On October 5, 1962, the first James Bond film, Dr. No, made its premiere in London. Since then we have had 22 films in 50 years with the 23rd soon to make its appearance on November 9th. I, for one, can hardly wait until then to see it!
I have been a fan of the James Bond films most of my life. My Dad was a fan, which is how I got my first exposure to the series. A James Bond film was one of the few times my Dad even considered going to the movie theatre to see a film (otherwise he'd just wait until it came on TV!).
The early films in the series were based on books by Ian Fleming, who worked for Naval Intelligence during World War II. The first book published was Casino Royale (1954). Twelve more titles would follow until his death in 1964. Fleming took his knowledge of the spying game and glamorized it. The English people ate it up. The country was still trying to repair the physical and emotional damage of World War II so it was just the kind of distraction they needed. James Bond came them something to enjoy.
Then came the films. The first to appear was Dr. No in 1962 starring Sean Connery. Since so many different actors have played the role, there is of course debate over who is the best. While I greatly enjoyed the Roger Moore Bond films when I was younger, my favorite Bond is Connery (although Daniel Craig is a very close second). And then there is the one time Bond, George Lazenby (he replaced a burned out Connery who returned in Diamonds are Forever). When On Her Majesty's Secret Service came out Lazenby was heavily criticized for his performance. But now many people consider this film one of the best of them all. I hate to admit I still have not seen the Lazenby film.
With so many different Bonds to chose I'm listing my favorite films from each of the five actors who have played him more than once:
Dr. No (1962)
This was the first Bond film I ever saw and I was hooked. In this film, Bond traces a mysterious murder to a Chinese scientist living on a small Jamaican island who, working for SPECTRE, plans to disrupt American rocket launches. Once again, the allure of space won me over. We also get to see Jack Lord as CIA operative Felix Leiter before he became known as Steve McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O.
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
This is considered to be the best Roger Moore Bond film of the seven that he made (more than any other actor so far). Bond teams up with a female Russian agent to locate missing nuclear submarines and encounters Stromberg who plans on creating a new undersea world. This film also introduces us to one of the most iconic characters of the series - Jaws played by Richard Kiel. Jaws would also appear in the next Moore film, Moonraker (1979).
The Living Daylights (1987)
After 1985s A View to a Kill, Roger Moore decided to step down as James Bond (or it's also said he was forced out). The hunt was on to find a replacement. The talk for years had that it would be Pierce Brosnan, the star of television's Remington Steele. Unfortunately, Brosnan was unable to get out of his contract. In stepped Timothy Dalton. At the time he was seen as an unlikely choice and he only made two films as James Bond. After Moore's portrayal for so long, I actually found him to be a nice change of pace. In this film, Bond teams up with a female cellist to investigate the fake defector for whom she was allegedly working, leading them to a weapons-for-drugs smuggling scheme headed up by powerful arms dealer. For me, this film marked the return of the action and spy thriller and not one of buffoonery that the later Moore films had turned into.
Goldeneye (1995)
After the last Dalton film in 1989, there was a long hiatus before Pierce Brosnan finally became James Bond. With the new Bond also came a new M (head of MI6) played by Dame Judi Dench after years of men in the role. This story has Bond fighting to prevent a syndicate of techno-terrorists from causing a global financial meltdown through usage of the GoldenEye satellite weapon against London. With the changes, this film felt much more fresh and current than the series had in awhile. Brosnan would go on to make four Bond films, the last in 2002's Die Another Day.
Casino Royale (2006)
When Daniel Craig was cast as the new James Bond I didn't know what to think. I didn't know who he was and it seemed like a gamble to cast an almost unknown actor in such an iconic role. But it's turned out to be a wonderful decision. They also made a wise decision in re-booting the series. This entry has Bond attempting to frustrate the schemes of a terrorist financier by defeating him at a high-stakes game of poker. In the meantime he falls in love with treasury employee Vesper Lynd, who turns out to have an agenda of her own. With the re-boot we get to see Bond as he is becoming 007 and even has him resigning his position with MI6 at one point. We also get to see the vulnerable and human side of Bond as he falls for Vesper. This was followed by Quantum of Solace (2008), which continued the story but was a bit more confusing, although still very good. We'll see how Skyfall is when it is released on November 9th.
To read the Ian Fleming books click here.
(Trivia: Ian Fleming is also the author of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!)
To see any of the Bond films click here.
And for a bit of fun, here is Daniel Craig's appearance at the London Olympics with the Queen!
-- Post by Tracy
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