Rating Bond Movies
Writer Simon Dillon wrote a great article titled
“Goldfinger vs From Russia with Love
I’ve dithered for decades over my favourite James Bond film, but on Goldfinger’s 60th anniversary, I finally decided a winner”[1]
The article had a good breakdown of the films and compared them well. As a Bond fan since 1967, I enjoyed the article’ I tend to like Goldfinger over From Russia With Love as well. But I don’t generally point to any given Bond movie as “the best” of the series though if pressed I’d say Spectre.
I generally rank the Bond movies by choosing a best or favorite from each of the multiple movie actors which then doesn’t include Lazenby’s only outing
Connery did six (disregarding Never Say Never), Roger Moore did seven, Dalton two, Brosnan four, and, finally, Daniel Craig did five.
Connery: Of his films, though it may not be the “best” by other metrics, You Only Live Twice (1967) is by far my favorite Connery outing. It’s likely due to nostalgia- I remember watching the film at the drive-in with my dad. He was a single parent and struggled financially to raise three kids and drive-ins were far less expensive than going to the theater. Additionally, the theme song was sung by Nancy Sinatra-a favorite of mine as an eight year old at the time- I already had her first three (1966) albums on vinyl! (I still have them and the other four through her 1967 release). I also enjoyed the exotic nature of the film, locales of Hong Kong and Japan- as I dreamed of traveling when I became an adult.
Roger Moore: Moonraker was a bit over the top. Probably the downside of Moore’s films are the gadgets and puns style writing. The Spy Who Loved Me is a bit campy and has an optimism of the USA and Russia working together that was probably naive. I think the Man With The Golden Gun is likely the best from a critical standpoint, but my favorite is probably For Your Eyes Only. I think elements of the plot were inspiration for the later Brosnan Tomorrow Never Dies as well as Die Another Day by adding a female killer protaganist. But it is more of a spy film.
Timothy Dalton: two films so the choice is 50–50. Dalton probably looked more like a stone killer than either Connery or, especially, Moore up to that point. His License To Kill was a personal journey film, but my favorite is the more traditional European spy styled Living Daylights,
Pierce Brosnan: I wasn’t a big fan of Tamahori’s directorial style in The World Is Not Enough, though the story is good. Tomorrow Never Dies reverts to some criminal mogul trying to get superpowers to fight (like Spectre did in You Only Live Twice as well as several other films). The World is not enough is also decent but GoldenEye is my favorite.
Daniel Craig: so much to say! Casino Royale was the rebirth of Bond going back to his origin story. Ground breaking at that point. While some think Quantum of Solace fell flat, I thought it was good second outing. The producers and writers for the five movie arc really did a great job with the Craig films creating a big story arc which tied all the movies together. That said, of the three, I’d have to say Skyfall is my favorite followed closely by Spectre.
[2]
https://medium.com/fan-fare/goldfinger-vs-from-russia-with-love-95ef5e292727
