Rank all the Bond Films!

Kath wrote:

Obviously that was lost on me. Actually, DAF is too absurd for me. The Blofeld doppelgängers, two kitties, the diamonds used to built a laser-satellite, the oven in the mortuary...that is too far away from Fleming for me.

I don't like this film, at all. Probably the worst in the lot for me.

I'm not sure what my #1 Bond film is but I have the two Dalton films in my Top 5. The other 3 are all Roger Moore.

Wasn't crazy about it myself the last time I watched it ... there are those of the opinion that it works best viewed as an absurdist black comedy. It has its moments, but it's all too much for me overall.

Those who blame Moore for the overly comic turn the films took in the 70s seem to be conveniently ignoring DAF.

One indeed must realize DAF is a wicked black comedy and thus it does work-however the genius of it lies in how it maintains the 007 character throughout amidst the formula tropes of what audiences expected from a Bond film in 1971-and all while bringing Sean back into the fold for one last go round. Thus it's really a film designed to induce maximum enjoyment from the audience even if it isn't meant to be taken 100% seriously.

As a kid I liked elements of it but always wished it was more "Bond" in feeling. Then suddenly I realized my error and began to notice just how wonderfully constructed it was to maintain the Bond feel and do something fresh and inventive at the same time. IMO DAF is a masterwork and helped the series continue-plus it is wickedly funny and fantastically entertaining. Then again admittedly I'm a huge Tom Mankewicz fan and have always felt his trilogy of Bond films are supremely underrated.

Fields, I'm not saying I dislike the Brosnan films; I cherish them with several re-watches a year and grew up with them but they do lack the same consistent level of quality that ran through LTK and it comes from the entire film production landscape changing/the passing of Cubby/loss of most of the production team family amongst other things. That said I can praise them all to no end-even parts of DAD.  (My neighbors probably get most mad at me when I run my DTS Laserdiscs of GE and TND. They get shall we say extraordinarily loud.  )

Agree completely, boot. As a lad, I thought DAF was off-kilter and just didn't feel right or sufficiently Bondian. As the years passed, I began to appreciate the wicked humour, the campness, and the oddball flourishes.

Watching TND loud is the only way to watch TND. Arnold's excellent score blaring through the speakers is a joy. 

As for consistency in the Brosnan era, I think his string of 90s Bond films is as consistent with the 60s. Even then there was a dip for YOLT after DN-TB, only to reach Piz Gloria heights again OHMSS.

Kath wrote:

the oven in the mortuary

Isn't it a crematorium rather than a mortuary?

Erica Ambler wrote:

Kath wrote:

the oven in the mortuary

Isn't it a crematorium rather than a mortuary?

Is that important information for my argument?

Kath wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

Kath wrote:

the oven in the mortuary

Isn't it a crematorium rather than a mortuary?

Is that important information for my argument?

It is if you're questioning why there's an oven in DAF. Standard equipment in a crematorium.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Kath wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

Kath wrote:

the oven in the mortuary

Isn't it a crematorium rather than a mortuary?

Is that important information for my argument?

It is if you're questioning why there's an oven in DAF. Standard equipment in a crematorium.

No, it's the fact that they want to kill Bond in that oven. I had listed that oven as an absurd murder weapon; I apologize if it is not clear.

Ah I see. It works for me as a dramatic device (or a WTF? device as Millennials prefer) - how the hell is Bond going to get out of this?

Of course, the solution is somewhat disappointing.

As a newbie I guess one of the first things is putting a ranking on display, so here I go for your entertainment :) Being near the bottom doesn't mean I don't like the films, just to make that clear :)

But you can guess which decades are my favourites ;)

1. Pierce Brosnan in:GoldenEye
2. George Lazenby in: On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. Sean Connery in: Goldfinger
4. Roger Moore in: The Spy Who Loved Me
5. Sean Connery in: Dr. No
6. Sean Connery in: You Only Live Twice
7. Sean Connery in: Diamonds Are Forever
8. Pierce Brosnan in: Tomorrow Never Dies
9. Timothy Dalton in: The Living Daylights
10. Timothy Dalton in: Licence To Kill
11. Roger Moore in: For Your Eyes Only
12. Roger Moore in: The Man With The Golden Gun
13. Daniel Craig in: Quantum Of Solace
14. Roger Moore in: Moonraker
15. Pierce Brosnan in: The World Is Not Enough
16. Sean Connery in: Thunderball
17. Sean Connery in: From Russia With Love
18. Roger Moore in: Octopussy
19. Pierce Brosnan in: Die Another Day
20. Daniel Craig in: Casino Royale
21. Roger Moore in: Live And Let Die
22. Roger Moore in: A View To A Kill
23. Sean Connery in: Never Say Never Again
24. Daniel Craig in: Spectre
25. Daniel Craig in: Skyfall

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts re Skyfall!

Spectre's ranking, on the other hand, is perfectly understandable.

Great to see CR/SP near the bottom, and TND in the top ten. 

SF, TB and FRWL are criminally... What's going on there?

I was more astonished that you like QoS best of the Craig films and you like it a great deal more than the others. That's the one film that kind of sticks out because all other Craig films are at the bottom.
What makes it different for you?
And yes, I'd love to hear about SF, too!

And honestly, I do not see a strong leaning towards specific decades in here. You have a healthy mixture.
I like that. You seem to be one of us who does not have fixed preferences (like me, for example...). You even like one Craig film.

Thank you for the comments.

I realise I should have given you a rating as well for more transparency.

1. (10.0) GoldenEye
2. (10.0) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. (10.0) Goldfinger
4. (10.0) The Spy Who Loved Me

5. (9.5) Dr. No
6. (9.5) You Only Live Twice
7. (9.5) Diamonds Are Forever
8. (9.5) Tomorrow Never Dies
9. (9.5) The Living Daylights

10. (9.0) Licence To Kill
11. (9.0) For Your Eyes Only

12. (8.5) The Man With The Golden Gun
13. (8.5) Quantum Of Solace
14. (8.5) Moonraker
15. (8.5) The World Is Not Enough
16. (8.5) Thunderball
17. (8.5) From Russia With Love

18. (8.0) Octopussy
19. (8.0) Die Another Day

20. (7.5) Casino Royale
21. (7.0) Live And Let Die
22. (6.5) A View To A Kill
23. (5.5) Never Say Never Again
24. (5.0) Spectre
25. (5.0) Skyfall

You can see my predicament in the middle with the 6 films having an 8.5 rating. That should possibly lessen the shock about TB and FRWL being "that low"
The middle is oh so hard to rank really and it's in constant flux.

My ranking of the 6th Bond actor's films is probably unusual, I guess?

QOS I enjoyed tremendously and I saw a Daniel Craig on fire, the way I would have liked to see him in CR. This film is so hugely entertaining and oh my God I LOVE Olga Kurylenko (Camille) and Gemma Arterton (Strawberry Fields). And so much more I love about it, just as an example the Tosca sequence, Dench and Craig's many scenes are so well written and acted. The coolest and most badass kill in the series: Bond throwing a can of oil to Greene and leave him to die in the desert. The snowy ending of QOS, my favourite ending after OHMSS.

Look I have a lot of issues with SF and SP. What maybe threw me off the most was the abandoning of the "Bond beginnings" arch, no Mr White no organisation, instead SF looked like it was 10 years after QOS and we got the token cliché casting with Q and MP. Quite glad neither Lois Maxwell, nor Desmond Llewelyn had to see this.
I appreciate they tried to do something different and I am happy for all involved that it was the huge success it was, that was helped quite a bit by all the anniversary hype I guess, nonetheless a job well done in the marketing department.

Furthermore allow me to express my dismay about the scores of SF and SP that in my humble opinion are a disgrace.
Scores are a pivotal element in the Bond films and I'm a huge fan of David Arnold's five scores, let alone what came before.

I don't want to sound negative though, I'm a positive guy and I prefer pointing out what I like in a film rather than be negative. if that's alright.

Mr.Wint wrote:

QOS I enjoyed tremendously and I saw a Daniel Craig on fire, the way I would have liked to see him in CR. This film is so hugely entertaining and oh my God I LOVE Olga Kurylenko (Camille) and Gemma Arterton (Strawberry Fields). And so much more I love about it, just as an example the Tosca sequence, Dench and Craig's many scenes are so well written and acted. The coolest and most badass kill in the series: Bond throwing a can of oil to Greene and leave him to die in the desert. The snowy ending of QOS, my favourite ending after OHMSS.

Look I have a lot of issues with SF and SP. What maybe threw me off the most was the abandoning of the "Bond beginnings" arch, no Mr White no organisation, instead SF looked like it was 10 years after QOS and we got the token cliché casting with Q and MP. Quite glad neither Lois Maxwell, nor Desmond Llewelyn had to see this.
I appreciate they tried to do something different and I am happy for all involved that it was the huge success it was, that was helped quite a bit by all the anniversary hype I guess, nonetheless a job well done in the marketing department.

Furthermore allow me to express my dismay about the scores of SF and SP that in my humble opinion are a disgrace.
Scores are a pivotal element in the Bond films and I'm a huge fan of David Arnold's five scores, let alone what came before.

I don't want to sound negative though, I'm a positive guy and I prefer pointing out what I like in a film rather than be negative. if that's alright.

That's definitively an "inventive" way of killing. It may be a crude equivalent to Bond's killing of Mr Smythe in the short-story "Octopussy" we have just discussed recently; though it lacks its elegance. What do you all think?
I always like seeing "Kate Beckett" (Stana Katic) which is a nice surprise at the ending.

Yes, I totally agree. I just stubbornly believe that SF & SP are continuations of CR & QoS. I mean, Mr White does return and play a major role again.

I do not see what could be wrong with being positive.

ironpony wrote:

Oh sorry, my bad, I guess I should have looked first, my bad.

I didn't like Thunderball much :(.

I know a lot of people like it but I felt that the villain and girl were very boring, uninteresting and underwhelming in this one. Largo just doesn't have anything interesting about him to me and Domino is just a much lighter version of Honey Rider or something like that.

I also didn't like how that guy who threw the arming device into the sea ended up saving the day instead of Bond or Domino, and he just came off as a deux ex machina character for me. But those were just my reasons for not liking it as much.

I too recently revisited THUNDERBALL and I don't enjoy it as much as I used to in the past, especially following the first three films. It just feels like it's going through the motions at this point.

Having reread the novel especially didn't help, as I think that does a better job with the character of Domino.

Are you doing a Bondathon and updating your ranking MP?

Very very slowly as a build up to Bond 25. I'm rewatching the films with a roommate and friend as they had never seen the films before and wanted to finally get around to them. We started in May, for the 55th anniversary of DR. NO's release in the US. Part of the slow pace is not just because there's plenty of time until Craig's finale but I was also timing our viewing of OHMSS for the holiday season. We'll be hitting YOLT pretty soon and then later this month watch Blofeld decorate a tree.

Part of our viewing experience for this series is to have cocktails that are unique to the films we watch. Medium dry vodka martini for DR. NO, for example. My favorite so far has been the mint julep we had when watching GOLDFINGER. Because no particular drink was featured in THUNDERBALL, we just did a Bahama Mama recipe. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE will obviously have to be sake, and my roommate knows the best stuff so she'll at least set that up. I've never had sake before, so I'm pretty anxious.

Now, if I had to rank them as I've seen them...

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
GOLDFINGER
DR. NO
THUNDERBALL

Very cool. So eggnog for OHMSS?

Plenty of time till Craig's finale. I mean that's going to be 2025 or whatever.

FieldsMan wrote:

Very cool. So eggnog for OHMSS?

Probably for myself, they hate eggnog.

Either break out the vodka martini again or go for malt whisky and branch water.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

Plenty of time till Craig's finale. I mean that's going to be 2025 or whatever.

Don't give them any ideas.

MP wrote:

Probably for myself, they hate eggnog.

Feel free to post your eggnog recipe in the Christmas thread. The recipe I used last time didn't turn out that great. I'm opting for an eggless eggnog next time.

MP wrote:

Either break out the vodka martini again or go for malt whisky and branch water.

Never mind that, go and get the brandy!

Five-Star Hennessy, of course.

For OHMSS there's also Glauwein, although how practical it is to make that at home I'm not sure.