Is YOLT anyone else's favorite Connery Bond?

Doctor Who

I know that GF is considered the most "iconic" but I feel that YOLT is the pinnacle of his tenure. It basically takes the formula established in the previous five films, and really goes all the way with it. I feel it's just as iconic as GF; it has just as many memorable scenes; It features a Connery who has settled into the role, but isn't out of shape or going through the motions as in DAF; Yet he's also not green the way he was in Dr. No or FRWL. The villain is IMO better. Blofeld is a real psychotic creep, whereas Goldfinger just seems like a brat. The set pieces are grand, epic and IMO unparalleled before or after in the series. It's got the most exotic setting of perhaps the whole series. It's beautifully shot. The Bond girls are sufficient, the henchmen are fine. It's honestly my favorite. Am I alone?

My ranking (Connery):

YOLT
Thunderball
Goldfinger
DAF
FRWL
Dr. No

I really only watch GF these days for nostalgic reasons - seeing America circa 1964 in vivid color is cool.

Jag

It's certainly my favourite Connery Bond movie! I may be biased though - it was the first Bond movie I watched, and one that made me fall in love with the whole series.

BondJasonBond006

My Connery ranking has often changed except for the first two.

Goldfinger-Dr. No: they will always be in my Top 10.

at the moment my ranking looks like this:

1 GF
2 DN

3 DAF: to be honest, in many ways this is my favourite even and even would end up in my Top 5 overall if I just rank by number of views and fun and entertainment it gives me, of course there are the obvious weaknesses that prevent that happening in an overall ranking. It is my No 13 overall.

4 YOLT: It is growing on me since years, like DAF. I watch it very often since a couple of years and it may go up in my overall ranking even more.

5 FRWL: I had it very high at one point, but overall I find it overrated as a Bond film. It is a perfect film though, very Hitchcockian in many parts what I love. But I can't revisit it very often, compared to GF or DN or DAF or even YOLT it's just not very fun to watch. Also I find the "look" and cinematography rather bland.

6 TB: Close to the bottom of my ranking, only surpassed in sleep inducing quality by TWINE and SF for me. The middle hour (Nassau to before the lengthy underwater battle) is the best hour of Bond overall though. Simply perfect.

thr69darter

Doctor Who wrote:

I know that GF is considered the most "iconic" but I feel that YOLT is the pinnacle of his tenure. It basically takes the formula established in the previous five films,

Previous 4 you mean

Ornithologist

Jag wrote:

It's certainly my favourite Connery Bond movie! I may be biased though - it was the first Bond movie I watched, and one that made me fall in love with the whole series.

I feel almost exactly the same way, except that I can no longer really pick a favorite among the Connery movies - or any Bond film for that matter. But I still enjoy YOLT immensely every time I see it.

Joshua

I only saw this film for the first time only a little while ago. I am afraid i did not like it as much as the other films I have seen.

chrisisall

I love it dearly, but not as much as others. It's solidly in my top ten though.

BondJasonBond006

chrisisall wrote:

I love it dearly, but not as much as others. It's solidly in my top ten though.

YOU CHEAT ) )

You're "top ten" is made of 13 bloody films ) )

but way cool choices

superado

FRWL and YOLT in that order are my two favorite Connery Bonds. In fact, these were the first 2 Fleming books I read, which was a mistake since FRWL was a bit heavy as a first book and YOLT was too esoteric and truly unlike the movie version.

Matt S

BondJasonBond006 wrote:

chrisisall wrote:

I love it dearly, but not as much as others. It's solidly in my top ten though.

YOU CHEAT ) )

You're "top ten" is made of 13 bloody films ) )

but way cool choices

Haha, yeah it's number 13, so not even in the top half!

It's my second-favourite of Connery's after From Russia with Love.

Dirty Punker

It's on the middle of the Connery films for me.
Goldefingaahh
From Russia With Love
Thunderbaaaalllll

---

>You Only Live Twice
Dr No(-AH)
Diamonds Never Lie To Me
Never Say "watch Never Say Never Again"

Gassy Man

It's easily the most imaginative of the Connery Bonds and quite possibly the best production in terms of sets and scope of any Bond film. It's also the one that is the most "60s" to me -- the music, the clothes, the hairstyles, the breeziness, and even the color palette all scream nostalgia for the era. That said, I wouldn't call it the best of the Connery Bonds, which is a toss up between FRWL and GF, depending on whether your mood is serious or fun. Both of these films are tighter all around and feature villains that are more fully developed than YOLT's Rumpelstiltskin-like psychopath in Blofeld. The Bond world still seems more rooted in our own whereas YOLT is the first Bond film to seem to take place in one defined more by magic realism than simple escapism. It's why YOLT often feels most like a fairy tale, even if the previous ones borrow a lot from them (GF essentially being King Midas, for example.)

CoolHandBond

It's not my favourite Connery Bond but it's high up in my list of all time Bond movies. The majestic splendour of the whole movie needs to be seen on the big screen to fully appreciate it's glory. I count myself lucky that i am at an age where I saw all the movies in the cinema upon original release and the anticipation of waiting to see the a new Bond needs to be taken into account as well. Apart from the trailer that you would see in the cinema for a number of weeks before release there was only a few brief newspaper and magazine articles so the whole event would be cloaked in mystery adding to the grandeur of the moment.

Ornithologist

Gassy Man wrote:

It's why YOLT often feels most like a fairy tale, even if the previous ones borrow a lot from them (GF essentially being King Midas, for example.)

Yes, and both Dr. No and YOLT have that aspect of the lone hero who travels to the villain's (dragon's?) lair to slay him. In YOLT, this is even quite openly commented on in the novel, and I think the movie does a fine job of adapting it. They rightfully didn't go for Blofeld in plate armor in a castle (lol) but they included ninjas instead. NINJAS, people! Seriously how can anyone not like YOLT? )

Chriscoop

I love yolt, out of connerys films I can only elevate TB above the rest, and I don't quite know why that is. Yolt seems to come in for a lot of criticism... Connery is bored, it doesn't follow the book closely enough, the score... Etc but I can't raise a single criticism, it very very slightly loses me during after Bonds marriage but soon gets me back again. I love the rugby tackle outside hendersons house, the fight in the office, the roof top chase and score, the score, little nellie, the score, Ken Adams volcano lair. My favourite Bond films are the ones I'm watching and we have have a bond film to suit every mood and occasion.

chrisno1

I don't know about 'favourite' but it's certainly a very easy watch. It has some great moments - Little Nelly, the fight at Osato's office, the submarine office for M, the volcano set, the finale in the volcano set, Tetsuro Tamba, the photography - but it has some pitfalls too - dreadful script in particular, lazy Connery, unexciting supporting players. I like it, despite all the pitfalls and it usually sits comfortably in my imaginary and ever changing top ten.

philpog

I may have sat through YOLT only twice (haha) in my life, once when I was a small child. I find it a real slog, and it doesn't help that Connery looks bored out of his mind.

However, it's always nice to see Karin Dor from the German Edgar Wallace movies.

caractacus potts

I'm such a Flemingsnob I have to consciously factor out any knowledge of the books to appreciate this one.
Even then its got some serious issues in and of itself as a film. But I'll save those thoughts for the Pros and Cons thread.

I love Nancy Sinatras song and Barry's score. Its one of Barry's greatest. The lyrics basically tell us life is but a dream, and the film plays out just like that, Bond drifting through a dreamworld. I think the previous movie already established that Bond's job was basically a permanent vacation, but this one takes it all several steps further into fantasyland.
I mean that as a good thing, because the Bond world is an escapist fantasy land. This film just dares to make that more explicit than most.

I love all the stuff with the volcano, the monorail, the bulletproof inner office. Basically Ken Adam's work. We've seen bits and pieces of this stuff before, particularly in Dr No. But Blofelds evil headquarters here really ramps up the scale and fleshes out the details of what an evil HQ is supposed to look like.
We see it all again in The Spy Who Loved Me, and I prefer it there, but that may just be because I saw that one first, when I was 11. So just like I have to consciously forget the books when I watch this, I have to consciously remember that this film was the first time all this epic scale stuff was done. (I actually think YOLT was the last of the old ones to come back on tv after ...Spy... came out, so I may even have been jaded by the time I first saw it, already a Fleming snob)

Dirty Punker

At times it feels very...cartoon-ey for a lack of a better word and the characters, plot and set up don't match the earlier Con films.
That said...I don't mind it.
It certainly is iconic.

chrisisall

BondJasonBond006 wrote:

chrisisall wrote:

I love it dearly, but not as much as others. It's solidly in my top ten though.

YOU CHEAT ) )

You're "top ten" is made of 13 bloody films ) )

but way cool choices

Ties count as ONE, and the distance between the #1 & #10 is all too small (in terms of affection). -{

BondClothing

Dirty Punker wrote:

At times it feels very...cartoon-ey for a lack of a better word and the characters, plot and set up don't match the earlier Con films.
That said...I don't mind it.
It certainly is iconic.

Ah Yes, the Original Family Feud!

Mooresflares

From Russia with love rules them all for me :0)

Dirty Punker

BondClothing wrote:

Dirty Punker wrote:

At times it feels very...cartoon-ey for a lack of a better word and the characters, plot and set up don't match the earlier Con films.
That said...I don't mind it.
It certainly is iconic.

Ah Yes, the Original Family Feud!

Seeing how Connery's toupe was going, he would look just like his brother in a few years :v

Barbel

You can't compare Sean Connery and Donald Pleasence, two very different but excellent actors and types.

Dirty Punker

Barbel wrote:

You can't compare Sean Connery and Donald Pleasence, two very different but excellent actors and types.

Not a shot at the actors (both excellent), just Cons/Bonds balding head and the brother aspect.

IanFryer

When the Bonds first came out in letterboxed VHS editions YOLT was the first one I got - from memory they released this and Thunderball first in the UK. YOLT in particular really benefits from being seen in the correct aspect ratio and it went up in my estimation, despite it havingh some faults.

In terms of pacing it can be seen as a reaction to the languid pace of TB. The film really moves, even by the stadards of today. It's not my favourite Bond by some way, but a film I turn to occasionally with pleasure.

BondJasonBond006

When I purchased all the LaserDiscs in the early nineties, circa 1991-1994 I think, the films were all in the proper aspect ratios there.

Thunderball, OHMSS, YOLT, MR immediately became my favourites to watch. I had Thunderball even very high in my ranking then around No 10.

Over the years when it was normal to see the films in the aspect ratio they were done, Thunderball and YOLT began to slip considerably in my ranking.

While Thunderball has the flaws that will never be overcome like the worst 48 minutes of any Connery film (Everything before Nassau) YOLT is entirely enjoyable, I even don't mind Connery turning into Japanese. It's silly but that takes up about 20-30 minutes of the movie only.

YOLT will never be my favourite Connery film, but it's No 4 and will stay there.

MrGore

Watched it again on BluRay last week.

Lots to love and few things where I groaned.

Loved the getting to know Tiger Tanaka scenes. His own life sized train set, and all that.

Loved the getting to know Osato scenes. The visit to to the office. For some reason I've always loved the early parts of Bond movies where he is infiltrating the villains world, gradually.

Loved Karin Dor, although she really should have been given more to do. Although, she did scream "Osato" pretty convincingly when she fell into the pool.

Loved the look of the early parts of the movie. The Ken Adams Osato set. Adams' volcano set still looks fantastic.

Loved the "rescued by Aki twice in a sports car" scenes.

Loved the 60s vibe.

Did not like helicopter with magnet. Would have been better with the original scripted idea of the villains running into a moveable brick wall.

Did not like light hearted Bond dying at the beginning and then being shot out the sub.

Barry's score is fabulous.

Thought the astronaut scenes were a bit awkward.


On balance, plenty to love.

Mr_Osato

It is my guilty pleasure Bond and probably the most watched one. I lived in Tokyo for almost 2 years but before moving there I already had a strong fascination for Japan, mainly because of my love for this movie (and the great food I guess.)

There is a lot to love here:

- Tiger Tanaka is one of the strongest and most likeable allies of JB
- The soundtrack itself is probably my favourite of all times
- The theme song is magnificent and really has that Japan feel.
- The cinematography is amazing
- so are Ken Adams sets
- Again, Japan is almost a character in the movie. From the neon lights of Tokyo to the fantastic nature.

I am going to Japan on wednesday and staying in Tokyo and Kyoto. This time, finally I will find time to visit Himeji castle; famous for the Ninja training school. Cannot wait to go back, even if it is (aminly) for business.

Andy007

A good post this..I actually agree and would rank YOLT as Connery's best film. It's like his 'Spy Who loved Me' movie. I think consistently throughout the film it's the most entertaining of Connery's entries. It feels big, it's got plenty of action and suspense, danger, good villains. It's the one he meets Blofeld too. A very good ambitous story. I think it's certainly his best. His performances in the early films are just as good, probably even better but the YOLT ranks above GF a little imo. Then probably From Russia with Love and Thunderball are next up, with Dr No and DAF further down the pecking order.

heartbroken_mr_drax

I agree with all of your reasons because you've mostly pointed out things from the 1st half - which is the most solid part of the film. I too fall in love with the locations.