James Bond In Skyfall - - Part 11

[Octoberist]

Plus it has the best Blofeld and while the film strays away from the book, YOLT has a screenplay by Raul Friggin' Daul and has a lot of iconography that's popular with the Bond image. Plus Nancy Sinatra's theme was great.

I think You Only Live Twice tends to get overlooked due to a bored Connery.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

YOLT isn't bad, and Nancy Sintra's theme is utter perfection to me but I find it to be a clear step down. Beside the obvious boredom of Connery, it has a lot of things I just don't like about the series. The first real use of an obvious formula. It starts repeating what we have already seen without much care for quality or originality.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I actually think Savalas Blofeld was the best one. He was cold, manipulative, sophisticated, and looked like he could take on Bond in a fight.

 

[Drizzle]

A couple of days ago I picked up the Bond 50 Blu-ray set, so I'm in the process of rewatching the whole series for the first time in years. I'm up to Live and Let Die.

Out of the Connery films, here's how I'd rank them:

1. Goldfinger
2. Thunderball
3. From Russia With Love
4. Dr. No
5. You Only Live Twice
6. Diamonds Are Forever

I still think Goldfinger is Connery's best, and it's in my top three Bond films along with Casino Royale and Goldeneye. From Russia With Love is good, but Thunderball edges it out for me just for pure enjoyment. Dr. No is fun, but Dr. No himself isn't developed enough. You Only Live Twice is more or less average. Diamonds Are Forever falls flat for me. While it's not a bad movie, it's definitely Connery's worst, and at this point Bond trying to stop Blofeld was becoming a bit stale.

As for On Her Majesty's Secret Service, while I do like Lazenby's Bond, I feel like this is possibly the most overrated Bond film. The plot itself is nothing spectacular. Everyone just loves it for that last scene, which I will admit, is one of the best in the whole series.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

A couple of days ago I picked up the Bond 50 Blu-ray set, so I'm in the process of rewatching the whole series for the first time in years. I'm up to Live and Let Die.

Out of the Connery films, here's how I'd rank them:

1. Goldfinger
2. Thunderball
3. From Russia With Love
4. Dr. No
5. You Only Live Twice
6. Diamonds Are Forever

I still think Goldfinger is Connery's best, and it's in my top three Bond films along with Casino Royale and Goldeneye. From Russia With Love is good, but Thunderball edges it out for me just for pure enjoyment. Diamonds Are Forever falls flat for me. While it's not a bad movie, it's definitely Connery's worst, and at this point Bond trying to stop Blofeld was becoming a bit stale.

As for On Her Majesty's Secret Service, while I do like Lazenby's Bond, I feel like this is possibly the most overrated Bond film. The plot itself is nothing spectacular. Everyone just loves it for that last scene, which I will admit, is one of the best in the whole series.

I probably have 6 scenes in OHMSS I like better then the final scene.

Goldfinger just feels so hollow next to FRWL for me. If FRWL didn't exist, I'd probably appreciate Goldfinger more, but it does so there you go.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

It's not just the last scene, but all the action set pieces in the later part of the movie are top notch, and Diana Rigg, Gabriele Ferzetti, and Telly Savalas give great performances.

Goldfinger I love, but my problem is that many Bond movies after copied Goldfinger, making it less unique. I think Goldfinger in a way, makes you appreciate From Russia With Love even more. And Diamonds are Forever I found to be pretty bad because it fails as a followup to OHMSS and Gray's Blofeld is the worst. Not to mention those henchmen were terrible.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Casino Royale and Goldeneye have to be my top two favorite Bond films.

 

[The Joker]

Out of the Connery films, here's how I'd rank them:

1. Goldfinger
2. Thunderball
3. From Russia With Love
4. Dr. No
5. You Only Live Twice
6. Diamonds Are Forever

Swap Thunderball with FRWL and that's my ranking. Goldfinger is still my favorite Bond movie of all.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

I'm not sure of other's opinion of YOLT, but I find it...boring?

I've yet to completely watch it.

 

[The Joker]

I'm not sure of other's opinion of YOLT, but I find it...boring?

I've yet to completely watch it.

Connery looks bored in it. You could tell he was jaded with Bond by this point.

I like YOLT. It's got some great scenes, and I love Pleasance as Blofeld.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Connery was growing disinterested because of how much attention he was getting during the production. He couldn't get any privacy.

 

[DKDetective]

Connery was growing disinterested because of how much attention he was getting during the production. He couldn't get any privacy.

It wasn't just that. He was also afraid of being typecast as Bond by that point, felt he wasn't receiving a fair share of the profits, and had developed a very confrontational relationship with Harry Saltzman.

The recent documentary Everything or Nothing shows that Connery's disinterest with the role was caused by a combination of things.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

Who didn't have a confrontational relationship with Harry Saltzman?

 

[Homer J. Fong]

It does suck that they postponed On Her Majesty's Secret Service twice in a row and once they got around to it, Connery had left. Obviously that one would have provided much more of a challenge for Connery.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

Who didn't have a confrontational relationship with Harry Saltzman?

Daniel Craig.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

Connery looks bored in it. You could tell he was jaded with Bond by this point.

I like YOLT. It's got some great scenes, and I love Pleasance as Blofeld.

I'll try and finish it one day. Especially since I have the blofeld trilogy coming to me, I'll see how it is, and if the movie's better or not than the book.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

Daniel Craig.

Well played.

 

[chamber-music]

I really liked License To Kill although I do agree that it was like a Miami Vice episode. The movie was filmed in Florida and Mexico in the 80s and had a drug dealing hispanic villain so that alone was always going to make it similar to Miami Vice.

It was a deliberately more darker and violent Bond movie which we wouldn't see again until Daniel Craig took over the role.

Felix gets targeted in LTK and M in Skyfall.

License To Kill is the best Bond gone rogue movie for me. I like it better than The Living Daylights.

Benicio Del Toro got a pretty nasty death scene which was cool.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Chamber-music! What happened to your awesome Noomi avatar?!

 

[chamber-music]

Sorry Oberon I replaced it.

 

[DKDetective]

I really liked License To Kill although I do agree that it was like a Miami Vice episode. The movie was filmed in Florida and Mexico in the 80s and had a drug dealing hispanic villain so that alone was always going to make it similar to Miami Vice.

It was a deliberately more darker and violent Bond movie which we wouldn't see again until Daniel Craig took over the role.

Felix gets targeted in LTK and M in Skyfall.

License To Kill is the best Bond gone rogue movie for me. I like it better than The Living Daylights.

Benicio Del Toro got a pretty nasty death scene which was cool.

While there was some Miami Vice influence on LTK, I think that criticism on that basis is rather unfair. You can't say that it was a generic action movie and un-Bondian because the film is EXTREMELY Bondian. Just not cinematic Bond.

With Dalton as Bond, the point was not just to make Bond dark and gritty to fit in with current trends like Miami Vice, but also to more accurately reflect the literary world of Fleming's Bond. The novels and short stories are dark and gritty. In the novel version of From Russia With Love, Grant gets the drop on Bond through a gun hidden in a book. Bond's internal monologue includes his wish that MI6 went for such things, that they would help him get out of that predicament. (which is what happens in the movie version)

Also, the Florida and Latin American setting of the film is taken directly from the source material for the film: the novels Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, as well as the short story The Hildebrand Rarity. The producers just chose the Fleming story that they thought would resonate best with the late 1980s zeitgeist.

 

[747]

Thunderball > Goldfinger

Am I alone in this? I love Goldfinger and it is great, but I also feel it's a bit overrated as the Connery Bond movie to go to when talking classics. I think Thunderball is just as classic.

It really got the most of the best when it comes to iconic Bond stuff and Sean Connery is in his Bond-peak both acting and look-wise. Great villain in Largo. Strong and interesting Bond-girl in Domino. Great femme-fatale in Fiona. Cool henchmen. When it comes to classic Bond-characters this movie has some of the best. They have great dynamics and chemistry between them too.

It also has amazing settings and cinematography, the underwater stuff is unique still to this day. Great mix of the early spy-oriented stuff and the later more larger than life things. Love the overall slow tempo of the movie mixed with quick bursts of action.

The score is classic Barry brilliance. The humor is perfectly balanced wit without overdoing it. The editing and directing is also the best in the series. Very lean and careful.

And no, the underwater stuff is not boring, it's beautiful. The ending underwater battle is awesome. Terrifically shot, with a bad-ass Bond and with Barry's magical music. Same with the ending on the boat which is great and thrilling. Easily beats the Goldfinger ending on the airplane with Auric for me (and those effects looks sooooo bad even for the time).

My top ten Bond-films. Before Skyfall that is, I have a feeling For Your Eyes Only is gonna have to leave the list quite soon…

1. Casino Royale (10/10)
2. Thunderball (10/10)
3. From Russia With Love (10/10)
4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (9/10)
5. Goldfinger (9/10)
6. The Spy Who Loved Me (8/10)
7. GoldenEye (8/10)
8. You Only Live Twice (7/10)
9. Dr. No (7/10)
10. For Your Eyes Only (7/10)

 

[Gold Samurai]

 

[DKDetective]

Thunderball > Goldfinger

Am I alone in this? I love Goldfinger and it is great, but I also feel it's a bit overrated as the Connery Bond movie to go to when talking classics. I think Thunderball is just as classic.

It really got the most of the best when it comes to iconic Bond stuff and Sean Connery is in his Bond-peak both acting and look-wise. Great villain in Largo. Strong and interesting Bond-girl in Domino. Great femme-fatale in Fiona. Cool henchmen. When it comes to classic Bond-characters this movie has some of the best. They have great dynamics and chemistry between them too.

It also has amazing settings and cinematography, the underwater stuff is unique still to this day. Great mix of the early spy-oriented stuff and the later more larger than life things. Love the overall slow tempo of the movie mixed with quick bursts of action.

The score is classic Barry brilliance. The humor is perfectly balanced wit without overdoing it. The editing and directing is also the best in the series. Very lean and careful.

And no, the underwater stuff is not boring, it's beautiful. The ending underwater battle is awesome. Terrifically shot, with a bad-ass Bond and with Barry's magical music. Same with the ending on the boat which is great and thrilling. Easily beats the Goldfinger ending on the airplane with Auric for me (and those effects looks sooooo bad even for the time).

My top ten Bond-films. Before Skyfall that is, I have a feeling For Your Eyes Only is gonna have to leave the list quite soon…

1. Casino Royale (10/10)
2. Thunderball (10/10)
3. From Russia With Love (10/10)
4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (9/10)
5. Goldfinger (9/10)
6. The Spy Who Loved Me (8/10)
7. GoldenEye (8/10)
8. You Only Live Twice (7/10)
9. Dr. No (7/10)
10. For Your Eyes Only (7/10)

I have to disagree, as much as I am a Terrence Young fan and personally prefer his Bond films to Guy Hamilton's, Goldfinger is probably a better film. Connery was more on his game in Goldfinger. Sure, he wasn't visibly bored of the role in Thunderball like he was in You Only Live Twice, but it was clear that he wasn't giving the role the same attention anymore. He was phoning it in a bit.

On the looks front, since you brought it up, Connery wasn't quite as Bondian in Thunderball in my opinion. For instance, his hair piece/style wasn't as "Bond". It had a bit of a flat, combover look to it. In Goldfinger, his hair tended to fall into literary Bond's characteristic "comma" over the right eye, which was a big plus for me. Also, his Goldfinger suits are better. The Thunderball suits got a bit too trendy with the straight across waistcoat bottoms and narrow pant legs and lapels. Those fashionable features didn't seem to jive as well with the full cut of Bond's suit jackets.

Finally, there is the pacing issue with the underwater battles, that has been brought up before. That is the film's big weakness. The movie doesn't have the sense of urgency it should. As you said, you don't see it so I don't think anyone can convince you to see it otherwise.

By the way, I cannot agree with your rating of Casino Royale. I love the movie, but it is a very flawed film. The set pieces drag on far too long and don't quite fit the darker, gritty style the film is trying to establish. Overall, the film's pacing is uneven. To me, it doesn't stand on the same level as series classics from the 1960s like From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

EDIT: Gold Samurai, this Skyfall shot better fits with your series:

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Thunderball is great, but it has serious pacing issues that hurts the movie.