I voted for “You Only Live Twice” because it had some great set pieces and the best Bond theme evah. The ninja assault on Blofeld’s underground volcano missile site was classic, as was the helicopter dogfight with Bond in the missile carrying minicopter. A fun outing, complete with its outdated view of Japanese culture.
For me, it always comes down to From Russia With Love or Goldfinger, which both have great stories, locations, villains, henchmen and performances, despite being considerably different in tone. I give the edge to Russia, as it came first and I prefer the (admittedly only slightly) more realistic story.
Thunderball has its moments, but seems overblown, overlong and IMO doesn’t really do anything that Goldfinger didn’t. You only Live Twice has one of the all-time iconic sets in Blofeld’s volcano lair, Little Nellie and lots of fun action, but also lots of silliness, such as Connery failing miserably at playing Japanese.
I’ve got a soft spot for Diamonds are Forever as something of a guilty pleasure, but the deeply silly setpieces and obnoxious stereotypes on display put it on par with one of the lesser Roger Moore efforts.
Dr. No and Never Say Never Again are not totally horrible but just didn’t leave much of an impression on me. The latter was definitely one too many Bond movies for Connery, and is basically just a less imaginative remake of Thunderball anyway.
Cmon…Golllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllld fingah! The man with the Midas touch!