With the latest James Bond just making its debut in the UK I thought it was an appropriate time for this poll. My votes went to From Russia with Love, Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me.

I'm going to hold my vote until I see Casino Royale tomorrow. It already has one of the highest ratings on Rotten Tomatoes I have seen for a Bond film at 96% approval. MSNBC gave it 5 stars. I love Bond films and have been a fan since my mom and dad took me to see Thunderball and Goldfinger at the drive-in movie theater. I was about 9 years old at the time. I have not missed a Bond film since. I own all the films on DVD but am repurchasing them in the new Ultimate Collectors Edition because the films are supposed to look better than ever. They cleaned up over 30 million dust and scratch artifacts and they all now have a 5.1 surround sound soundtrack. That was my big purchase from Deep Discount DVDs 20% off sale. At $43.00 nobody could come close to beating that price per set. I just hope that when volumes three and four are released in December that I can find a similar deal. B)

Kevin

The first three are still the most fun for me.

ED B)

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (my favourite), GOLDFINGER and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE.

Who can pick a favorite James Bond movie that isn't the first one they saw?

For me, Live and Let Die, tho I enjoy Moonraker a bit now when I see it as well.

Which one had James Bond (Roger Moore) running from the bad guys at an airport and he leapt into a plane where an elderly woman who bore a resemblance to Bette Davis was waiting for her flying instructions and told him 'youre not my usual instructor,' and Bond played along.

After tearing up half the airport, Bond left the student in her plane and asked 'same time tomorrow for our next lesson?' and the old dear, as calm as Davis herself would have played it, gave him a look of daggers.

Pity it wasn't Bette making some cameo appearance.

I recorded On Her Majesty's Secret Service when it aired once as a lark, only Lazenby, only time Bond married, Diana Rigg, and a Louie Armstrong song. Might check it out later on today.

Connery just don't go Bond for me, tho I suppose an adventure could be fun.

I didnt care for Pierce Brosnan at all as Bond, but some of his movies were actually quite good.

Not at all impressed with the way this fellow, Craig, is being promoted as the next Bond.

Moore certainly wasn't a good Bond, but his movies were fantasy larks.

Worth watching, none of the guys have been great, but movie-wise, I'll go with Moonraker and a couple of Brosnan's.

Goldeneye, I believe, was very good, with Sean Bean as the bad guy?

I'm afraid I've never seen a Bond movie all the way through. :unsure: I have a feeling I will soon, since my husband is a fan and will probably drag me to see Casino Royale!

Having just come back from seeing Casino Royale I have to say that it was the best Bond film ever and Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever! The film packs a wallop and reboots the franchise. The only problem will be trying to make the next film better because they have set the bar so high with this film it will be hard to surpass. If you have a weak heart I would stay away from this film because it is an adrenaline pumper with very few moments of respite. I give the film unapologetically 5 out of 5 stars.

Kevin

Goldfinger if I have to choose. So many good ones to chose from you.

Please review the edition for me. There are two major problems I have with the previous releases. First, on Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Goldfinger they cropped the film from its original 1.66 aspect ration to the 1.78 widescreen of a standard widescreen TV. As a result, you can barely see the duck hat on Bond in Goldfinger! If you have widescreen so you can see the original aspect ratio then they shouldn't change the aspect ratio! I want to see those first three films in 1.66 as they were made.

Second, in Octopussy and Living Daylights, there were jokes told in a different language. I remember in the theater that there were captions (the Hindu guy shouting "get off my bed" and the Russian woman saying "what of girl do you think I am"). On the DVDs there were no captions, so if you don't remember from the theaters, you will miss the jokes.

So please let us know if they are really worth the upgrade.

David

1) From Russia With Love
2) Goldfinger
3) Thunderball
4) Dr. No

The rest don't really function in my opinion. :unsure:

David,

I watched Goldfinger on Friday but did not notice the duck hat cropped but I had not read your post at the time. All the films are gorgeously remastered and are now in anamorphic widescreen. I did play the original release after just to compare and if you have a plasma TV or LCD the improvement is certainly noticable. I never realized how many artifacts were on the original prints or how much discoloration had taken place until I saw this film in the new edition. I'll keep an eye out for the subtitled sections when I view them. If you could be more specific about what scenes in Goldfinger I would be glad to check closer for you.

Kevin

I'm not a mayor fan of Bond, but saw Casino Royale on friday and really enjoyed it. Daniel Craig bought an edge to the role and there's no denying he has charisma. Some of the action scenes were superbly done, and nice to see an action movie without an overabundance of CGI. Agree totally with Kevins assessment.

I'd put Casino Royale (2006) in the top three with From Russia With Love and Live And Let Die.

If you have a normal widescreen TV (1.78 or 9 x 6) then there should be small black bars at the side. You know how regular TV shows (1.33) have black bars at the side? The 1.66 ratio these were filmed in should have small black bars at the side.

Yes, please watch for the captions in Octpussy and Living Daylights.

Do you mean on the sides or on the top and bottom? I never have have side lines without actually switching to fullscreen mode, but I do have lines on many widescreen films. The original DVD release of these films are supposedly in the theatrical release version enhanced for widesreen. That may be wehre the difference come in. The new release is not enhanced but is anamorphic so most of the original film should be seen.

I'll look for the subtitles.

Kevin

I've never been a really big fan of Bond films but there have been a few good ones.... I voted for GOLDFINGER with Sean Connery.....

I never liked Roger Moore much so the franchise went blooey IMO when he took over.... And the more recent films have been way to reliant on FX....

As for the new guy, Daniel Craig, who I think I first noticed in that dreadul TOMB RAIDER mess with Angelina Jolie.... am I the only one who thinks he's downright UGLY?

Well I certainly do not think he is ugly but he is no glam boy either. He has a rough character about him and an attitude that is necessary for Bond. Especially the Bond of the Ian Fleming novels. Craig is totally believable as Bond and that's all that matters. Besides, I didn't know you had to be pretty to play Bond! ;)

If the FX is what turned you off in the last few films then you may like this film a lot. They rely much less on goofy FX like the cloaked car in the last film and much more effort is spent on developing the character of Bond himself and not at the expense of the action. I would recommend you see this film if for only one reason...the foot chase scene at the beginning of the film is one of the most clever and best chase scenes ever put to film. Not that the rest of the film is disappointing in it's other action scenes but you really have to see this chase scene to believe it. No description could ever do it justice and I certainly think people would try in vain to describe it.

Kevin

Good points, Kevin.... it seems the franchise really went FX nuts in the Pierce Brosnan episodes.... in the old Bond films, the FX were usually somewhat within the bounds of reality but they just got ridiculous in the later films....

Craig seems to be off to a good start with a $40M weekend.... We'll see hos he stands up in the coming weeks.....

So what do I know anyway? Maybe he'll be terrific as Bond

Of all the Bonds, GOLDFINGER may be my favorite, mainly because it has all the elements that made the Bond series so much fun, yet also has a certain intensity and style only the early ones sustained. Also had Shirley Bassey's remarkable rendering of the title song, and John Barry's score may be his most memorable. The villains? Hard to argue against Gert Frobe's title character, or Harold Sakata's unforgettable Oddjob. And if Honor Blackman isn't the ultimate 'Bond lady,' she sure was among the toughest, eh? :P And she's not even the only Bond girl here, two others(who depressingly meet bad ends)also chime in. And the title sequence, well...how does it get better? It all just came together marvelously with the third installment.

ED B)

My favorite bond film is "Gold Finger" !... Shirley Bassey's singing of the title
song of the movie til the closing credits. Goldfinger is so diabolical he's a
hoot!....The scene where he got a transmitter in his ears while he's
playing cards so the girl who works for him can tell him what his partner
has in his hands in the way of cards because he hates to lose!......
Bond figures it all out and practically blows gold fingers ear out! Everytime
i see that scene in the movie i laugh til i cry. Unfortunately the girl gets painted gold for crossing Goldfinger. :( The big guy with the swirling hat
is a must see character. ;) This movie is pure gold if you don;'t mind the pun for 60's secret agent movie it rates A+ :yes:
My second favorite is "Dr. No because all you see through the film is his
white pursian cat and never his face!... "Who Is This Guy" ?!great intrigue.
My third favorite is "Russia with Love " just like the story line, it kept me wanting more and more it kept my interest .

I voted for GOLDFINGER, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and CASINO ROYALE. Each for different reasons.

GOLDFINGER because of the John Barry soundtrack and Shirley Bassey theme. The story gets you from the first minutes, and Gert Frobe is an excellent villain.

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER I like mainly because of the scenes shot in Las Vegas and the fact that Jill St. John is in this one. Again the storyline is excellent, and I just thought that Sean Connery made his mark as James Bond in this one.

CASINO ROYALE is the newest in the franchise and Daniel Craig is amazing as Bond. I will agree with all that has been said about the first 15 minutes of this movie. The chase scene on foot has to be seen to be believed. I liked the way the movie starts in black & white and then they bring the color in with the opening credits.

:unsure:

The first three got my vote. But if there had been a fourth choice, I would have added On Her Majesty's Secret Service", just because of Dianna Rigg. Who cares about the fellow who played Bond!

I was re-reading my post on this thread and realized that I had mentioned that there is a Bond movie left off the list that should get some votes, because it would be tied for my third favorite Bond film. Sean Connery starred and produced "NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN" for Warner Bros. This is really a remake of Thunderball, but who cares, it is Connery and he was James Bond. Pretty good movie, also.

:tip: