What is your favorite James Bond film, and why?
I've
been on the 007 bandwagon since age 9, when I saw GOLDFINGER on the ABC
Sunday Night Movie, back in the pre-cable era when periodic screenings
of the Bond films on ABC were a special event, so I have watched the
series progress for almost five decades. (My first Bond was seeing
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER at a drive-in with my parents when I was six. The
only part that I remember from that viewing was the bit with the moon
buggy. Other than that, I believe I slept through everything else.) My
tastes in Bond adventures was defined by the Connery era, the first five
films specifically (DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER was Connery's return after
George Lazenby's one-shot and excellent ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE,
by which time Connery clearly no longer gave a shit), and during those
early entries was when the formula was finding its way. Bond as we know
it now was really codified with the trifecta of GOLDFINGER (1964),
THUNDERBALL (1965), and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967), in which the
franchise's tropes of lavish spectacle, dad jokes, outlandish gadgets,
ludicrous femme fatale names, travelogue thrills, and nonsense that
veered into outright fantasy/science-fiction were carved in stone, with
what amounted to remaking GOLDFINGER over and over for decades being the
result and becoming a worldwide cultural institution in the process.
Most
fans love the more outrageous, over-the-top entries, but I prefer the
more down-and-dirty, grounded flavor of Cold War espionage, and for me
no other film in the series is as pure in that department as 1963's FROM
RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Hewing closely to Ian Fleming's novel, it's a taut
thriller that will surprise modern viewers with its relative realism,
and that, coupled with Connery's finest turn as 007, is why I rank it as
the best of the series. It was cold-blooded spyjinx with zero fills and
gewgaws, just before the franchise took a hard left into self-parody.
Prior to the Daniel Craig era, the only 007 flicks that hold the same
appeal to me are ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and LICENSE TO KILL, so
make what you will of that opinion. If you have never seen FROM RUSSIA
WITH LOVE, perhaps dissuaded by its vintage, I urge you to give it a
watch. It's like getting hit in the face with a bucket of ice water.
So, what's your favorite and why? Please feel free to elucidate at length in the comments section.
2 comments:
No Time To Die was a great wrap up for Daniel Craig but what happens to 007 and/or Bond next? Should Bond veer towards non-fiction and risk its escapism value or dare it risk reverting to the more incredulous make-believe of earlier years and face the tsunami of adverse criticism that the Gray Man got recently?
Maybe Bond should get back to the basics. If you're an espionage aficionado, an Ian Fleming follower or a 007 devotee then you must know about puffer fish poisons and who wrote the Trout Memo and Beyond Enkription and why. If not, and you want to be an espionage illuminatus, you had best Google “Trout Memo” and study The Burlington Files and Pemberton’s People in MI6. Why? The grey areas surrounding fact and fiction have never been murkier. The world can't even make up its mind who is entitled to be the president of the USA despite the facts.
If Bond doesn't get real or more realistic we reckon the final nail in wee Jimmy Bond's coffin may have been hammered in by Jackson Lamb. Mick Herron's anti-Bond sentiments combine lethally with the sardonic humour of the Slough House series to unreservedly mock not just Bond but also British Intelligence which has lived too long off the overly ripe fruits Fleming left to rot! Time for a fresh start based on a real spy.
For more beguiling anecdotes best read a brief and intriguing News Article about Pemberton’s People in MI6 dated 31 October 2022 in TheBurlingtonFiles website and then read Beyond Enkription.
I'm not great at saying "why" I like things but I'll give it a shot. My top four Bond movies are From Russia With Love (because the Bond vs. Grant fight is the best in the series, and one of the best in cinema), Thunderball (probably mainly for the women), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (great story, great music, Telly Savales, Diana Rigg, and that gutsy ending), and For Your Eyes Only (Moore was getting up there in years but I like his ruthless performance and the more grounded nature of the story... and also Carole Bouquet).
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