I'm a James Bond Virgin

Gamer Bhoy 89

Behave....

I'm 29, I've never sat down to a James Bond movie, and I just thought about it recently I might decide to watch a few, but with the sheer amount of JB films available, and the decades they cover, I'm not exactly sure if I should watch all of them in order of release, or just pick out the best ones and watch them.

What do you all recommend?

Harry Palmr

From Russia with Love
On her majesty's secret service
Live and Let Die
The spy who loved me
The living daylights
Goldeneye
Casino Royale

Not an accident that most are debut outings for each incarnation. The early films in each era are the strongest.

Arthur Daley

Gotta watch Dr. No and Goldfinger too. They each contain so many iconic Bond moments.

I always liked For your eyes only as the last decent Roger Moore Bond film after The spy who loved me.

mikhail

I'd start out with a Connery, a Moore, a Brosnan and a Craig. Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me, Goldeneye, and Casino Royale would be my recommendations. The films have evolved over time, and each actor had his own style, so it's interesting to dip into it like that and see what appeals to you.

Agent Coulson

On Her Majesty's Secret Service a glorious Bond film.

Lazenby was harshly treated.

Watch that first.


Then go with the mainstays who played Bond..

TerrorFirmer

It's worth watching them all really, naturally some are better than others but there aren't any bad ones bar maybe Tomorrow Never Dies or World is Not Enough. If I had to list it, Harry's list above is probably good.

Samuel T. Cogley

Moonraker one of my personal faves.

mewso

The older films should not be watched by the modern twitter mob. What would they make of JB slapping a girl on the arse and telling her to "run along, man talk"?

SnakePlissken

Harry Palmr wrote: »

From Russia with Love
On her majesty's secret service
Live and Let Die
The spy who loved me
The living daylights
Goldeneye
Casino Royale

Not an accident that most are debut outings for each incarnation. The early films in each era are the strongest.

A pretty solid list, I personally would swap out The Living Daylights for the much more exciting Licence to Kill.

Tony EH

Gamer Bhoy 89 wrote: »

Behave....

I'm 29, I've never sat down to a James Bond movie, and I just thought about it recently I might decide to watch a few, but with the sheer amount of JB films available, and the decades they cover, I'm not exactly sure if I should watch all of them in order of release, or just pick out the best ones and watch them.

What do you all recommend?

First of all, there's no series of Bond films that are uniformly good, not Connery, Moore, Dalton or anyone else. Craig's Bond started off well and he shot to my top Bond spot. But, 'Spectre' fucked all that up, because it tried to go back to "old" Bond.

But, most Bond movies can be watched on the own, except for the Craig ones. Below are my recommendations in no real order, bear in mind, I am not a Bond fan, but I've seen all the films more than once.

'Casino Royale'/'Quantum of Solace'/'Skyfall' - and if you want, 'Spectre'

'Goldfinger'

'Live and Let Die'

'From Russia with Love'

'Dr. No'

'You Only Live Twice'

'The Man with the Golden Gun'

'Thunderball'

SimonTemplar

I've been a big Bond fan and here is how I'd rate them:

Best in the Series
From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
The Spy Who Loved Me
The Living Daylights
GoldenEye
Casino Royale
Skyfall

Entertaining
Dr. No (I can forgive the fact that it is a little rough around the edges because it is the very first one)
Thunderball (It is a massive spectacle but the water scenes slow down the pace a lot)
You Only Live Twice (A big step down from Thunderball and I nearly put it in the section below but it has Blofeld and the volcano base, so it is fairly iconic. Little Nellie is cool too)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (The story, action and Diana Rigg are great but Lazenby is problematic for me, which may not be the case for others)
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy (I think I rate this one a little higher than others would)
Tomorrow Never Dies
Spectre (It wasn't as bad as Quantum of Solace)

Only OK
Live and Let Die
Licence To Kill
The World Is Not Enough
Quantum of Solace

Rubbish
Diamonds Are Forever (Seeing Connery in such a silly and camp movie makes this almost unwatchable for me)
The Man With The Golden Gun
Moonraker
A View To A Kill
Die Another Day

SimonTemplar

Harry Palmr wrote: »

From Russia with Love
On her majesty's secret service
Live and Let Die
The spy who loved me
The living daylights
Goldeneye
Casino Royale

Not an accident that most are debut outings for each incarnation. The early films in each era are the strongest.

Yeah, that's a good point. The Bond actors do not leave the series on a high note. I wonder will Craig and Danny Boyle break this trend.

RichT

As a person of a certain age, I've watched all the Bond Films as they were released. I'd recommend that you watch them in order as well. The first three... Dr No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger are as good as any of them, and if you're not hooked by then, then they may not be for you.

dreamers75

Watch all of them, some you will like some you wont.

Kolido

I rewatched all of them about 2 years ago over a period of a few months. Some are good, some not so much but the standout 1 for me was "From Russia with love". I thought it was just a personal preference but I see it high on a lot of lists.

As was posted above, I would watch them in order of release and see how you like them, the first 3 or 4 are as good as any.

Gamer Bhoy 89

I just finished Dr. No - really enjoyed it.
I'm going to watch From Russia With Love tonight or tomorrow. I've heard a lot of good things about it and judging from the comments here, I reckon if I thought Dr. No was good I'm in for a good one with the next film.

Thanks for the recommendations everyone

CastorTroy

And to really confuse you, there's also the unofficial Bond starring Connery, Never Say Never Again, which is a version of Thunderball.
I like it. Think it was one of my first Bonds

Gamer Bhoy 89

CastorTroy wrote: »

And to really confuse you, there's also the unofficial Bond starring Connery, Never Say Never Again, which is a version of Thunderball.
I like it. Think it was one of my first Bonds

Ah don't do that to me. Does it need to be watched? Is it a sequel, spinoff? :P

Tony EH

'From Russia With Love' is usually considered the best of the Connery films. But, I think that has a lot to do with Robert Shaw.

SimonTemplar

Gamer Bhoy 89 wrote: »

Ah don't do that to me. Does it need to be watched? Is it a sequel, spinoff? :P

It is actually a remake of Thunderball and no, it doesn't need to be watched. It is pretty horrible. Connery himself said he really regretted making it. You have enough to get through with the official EON movies.

And yeah, I think you are in for a treat with From Russia With Love. A real good and gritty espionage movie.

SimonTemplar

Don't forget GoldenHair

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKf0k482PZQ

Zeek12

Tony EH wrote: »

'From Russia With Love' is usually considered the best of the Connery films. But, I think that has a lot to do with Robert Shaw.

Robert Shaw was an outstanding actor.

And the other villain, Rosa Klebb I think she was called....a great character too

Hell, I might give this a rewatch myself this weekend

CastorTroy

Oh and another note. The Casino Royale being suggested stars Daniel Craig from 2006. There was also a comedy which starred David Niven as James Bond.

I'm really not helping, am I.

CastorTroy

Zeek12 wrote: »

Robert Shaw was an outstanding actor.

How did I not know that the guy from From Russia With Love and the guy from Jaws was the same person?

Zeek12

He was also the villain in The Taking of Pelham 123 (the original 70s version)

Well worth a look if you haven't seen it

Harry Palmr

SimonTemplar wrote: »

Rubbish
Diamonds Are Forever (Seeing Connery in such a silly and camp movie makes this almost unwatchable for me)
The Man With The Golden Gun
Moonraker
A View To A Kill
Die Another Day

Weirdly upon a recent reviewing I found myself enjoying it. I suspect it's because Connery is quite evidently there for the cheque and the whole vibe is spectacularly non politically correct. It has the feel of a big budget rip-off of a 007 film, just needs a dubbed soundtrack to work fully

Tony EH

CastorTroy wrote: »

How did I not know that the guy from From Russia With Love and the guy from Jaws was the same person?

It's amazing what a bit of hair dye can do.

Wedwood

For Completists, you can include 1983's Never Say Never Again starring Sean Connery, basically a remake of Thunderball.

Watch out for an early role by Rowan Atkinson, probably gave him the idea for Johnny English.

Harry Palmr

And "Kim Baysingers" nipples are great The rest is mixed but some amusing scenes.

beauf

I love the bonds. But they've dated badly though. I wonder if thats one of the reasons the Craig ones have less tech, they are more like thrillers than bond movies.

dobman88

Saw this thread earlier while we were trying to decide on a film for the evening.

Just watched from russia with love. Neither of us had ever seen it and it was brilliant. Thanks OP and thanks everyone else for the recommendation

the purple tin

I always liked Live and Let Die with Roger Moore. A great speedboat chase, the redneck sheriff, Baron Samedi and the lovely Jane Seymour..

Sal Butamol

Dr. No
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Live and Let Die
The Spy Who Loved Me
For Your Eyes Only
A View To A Kill
The Living Daylights
Licence to Kill
Goldeneye
Casino Royale
Skyfall

Have never fully liked You only live twice and Thunderball (bit too Dr. Evil Austin Powers for me), Diamonds is crap, likewise with Moonraker and Man with Golden Gun from Moore, Octopussy is fun but silly at times, Dalton is closest to the Bond from the books and did Craig before Craig, Brosnans run has aged the worst, he was good but all of them were ****e bar his debut, I walked out of Die another Day, didn't like Quantum and Spectre just made a complete balls of Blofeld which is unforgivable

Skerries

then you have the original outing of James Bond

Heres Johnny

Watch Austin Powers as well, rips into a lot of bond scenes, villains and bond girls.

The villains and bond girls make the movies as much as the actor playing bond.
Ursula Andreas will always be the original and best in my view.
The older movies are just as good and nonsensical as the new ones, some gems in there.

pumpkin4life

Sal Butamol wrote: »

Dr. No
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Live and Let Die
The Spy Who Loved Me
For Your Eyes Only
A View To A Kill
The Living Daylights
Licence to Kill
Goldeneye
Casino Royale
Skyfall

Have never fully liked You only live twice and Thunderball (bit too Dr. Evil Austin Powers for me), Diamonds is crap, likewise with Moonraker and Man with Golden Gun from Moore, Octopussy is fun but silly at times, Dalton is closest to the Bond from the books and did Craig before Craig, Brosnans run has aged the worst, he was good but all of them were ****e bar his debut, I walked out of Die another Day, didn't like Quantum and Spectre just made a complete balls of Blofeld which is unforgivable

I like Diamonds and Moonraker in a so bad, they end up good fun kind of way.

I think Dalton was massively underrated (The Living Daylights is fùcking great and some Miami Vice shìte aside, License to Kill is a good film as well), and Brosnan was a terrible Bond, even if Goldeneye is a class film. At least Roger's bad stretch was so over the top and silly, you could go with it.

Craig's great, but bar Casino Royale, all the other movies he's been in are terrible. Skyfall is a trainwreck in the second half. Spectre is maybe my least favorite Bond film.

Why the fùck is it 150 minutes long?

The real underrated jewel is On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It's a pure artsy fartsy version of a Bond film, and its like none of the others, but it's superb all the same. The ending is a genuinely sad cluster**** alright.

Though From Russia With Love is my favorite one.

Arthur Daley

Going through them one by one you find dips and peaks after 1970. The 70s were very dicey for Bond, after the non stop success of the 60s. Diamonds was poor, but Live and Let Die and the introduction of Moore revived the whole show. But then Man with the Golden Gun is poor again, but The Spy Who Loved Me is one of my favourites for sure. Then Moonraker is terrible, probably the worst for me. This streak of ups and downs continues into the 80s, so the Bond films were under serious threat by the time Dalton had finished and Brosnan took over. The Brosnan era at least revived the whole series and modernised it, as the audiences became more sophisticated also, and what impressed in the 1960s or 70s in terms of locations, and stunts doesn't impress a well travelled audience today.

Wedwood

Each Bond belonged to a different era and often don't compare well for that reason.


Connery - Was the original, so virtually everyone that followed was compared. His Bond movies (like everyone else's were mainly good, but 1 or two duds as well)


Lazenby - 1 movie, hated for years, subsequently re-evaluated decades later


Moore - His movies deliberately lighter/playful in tone. His lighter brand of wink to the audience action movies became the template for the likes of Indiana Jones, including more recently seen in the Marvel movies.

Dalton - Craig prototype

Brosnan - like Moore, currently out of vogue.


Craig - Bond for the current 'gritty' generation

Sal Butamol

Brosnan isn't out of vogue, the films were just plain old ****e and embarrassing.

Had he better scripts and stories he could have been great.

Mushy

Wife told me she got my birthday present, one that I've been plaguing her for years at every Christmas and birthday.

I could not figure it out at all, then read this thread, said I want to re-watch them all, then the Bingo moment occurred. Full box set incoming, can't wait to get cracking on them.

McLoughlin

I think its best to watch them all in order and you can see how the times and era they were made in shaped them and how they have dated.

RichT

Mushy wrote: »

Wife told me she got my birthday present, one that I've been plaguing her for years at every Christmas and birthday.

I could not figure it out at all, then read this thread, said I want to re-watch them all, then the Bingo moment occurred. Full box set incoming, can't wait to get cracking on them.

........... Or this

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

God be with the days of the 'Bond Season' on Network 2. Bond films twice or three times a week. Idale.

Faith+1

Sal Butamol wrote: »

Brosnans run has aged the worst, he was good but all of them were ****e bar his debut, I walked out of Die another Day

I'll never forget the scene where he was using a plane door and parachute to ride a wave which lifted him over the cliff edge.

Everyone in the cinema was breaking their sh*te laughing. I knew then and there that Brosnan was finished as bond.

the purple tin

RichT wrote: »

........... Or this

Perfect for undercover missions, never mind the big 007 plastered across them :pac:

Sal Butamol

Faith+1 wrote: »

I'll never forget the scene where he was using a plane door and parachute to ride a wave which lifted him over the cliff edge.

Everyone in the cinema was breaking their sh*te laughing. I knew then and there that Brosnan was finished as bond.

That's the scene where I got up and walked out

SimonTemplar

Faith+1 wrote: »

I'll never forget the scene where he was using a plane door and parachute to ride a wave which lifted him over the cliff edge.

Everyone in the cinema was breaking their sh*te laughing. I knew then and there that Brosnan was finished as bond.

An absolute low point of the whole series. I feel sorry for Brosnan in a way. To go from a brilliant movie like GoldenEye which at least had one foot grounded in the real world, to this with its cartoon physics and painfully bad effects.

I can just picture Brosnan on a green screen stage with the director yelling instructions to move his arms left and right. Embarrassing.

BailMeOut

From The Guardian today.

James Bond on film – 007's best and worst movies ranked!

the purple tin

BailMeOut wrote: »

From The Guardian today.

James Bond on film – 007's best and worst movies ranked!

They make a good point; Henry Kissinger is a tailor-made Bond villain.

Kolido

BailMeOut wrote: »

From The Guardian today.

James Bond on film – 007's best and worst movies ranked!

The Living Daylights is ranked criminally low on that list and the top movie is one of my least favourite Bond movies.

SimonTemplar

BailMeOut wrote: »

From The Guardian today.

James Bond on film – 007's best and worst movies ranked!

That list is rubbish. I know such things are subjective but I wouldn't advise anyone to judge the series based on that article.