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  1. Radio Times Ranks The Best James Bond Stunts

    By Devin Zydel on 2008-09-24

    Radio Times, the BBC’s weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, has compiled together a listing of the top-ranked stunts to feature in the James Bond films.

    This newly released fan survey coincides with the publication of Radio Times Guide to Films 09, which features 00-actor Daniel Craig on the cover.

    Which Bond stunt took the top spot? Read on…

    'Casino Royale'

    Casino Royale

    Casino Royale Gets Fans’ Votes For Best Ever Double-0-Stunt

    Film fans have voted the vertigo-inducing crane jump from Casino Royale the best ever James Bond stunt in a survey to coincide with the publication of Radio Times Guide to Films 09.

    Self-confessed stunt fan Daniel Craig, who features on the cover of Radio Times Guide to Films 09, edged the iconic Union Jack ski jump stunt from Roger Moore’s The Spy Who Loved Me into second place. The crane stunt wins the public vote after previously scooping ‘Best High Work’ at the World Stunt Awards in 2007 for stuntmen Ben Cooke, Kai Martin, Marvin Stewart-Campbell and Adam Kirley.

    Fans at RadioTimes.com voted a classic stunt from 1974 into third place–the “barrel roll” car jump from The Man with the Golden Gun performed by stuntman ‘Bumps’ Willard.

    Fourth placed was the speedboat leap from Roger Moore’s first outing as James Bond in Live and Let Die, closely followed by the Thames speedboat chase from The World Is Not Enough. Returning to dry land, the ejector seat stunt from James Bond’s Aston Martin in Goldfinger claimed sixth place.

    The Verzasca Dam dive in Pierce Brosnan’s GoldenEye may have registered a world record off-ground bungee jump height of 220m but it could only come seventh in the Radio Times survey. Completing the top ten stunts were the ski chase from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the leaping over the crocodiles in Live and Let Die and the motorbike jump over the helicopter in Tomorrow Never Dies.

    “My personal favourite Bond stunt is the ski jump off the mountain because it was actually done,” said Andrew Collins, Radio Times Film Editor. “There would be no need to do that today, thanks to digital effects, and even if they did do it, we’d assume it was tampered with afterwards by a man at a computer. The ‘free running’ opener in Casino Royale was actually done by very agile men bouncing off walls but for me it can never match the good old days of stuntmen, parachutes and no retakes!”

    Radio Times Guide to Films 09 is available in all good bookshops from 25th September and can be ordered online at www.bbcshop.com. Fans can see the full list of James Bond stunts and discuss their favourites by visiting www.radiotimes.com/bond-stunts.

    Full results:

    1. Jumping from crane to crane – Casino Royale
    2. Ski chase and the Union Jack parachute jump – The Spy Who Loved Me
    3. The car barrel roll – The Man with the Golden Gun
    4. Speedboat leap – Live and Let Die
    5. Speedboat chase on the Thames – The World Is Not Enough
    6. Aston Martin ejector seat – Goldfinger
    7. Dive off the Verzasca Dam – GoldenEye
    8. Ski chase – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
    9. Jumping over crocodiles – Live and Let Die
    10. Motorbike jump over a helicopter – Tomorrow Never Dies
    11. Aston Martin crash and roll – Casino Royale
    12. Jumping out of the plane without a parachute – Moonraker
    13. Parachute jump from the Eiffel Tower – A View to a Kill
    14. Remote-control driving the BMW – Tomorrow Never Dies
    15. The jet-pack escape – Thunderball
    16. Little Nellie gyrocopter sequence – You Only Live Twice
    17. Flying the micro jet through the aircraft hangar – Octopussy
    18. Car on two wheels – Diamonds Are Forever
    19. Lorry chase – Licence to Kill
    20. Barefoot water-skiing – Licence to Kill

    1,472 film fans were surveyed at www.radiotimes.com throughout August/September 2008.

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