Your Bond Lists (Re: Steady Leak)

As a qualifier to my list, I should state that I was born in 1970 and therefore grew up on the Roger Moore Bond films. While most of them haven't aged well at all, I really enjoy two of them and have them quite high on my list.

My list:
1. The Spy Who Loved Me
2. From Russia With Love
3. Casino Royale (2006)
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. Goldfinger
6. The Living Daylights
7. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
8. Goldeneye
9. Thunderball
10. You Only Live Twice
11. Dr. No
12. Tomorrow Never Dies
13. The World is Not Enough
14. The Man With the Golden Gun
15. Live and Let Die
16. Octopussy
17. Diamonds are Forever
18. Moonraker
19. License to Kill
20. A View to a Kill
21. Die Another Day

I'm not going to go through the full list-- hell, I can't even tell the Brosnan films apart. The essential Bond home library, in my opinion:

From Russia With Love
Low-key, just fanciful enough. The most faithful adaptation of any of the books. Robert Shaw is an awesome villain and Daniela Bianchi gets the receiving end of Bond's dirtiest one-liner ever.

Goldfinger
The template for what Bond movies would soon become, it still manages to retain its freshness.

The Spy Who Loved Me
To me, the archetypal movie-Bond adventure, with its amazing stunts, huge sets, gorgeous girls and cool gadgets.

For Your Eyes Only
Back to basics, and all the better for it-- especially after the grotesque excess of Moonraker. Plus nude Sheena Easton.

The Living Daylights
For once, a James Bond who really comes across as a lethal government operative. John Barry's best score too.

Wow, another Bond thread! With more lists! Um, okay...

1. GOLDFINGER
2. THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
3. CASINO ROYALE
4. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
5. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
6. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
7. DR. NO
8. LICENCE TO KILL
9. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
10. GOLDENEYE
11. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
12. TOMORROW NEVER DIES
13. THUNDERBALL
14. LIVE AND LET DIE
15. OCTOPUSSY
16. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH
17. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
18. MOONRAKER
19. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
20. DIE ANOTHER DAY
21. A VIEW TO A KILL

I also grew up on the Roger Moore films. But sometimes, you have to let your loved one -- or tree of eternal life in an interstellar orb, as the case may be -- go.

* See the neverending Bond thread for pics of exploding Zerbe, Post #1062.

As for my list, Fuck Off:

1. Live and Let Die/Man With the Golden Gun
2. Licence to Kill
3. Casino Royale
4. Goldfinger
5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service


.

For Hell's sake, why am I doing this? no one is gonna read my list.

1. Goldfinger
2. License To Kill (eat it, fuckers, this movie kicks ass)
3. For Your Eyes Only
4. Goldeneye
5. Casino Royale
6. From Russia, With Love
7. Live and Let Die
8. Moonraker (again, this one is fun)
9. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
10. The Spy Who Loved Me
11. You Only Live Twice
12. The Man With the Golden Gun
13. Thunderball
14. Tomorrow Never Dies
15. Dr. No
16. Die Another Day (It wasn't awful, take out Halle and the invisible car and its fine)
17. The Living Daylights (this one ain't that great)
18. Diamonds Are Forever (Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, the homosexual hitmen!)
19. The World Is Not ENough
20. Octopussy
21. A View To a Kill (only worse than Octopussy for the Grace Jones factor)

Well, I made a list. Yay.

Loved your comment about DAD enough to put it in my Sig. And I never put my list into the Bond thread so here goes....

#1 Goldfinger
#2 From Russia With Love
#3 The Spy Who Loved Me
#4 Goldeneye
#5 Casino Royale
#6 You Only Live Twice (Really this is tied at 5 with Casino Royale but it lost the coin flip)
#7 For Your Eyes Only
#8 License to Kill
#9 Live and Let Die
#10 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
#11 Dr. No
#12 Tomorrow Never Dies
#13 Thunderball
#14 Octopussy
#15 The Living Daylights
#16 Diamonds Are Forever ( I still love this movie, but I gotta be realistic)
#17 The World is Not Enough
#18 The Man With the Golden Gun (The song is a big reason it's down this far)
#19 A View to a Kill (Christopher Walken is wasted...and I still have nightmares about Bond nailing Grace Jones)
#20 Moonraker (they should have adapted the book...would have been excellent)
#21 Die Another Day (Once Bond escapes the medical bay this movie goes to shit...also hands down the worst Bond song EVER)

1. Goldfinger
2. From Russia With Love
3. Casino Royale
4. Thunderball
5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
6. Dr. No
7. Goldeneye
8. License to Kill
9. The Spy Who Loved Me
10. The Living Daylights
11. The World is Not Enough (Bound to take shit for this, but I really dig it)
12. For Your Eyes Only
13. Tomorrow Never Dies (Just doesn't do that much for me)
14. A View to A Kill ( Yep, more shit, but I likes it)
15. You Only Live Twice
16. Live and Let Die
17. Octopussy
18. Moonraker
19. Diamonds Are Forever
20. The Man With the Golden Gun
21. Die Another Day

EDIT: Slightly revised, after putting more thought into it. This one's a keeper.

1.) Goldfinger
2.) From Russia With Love
3.) Dr. No
4.) Goldeneye
5.) License to Kill
6.) Casino Royale
7.) The Living Daylights
8.) For Your Eyes Only
9.) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
10.) The Spy Who Loved Me
11.) Thunderball
12.) Tommorow Never Dies
13.) Live and Let Die
14.) You Only Live Twice
15.) The Man With the Golden Gun
16.) The World is Not Enough
17.) Octopussy
18.) Diamonds Are Forever
19.) Die Another Day
20.) Moonraker
21.) A View to A Kill

If we were to count Never Say Never Again, I'd put it somewhere between TWINE and DAD.

ALL HAIL ROGER MOORE AND HIS ORANGE HAIR

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2.The Holy Roger Weird Plot Trilogy: Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, Live and Let Die
3.Goldfinger
4.From Russia with Love
5.You Only Live Twice
6. Casino Royale
7.For Your Eyes Only
8.Diamonds are Forever
9.Living Daylights
a bunch of others then
the bottom 2:

Die Another Day
The World is Not Enough

1) From Russia With Love
2) Casino Royale
3) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
4) Goldfinger
5) The Living Daylights
6) Dr. No
7) You Only Live Twice
8) Thunderball
9) For Your Eyes Only
10) License To Kill
11) Tomorrow Never Dies
12) The Spy Who Loved Me
13) Goldeneye
14) Live And Let Die
15) The Man With The Golden Gun
16) Diamonds Are Forever
17) The World Is Not Enough
18) Octopussy
19) A View To A Kill
20) Die Another Day
21) Moonraker

1)From Russia With Love
2)Goldfinger
3)Casino Royale
4)On Her Majesty's Secret Service
5)The Living Daylights
6)Dr. No
7)For Your Eyes Only
8)The Spy Who Loved Me
9)You Only Live Twice
10)Goldeneye
11)Thunderball
12)Live And Let Die
13)Octopussy
14)Diamonds Are Forever
15)The World Is Not Enough
16)Licence To Kill
17)Tomorrow Never Dies
18)Moonraker
19)The Man With The Golden Gun
20)A View To A Kill
21)Die Another Day

I'm seeing Casino Royale this weekend, but to date:

1)From Russia With Love (Perhaps the only truly serious film)
2)Goldfinger (The template. And still fresh somehow.)
3)On Her Majesty's Secret Service
4)For Your Eyes Only (The back to basics approach really worked.)
5)The Spy Who Loved Me (Where Moore really established his identity in the role.)
6)Goldeneye
7)The Living Daylights (Just lacks a memorable villain.)
8)Licence To Kill (Elevated for breaking out of formula)
9)Dr. No
10)You Only Live Twice (Over the top, but still a lot of fun.)

(The mediocre films begin)
11)Tomorrow Never Dies (Good action, not much else.)
12)Thunderball (A little slow.)
13)Octopussy
14)Live And Let Die

(Here's the break into actual bad films.)

15)The World Is Not Enough
16)Diamonds Are Forever
17)The Man With The Golden Gun
18)Moonraker
19)Die Another Day
20)A View To A Kill

Well, we've all seen the lists with ranking by movies. I don't see any point in adding to it. Because I see Bond ranking more like a Venn diagram.

At the top, there's a big circle (Connery) with a little circle inside--maybe around the middle of it (Craig). Below that, but intersecting a little, is another big circle (Dalton) with a little one next to it--just floating out there (Lazenby). Under the big Dalton circle is another big circle (Brosnan) that overlaps it by about half.

Then, below that, after a little space, is a little circle with David Niven written in it.

Now turn the page over. On the other side is a circle with Roger Moore's name written in it. I haven't decided if Moore's name is spelled right or not. And it's written in blue crayon. With shame.

Anyone who leaves Goldeneye out of their top 10 don't know a good Bond flick if it shot them in the ass-squint.

Nice work, Hog. Don't fully agree, but I can't fault your logic.

Tops: Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me, License to Kill, Goldeneye, Casino Royale. This is non-negotiable as far as I'm concerned (perhaps with the additions of From Russia With Love, FYEO, You Only Live Twice and OHMSS). But for each Bond, these are the definitive moments (thus far).

Pretty goods: Thunderball, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Living Daylights, Tomorrow Never Dies and Dr. No (don't hurt me!). Each contain some great, maybe even classic moments, but also lack a certain something. Case in point: Tomorrow Never Dies has, in my opinion, one of the great Bond girls in Michelle Yeoh but one of the most inane villains in Jonathan Pryce, with some decent action sequences along the way. The highs go up and down across the films, but the ingredients don't quite mesh to total satisfaction.

Then, as Nid Hog put it, there are the rest of the films - some with good sequences - which mostly blend into one another, leaving only...

The pits: The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day. Brosnan's excellent Bond wasted in cookie cutter plots, with increasingly shit villains and ludicrous, dull action sequences. They both sport very promising pre-credits sequences and then gradually go downhill until they become completely shite.

Moonraker and A View to a Kill. Moore looking completely lost and out of place in a) space and b) action scenes aged 57. A View to a Kill has Walken's ill-judged villain and even iller-judged Grace Jones as well as being pretty dull and overlong. Moonraker, well, Moonraker is just wank. End of discussion.

As for who is the best Bond? Can't be called. Connery was iconic, Moore was fun, Dalton was interesting, Brosnan was all three placed in shambolic films (after Gondeneye he so easily could have rivalled Connery IMHO) and Craig, well, its too early to judge. He is different, but his progression from cocky and unmannered to wounded and focussed is very promising and he very much looks the part in his action scenes. Let's hope they don't Brosnan his "perfectly formed" ass.

1. For Your Eyes Only
2. Goldfinger
3. You Only Live Twice
4. TSWLM
5. Casino Royale
6. Moonraker
7. Tomorrw Never Dies
8. Goldeneye
9. OHMSS
10. Live and Let Die
11. Thunderball
12. Dr. No.
13. From Russia With Love
14. The Living Daylights
15. Octopussy
16. Man with the Golden Gun
17. License to Kill
18. A View to a Kill
19. Die Another Day
20. TWINE
21. Diamonds Are Forever- Eat my shit!

The totally awful Never Say Never Again is locked in it's alternate reality phantom zone-like thingy.

Without a doubt, Hog's list is the smartest one I've never seen. Well done!

it's redundant to list a ranking of 21 films after all these. can't be that different, can it? here's my top 5

1. Goldfinger - still the most definitive and iconic film of the series. everything works.
2. From Russia With Love - hottest bond girl in daniela bianchi, a great straight laced story (considering who's stories we're talking about) with cheeky dialogue, and red grant.
3. Goldeneye - bond's most personal and reasonably ambitious adventure yet, giving bond fans everywhere justifiable hope that brosnan would be the best incarnation of him since connery. sadly, it was not to be.
4. Casino Royale - a refreshingly bare bones reintroduction to james bond as a secret agent and cinema icon. the streak of good opening bond films for new actors continues, and the way daniel craig threw it down in CR, we have every right to expect greatness from him until his contract expires.
5. Live And Let Die - i hate what roger moore did with bond's character to the bitter end of his run, but i love the atmosphere of this flick. and jane seymour.

I need to revise my list. The more I think about it, the more I'd rather paint my dick to look like a banana and jump in a cage of starving monkeys than watch Diamonds are Forever again.

Ok so here goes...I am a die hard bond fan and can find much to love in nearly all the films...well not Die Another Day or Octopussy...or The Living Daylights. Yeah That's Right Nick and Co. Dalton was actually fine in the role I just find Daylights to be a complete snoozefest.
I was actually introduced to Bond with Goldeneye and have since gone back and watched every film multiple times and own the vast majority of them. Connery was the original and still best but I actually think Roger Moore too often gets shit upon. He took the role in a different direction for a different era and I actually bought him more as the ladies man then Sean. Moore just wasn't gritty enough for the role. Brosnan seemed to me at least to be a bit of combination of Connery and Moore which I dug. Too bad some of the movies were shit. Lazenby is dull but OHMSS was solid. As for Craig...Casino Royale was amazing and so was he.

1) Goldfinger
2) Dr. No
3.) Casino Royale
4.) Goldeneye
5) The Spy Who Loved Me
6.) For Your Eyes Only
7) From Russia With Love
8) On Her Majesty's Secret Service (I think that if Connery had returned or if this had been Moore's first turn it would be even better)
9) License to Kill
10.) Thunderball/Never Say Never Again
11.) Tomorrow Never Dies
12.) You Only Live Twice
13.) Diamonds are Forever
14.) Live and Let Die
15.) The Man with the Golden Gun
16.)A View to a Kill
17) The World is not Enough
18)The Living Daylights
19) Moonraker
20)Die Another Day
21) Octopussy

Lastly the videogame 007 Everything or Nothing would have made an incredible Bond film. I'm such a geek that I consider it the best thing Brosnan was ever involved in as Bond.

I couldn't agree more. In addition to being a pretty damn fun game to play, it was actually a really good 'Bond Film'. Granted, it had Jaws in it, so that did add to the coolness factor.

How about this?

.

Edited by Ron P. - 3/7/12 at 9:09am

Christ this is difficult, but here goes...

1.On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2.From Russia With Love
3.Casino Royale
4.Goldeneye
5.Goldfinger
6.Dr. No
7.You Only Live Twice
8.Live and Let Die
9.The Living Daylights
10.The Spy Who Loved Me
11.For Your Eyes Only
12.Diamonds Are Forever
13.Tomorrow Never Dies
14.The Man With the Golden Gun
15.Thunderball
16.License To Kill
17.The World is Not Enough
18.Octopussy
19.Moonraker
20.Die Another Day
21.A View To A Kill

I feel very comfortable with this list.

The Greats:

Goldfinger
Casino Royale
From Russia With Love
Goldeneye
Licence to Kill
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
The Living Daylights
Dr. No

The Really Goods:

Tomorrow Never Dies
You Only Live Twice
For Your Eyes Only
Thunderball


The Mediocre:

Live and Let Die
The Spy Who Loved Me
The World Is Not Enough

The Bad:

Moonraker
The Man With the Golden Gun

The Unmentionables:

Diamonds Are Forever
Octopussy
A View to a Kill
Die Another Day

The so great there hard to rank

Goldfinger = 10
From Russia With Love = 9.75
OHMSS = 9.5 / Casino Royale = 9.5
Dr. No = 9.25
SWLM = 9.0 / GoldenEye = 9.0
For Your Eyes Only = 8.75

The enjoyable fun middle movies

Tommorow Never Dies = 8.5 / The Living Daylights = 8.5
You Only Live Twice = 8.25 / Live And Let Die = 8.25
Liscence to Kill = 8.0
TMWTGG = 7.5

The flawed but deeply intresting

Octopussy = 7.0 / Thunderball = 7.0
TWINE = 6.75
A View To a Kill = 6.5
Moonraker = 6.25

The complete crap
Die Another Day = 5.5
Diamonds Are Forever = 5.0

Another list thread... Bah, I can't resist. License to Kill actually took quite a tumble from hovering around my top spot - I still think it's a very good Bond film, and Dalton is still my favorite, but on my last viewing quite a few issues stood out and made me reconsider the film in a different light.

Casino Royale landed very high at slot 3 - Daniel Craig is terrific, and I hope he stays around for quite a while.

The Top 7 Films - The very best
__________________________________

1) The Living Daylights
2) You Only Live Twice
3) Casino Royale
4) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
5) Thunderball
6) From Russia With Love
7) Goldeneye

The great, or very good ones
_________________

8) Dr. No
9) The Man with the Golden Gun (despite some lapses into MR-esque gags, I appreciate its uniqueness in the series.)
10) License to Kill
11) For Your Eyes Only
12) Goldfinger

The average ones
_______________

13) Tomorrow Never Dies
14) The Spy Who Loved Me
15) Octopussy
16) The World is not Enough
17) Live and Let Die
18) A View to a Kill

The 00-Zeros
____________

19) Moonraker (I do love the title song - One of the series' best. The "humor" just kills the film for me.)
20) Die Another Day
21) Diamonds Are Forever

I can't resist a list, as usual.

TOPS
Grand escapism. Exciting, attractive, even surprising. The higher entries have stronger character development, warmth and humor where appropriate, and in general are faithful to the novels (or at least the spirit). The directors, writers, editors, composers think beyond the formula and are largely successful with their experiments.

The lower entries lean closer to the manufactured, but they avoid monotony through intelligence and eccentricity. Novel settings, cheeky dialogue, scene-stealing villains. Solid actors carry excess weight, and action sequences are bold, crisply edited and shot.

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. Casino Royale
4. The Living Daylights
5. Live and Let Die
6. Dr. No
7. Octopussy
8. Never Say Never Again
9. For Your Eyes Only
10. The Spy Who Loved Me

MIDDLE

Straying too far from Fleming (or in one case, too close!) with not much of interest to justify it. Too often mechanical. Promising experiments tend to fail from inconsistencies in character and tone. The higher entries offer enough in terms of stunts, photography, music and quips to squeak by, even for repeat viewings. The lower entries are dull, forgettable.

11. You Only Live Twice
12. Goldfinger
13. The Man with the Golden Gun
14. Thunderball
15. Diamonds are Forever
16. Tomorrow Never Dies
17. GoldenEye

BOTTOM

Inept in all departments. Largely a depressing experience. The higher entries have pleasant scenery, a few spirited performances and moments of camp that almost work.

18. A View to a Kill
19. Moonraker
20. License to Kill
21. The World is Not Enough
22. Die Another Day

Y'know, I watched Die Another Day on cable last night (first time I've seen it since the theater), and two things became clear to me:

1) The quality leap from Die Another Day to Casino Royale is truly insane. I've never seen a franchise jump-started so well and so quickly.

2) I think I need to revise my list and place DAD below Moonraker. My natural Moonraker prejudice might not be enough to override this.

1. Casino Royale
2. From Russia With Love
3. Goldfinger
4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
5. The Living Daylights
6. Dr. No
7. The Spy Who Loved Me
8. Licence To Kill
9. Goldeneye
10. For Your Eyes Only
11. You Only Live Twice
12. Tomorrow Never Dies
13. The World Is Not Enough
14. Thunderball
15. Man With The Golden Gun
16. Die Another Day
17. Diamonds Are Forever
18. Moonraker
19. A View To A Kill
20. Octopussy
21. Live And Let Die

Although I'm not quite brave enough to list CASINO ROYALE this high this early, I'm really glad to see someone else do it.

To be fair, I've kinda had longer to stew on it. No other Bond film comes off this strong in every aspect, though FRWL is neck and neck.

It feels almost blasphemous, but I very nearly put CR at #1 myself. I'm going to give them a bit more time to do the multiple viewings, but if remains as iminently watchable as it has these first 2 viewings, it'll snatch the top spot.

Goldfinger's pre credit and FRWLs title sequence and the pacing of both I feel will keep them at number 1 and 2 on my list, and like Stew Desmond is Q and he gives these two a slight X factor. After some time it could pass OHMSS, but we shalll see, I also think the follow up Craig films will help or hinder.