Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Double-Oh Heaven

And now, my Top 10 James Bond movies, starting with one of the more controversial ones:

10. Never Say Never Again
Connery is back, with quite a few wrinkles but a good sense of his lot in life. I liked the references to his old age and some actually funny one-liners. (The best: Nurse: "I need a urine sample. If you could fill this beaker for me?" Bond, across the room: "From here?") Even if the story is a remake of "Thunderball," the villain (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and the femme fatale (Barbara Carrera) are solid. Cool motorcycle, too.

9. Octopussy
Perhaps the most scandalous title, this movie has a Roger Moore getting long in the tooth. Yet it's saved by some cool sequences -- such as the mini-jet stunt before the opening credits -- and a decent story. I also liked the henchman with the turban, the bad guy (Louis Jourdan) and the whole island-of-women thing. The knife-throwing twins were neat, too.

8. Live and Let Die
Introducing Moore as 007, but check out Jane Seymour. Hubba hubba. As for the story, the whole Caribbean/Harlem/black villains thing can be a bit uncomfortable. But Yaphet Kotto seems game, and the tag team of a claw-wielding henchman and the 7-Up guy as a voodoo priest is entertaining. Gotta love the powerboat chase (and record-setting jump) and the alligator hopping, too.

7. For Your Eyes Only
What this lacks in gadgets it makes up for in good action scenes, including one of my favorite sequences: a ski chase that includes a bobsled run. Also some cool scenery, and a nice turn by Topol as a gangster who ends up helping Bond. Maybe it's just me, but I never get bored watching this one.

6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
It wasn't so long ago that this aberration was the subject of strong debate. Now, though, most agree that George Lazenby wasn't that bad, especially since the story is one of the best in the series. As he takes on nemesis Blofeld, Bond ends up getting married(!) to Diana Rigg of "Avengers" fame. She's a great Bond girl, dishing out attitude while keeping pace with our hero's adventures. As for Lazenby, we'll never know if he would have been a good Bond in the long run, since this was his only shot.

5. Thunderball
A bit long, but this tale of a nuke heist and underwater battles is solid all the same. We get a perfectly slimy bad guy in SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo, and the best good/bad Bond girl combo ever. Claudine Auger is beautiful as Domino, but Luciana Paluzzi as Fiona Volpe remains in a tie for my favorite Bond girls of all time. Maybe it's the red hair. Maybe it's the nasty streak. Whatever it is, she's something. Woof.

4. Dr. No
The movie that started it all. It's a tad slow in parts, and Connery is a bit raw. But that's good, since it gives him more menace, especially in the great scene where a bad guy tries to shoot Bond and finds his gun empty. "That's a Smith & Wesson," Bond says, "and you've had your six." Then he shoots him ... twice! That's cold, man. Then we have Ursula Andress. Oh, mommy.

3. From Russia With Love
Another fantastic looking Bond girl -- I know, aren't they all -- and some good stunts, such as the helicopter scene. But the real fun here are Bond's ally, Ali Kerim Bey, and the assassin Red Grant, played by Robert Shaw. One of the best exchanges of the series: Bond, discovering Grant is a bad guy: "Red wine with fish. Well that should have told me something." Grant: "You may know the right wines, but you're the one on your knees."

2. The Spy Who Loved Me
Hands down the best Roger Moore outing, and here's where we see my other favorite Bond girl, Barbara Bach as Russian spy Triple-X. This movie also introduces Jaws, the steel-toothed henchman, and another notable Bond car, the Lotus that turns into a submarine. Other cool underwater stuff includes the villain, Stromberg's, modern-day Atlantis. Oh, and let's not forget one of the coolest pre-credit sequences, the skiing-off-the-cliff-parachute jump. I thought that was awesome the first time I saw it. Of course, I was maybe 6 years old.

1. Goldfinger
This can't be a surprise, since most consider it one of the best if not tops in the series. Count me among the masses. Connery at his smoothest ... the tricked-out Aston Martin ... a Bond girl named Pussy Galore ... the henchman Oddjob with his deadly bowler hat ... one of the best lines in the series: Bond: "Do you expect me to talk?" Goldfinger: "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die." Sure, there are parts of other movies I like just as much if not better. But when it comes to the most complete Bond movie, this one has it all. Even the title song. All together now ... "GoldFEENGAAHHH!!! He's the man ... the man with the midas touch!"

5 Comments:

At 1:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You Only Live Twice should NEVER be any lower than 2. Not even in the Top Ten? Nice work, Ebert.

 
At 9:06 PM, Blogger Jefferson said...

Only little men from Missouri consider "You Only Live Twice" to be top of the list. What's your No. 1, "A View to a Kill?"

 
At 4:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Again with the poke at "A view to a Kill"?

 
At 9:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for putting the always underrated For Your Eyes Only in the top 10.

I think you have Moonraker and a View to a Kill ranked a little too high, though.

 
At 7:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Red haired Luciana Paluzzi, Red haired Karin Dor, Red haired Lotte Lenya

 

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