TB and DAD also deal with face transplants.

The WWIII Adventures
You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, Tomorrow Never Dies
Admittedly, DAF was the odd one out, however there is a connection with Blofeld between YOLT and DAF, plus the fact Charles Grey is in both films. YOLT, TSWLM and TND all feature plots to trigger WWIII, Bond in his navy uniform and leading agent Bond girls. Plus there is the use of Asia in YOLT and TND, and briefly in DAF, too! And TSWLM and TND reinvent the car chase in their own creative ways, creating some of the most iconic sequences in the series.

The Vengeful Winters
On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, The World Is Not Enough, Skyfall
All four Bond films feature London more than usual. OHMSS, FYEO and TWINE are all interconnected with their snowy locales and ski sequences. FYEO pays tribute to Tracy and Blofeld in the PTS, and Melina mentions that Elektra avenged her loved one. The leading Bond girl is Elektra in TWINE, who, like Melina loses her father early in the film. Silva is bent on revenge in SF, as is Elektra and Melina. SF also features an attack on MI6, as does TWINE. Both films introduce a successor to an MI6 staple member. OHMSS, FYEO and TWINE all feature a charismatic ally with criminal backgrounds.

So far, I did one Bondathon only, one movie a week leading to SPECTRE. But I like your view, and since I was already considering something different for my next marathon, I think I'll go with one movie from each category

I used to watch the films once a year in order but the last few years I just watched them in random order throughout the year and some films might end up staying in their Blu-ray cases while I watch Diamonds Are Forever or Moonraker again for the umpteenth time. This coming year I'm thinking of something similar to what you laid out there in the weeks leading up to SPECTRE's Blu-ray release.

FM, that's a fascinating method for viewing Bond films. I love taxonomy, and your classification of the Bond films is quite striking. I confess that I never actually thought of grouping together the movies the way you have.

At to my viewing method, I simply watch one Bond every three weeks, on a Friday or Saturday night as best suits my schedule. The order in which I view them is a direct function of my Bond film ranking at that time. Thus, when I begin a new run through the films, I watch the No. 1-ranked film first (it has always been OHMSS), and the lowest ranked film next (DAD would always be at the bottom, but it is so bad that I no longer even own a copy). Then I will watch the No. 2 film and the penultimately ranked film in the succeeding six weeks. And so on and so on with each next highest ranked film preceding the next lowest. I also re-rank the films as I go along if I feel a given movie has improved or declined in my esteem.

This approach ensures that I'm not stuck watching all the poorer films in succession, nor am I forced to watch them chronologically which strikes me as a bit boring.

Judging by the recent outings, it tends to be a Bondathon before each new Bond film (as with Skyfall and Spectre). Previously it'd be once a year since 2003 when I got the boxset (up to DAD).

Bucking the trend was tribute viewings for Messrs Jourdan and Macnee earlier in the year.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

FM, that's a fascinating method for viewing Bond films. I love taxonomy, and your classification of the Bond films is quite striking. I confess that I never actually thought of grouping together the movies the way you have.

At to my viewing method, I simply watch one Bond every three weeks, on a Friday or Saturday night as best suits my schedule. The order in which I view them is a direct function of my Bond film ranking at that time. Thus, when I begin a new run through the films, I watch the No. 1-ranked film first (it has always been OHMSS), and the lowest ranked film next (DAD would always be at the bottom, but it is so bad that I no longer even own a copy). Then I will watch the No. 2 film and the penultimately ranked film in the succeeding six weeks. And so on and so on with each next highest ranked film preceding the next lowest. I also re-rank the films as I go along if I feel a given movie has improved or declined in my esteem.

This approach ensures that I'm not stuck watching all the poorer films in succession, nor am I forced to watch them chronologically which strikes me as a bit boring.

I have yet to watch the films in the way I've grouped them together, as four films in a row is a lot of time, which is something I'm getting less of as I get older. But it's something I wouldn't mind trying out.

I might try your method out next time. I agree watching them chronologically is boring, but also means I've bumped out the best era of Bond first. This year, I watched them from my least favourite to my favourite (and did a slight reorder based on my enjoyment of them) which I quite liked, because you know it gets better with every film.

Im making February my 007 month this year and im watching them in chronological order one each day. I do month long marathons each year leading up to Halloween in October and Christmas in December, so I figure 007 might be a fun one to add to my rotation each year.

I did annual summer Bond marathons from around 2003-2006, I think, but then stopped. I think I got burned out.

Since then my Bond viewing is very, very sporadic. I think from Casino Royale to Skyfall, the only pre-2006 Bond films I watched were OHMSS and LALD. And since Skyfall, I think I've watched OHMSS (again), DAF, TSWLM, LTK.

I've caught bits and pieces of the rest on TV, but that's about it. The nice thing though about revisiting these films after years away from them is how fresh they felt. It was nice to watch the films and forget about scenes and what exactly happened next. DAF was quite enjoyable!

I saw bits and pieces of Goldfinger and FRWL on TV the other day and it made my consider perhaps trying to tackle another Bond marathon one day or re-visiting some of the films. In the last year or so I revisited a lot of the Fleming novels and Gardner novels for the first time in quite some time, perhaps it's time to do so with the films. I don't think I've watched GF or FRWL in about 10 years.

With that said, I don't know if I have the patience (or the time) to do a chronological marathon like I did back then.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts Moore. A decade is a mighty long time and I'm curious to see how they sit with you now. Different tastes, different times and all that.

I'm definitely interested in it for the same reason and that's one of my motivations. DAF, I think, is a prime example of that. Some of the films I have caught a few minutes here and there on TV, but when I watched DAF last year, I don't think I had seen any footage of that film at all since 2006.

It was a great experience. Is it the best film? No. But there were so many new things I never noticed before. And so many great scenes I had forgotten about (Bond in the coffin). Definitely enjoyed it much more this time around and not as bad as I remember.

I kind of wish I had the rankings I had made way back then, but they are lost to time. Although I vaguely recollect the top and bottom films. Would have been interesting to see how my rankings would compare in a 2017 marathon vs. then.

I'll have to post some reviews if I ever get around to doing the marathon.

I wonder where Bond 25 will fit, based on the classification in the opening post. I'd like a WWIII Adventure or something for the Romance Collection (without Bond falling in love again).

I'd wager we'll probably get another 'Heated Entry' or 'Vengeful Winter' addition, though not as effective as either DN for the former, or any of the films in the latter.