CommanderBond.net

Review your fifth ranked James Bond film, please be thorough and really prove your view as to why it should be there! (Please no "The Best" replies or anything, this thread is intended for reviews.)

Onwards...

#5 - Octopussy I simply love Octopussy. It's a Bond film that works on many fronts. It has an intriguing storyline and plot, and did well with the fans. (Had a very good American box-office at the time, if I recall correctly), and was down only marginally on the whole from For Your Eyes Only. Roger Moore is still on top of the game as James Bond here, his age only really becomes too noticeable in A View To A Kill in my opinion. There is a terrific supporting cast with him as well. Of all the Roger Moore James Bond films, he shares the best chemistry with the leading lady in this one. Maud Adams is a classic Bond woman, and her character in Octopussy doesn't dissapoint. Louis Jordan is also one of the best villains in the series, and very much overlooked. He gets some fantastic lines all throughout the film and his performance stays excellent through the end. Gobinda is one of the better henchmen in the series as well. Can't overlooked Magda though either, her limited scenes are good ones. And of course....General Orlov. Simply cannot and should not overlook him. "The West is decadent and divided! India featuring as the prime location for much of this film works very much to it's advantage. The audience gets a classic Taj Mahal shot, as well as the thrilling 'dangerous game' chase and the spying on Octopussy's palace. What really helps the film is John Barry's score. While somewhat reserved, it keeps the tension throughout many scenes going and the classic action cue in the final assault is very well done. Two sometimes overlooked/underrated sections of the film that I also enjoy are the main title sequence and Rita Coolidge's title song. Classic Bond.

Box office was actually up from For Your Eyes Only. Roger Moore was banging Maud Adams in real life, so it's no wonder they have chemistry!

Anyway, onto #5! Number Five is Alive! Sorry, 80s movie humor!

Dr. No.

The first, the one that started it all, the one that introduced Ursula Undress to a lot of red blooded males. Dr. No is the weaker of the Terence Young Bonds. It's not a bad movie, it's just a bit rough around some of the edges considering it's the first one in the series.
Sean Connery, as good as he is as Bond, doesn't quite hit 100% in the role. He seems a bit unsure in some areas, but it's not a distraction. The acting here is a long step away from the self-assuredness of his next Bonds.
Ahhhh, Ursula. She isn't called upon to do much, and that is fine. It's the role, that's how it was written. It doesn't call for Meryl Streep. We want eye candy, and boy, oh, boy, do we get it! She's a hottie! And when Bond gets to play tonsil hockey with her in that boat, a lot of us guys were sitting there watching very enviously, wishing we could get Ursula...even in the back of a Studabaker would be fine!
Joseph Wiseman plays Dr. No like a robot, making him very inhuman, with his cold voice and metal hands. It could be the precursor to Ralph Nader--I mean, Darth Vader--with his mechanical villainy.
Jack Lord is perfect as Felix Leiter, one of the few times EON has gotten the part right. Guy Hamilton sure as hell didn't know how to cast the part! Jack Lord is tough as nails and straight to the point, the JFK CIA era man!
John Barry is a God among film composers. He saved the James Bond Theme. Monty Norman is a [censored]ing hack. His score here sounds like a piece from a 1930s serial. If you like that sort of thing, fine, but when you have Bond, it calls for something more. Norman is oneof the luckiest men in the world. He's a mediocre composer who will always be credited with one of the best, most recognizable themes around. For those of you that want to bitch about this, go dig up the thread. I am sure it's still around, and we'll talk about it there.
For what it's worth, I always get a lump in my throat at the beginning of Dr. No when the beeps start up. Why, you ask? Because this is when things started. Yes, I know, it all really started about 10 yrs prior, but this is when things really took off.
Terence Young is proof that they don't make them like they used to. He was James Bond, basically, and he infused everything in his Bond films with everything it needed. Bond was the guy Fleming created, but with more oomph.
All in all, a damned good Bond film. If they do something like with Casino Royale, I'll be ok with it. We just need a good Bond.

#5 On Her Majesty's Secret Service

"This never happend to the other fellow!" - James Bond

Plot:
This is one Bond movie that doesn't look or feel like any other Bond film. It has a sense of seriousness to it. Almost like this is a bond movie for adults. We see more intense action scenes and very serious issues facing Bond. The story makes Bond look more human unlike the gadget wielding, aston martin driving bond that we're used to. George Lazenby was a younger and more comedic Bond then connery which made us feel even more sorry for bond in the end. The story does a great job of setting up a relationship with bond and Tracey in the first half and then sends Bond on his usual mission in the second.

By the third half, Bond is escaping Blofeld and the reintroduction of Tracey helped tighten the story and make it very exciting. The last half is thrilling with the assault on Blofeld's headquarters as well as the chase with Blofeld himself. The ending is a happy, surprising, and sad way to end a Bond movie but is mostly shocking then anything. This film deserves credit for pushing the boundries and making something different then the average bond.

Acting:
George Lazenby is great as Bond. His charasmatic acting help make his Bond very likeable. I wish connery didn't accept to do DAF. Maybe they would of got Lazenby back. Telly Savalas played a more serious Blofeld that was very beleivable and Diana Rigg was the perfect match for Lazenby.

Score:
John Barry creates a score that is perfect for the film. This score ranks as my second favourite.

Why this is in my Top 5:
This is #5 because the quality of the story outweighs the gadgets and all the flashy stuff from previous Bonds. This story had heart and could of easily been made into another typical bond but Peter Hunt did a great job of making a film more like the books then the Hollywood Bond.

5 - Dr. No

Fifth place in my "all-Connery Top Six" goes to Dr. No. This film seems to have alot more bite to it than future films would. It's slick and sharp with lots of danger and sex and dark humour, everything a Bond film should have. I think I read somewhere that at the timethe Catholic Church described the film as "satanic". Damn, these were the days.

While still refinded and sophicated and all that, Bond is also rougher and tougher at times. The film also benefits from sticking closer to the book, even lifting dialouge from it.

Top stuff.

5# - Goldfinger

Glorious, glorious, film. Don't really have a full-scale review in me right this second, but as anything I'd write would be 100% flattery on the subject matter in hand, I doubt you're missing much.

As I said in the previous round of reviews, we're well and truly into my "perfect 6 Bond films club" now.

This post has been edited by Scottlee: 10 February 2005 - 17:29

I definitely encourage you to do your full-scale review if you can, it's one of the main purposes of this thread. Wouldn't be missing much at all if you included it.

Some outstanding reviews so far, keep them coming!

Next one will go up later this week.

#5 Thunderball

A huge spectacle of a film. Just a pure class and sophiscated film. Well done Terence Young! The locations are mesmerizing, and the film is well cast.

Claudine Auger by far is my favorite Bond girl of all time. Her role as a young woman caught in web of deceit and danger is one of the more believable Bond girls.

Lucianna Paluzzi is equally good as the venomous, yet alluring Fiona Volpe. And Adolfo Celi as Largo ranks to be in my top 10 in the rogue gallery.

I particulary like how the film was presented. Everything is filmed on a grand-scale, from the production design, to the cinematography, to the music, to the battle scenes and the gadgets. You gotta admit, the jetback does kick [censored].

Though the film isn't perfect. Sean Connery is charming as always, but he does look a bit uninterested in some scenes. And though the length of the film had run its course a little bit, this film still stands out.

Indeed. Finally at the good ones.

#5: From Russia With Love

From Russia With Love is without a doubt the best Bond film when it comes to plot and intrigue. The idea behind it is so simple: Bond is ordered to recover the Soviet Lektor decoding device, while SPECTRE is trying to trap Bond and ultimately assassinate him.

This is Connery's best outing as James Bond, and is THE best single performance by an actor portraying James Bond. Connery was good as Agent 007 in Dr. No, but in FRWL, he truly makes the character his own. He grasps the humorous elements of the character better (although there is not much of this present in the film, when it does occur, he does it quite well), he displays a physicality about him that is much more refined than it had been in Dr. No.

You really do have to hand it to the producers as well for assembling THE best supporting cast in a Bond film. Robert Shaw is just simply fantastic as Red Grant, the SPECTRE assassin. He commands the attention of the audience every second he is on the screen, and when he is face to face with Bond on the Orient Express, the audience truly gets the feeling that they are watching two titans of their craft trying to outsmart the other and eventually gain ultimate victory. Lotte Lenya is excellent as Rosa Klebb. She is also another one of the truly menacing Bond villians in the series.

Daniela Bianchi is a true delight to watch on screen as the SPECTRE agent Tatiana Romanova who is assigned to seduce Bond and lead him into the hands of the assassins. She eventually falls for Bond and does not want him harmed. The chemistry between Bianchi and Connery is unmatched by any other Bond girl-Bond chemistry in the entire series.

It may sound as though, from this review, that I think that FRWL is the best of the Bond films. Not true, but it is close. FRWL does drag in some parts of the film, but it makes up for the few slow parts with some magnificent scenes. The fight between Grant and Bond in the train car is one of the best fights ever filmed. It is extremely violent, and one can tell just from watching it that it took a lot of hard work and preparation to put that scene together, and it clicks with the audience quite well. You truly get the sense from that scene that Grant and Bond hate eachother, and rightfully so. The finale when Rosa Klebb tries to kill Bond with her poison-tipped shoe is also another highlight.

From Russia With Love also represents one of the musical highlights of the series in John Barry's score. It is a very sensual and compelling score that enhances the film without drawing attention away from the screen and to the score, as some non-Barry Bond scores have been known to do.

#5 -- The Living Daylights

The Living Daylights marked a significant change in the James Bond films as it was the first movie after the Roger Moore era. Stepping into 007's shoes in this one is Timothy Dalton and it is, as the tagline says, Bond at his most dangerous.

The bad: The villains, namely Whitaker and Koskov are not quite as sinister and evil as the traditional villains of the series are, and their scheme of selling arms for drugs is much smaller than we're used to. Nevertheless, the plot works and it's a fun movie. Caroline Bliss as Moneypenny is okay but not as enjoyable as the wonderful Lois Maxwell. However, she is better here than in Licence To Kill. And Dalton's delivery of his iconic line of Bond...James Bond is done too fast.

The good: Where to begin? The pre-titles sequence is awesome! A very good introduction for Dalton's Bond. We are led to mistakenly believe that Bond is the first 00-agent and then the second, but it isn't until the third and final agent that we really get to see who the new Bond is and it is expertly revealed, a truly great moment. Dalton grounds his Bond in reality and is probably the closest interpretation to Ian Fleming's legendary character than any other 007. Dalton is a man determined in this film--nowhere more so than in the pre-titles sequence. He certainly jumps into his part with gusto and is readily willing to do his own stunts.

Speaking of stunts, they are incredible in this film, f