One of my long interests has been the James Bond 007 movie franchise. I owned them all on VHS and now them all on DVD. (How long before I buy them all for a third time on Blu-Ray?) The last time I went through and watched most of them I ranked them from best to worst using my own personal and very subjective system. There are several basic tenants or factor that go into these rankings that somewhat separate on movie from the next. The ultimate deciding factor being, if I where to decide that I wanted to watch a Bond movie and could choose from any of them…what would be the one I would most enjoy watching. So under this general criteria, leaving a more thoughtful discussion on my Bond movie likes/dislikes for another time. I present here an updated list of my “favorite” movies as ranked over the past three weeks as I have been watching them. I should also note that this does not necessarily take into account the importance of a movie to the time period, so a movie like Dr. No or Goldfinger while amazing to those who watched in the 60s lacks a little something to me as far as action/effects and consequently is lower on my rankings despite the fact that they are great groundbreaking movies.
| # | Movie (Year) | Comment |
| 1 | The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) | Well balanced movie with a stellar plot, Bond girls, crazy end-the-world plot. Jaws is a worthy henchman. |
| 1 | Diamonds Are Forever (1971) | Runs neck and neck with The Spy Who Loved Me. Great Bond music, car chases. Love Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd. |
| 3 | Octopussy (1983) | Pretty terrible Bond song, but a interesting pre-title sequence and exotic locales. All around solid movie. |
| 4 | Thunderball (1965) | I’ll admit to liking Domino. The jet pack opening sequence is a gem. This movie has grown on me the last several watchings. |
| 5 | The World Is Not Enough (1999) | Perhaps a strange choice for many Bond-fans. I like the strong-female villain, and the reasonable plot and action. Also a fitting closing to Desmond Llewelyn’s run as Q. |
| 6 | Live and Let Die (1973) | I think the title song may be the best of all them. Dr. Quinn Medicine Women makes an appearance too. |
| 7 | Casino Royale (2006) | I hesitate to put this so high. Its a darn good movie, but lacks certain elements of Bond movies. (Where is the Bond music?) |
| 8 | A View To A Kill (1985) | Another movie perhaps out of place for a Bond-lover, but I just love crazy villains like Max Zorin. Roger Moore does look old though. |
| 9 | GoldenEye (1995) | Big props to the rockin’ video game that makes this movie so enjoyable. Also my first Bond movie that I saw. Love the pre-title sequence. |
| 10 | From Russia With Love (1962) | Just a classic story. A little slow in places, but perhaps the quintessential Bond-movie |
| 11 | The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) | Really gets dinged for the terrible Goodnight character which may be the weakest Bond girl of them all. Plot lacks a bit of something. |
| 12 | The Living Daylights (1987) | The a-Ha title song of the same name is pretty good. Compared to Timothy Dalton’s other offering this one is amazing. Great chase through the snow on a cello-case. |
| 13 | Goldfinger (1964) | I don’t enjoy this as much as I perhaps should. Some great quotable lines though. |
| 14 | Moonraker (1979) | Really a ridiculous plot and lacking any interesting Bond girls. But again, crazy villain will win me over. |
| 15 | Die Another Day (2002) | Even more prosperous than Moonraker. (Invisible car?) Not a fan of Halle Barry, but Rosamund Pike definitely helps the movie in my eyes. |
| 16 | For Your Eyes Only (1981) | Kinda of snnozer of a movie across the board. BTW…Julian Glover always plays the bad guy. |
| 17 | Dr. No (1961) | The times kinda date this movie, but you have to start somewhere. Great, great use of the Bond theme though. |
| 18 | Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) | Really love the concept of a media mogul trying to control the news. The pieces just didn’t come together well. |
| 19 | You Only Live Twice (1967) | The whole transformation of Bond into a Japanese was laughable. The idea of capturing space shuttles worked a lot better in either Moonraker or in The Spy Who Loved Me (with subs instead) |
| 20 | On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) | Important for Bond’s short marriage. Breaks the Bond model not in a good way. Horribly paced and plotted, but gives a few important facts revisited in later films. |
| 21 | Quantum of Solace (2008) | I really can’t say how disappointing a Bond-film this is. Little of any of the elements I find important. |
| 22 | Licence to Kill (1989) | This movie is a mess and really has to work to be below Quantum of Solace. Bond on a vendetta mission not a way to my heard (really the last three films on this list.) |
So my top 10 includes…4 Roger Moore films, 3 Sean Connery, 2 Pierce Bronson, and 1 Daniel Craig film which seems about right to me. Quibble if want, but this is the list. Hopefully the next Bond movie is more in line with The Spy Who Loved Me or Diamonds are Forever than Quantum of Solace. (To the producers: you can never use the Bond theme too much!)