what was Bond's toughest fight?
Andy007
Posts: 100MI6 Agent
In my opinion his fight with Hinx in Spectre on the train was the toughest fight Bond has faced across all movies. That's taking in to account that I regard Craig as the toughest Bond of all 6. Mr Hinx was incredibly strong and unbeatable in a fist fight. The situation turned desperate for Bond. A terrifying encounter really. Obviously a few other fights spring to mind from other films, but I honestly felt watching Spectre this was his toughest fight ever.
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Bond was noticeably tired and couldn't out-power Hans.
Good thing he was sharp enough to lure him into the piranha pool.
Context is always important when appreciating things of Bond and for me Connery's fights will always be the standard to beat. The early Connery fights choreographed by Bob Simmons certainly set a high-water mark not only for Bond fights, but the cinema, but by the 80’s I felt that Bond was getting left behind in this area. My Bond fandom got me started with other spy fiction and Robert Ludlum in particular stood out for the way he wrote fight scenes, reminiscent of Fleming but updated with “modern” hand-to-hand stuff.
I even remember hand-to-hand fights on TV surpassing Bond (at the time, Moore and Dalton) on shows like the “new” Mission Impossible, and even the prime-time soap, Dynasty when two characters with implied, but mysterious security service pasts go off against each other in a posh penthouse suite. Then in the Bond hiatus after LTK, we saw the likes of Steven Seagal showing us what a security service operative can do with Aikido with me wishing Bond’s return including this skill.
With GE, I thought it was a relief that there was a nod to the Bob Simmons fights, but Brosnan’s following fights regressed to John Wayne style fist-a-cuffs. Undoubtedly, Bourne Identity (2002) upped the ante of cinematic fights and finally, finally, the Bond movies benefitted from that influence. I would even argue that without Bourne, Craig's fights would not even be near to their excellence that we were treated to. Exotic fighting styles like Krav Maga and Muay Thai are common currency nowadays in people’s minds and today's super spy movies cannot afford to ignore this new standard...the Bond producers certainly didn't.
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So many superb fisticuffs to choose from...I'd go with this one, but the Bathroom battle Royale in CR is hard to beat. Also the 007 vs 006 in GE is a corker.
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Oh yes, that one to. Plus of course the elevator dust up in DAF and...
I agree. Grant is my fav followed closely by Bond vs Alec. But I guess the question is toughest and I suppose we'de have to say Hinx.
The fight with Red Grant of course and he did well to see Jaws off too!
Agree regarding the CR stairwell fight.
The fight in DAF with Franks is pretty tough too and I always thought Bambi and Thumper should have seen him off.
I need to rewatch the Hinx fight as so many seem to rate it so highly. I felt it lacked drama, but I must be wrong. I think that I may have let my disappointment with Spectre colour my judgement. Will look with fresh eyes.
Just watched it, and yes it is superb. Towards the end Bond is no longer even defending himself. A brief pause for reaction shots of him knowing he's done would for me make it perfect. That said it's so kinetic that there is no time for that. A very good one indeed.I was wrong.
Was the colour yellow?
A bit yellow come to think of it :007)
Agreed; Connery vs. Grant is the benchmark. The Hinx fight is impressive, but its implied point of reference (as with several other Bond fights) is FRWL.
Can't remember if it was fact or fiction though.
- Hinx on the train in Spectre (He lost)
- Alec in Goldeneye (he kinda lost this one too)
- Red Grant in From Russia With Love (Probably the best fight in the series)
- Stairway fight in Casino Royale (Brutal)
- JAWS on train in The Spy Who Loved Me (Won by his ingenuity, obviously outmatched physically)
- Necros in The Living Daylights (Now this was a tough fight. Strong opponent, hanging off the end of an airborne Hercules. That's tough)
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True, but he got the drop on Grant which gave him an opportunity. I always felt that otherwise he would have been in big trouble in a straight fight with Grant. Similarly he bests Odd Job by out smarting him rather than besting him. Both had the potential to kill Bond. No doubt about it he stood little chance with Hinx.
Zorin, MayDay and Sutton at the soirée, Xenia at the casino, Trevelyan in the control room, Red Grant during the train scenes, Le Chiffre in most of his scenes with Bond and Goldfinger in the golden shower laser scene.
Good question. Wits have always figured in the Films and serve to make Bond more than just a tough guy (whilst still being a tough guy of course) he has often been physically outgunned. From memory Fleming describes him as a 'tenacious fighter' not neccessarilly a supreme one. This has been an element missing from recent installments, possibly because DC is very credible physically it has not been developed. We saw hints of it with Brosnan who was one of the less overtly physical Bonds. I like my Bonds tough but smart,able to outhink as well as out punch. I hope that if Daniel is as reported looking for less running and jumping in the next one that we might see a smidgen of this. Daniel still looks as fit as a Butchers Dog so I'm not expecting him to entirely give up the rough and tumble, nor would I want him to.
1. Dalton 2. Moore 3. Connery 4. Lazenby 5. Craig 6. Brosnan
Swann's saving him works within the larger context of this film, its actual character development that will ultimately change Bond himself by the end of the film
in just the previous scene he is (maybe condescendingly) trying to show her how to use a gun, to her aggressive disinterest, then she demonstrates she already does know and explains a bit about her personal background (should have been obvious, she's an arch-criminal's daughter) and why she wants to leave such things behind and move on with her life
then she has to use that very gun to save Bond's life, ironic maybe but necessary under the circumstances. But her principles have not been so easily disproven.
SPECTRE may have a lot of faults, in terms of script and execution, but Swann saving Bonds life at that point was one of the things it did well
we all know the last scene of the film: I would say Bonds decision to throw away his own gun and join her on the wrongs side of the bridge is related to how this scene plays out.
1. Dalton 2. Moore 3. Connery 4. Lazenby 5. Craig 6. Brosnan
I mean, you don't see Bond taking a dump or going to the store to buy Heineken, do you?