Bond James Bond 007 poll

[pokerfan]

With Bond 22 being filmed as I type this...

What is your favorite...
Bond film: From Russia with Love (1963)
Bond actor: Connery (this could soon change)
Villain: Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe)
Villainess: Elektra King (Sophie Marceau)
Henchman: "Red" Grant (Robert Shaw)
Henchwoman: Xenia Onatopp (Famke Jannssen)
Stunt: The cliff jump in The Spy Who Loved Me
Bond Girl: Vesper Lynd (Eva Green)
Car: Aston Martin DB5

Rank the Bond films from best to worst:
(sorry about the abbreviations but most Bond freaks should be able to deduce the titles)

1) FRWL
2) CR (2006)
3) GF
4) TB
5) DN
6) OHMSS
7) SWLM
8) FYEO
9) TND
10) GLDEYE
11) YOLT
12) TLD
13) TWINE
14) OCTO
15) DAF
16) LTK
17) LALD
18) VTAK
19) DAD
20) MRAKER
21) MWGG

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. Your ranking seems about right , though I'd >

> move YOLT up a couple spots and DAF down a couple.

[pokerfan]

2. That's pretty good, then

Considering that there're 5.10909422 × 10^19 different ways to order that list.

I am probably a little biased towards Connery over Moore but in my defense I do have DAF listed as the worst Connery Bond film. Sean was clearly just going through the motions. Jill St. John started off as a strong character but devolved into a complete bimbo by the end.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. If it weren't Connery, DAF might be the absolute worst of the series.

In addition to the reasons you sited, the homophobic subplot with the two gay henchmen was bad even for the times.

[qwertyMike]

3. Connery

I'm old enough to have seen the first ones.

[harmonicon]

5. I can't remember them well enough to order all of them

but I have some real disagreements here. I think the latest one was really not very good. It might have been ok, but it was ruined by being turned into a two and a half hour commercial for texas hold 'em. It's as if whatever bond film had come out in the early 80's had a climax where bond has to solve a rubix cube, or if one in the 70's had involved a climactic game of twister, where the losers die. I also didn't like all of the tongue-in-cheek crap that was supposed to be clever because of our Bond assumptions (all of the focus on martini ordering, for example). The character and performances were fine, but the movie just isn't very good. Sure, it's better than the Pierce Brosnan movies that are just complete shit (with the exception of Golden Eye, which was ok).

Also, I really liked TLD. I think it's one of the best, but LTK was just awful.

[pokerfan]

6. My problem with the poker scene

were some obvious strategic errors. For example, Bond learns that Le Chiffe has a "tell" when he's bluffing. What does Bond do when he has an opportunity to take advantage of this information? He moves all-in forcing Le Chiffe to fold. If you are convinced that your opponent is bluffing, you let them hang themselves.

Too much exposition. They never bothered to explain the rules of Baccarat in the other films. Though the novel had a long explanation of baccarat. And does anyone really need an explanation of poker?

It made sense to update to poker from baccarat. Baccarat is a game of almost pure chance. Fleming seemed to have had the notion that a skilled player could somehow bend the rules of chance. High stakes poker has been popular for a long time so it made sense for Le Chiffe to attempt to recover his losses in that manner rather than walking over to the roulette table and putting it all on black. I don't know of any high stakes rubik's cube or Twister tournaments. Maybe they exist.

I suppose if you really hate poker, the poker scene could be a deal breaker. It really wasn't that long. Start to finish it was thirty minutes but it was broken up by a) the fight in the stairwell (one of the best) and b) the poisoning scene where Vesper saves Bond. All in all, we only see two complete hands and half of another.

The martini is iconic 007 and the recipe is taken pretty much verbatim from the novel (also the first in the seies). The crowd I saw it with laughed when everyone at the table started ordering the same much to LeChiffe's annoyance. And later when a battered Bond ordered a martini and the bartender asked him if he wanted it shaken or stirred, Bond replies, "Do I look like I give a damn?" That got a huge laugh.

Very much looking forward to the next installment.

[CGowen]

7. I'm not a big fan, but watched the original Casino Royale and missed the new one

I didn't know the rules of Baccarat, but I really liked the card design with no numbers on it, just looked classy when Bond used his x-ray glasses.
Reminds me of poker players squeezing their cards and only looking at the pips.


Old poker or gambling movies I watched didn't really have any hands at all, like California Split for example, despite having "Amarillo Slim" in it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Split


Maybe back then, people were afraid to show hands because they were afraid that nobody would understand it.

[pokerfan]

8. That makes sense

That is, the cards having no index since they never leave the table. It's games where you have to manage a fist full of cards (bridge) where they come in handy.

Rules of bacarrat: Two cards dealt to bank and player. Hand with the highest count wins. Paint cards don't count. That's most of it.

I remember in The Sting (the poker game with Paul Newman and Robert Shaw) they showed several hands and a general knowledge of poker was assumed. At least that four Jacks beats four Nines.

"What was I supposed to do - call him for cheating better than me, in front of the others?"

[DerekG]

9. 5 Best; 5 Worst

BEST

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (The only Bond film that could be described as epic.)
2. Casino Royale (2006)
3. From Russia With Love
4. Goldfinger
5. Dr. No

WORST

1. Diamonds Are Forever (Unforgivable after OHMSS. The worst cinematic kick-to-the-balls till Return of the Jedi)
2. Moonraker
3. Die Another Day
4. The Man With the Golden Gun
5. Live and Let Die

[terrya]

10. 5 best, 5 worst

Best:

1) "Goldfinger"

2) "The Spy Who Loved Me"

3) "From Russia With Love"

4) "Casino Royale"...the remake, of course, not the 1967 one. :-(

5) "You Only Live Twice"

Worst;

1) "Moonraker"...dear God, they went ridiculously overboard with that one.

2) "Diamonds Are Forever"...Jimmy Dean as a Howard Hughes type?? And a horribly offensive gay couple who are villians.

3) "Octopussy"

4) "View to a Kill"...it managed to be boring. Even with Grace Jones in it, which is really saying something.

5) "Live and Let Die"