# So I'm Thinking Of Watching Every James Bond Movie, In Order **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162 "2014-07-27T15:21:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/41 "2014-07-28T16:50:15Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I remember being a bigger fan of Moore than Connery. What’s so bad about Moore? Seems to be a universal dislike for the guy. This: > [@pulykamell](#): > > He seemed to be a more fun, comic booky kind of Bond. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/42 "2014-07-28T17:06:26Z")
Ah, well then. Different strokes. I’d be curious to see how Bond strikes me now as an adult. I never liked the super serious Bonds. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/43 "2014-07-28T17:57:59Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Then of course he follows that bit of bravery up with the completely foolhardy riding on the outside of the plane. Tell me, James, did you think that one through before you did it? Like Bond following the bomber up the construction cranes in Casino Royale, I think he would have been better served by just following along on the ground - in both cases. they have to come down sometime! “On top of the train you’re still like…on the train, plus you got all…that. There’s absolutely no reason to ever get on top of a moving train.” -Archer ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/44 "2014-07-28T18:05:28Z")
pulykamell - I’ve found that some of the older Bond’s still stand up over time (I still enjoy Goldfinger as an adult). Other’s can feel very “Austin Powers-ish” due to the dated effects and gadgets. On the subject, aren’t secret agents IRL supposed to keep a low profile and covertly collect intelligence? What secret agent from any country anywhere ever operates by rolling up on a casino, 5 star hotel or country club in an Aston Martin, order a couple of drinks (martini, shaken not stirred) and then pick a fight with the local drug-kingpin, international terrorist, billionaire super-criminal or dictator under his ACTUAL NAME?! Usually by fucking his girlfriend!! ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/45 "2014-07-28T18:06:03Z")
The difference between Connery and Moore: Connery’s Bond (until the last couple movies) was wasn’t sure if he would succeed or not, but he knew he had to try because the fate of the free world (or whatever) hung in the balance. Moore’s Bond not only knew from the outset that he would succeed, he knew he wouldn’t get his suit mussed doing it. I have my own opinions of relative values (not _all_ Moore movies sucked), but I wholeheartedly second (third? fourth?) the idea of watching them all in order and deciding for yourself. I also second the reminder to keep in mind the era in which each movie was made — both in terms of geopolitics and in terms of filmmaking. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/46 "2014-07-28T18:27:10Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Which was the last one based on a Fleming book, and 1st of created outcof whole cloth? > [@silenus](#): > > Depends on how you define your terms. _Moonraker_ was the first, I believe, to just keep the title and a couple of character names. The previous movies kept at least a portion of the plot of the book, albeit a very small portion sometimes. Later movies borrowed plot elements from several books/stories in writing the scripts. > [@mbh](#): > > The plot of _You Only Live Twice_ was drastically different from the book. > > Fleming himself said of _The Spy Who Loved Me_ “the experiment has obviously gone very much awry”. When he sold the movie rights, he told them to use only the title, and change everything else. (Although Jaws was loosely based on a character from the book.) _Octopussy_ is basically a sequel to the original short story which appeared in _Playboy_. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/47 "2014-07-28T18:34:55Z")
Another vote for watching all of the Bonds, and then deciding for yourself. Even the crappy movies have some worthwhile moments. > [@msmith537](#): > > “On top of the train you’re still like…on the train, plus you got all…that. There’s absolutely no reason to ever get on top of a moving train.” > -Archer Anyone who loves James Bond should definitely check out _Archer_ on FX. “Eat grenade, stupids!” ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/48 "2014-07-28T20:53:29Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The is some continuity. In _On Her Mahesty’s Secret Service_ Bond, played by George Lazenby, marries a woman, who gets killed. In the opening of _For Your Eyes Only_, Bond, now played by Roger Moore, is seen visiting her grave (I really like the humanity Bond shows in that scene-you rarely see that). > > I the SD’s most hated movie (and one of my favorites) Die Another Day, you can see in Q’s lab gadgets from many if not all of the previous movies, but that’s more fan service than a plot point. > > You can’t think of the movies as being one character, though. That way lies madness. Just view them as stand alone movies that all give their own interpretation of an iconic character. Like movies about Robin Hood, or Batman, or King Arthur. > > You also have to view them as products of their time. There is a huge karate fight (or several, actually) in _You Only Live Twice_, because that was all the rage at the time. _Moonraker_ is trying to cash in on the Star Wars dollars. _The Living Daylight_s was trying to make Bond more ‘gritty’, because that was the trend at the time. They even made a big deal that Bond was practically celibate in that movie - but I wonder if they were watching the same movie as me. There’s also a reference to James Bonds’ wife being killed in The Spy Who Loved Me when Agent XXX(gotta love the old Bond girl names) is listing his history and he stops her midway through because he finds it a painful reminder. There was an homage to this scene in Casino Royale. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/49 "2014-07-28T21:03:42Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > pulykamell - I’ve found that some of the older Bond’s still stand up over time (I still enjoy Goldfinger as an adult). Other’s can feel very “Austin Powers-ish” due to the dated effects and gadgets. That’s kind of what I vaguely remember about the Bonds. The Sean Connery ones felt a bit more “real” and “serious,” while the Moore ones were a bit more exaggerated, perhaps a little bit campy, and definitely more like a superhero-type movie than a serious spy movie. But I guess that’s what I liked as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/50 "2014-07-28T21:04:59Z")
A minor gripe against Moore was that he didn’t do his own stunts. There were scenes where a stunt-man substituted for him in nothing more risky than climbing down a short ladder. For an action hero in an action movie, having a non-active actor is…bad. **Cayuga** is right: he wouldn’t even get his clothes mussed up. He doesn’t have to go all the way to Doc Savage extremes, and have his clothes torn off…but his fight scenes always seem so abstract, so lifeless. It’s like watching a mime emulate a fight scene. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/51 "2014-07-28T21:21:18Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > perhaps a little bit campy What’s campy about a [slide whistle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh0VF6s-UYU)? (Oh, the pain!) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/52 "2014-07-28T21:31:37Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What’s campy about a [slide whistle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh0VF6s-UYU)? (Oh, the pain!) Holy shit, that’s hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/53 "2014-07-29T00:26:11Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I was taken aback at how different the book was… and how much less enjoyable. You and me both. The movie is one of the best, if not the best(I refuse to pick). The book, well, it was an ambitious experiment(being told from a woman’s POV) that went horribly wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/54 "2014-07-29T00:32:24Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What’s campy about a [slide whistle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh0VF6s-UYU)? (Oh, the pain!) Oh yes, continuity! Sheriff J. W. Pepper made two appearances. I love his line in LALD, when told he can’t arrest that ‘commie’ Bond because he’s a secret agent. Pepper’s (quite reasonable, considering the carnage Bond left in his wake) response: “On whose side?!” ---
**Author:** ![dtrobson099](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@dtrobson099](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtrobson099)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/55 "2014-07-29T03:41:25Z")
I literally just finished doing what the OP planned to do - except I had only seen a handful of the Brosnan movies and had a vague childhood recollection of The Living Daylights where Dalton complained about someone’s cello. All in all, excellent experience, and although I started to watch NSNA after Octopussy, to stay in chronological order of release, I stopped about 20-30 seconds in, since I already knew it was just a remake of Thunderball. Just felt like a mistake, so I bailed. Seems like OP has about the best way of going about things. There is some continuity even up to Die Another Day all the way back from Dr. No, but after that it’s basically a full reboot. If you’ve seen all the Craig ones, just assume Connery had a similar experience to Craig in Casino Royale and Quantum (but with 50’s and 60’s tech) before Dr. No, and everything up to and including Die Another Day is within scope of that Bond. Ignore actors and ages. Assume between films everyone is placed in a cryogenic chamber so that Bond/Leiter/Moneypenny remain between the ages of 30 and 40 for about 40 years. The chamber was invented by the original Q and is administered by whoever has the position of M. They stop using the chamber right after The World is Not Enough. Brosnan’s M and Craig’s M may be the same actress, but are different people existing in different universes. Craig’s Bond is a parallel universe where he begins his career in 2005 as opposed to the 50’s, so different shit will inevitably happen to him. Think of Daniel Craig and anything after as Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. My advice would be to space them out a bit. I did the whole gamut in about 2-3 weeks, but attention waned during the middle parts of many of those films - especially the Roger Moore ones. The other side effect of this is heading to SD to try to retcon all this stuff together immediately after finishing the last one. If you space them out, this will be less likely to happen to you. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/56 "2014-07-29T21:13:21Z")
Just finished _Dr. No_. The sixties-ness of it all was a little overwhelming at times, but in general, it was a good romp. I did have a couple of problems, though: 1. Honey Ryder, as a Bond Girl, just didn’t make sense. She didn’t even appear until the second act, she had a very small role, and she was like, the third woman Bond had boffed just in that movie. 2. [Open spoilers for fifty-year-old movie to follow]: The villain needed a lot more development. First of all, his motivation: best I can figure, he was mad because he didn’t get a job with the U.S. space program. Second, his plan was ambiguous, too; unless I missed it, it wasn’t really clear just what he intended to do to the American moon rocket. Interfere with its guidance system? Launch a nuclear warhead at it? I’ll try to tackle _From Russia With Love_ by the end of the week. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/57 "2014-07-29T22:25:09Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > 1. [Open spoilers for fifty-year-old movie to follow]: The villain needed a lot more development. First of all, his motivation: best I can figure, he was mad because he didn’t get a job with the U.S. space program. Second, his plan was ambiguous, too; unless I missed it, it wasn’t really clear just what he intended to do to the American moon rocket. Interfere with its guidance system? Launch a nuclear warhead at it? Dr. Julius No was a member of SPECTRE. In the book, he was working with the Russians to disrupt the U.S.'s missile program. In the movie, it might have been that; or it might have been that he wanted to sabotage the U.S. Space program. I don’t remember. Disrupting the Space program would have given the Soviets more of a lead (which they already had when the movie was shot), allowing them to gain the upper-hand in ICBM technology and beat us to the Moon. (Kennedy’s ‘To The Moon’ speech was made in September of 1962.) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/58 "2014-07-30T11:39:09Z")
Watch them all in order and decide for yourself. Here are my impressions: **Dr. No** looks like the Cary Grant murder mystery it was originally intended to be. The dragon boat was an embarrassment. Connery’s Bond in general doesn’t hold up well decades later. The opening scene from **Diamonds Are Forever** , where he strangles that girl with her own bikini top, kind of sums up the problems with the franchise. A critic from _Esquire_ dismissed George Lazenby by pointing out that he was a bad actor in a movie that desperately needed a good one. Hard to dispute. People remember the Roger Moore movies as awful, and rightly so; the redneck sheriff from the first two, and the whistling sound that orange Camero makes as it barrel rolls over a bayou, really embody all the problems with the 70s/early 80s Bond. But Moore is great in most of them, and even the worst ones are watchable. **Live and Let Die** is particularly fun. The two Timothy Dalton movies are terrible, especially the one where he teams up with the guys who later become al Qaeda. But Dalton is not the problem with these movies, he’s kinda great, and **License to Kill** has two of my favorite Bond girls ever, Carey Lowell (_Law and Order_) and Talisa Soto (_Vampirella_). Watch with an open mind. Benicio del Toro has a great bit part. I remain unapologetically fond of the Pierce Brosnan Bonds, even **Die Another Day**. I think the franchise has peaked under Daniel Craig. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/59 "2014-07-30T14:07:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What’s campy about a [slide whistle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh0VF6s-UYU)? (Oh, the pain!) That slide whistle is what made me stop watching Bond movies. Seriously. There were a lot of bad things in that movie (e.g., the completely unexplainable reappearance of the sheriff from the previous movie (who was originally from then-current Dodge commercials, which was bad enough)), but it was the slide whistle that told me the filmmakers and I wanted different things from a Bond movie. I didn’t see another one until _The Spy Who Loved Me_ came on cable. Then I saw _Moonraker_ on cable, and stopped watching again until Dalton took over. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162/60 "2014-07-30T14:10:27Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > The two Timothy Dalton movies are terrible … But Dalton is not the problem with these movies, he’s kinda great I haven’t seen the Daltons in a while — I remember liking them, but to each his own. The thing about Dalton was that he was Fleming’s Bond. Sean Connery is and will always be the best Bond ever, but Dalton absolutely was the character from the books. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-of-watching-every-james-bond-movie-in-order/694162.md?page=4)