Rank all the Bond Films!

Crudely copied and pasted updated rankings from my spreadsheet. The numbers are the changes.

OHMSS 0
FRWL 0
Dr No 0
TLD 0
LTK 0
FYEO 0
Thunderball 0
Octopussy 0
GE 0
Skyfall 0
DAF 0
GF 0
TND 0
TWINE 0
DAD 0
MR 0
VTAK 0
NTTD NE
YOLT -1
LALD -1
TSWLM -1
CR -1
Spectre -1
QOS -1
TMWTGG -1

I'm often on the same page as you, Hilly, so bit worrying to see NTTD that low even right off the bat.

Well, I fear, it might be lower since CJB. I dwelled on NTTD all the way to sleep and I've revised my view. I can but apologise to those who liked it.

2021 List (adjust after
OHMSS 0
FRWL 0
Dr No 0
TLD 0
LTK 0
FYEO 0
Thunderball 0
Octopussy 0
GE 0
Skyfall 0
DAF 0
GF 0
TND 0
TWINE 0
DAD 0
MR 0
VTAK 0
YOLT 0
LALD 0
TSWLM 0
CR 0
NTTD NE
Spectre -1
QOS -1
TMWTGG -1

Those who have not seen it yet please don't take my views/ranking as writ.

Just, I tried to like it but I can't.

That's understandable.
But why no love for my poor TMWTGG?

hegottheboot wrote:

That's understandable.
But why no love for my poor TMWTGG?

Agreed. I always look forward to viewing that one although it's obviously got its flaws.

Never thought much of TMWTGG but I've come slowly around to it. I had an especially good watch earlier this year. Love Rog's performance, it might be my favorite of his.

Hard to dislike anything featuring Christopher Lee and a little fella carrying Tobasco on a silver platter.

Don't know, I've fallen out with it over the years and recent viewings just don't do anything nowadays. I've become detached from it.

When I did my commentary I finally realized Maibaum's plot device of Andrea with the golden bullet was a masterstroke of trying to do a FRWL type plot again. It's ingenious. The problem is Cubby said "sure UA we'll have you another Bond asap" after everyone was spent on LALD. There's remarkable invention and ideas everywhere but frequently things are forced together that don't quite work. It needed the third draft a'la DAF and it never got it. Ironically it was the inverse situation:
Here Mankiewicz wrote the straightforward Bond (Roger) vs Scaramanga (Jack Palance) duel story which likely was closer to the book. This wasn't deemed flashy enough and Mank seems to have even had a bit of a falling out sort of with Hamilton who he normally got along with very well. He also said he was maybe getting a tad burned out. Maibaum was brought into to rewrite and added the solar energy plot macguffin and I think all of Andrea's tomfoolery.

I'll never fall out of love with it because it whimsical, in the Far East, has arguably Lee's best performance, Herve is magic, the QE and funhouse sets are astounding, it has some of the all time best Mank one liners, Barry outdoes himself in literally no time while bringing his string focus for the first time, and there's a wonderfully nasty tone throughout. Bond is 100% pissed the whole time and it's refreshing save for Hamilton forcing the roughness in the interrogation scene. But even that can be at least partially explained by Bond having a target on his head and being under the gun since no one knows Scaramanga's appearance.

There are two films fighting with each other in TMWTGG.

I agree the stuff with Andrea and the golden bullet should have retained more focus and prominence, and it leads to some rather intriguing territory with Bond being the aggressor. And that's why I can personally return to it. Particularly in the 1st act, when there's still that focus, it can be rather compelling. But then it loses traction and heads into all kinds of direction. By the time JW Pepper is introduced you've come to expect something like that--- and to be honest it brightens up the film! I probably enjoy him here more than in LALD.

CJB wrote:

Hard to dislike anything featuring Christopher Lee and a little fella carrying Tobasco on a silver platter.

"Nick Nack! Tabasco!" is probably the greatest opening line in all of Bond. Talk about the Benign Bizarre!

It's hard to beat.

What was Scaramanga munching on that called for Tabasco anyway? Oysters, I presume?

I think so, and who could blame him? The revolting things need all the help they can get in order to be even faintly palatable.

Trouble is, the local Waitrose is miles away.

Yeah, I'd say Scaramanga's island isn't on any supermarket delivery service routes .

A million per shot buys lots of speedy-delivery oysters! (As well as a lilliputian Cordon Bleu chef to prepare them.)

Wonder what Scaramanga's going rate would be nowadays ... 10 - 20 mill a hit, maybe?

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Wonder what Scaramanga's going rate would be nowadays ... 10 - 20 mill a hit, maybe?

Takes payment only in bitcoin, perhaps?

Always knew there was something shady about cryptocurrency .

Given that the crypt keeper was all about making those bad puns, I'm surprised Joel Silver, HBO & company haven't rebooted their 90s series with an opening installment called TALES FROM THE CRYPTOCURRENCY. (hey, when I was a kid and found out even William Shatner was addicted to bad puns, it just fueled my own efforts in that area. Puns and misheard song lyrics just rattle around in this ADD head of mine.)

trevanian wrote:

Given that the crypt keeper was all about making those bad puns, I'm surprised Joel Silver, HBO & company haven't rebooted their 90s series with an opening installment called TALES FROM THE CRYPTOCURRENCY. (hey, when I was a kid and found out even William Shatner was addicted to bad puns, it just fueled my own efforts in that area. Puns and misheard song lyrics just rattle around in this ADD head of mine.)

Now the oboe may be bad in Cleveland/
But the heart of rock n' roll, the heart of rock n' roll is the beatin'.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

trevanian wrote:

Given that the crypt keeper was all about making those bad puns, I'm surprised Joel Silver, HBO & company haven't rebooted their 90s series with an opening installment called TALES FROM THE CRYPTOCURRENCY. (hey, when I was a kid and found out even William Shatner was addicted to bad puns, it just fueled my own efforts in that area. Puns and misheard song lyrics just rattle around in this ADD head of mine.)

Now the oboe may be bad in Cleveland/
But the heart of rock n' roll, the heart of rock n' roll is the beatin'.

There's a song that is apparently called UMBRELLA from a few years back, but I swear they're singing, 'shot with my own Beretta.' Totally killed with my regional manager when I told him that one.

Have seen a couple of memes of Shatner at one of Blue Origin's windows with TIE Fighters and the Tardis visible through them (surprisingly, none with the Enterprise). Suspect he'd be tickled by them.