Precisely why is YOUR favourite Bond film your favourite bond?
chrisisall
Western Mass, USAPosts: 9,062MI6 Agent
The Living Daylights.
This movie was a total shift from the Moore films and a partial throwback to early Connery whilst retaining elements of entertaining gadget absurdity collected along the way (lasers & missiles in his Aston). Barry did in this my favourite score, so very Bondian, yet so very fresh without being musically dated. Dalton brought a delightful literary sensibility to the role, with a slight & appreciated (by me, anyway) Shakespearian edge. And he also brought a more believable humanity to Bond not witnessed since Lazenby's turn in OHMSS. The locations and photography were first rate, and not the villains nor their schemes were ridiculously OTT. The action was straightforward but impeccable, from the exciting PTS to the cargo net fight. The Bond girl was, for me, a believable and beautiful pawn in the game, and even willing and able to make a few Queen moves.
This Bond is my rock of Gibraltar.
Next?
This movie was a total shift from the Moore films and a partial throwback to early Connery whilst retaining elements of entertaining gadget absurdity collected along the way (lasers & missiles in his Aston). Barry did in this my favourite score, so very Bondian, yet so very fresh without being musically dated. Dalton brought a delightful literary sensibility to the role, with a slight & appreciated (by me, anyway) Shakespearian edge. And he also brought a more believable humanity to Bond not witnessed since Lazenby's turn in OHMSS. The locations and photography were first rate, and not the villains nor their schemes were ridiculously OTT. The action was straightforward but impeccable, from the exciting PTS to the cargo net fight. The Bond girl was, for me, a believable and beautiful pawn in the game, and even willing and able to make a few Queen moves.
This Bond is my rock of Gibraltar.
Next?
Dalton & Connery rule. Brozz was cool.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Comments
It is my favourite film because of how unique it is. It is the only film we see Bond get married, only for the happiness to be tragically cut short. The soundrack is the best in the series. Brilliant stunts and brilliant camerawork from Willy Bogner in the ski sequences. Tracy is a complex character. She is fragile, yet she is Bond's equal. Which is one
of the reasons he fell for her.
Casting an unknown to play Bond was a gamble, it paid off because George nailed the final scene. Something which
i can't imagine Sean crying in his wife's dead body. Telly Savalas is a brilliant Blofeld. He is thuggish but also charming.
10 out of 10. Sterling Bond film
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
Well, I like the way it takes itself and the situations Bond is in seriously.
For ten years before we had superman Bond where you knew he was going to escape from every situation with a quip and a gadget. This time we didnt – how is he going to escape death when kicked off the edge of a thousand foot cliff? How is he going to escape the fishes when keelhauled behind a motoryacht?
And the story was so relevant then. 1981 saw, under Reagan and Thatcher, the Cold War start up again.Defence became big news. The spending on Polaris was a hot issue. The amount the USSR and USA were spending on nuclear weapons was beginning to bankrupt the pair of them. The little countries of the world were just pawns for games of the superpowers. And that sort of fits this story. If Russia gets the ATAC she would gain an unfair advantage of us or bankrupt us trying to change the system. The “That’s detente comrade..” at the climax was to show the futility of the arms race.
OBJECTION. John Glen was cranking out this exact type of Bond film since 1980. Not until LTK did we get one that was a "total shift"
OBJECTION. Dalton sure, but Lazenby did not bring a more believable humanity to Bond.
So tell me, why do you prefer TLD over LTK? I notice they are tied for #1 on your signature.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Mine is the same, for pretty much the same reasons -{
I prefer TLD over LTK for the simple reason that TLD is a spy thriller, and feels more like spy thriller (hence more like a Bond film). LTK does not feel like that to me, but it is still excellent.
Loved the book, so love how they've basically filmed the book. Lazenby gives
A great performance as 007, at times very vulnerable. I know many would have
Loved Connery to do this one but I do feel Lazenby's inexperience, actually helps.
A very strong leading lady, Diana Rigg :x definitely seems the sort of woman
Bond would marry. The casting of Telly Savalas as Blofeld is one of my favourite
Bits of casting for the entire series, in my eyes he IS Blofeld. -{
Brilliantly filmed, edited and directed. With some fine performances and one of the
Best film scores ever :x it's just a great bloody film, period ! {[] it even has the wonderful
classic 60s feel. -{
+1
TIS - "The moment you think you got it figured - you're wrong"
Formerly known as Teppo
Beautifully combines the classic Bond elements and has the right balance between reality, fantasy, serious and humour. Great action, great sets, great locations, and a terrific score from Marvin Hamlisch. Bond 77, Union Jack parachute, Lotus Esprit, Atlantis, Liparus supertanker, Jaws, Naomi. Not forgetting Roger, arguably (along with For Your Eyes Only) his best performance as 007.
To sum up, it defines to me what the cinematic Bond is/should be all about. Superb film, superb entertainment.
It has some breathtaking Locations, a fantastic Score and we saw a more emotional Bond -{
Pretty much THIS. On Her Majesty's Secret Service just reeks of total class. And the locations and Piz Gloria hideaway are superlative.
However, I'm also torn between Dr No and From Russia With Love as (very!) close seconds for the same reasons...
I probably have put in my two cents on why it's my favorite in a dozen other threads, but hey, what the heck?
LTK became my favorite after watching the Bond movies in order in a marathon with a friend some years ago, I realized I simply enjoyed this one the most and it remained my #1 since.
I think one of the reasons it's such a darn good movie is because it's so different too anything that came before it. It completely went away from the "Bond blueprint" yet still managed to be very Bondian in it's own way.
When watching these in order you probably would have grown a little bit tired of what the Bond movies had become with Roger Moore, they were fun, but they also became very kid friendly with the tarzan yell, the slide wistle and pretty much everything in Moonraker. As Dalton said in the EON documentary: "This is terrible, I can't bring my six and seven year olds to Bond anymore! - But they were never made for six and seven year olds!" - You realise that he's absolutely right when you turn on LTK after the RM era - within the first minutes, a drug baron slaps a woman, his thugs (presumaly) rape Felix Leiter's wife and Felix gets fed to the sharks! - Holy cow - that's dark! - But I find that to be SO welcome after all those movies.
Then Bond goes roque, he's now longer an agent working for the secret service but goes out on a personal vendetta to kill the man that hurt his long time friend. <- That sypnosis alone gets my full props, they did something different but they went all the way with it. Robert Davi as Franz Sanchez is absolutely perfectly casted and became my favorite Bond villian. He's dirty and voilent, but yet he brings in a charming, humorous and even a very likable quality to his character. He has a thing with "Loyalty" something that ultimately would become his demise, as Bond infiltrates into his organisation and ultimately uses his brains to bring down Sanchez's operation by putting his loyalty thing in question. Very smart, very fresh and lots of fun to watch! Bond uses his brains, which is always welcome, yet the typical gadgets are also here, as Desmond Llewelyn gets a lot to do in this movie as well, and probably even gets closest to Bond in the whole franchise in this one. Both Bond girls are great to look at and do great as well (Yes, Talisa Soto too..) and despite the movie being so different, it still has the moments that make it both "Fleming Bond" and "Movie Bond". Overall, when the end credits roll I usually feel I just watched one of the very best movies in the franchise, far from being the most iconic, and probably not the best by most standards, but certainly my favorite -{
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Nice! Even the part where I said that Talisa Soto did good as well?
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Whilst TLD is my favourite, I agree 100% with what you said here, LTK is a great Bond film. -{
Yes
I feel this movie has everything a great Bind film needs. It has a good Bond, a good Bond girl, great villains, the DB5, an exciting PTS, a big villain lair, and unique chase sequence. It's not the film I'd always turn to, but it provides everything I want to see out of a Bond film.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
First of all, it stars the real James Bond!
Okay, only kidding. I don't want to start trouble! But I love this film because I think Connery gives his best performance as 007. He is at times confident and witty, menancing and dangerous, somber and panicked - just an all around great turn as Bond. Add to that one of the most memorable and entertainly meglomanical villains, as well as his frightening henchman, and an outlandish scheme that is just on this side of plausible. Great gadgets, a great title song and score, a few very eye-pleasing Bond lovelies - this one has it all, kids! And I enjoy GF just as much now as I did when I first saw it. I can't ask for more than that.
Agree with all of that. I don't think the film makers had any clue what they were about to do to Bond, I think it just all fell together perfectly.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
To me, it is simply the best Bond film ever made, and made the way Bond films were meant to be made - as espionage/spy thrillers, not action movies - albeit that this film has one of the best fight scenes of the entire franchise. When you put the best Bond (Connery) and the best Bond director (Young) together, what you get is magic. Pedro Armendariz was superb as Kerim Bey, even more so considering that he was in great pain while filming, suffering from terminal cancer. I think this isn't just the best Bond film, it is one of the best films of any genre and of any era. I cannot fault the acting, the cast, or the plot, most of which was ripped directly from Fleming's excellent novel. If there is one flaw, it is that the novel was better still, particularly the ending.
This is why I also love Licence to Kill. Bond had become dangerous again, just like he was in the novels. Licence to Kill may have been an original story, but I think the Bond in that story is very much Fleming's Bond.
Dangerous again ! {[]
QoS took everything that was great about Casino Royale and kicked it up several notches, while also delivering a very good story that simultaneously serves as a continuation of Casino Royale's storyline AND a great 'starter' film for new viewers.
The film also re-introduces a number of elements that had become "classics" of the franchise during the pre-Daniel Craig Era such as humor, charm, and over-the-top villainy and that had been absent from Casino Royale.
From Russia with Love (Old!Bond Continuity)
Although QoS is widely called the first direct sequel of the Bond franchise, that distinction actually goes to FRwL, and the film has a lot of similarities with its later counterpart, as well as with Casino Royale, and does everything that QoS does and more, with its only issue being a bit of disjointedness in the middle of the film.
A classic espionage thriller that pre-dates the Precious Classic FormulaTM of the Bond films (which solidified with GF the following year, as we all know), FRWL is chock-full of Ian Fleming's sensibilities in that the film is pretty faithful to the source material---with the notable exception of SPECTRE taking the place of SMERSH as the villainous organization behind the plot to disgrace and eliminate James Bond, the inclusion of Blofeld (of course)...and naturally the third act, which has a boat chase and subsequent explosions not in the novel.
Daniela Bianchi's Tatiana Romanova remains my all-time favourite Bond girl...and it's telling that every actor, to this day, who auditions for the role of 007 screen-tests the scene in which Bond first finds Tatiana in his hotel room bed. She is innocent but not stupid; afraid but not incapable of action (re: final scene w/Klebb)...and just lovely.
SPECTRE, in this film---from Kronsteen to Rosa Klebb, from the faceless Blofeld to Robert Shaw's classic Donald 'Red' Grant, is a sinister undertone to the goings-on throughout. The climactic fight between Bond and Grant on the Orient Express has been talked to death, but to my mind it remains the best fight scene on celluloid. There are so many great shots and moments captured by Terence Young that Alfred Hitchcock would have appreciated: the glimpses we get of Grant on the train behind Bond as he walks on the platform outside, the North by Northwest homage with the helicopter, etc...just great slowly-building suspense. The humor is tone-perfect---no Tarzan yells, double-taking pigeons, Union Flag hot air balloons or slide-whistles here---only what charter screenwriter Richard Maibaum referred to as 'dead-pan spoofing.' Brilliant.
And, of course, the great Sean Connery, in his second outing, completely owns the role of Bond. While not as accommodating to the short attention spans of subsequent generations of film audiences, FRWL sets its plot in motion, and slowly allows it to unfold and uncoil...much like Fleming's novel.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
In order to post on this thread confidently, I really had to re-evaluate and figure out what my absolute favorite bond film was. I thought about each of my favorites (namely FRWL, TB, OHMSS, LTK, GE, CR and SF) and I found that what they all shared in common really all started with From Russia With Love. It may not be the quintessential Bond film in terms of the franchise's zeitgeist and cultural significance, but it's definitely the quintessential Bond film for me.
As we all do, I love Bond for many reasons. But first and foremost, I love Bond because I am perpetually fascinated with the man himself--the ever-evolving, ever-intriguing character at the core of this cultural phenomenon. Though Connery isn't my favorite Bond (that title has been reserved for Daniel Craig since his astounding debut in CR), his performance in FRWL is my favorite of all his Bond films and demonstrates perfectly why Bond is so fascinating and perpetually mysterious. Connery was never exactly "Fleming's Bond", but in FRWL he takes the Fleming blue print and infuses it with a steely, wholly cinematic charisma and postures himself with a devilish mix of cat-like elegance, brooding danger, and ferocious sexual potency. More than in any other film, Connery provides a character framework in FRWL that paved the way for all the best moments from the 5 other Bonds. In many ways, the legacy of Connery's Bond is what makes the entire series so unique in comparison to every other spy entertainment property, and his performance is the freshest and most inspired in FRWL.
Now to the film itself. Much of what I said about Connery's performance could easily be said of Terence Young's direction. Also, I find that the setting, locations, and story really shine when executed through the lense of Young's style. Another director might have made a very boring film with the plot that Young had to -{ work with, but he does something really special with it. The locations of FRWL aren't quite as "glamorous" as the ones in DN or TB, but they do make for some really interesting set pieces, largely due to Young's direction, as well as the other characters that inhabit them.
All the other performances are really intriguing. Kerim Bey sets a standard for Bond's allies that was never quite lived up to. And though Tatiana Romanova isn't a particularly interesting character, the situation she's thrust into makes for an interesting romantic story for Connery to work with. Both the main villains-Rosa Klebb and Red Grant-are nothing short of brilliant. Anything I could say about Shaw's performance has surely been said already. both his and Lotte Lenya's strange, inspired approaches to their respective characters imbue the movie with a sense that we're watching a world inhabited by killers.
I guess that about sums it up. Cheers
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Is your favourite movie your favourite for this reason as well?
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS