Monday, May 11, 2020

Bond, james bond (in chronological order)


We have accomplished quite the feat during this COVID-19 stay-at-home order. We just finished watching all 26 of the James Bond movies - in chronological order by release date! That's a lot of "Bond, James Bond"!

If, by some rare twist of fate you are unfamiliar with 007, here is the blurb from Wikipedia:
"James Bond is a fictional character created by the novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. Bond is a British secret agent working for MI6 who also answers to his codename, 007. He has been portrayed on film by the actors Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig, in twenty-seven productions. All the films but two were made by Eon Productions. Eon now holds the full adaptation rights to all of Fleming's Bond novels."

The 27th film is set to come out later this year, so we have one more to go for the entire series. I can't wait!

I suppose part of my attachment to these movies is that the first one was released the year I was born (1962). So when 'No Time to Die' comes out this fall, that will be a span of 58 years. That simply boggles my mind.

There is one caveat: We did not watch the 1967 'Casino Royale' in its release order (by date), We watched it last, because it's a spoof on Bond, and was not an official Eon Productions work. It is also veeeeery bizarre.

MY FAVORITE BOND ACTOR:
I would have to say, without a doubt, my favorite "Bond" is Daniel Craig. He is a bit more serious (as is Timothy Dalton), but he just seems like more of a secret agent. There is also a lot less gadgetry in the later films, and there seems less emphasis on sex and womanizing than the earlier ones.

Growing up watching these on TV, I think I probably always thought Sean Connery and Roger Moore were the only two who'd played 007. I like them both for nostalgic reasons (preferring Moore to Connery).

I am also a big fan of Pierce Brosnan, and it's not that I didn't like his portrayal, but he was a bit too aloof, and too much of a playboy.

MY FAVORITE BOND GIRL:
Bond always has a love interest or femme fatale. Trying to decide which is my favorite is like... trying to decide which sip of wine tastes the best! There have been some big names in this role: Ursula Andress, Jane Seymour, Britt Eckland, Jill St. John, Barbara Bach, Maud Adams, Grace Jones, Tonya Roberts, Teri Hatcher, Denise Richards, Halle Berry, and Naomie Harris (Moneypenny) just to name a few. For some reason, Ursula Andress, Barbara Bach, and Naomie Harris stand out in my mind, but there were so many that it's really just too hard for me to say.

MY FAVORITE BOND MOVIE:
As with Bond actors, certain movies are sentimental favorites. I can remember watching them when I was a kid, and have watched many of them several times over the years. Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy... those bring back a lot of memories.

Without a doubt, though, the later movies - Skyfall and Spectre - would have to be my favorites as far as good old action movies. I'm sure it helps that special effects have improved, but they just seemed to have a better plot and maybe better acting overall.

At any rate, I am glad we decided to undertake this special assignment. When we started they were all free on Amazon Prime. Unfortunately, the month changed before we got to them all, so we had to rent a few. It was worth it.

Also, as interesting as the movies are, I found it equally fascinating to read the wiki write-up on each movie as we went along.

Here is the order by release date:
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