James Bond Lists

Every time a James Bond film is released many media outlets release a ranked list of the films.  Bond fans also love to create lists of their favorite elements of the series on different sites. 

In the spirit of such lists I have created an overall list of my Bond films ranked in order of preference.  

Additionally, I have listed several categories below but most of them are broken down by leading man (actor who played Bond) since each actor represents his own era of films and I felt it more fair to judge these elements within their own generation rather than against the whole.  I did not include the non-Eon Bond films, Never Say Never Again (1983) or the 1953 or 1967 versions of Casino Royale.  I also excluded George Lazenby from most of the categories since he is only in one film so there was no other point of comparison.

This is just a personal list and is by no means supposed to represent anyone’s opinion other than my own.   There are choices both popular and unconventional.  I thought of making a worst of list but I opted to keep the tone of this post positive.  I avoided comments on these since I am covering that in my individual posts on these films as I work my way through them.

As always these come with a spoiler warning.

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

Bonds:
1.       Daniel Craig
2.       Timothy Dalton
3.       Sean Connery
4.       Pierce Brosnan
5.       Roger Moore
6.       George Lazenby

Top 5 Directors:
Sam Mendes (Skyfall, Spectre)
Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale)
John Glen (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill)
Terence Young (Dr No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball)
Michael Apted (The World Is Not Enough)

Top Songs:
Connery: Thunderball (Tom Jones)
Moore: For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton)
Dalton: Licence to Kill (Gladys Knight)
Brosnan: Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crow)
Craig: You Know My Name (from Casino Royale-Chris Cornell)

Best Villain:
Connery: Dr No (Joseph Wiseman)
Moore: Francisco Scaramanga from The Man With The Golden Gun (Christopher Lee)
Dalton: Franz Sanchez from Licence to Kill (Robert Davi)
Brosnan: Renard from The World Is Not Enough (Robert Carlyle)
Craig: Raoul Silva from Skyfall (Javier Bardem)

Best Henchman:
Connery: Red Grant in From Russia With Love (Robert Shaw)
Moore: Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me (Richard Kiel)
Dalton: Necros in The Living Daylights (Andreas Wisiewski)
Brosnan: Xenia in Goldeneye (Famke Janssen
Craig: Mr. Hinx in Spectre (Dave Bautista)

Best Score:
Connery: From Russia With Love (John Barry)
Moore: Octopussy (John Barry)
Dalton: The Living Daylights (John Barry)
Brosnan: Tomorrow Never Dies (David Arnold)
Craig: Casino Royale (David Arnold)

Best Action Sequence:
Connery: Train Fight (From Russia With Love)
Lazenby:  Nighttime Ski Chase (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)
Moore: Bedroom Fight (Octopussy)
Dalton: Cargo Plane Fight (The Living Daylights)
Brosnan: Ice Surfing (just kidding), Boat Chase (The World Is Not Enough)
Craig: Madagascar Chase (Casino Royale)

Pre-Title Sequence:
Connery: From Russia With Love
Moore: For Your Eyes Only
Dalton: The Living Daylights
Brosnan: The World Is Not Enough
Craig: Skyfall

Best Title Sequence:
Connery: Thunderball
Moore: The Spy Who Loved Me
Dalton: Licence to Kill
Brosnan: Die Another Day
Craig: Casino Royale

Best Couple:
Connery: Bond and Honey (Ursula Andres in Dr No)
Lazenby: Bond and Tracy (Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)
Moore: Bond and Octopussy (Maud Adams in Octopussy)
Dalton: Bond and Kara (Maryann D’Abo in The Living Daylights)
Brosnan: Bond and Natalya (Izabella Scorupco in Goldeneye)
Craig: Bond and Vesper (Eva Green in Casino Royale)

Best “Bond, James Bond delivery”:
Connery: Dr No
Moore: The Spy Who Loved Me
Dalton: The Living Daylights
Brosnan: Tomorrow Never Dies
Craig: Casino Royale

Best One Liner:
Connery: “I think he got the point” (Thunderball)
Lazenby: “Royal Beluga, north of the Caspian” (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)
Moore: “Keeping the British end up, sir” (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Dalton: “I hope you don’t snore Q” (Licence to Kill)
Brosnan: “Just the thing for unwinding after a rough day at the office” (Goldeneye)
Craig: “Pour that down the toilet, cut out the middleman.” (Spectre)

Best Dramatic Scene:
Connery: Train scene prior to fight with Grant (From Russia With Love)
Lazenby: Finale “She’s having a rest” (OHMSS)
Moore: Confession of the killing Anya’s lover (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Dalton: Discovery of Leiter and Della (Licence to Kill)
Brosnan: Final face off with Elektra “I never miss” (The World Is Not Enough)
Craig: Wheelchair scene with Vesper “Whatever is left of me..” (Casino Royale)

Best Location:
Connery: Japan (You Only Live Twice)
Moore: Greece (For Your Eyes Only)
Dalton: Vienna (The Living Daylights)
Brosnan: Azerbaijan (The World Is Not Enough)
Craig: Scotland (Skyfall)

Best Gunbarrel (graphic, music, editing-check out Calvin Dyson's thorough analysis)
Connery: Diamond Are Forever
Moore: A View To A Kill
Dalton: The Living Daylights
Brosnan: The World Is Not Enough
Craig: Casino Royale

Best Gadget:
Connery: Briefcase (From Russia With Love)
Lazenby:  Nail file
Moore:  Watch (Live And Let Die)
Dalton: Key ring (The Living Daylights)
Brosnan: Sony Ericsson cell phone (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Craig: Watch (Spectre)

Best Single Stunt:
Connery:  Jetpack (Thunderball)
Moore: Ski jump (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Dalton: Fishing (Helicopter snaring a plane) (Licence to Kill)
Brosnan: Bungee jump (Goldeneye)
Craig: Crane jump (Casino Royale)

Best car:
Connery: Aston Martin DB5 (Goldfinger)
Moore: Lotus Esprit (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Dalton: Aston Martin Volante (The Living Daylights)
Brosnan: BMW Z3 (Goldeneye)
Craig: Aston Martin DBS V12 (Casino Royale & Quantum of Solace)









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