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These are the eighteen official films, from Dr. No in 1962 to
Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997. Best at the top. Two films don't count
and aren't on here: Never Say Never Again (1983), which is Connery
again but isn't part of the official series, and the 1967 Casino
Royale, the comedy with David Niven, which we will not be
discussing.
I have watched all eighteen in order twice, once in 1995 before
GoldenEye and once this summer, with a legal pad, to get this right. Joe
Baskin has seen the list and says number 18 is too low. Number 18 cannot
go any lower. That's the problem with it.
| RANK |
FILM / ASSESSMENT |
| 1 |
Goldfinger (1964, Connery)
Gert Fröbe, Oddjob's hat, Fort Knox, and the first time the Aston
Martin shows up. Every Bond movie since has been trying to be this one. |
| 2 |
From Russia with Love (1963, Connery)
The fight with Robert Shaw in the train compartment on the Orient Express
is still the best fight in the series. The closest any of them came to
the book. |
| 3 |
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977, Moore)
My first. The ski jump, Jaws, the white Lotus that drives into the sea
and turns into a submarine, and Barbara Bach as a Russian agent who is
every bit as good as he is. Carly Simon's theme says it all in the
title. |
| 4 |
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969, Lazenby)
Diana Rigg, a mountaintop in Switzerland, the best story of the whole
series and the most faithful to Fleming. The ending flattened me when I
saw it on TV at fifteen. Don't let anybody spoil it for you. |
| 5 |
GoldenEye (1995, Brosnan)
The bungee jump off the dam, the tank through the streets of St.
Petersburg, Sean Bean as 006, and Judi Dench as the new M. After six
years without a Bond, it brought the whole thing back to life. |
| 6 |
Dr. No (1962, Connery)
Where it started. Jamaica, Ursula Andress walking out of the water, and
Joseph Wiseman with his metal hands. Cheaper than the rest and doesn't
need to be anything else. |
| 7 |
Thunderball (1965, Connery)
Too much underwater, but it's beautiful underwater. And Bond flies away
in a jet pack before the credits. A jet pack! |
| 8 |
For Your Eyes Only (1981, Moore)
Moore gets serious and it suits him. The climb up the cliff to the
monastery in Greece, and a chase in a little yellow Citroën that I
like better than any chase with a sports car. |
| 9 |
The Living Daylights (1987, Dalton)
Dalton's first. The Aston Martin is back, and there's an escape down a
snowy mountain riding a cello case. Underrated, every bit of it. |
| 10 |
You Only Live Twice (1967, Connery)
The base inside the volcano is the greatest set in the history of the
movies, and we finally see Blofeld's face. Little Nellie, the tiny
autogyro, is the best gadget Q ever packed. |
| 11 |
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997, Brosnan)
Jonathan Pryce as a newspaper man who wants a war for the headlines,
Michelle Yeoh, and Bond driving his BMW from the back seat with a
phone. I paid to see this one three times. |
| 12 |
Live and Let Die (1973, Moore)
Moore's first, Paul McCartney's theme, and the speedboat chase through
the Louisiana bayous, which goes on for about a week and I never want it
to stop. |
| 13 |
Licence to Kill (1989, Dalton)
Bond goes after revenge, and it's the first one rated PG-13. Robert Davi
makes a great drug lord. The tanker trucks at the end are worth the
whole ticket. |
| 14 |
Octopussy (1983, Moore)
India, Maud Adams, some very good stuff on a train, and Roger Moore in a
clown suit. I'll leave it there. |
| 15 |
Diamonds Are Forever (1971, Connery)
Connery came back for one more, and you can tell it's one more. Las
Vegas, and a chase in a moon buggy. Fun, and not much else. |
| 16 |
Moonraker (1979, Moore)
Bond goes to outer space, because Star Wars made a lot of money. Jaws
gets a girlfriend. I was fifteen and I loved it, and I'm thirty-five
and I'm sorry. |
| 17 |
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974, Moore)
Christopher Lee deserved a better movie. The car does a full corkscrew
flip over a river, a real stunt, one of the best ever done, and then
they put a slide whistle on the soundtrack over it. |
| 18 |
A View to a Kill (1985, Moore)
Christopher Walken, Grace Jones, the Golden Gate Bridge, a good Duran
Duran song, and it's still last. Roger Moore was fifty-seven. It was
time. |
Tally by agent: Connery has two in my top two. Moore has the most
films and the widest spread, third place to last place, which is about
right for Moore. Brosnan has fifth and eleventh, and he gets his third
chance in November.
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File last updated Friday, September 24, 1999.
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