I really enjoy the James Bond series and have seen plenty of its films, but I've never ended up going through all of them. I could just fill in the blanks whenever one pops up on a streaming service, but I've always do a full marathon, see all the movies one after the other. And with Amazon Prime getting all of the Bond films for a "limited time", I thought this was as good a time as any to go through the series once and for all.
There is one issue, however. Spectre, one of the last Bond films, is leaving Prime in like a week. So I decided to give this marathon a bit of a twist. I'm going to watch the James Bond movies in reverse actor order, meaning I'm going to start with the Craig movies, then watch the Brosnan films, and keep going until I end with Connery. So Spectre will be one of the first movies I watch, and I won't have to cram 23 movies into like 9 days. Let's finish things with the Sean Connery era:
Since I've watched plenty of these movies already, I wanted to mark the ones that I'm rewatching rather than going into blind. To keep things simple, if you see the (R) symbol next to a movie, that means that I've seen it before and that this is a rewatch.
Dr. No: I'm just going to get this out of the way, I don't love the Connery films like so many Bond fans do. He has some gems, but it's hard to look past the especially bad racism and sexism. Being the first Bond film, Dr No has a bunch of these issues right off the bat, but even with them and a noticeably low budget, it still manages to tell a somewhat compelling spy story.
Befitting the first entry in the series, Dr No has a simple-enough story. An agent gets killed, Bond heads to Jamaica to find the culprit, and ends up facing off with the sinister Dr No who wants to disrupt a space launch. I like that Dr No's face is hidden for much of the movie, not only because his face itself hasn't aged well (more on that later), but because it creates a great sense of mystery. I think that's the best thing about Dr No, the mystery. Dr No is a mysterious figure who lives on a mysterious island, guarded by a "dragon", it's hard not to get wrapped up in the mystique of it all. I was also fascinated by Bond's portrayal here. Having seen the next few movies, Connery plays Bond as especially detached in Dr No, which I actually kinda like. He's not suave or confident, just focused on the mission, even in normal conversation. Of course, this does have its consequences, his treatment of female characters is very hard to watch and the movie never depicts him as in the wrong for it, but I still found it interesting to see Connery give a more muted performance compared to what I'm used to seeing from him. I also pleasantly enjoyed many of the side characters, particularly the charming Quarrel who I found immensely likable despite the film's treatment of him.
However, my big issue with Dr No lies in the fact that, production-wise, it hasn't aged well in the slightest. This was a fairly low budget film, especially compared to its sequels, and it kinda shows. The action is really bad a lot of the time, slow and obviously staged. The car chase is the worst of the bunch, repeatedly cutting to Connery giving exaggerated driving expressions. Speaking of which, the acting also isn't great a lot of the time. Connery is mostly fine and Wiseman is menacing as Dr No, but many of the line deliveries are stilted and Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder feels especially awkward. Dr No has some elements that are obvious meant to be scary but just don't land nowadays. The moments of violence feel like they're meant to be more extreme than they actually are, which makes sense given the time period, and that tarantula scene goes from potentially scary to laughable when you realize tarantulas are pretty much harmless. I liked the "dragon" though, that was a pretty inventive bit of low-budget filmmaking. But I think the worst-aged element of Dr No is easily the use of yellowface for all the Asian characters. I'm sorry, but even with a low budget, there's no way Eon couldn't get Asian actors for people like Dr No. Wiseman is a good actor here but I'd much rather have someone who's actually Asian. I really don't need to tell you why Dr No using yellowface for its Asian characters is so uncomfortable, and it does drag the film down for me.
Overall, Dr No is a solid first Bond film, one that I genuinely enjoyed. It has a tight plot, a compelling mystery, strong performances from Connery and Wiseman, and a solid cast of characters. However, it's hard not to feel like it aged pretty terribly in terms of production, with bad action, at times clunky acting, and worst of all, the usage of yellowface.
3/5 Stars
From Russia With Love (R): From Russia With Love is the most faultless Connery film. It's not my favorite, but I think it's the best one, improving on its predecessor in almost every way.
From Russia With Love is about Bond having to escort a USSR defector only to discover that it's a trap set-up by SPECTRE to acquire a Soviet coding machine. This storyline is actually pretty different from many other Bond films, since he's not inherently trying to stop a villain with some grand plan. Rather, FRWL feels like a never-ending chase as Bond is relentlessly pursued by SPECTRE agents who will stop at nothing to take him out. Furthering this storyline are the two main antagonists, Rosa Klebb and Red Grant, who are easily two of the cruelest and most intimidating in the series. Red Grant in particular is a cold-hearted assassin who the series would repeatedly try to re-capture to no avail (though they came close with Mr Hinx). Something I always liked about From Russia With Love is how it focuses on capturing the danger that comes with being a spy. It's not the only Bond film to explore those themes, but it is the first one, and some of my most fondly-remembered scenes of FRWL include that long sequence of Bond meticulously scouting his hotel room, and the several points where Bond's assumed moment of peace is interrupted by one of the villains. Despite this, I feel like From Russia With Love could've taken those themes even further. I know that this was the 60s and there's only so much Eon could do, but I feel like FRWL would be even better is Bond had lost in some way, whether it was losing the machine or losing the Bond girl, just to hammer home the point of how dangerous his job is. Thankfully, OHMSS would end up doing that with Tracy's death, but it does make FRWL feel a bit half-baked by comparison.
As far as production goes, From Russia With Love is a massive improvement over Dr No. In general, the acting is a lot more consistently strong, and the writing feels a bit less clunky. Connery's performance isn't as detached as it was in Dr No, but he's still great in the role. The action is a lot grander and more well-executed, from the all-out war in the Romani camp, to the deservedly iconic and wincingly brutal train fight, to the impressive helicopter and boat chases that cap off the film. It's kind of hard to imagine that the film came out only a year after Dr No, From Russia With Love feels so ahead of its time in its action sequences. My only gripe with the action is that the third act does feel a bit weak. Red Grant gets killed off at the end of the second act and it feels like the writers didn't know where to go from there, so they just tossed Bond into a bunch of disconnected setpieces. They're fun setpieces, don't get me wrong, but they feel less purposeful than the ones in the first half of the film. I also think this is probably the least "problematic" Connery Bond film, which does earn it some brownie points, I guess? There's no yellowface, rape, or black people that turn into gorillas here, though Bond's treatment of women is still pretty bad, and the Romani camp sequence is stuffed to the brim with stereotypes so it's not like this movie is entirely devoid of criticism.
Overall, From Russia With Love is a genuinely great Bond film and a massive improvement over its predecessor in terms of writing, acting, and general production. While the third act is weak and it could've gone a bit further with its themes, FRWL is still a tense spy thriller that expands on its predecessor by depicting Bond's job in a slightly less flattering light.
4/5 Stars
Goldfinger (R): Goldfinger is almost the best Bond film ever made. People call it the quintessential Bond film for establishing many of the series' trends, but that does it a bit of a disservice. Goldfinger isn't just the first usage of the Bond formula, rather, it's Eon having perfected the Bond formula.
Goldfinger involves Bond looking into the titular gold-obsessed businessman who wants to increase the value of his gold by destroying Fort Knox. The first half of Goldfinger is a pretty standard, though still fun, Bond film that introduces a lot of the series' iconic quirks. There's the first true Bond opening, the first theme song, Bond's first "shaken not stirred" drink, and the first gadgets, which get used in one of my favorite car chases in the entire franchise. But what really elevates Goldfinger for me is actually the second half where Bond gets captured and held at Goldfinger's estate. I've seen people claim that they don't like the fact that Bond spends much of the film in captivity, but I'd argue that this is what makes the movie brilliant. There are plenty of Bond films where James Bond doesn't meet the villain until near the end of the film, so they don't get much time to really build a rapport. In Goldfinger, Bond spends 50% of the film talking with almost exclusively the titular antagonist, and their dynamic and banter on its own is genuinely engaging. On his own, Goldfinger is a fine enough villain, but the fact that he develops such a close rivalry with Bond elevates him to being one of the best in the series.
On a production level, Goldfinger is once again a big improvement over its predecessor as well. The action scenes are generally pretty great, especially the aforementioned car chase and the final fight with Oddjob. Ken Adams gets his first chance to really shine with the set design and it shows in how pretty and intricate Goldfinger's estate is. Being such a dialogue-heavy film, Goldfinger's script is also on-point especially in regards to Bond and Goldfinger's interactions, and at a short 1h50m, the pacing is pretty much perfect. As a whole, Goldfinger has everything I would want in a Bond film. It does everything right, and it's so close to being an easy 5/5 Stars. Unfortunately, Goldfinger also has what is probably the most uncomfortable scene in the entire Bond franchise. So the Bond girl this time around is Pussy Galore, who's originally on Goldfinger's side and shows zero attraction to Bond. So what does Bond do to get her to turn-coat? He corners her in a barn and... rapes... her. Oh, boy. This isn't the only time Bond would force or trick someone into sleeping with him but it's never this explicit, to the point where I felt disgusted and sick watching it. The barn scene in Goldfinger is a blight on an otherwise near-perfect film, and it drags the movie down a decent amount.
Overall, Goldfinger is mostly a phenomenal film and one of the best entries in the series. The plot is solid, Bond's dynamic with the villain is great, the writing is sharp, the henchman is intimidating, the set design is wonderful, the action is fun, and the final battle is one of the better ones in the series. It didn't just introduce the Bond tropes, it perfected them. However, the otherwise fantastic Goldfinger also has easily the most uncomfortable and disgusting instance of Bond's sexism in the entire franchise, and it drags down the film a decent amount. I love Goldfinger, but I will never be okay with that.
4.5/5 Stars
Thunderball (R): I pleasantly enjoyed Thunderball on first viewing, but I think more than any other film I rewatched, this is the one that I really ended up liking less on second viewing. I get why I liked it at first, but in hindsight, it's just too muddled to really work for me.
Thunderball's core story works pretty well. Emilio Largo from SPECTRE stole some nuclear bombs and Bond needs to track them down, it's a perfectly solid and suspenseful Bond plot. Even better is the Bond girl Domino, who kicks off the trend of Bond girls who start off working for the bad guys before realizing they suck and turning on them, and I still think she's one of the best iterations of the archetype because she actually gets the final kill at the end of the film. I also really like Thunderball's divisive focus on underwater sequences. I know some people find the underwater stuff to be slow and pad out the movie, but I actually think they're the highlights of the film. They're tense, super visually impressive for the time, and the final underwater war in particular is a ton of fun. The Bond series would continue to have underwater sequences, but in terms of clarity and spectacle, I still don't think any of them top the ones from Thunderball.
Unfortunately, while all of that stuff is great, Thunderball has a lot of issues that drag the film down for me. For starters, outside of the underwater stuff, I found the action scenes to generally be a step-down from the last two films. A bunch of the fight scenes, most-notably the last one, have been blatantly sped up and look absolutely awful. But even they're not as bad as that baffling sequence where Bond almost gets killed by a massage machine. Yeah, let's talk about the worst thing about Thunderball, the tone. This is the first Bond film where it feels like the crew is starting to lean a bit into the silliness, but you can tell that they're not really committing. So large stretches of Thunderball are fairly normal, only for the movie to blindside you with moments like Bond's jetpack and the aforementioned massage scene. This isn't the only Bond film with tonal issues, it's an issue most of Moore's run would deal with, but I don't think they're nearly as jarring and frustrating as they are in Thunderball. Also, while not as bad as the barn scene in the last movie, Bond blackmailing a woman into sleeping with him is yet another awful bit of 60s sexism.
Thunderball had the pieces to be a genuinely great Bond film, with a solid main premise, a great Bond girl, and some truly impressive underwater sequences. However, it's dragged down by an inconsistent tone and some truly horrid action sequences. As a result, it's easily the most forgettable of Connery's films.
2.5/5 Stars
You Only Live Twice (partially watched): Okay, so I know I said Goldeneye was the first Bond film I watched, but that's not entirely true. You Only Live Twice was on TV once when I was a kid, so I watched the last 30-45 minutes of it. However, that was a very long time ago, and I don't remember much about it. All I remember is the awesome volcanic base sequence, Blofeld's amazing debut, and... well... Bond putting on yellowface. Man, these movies are rough.
You Only Live Twice is a frustrating film because when it's good, it's really good. The main storyline involves SPECTRE trying to interfere in the space race, so Bond fakes his death to stay off the radar, searches for SPECTRE's volcano base in Japan, and meets Blofeld for the very first time. You Only Live Twice is the culmination of everything the series has been building up to, and it shows. Lewis Gilbert, who would later direct Moonraker and TSWLM, was the perfect choice for this movie because he's fantastic at making movies that feel large. From the opening in space, to the many wide shots of Japan, to the attack on the volcano base, Gilbert directs all of these scenes with as much grandiosity as possible to really sell how important this movie is. The action is also great, frequently bombastic and exciting, and always well-shot. What could've been a standard rooftop chase, for example, was turned into one of the series' most iconic setpieces thanks to the decision to shoot it with one long wide shot. YOLT also easily has my favorite depiction of Blofeld. The OHMSS version is great, but Donald Pleasance's iconic performance is brilliantly unnerving and eerie, even to this day. That scene where Blofeld introduces himself and goes ahead with his plan as Bond is forced to watch is one of my favorite scenes in the whole series. At its best, You Only Live Twice feels like an event. It's a climactic, thrilling romp that's never boring and always visually-impressive. However...
If you recall my Roger Moore reviews, I noticed a trend of "Bond travels to ____" movies. These are films that focus around Bond traveling to a foreign country, that would proceed to be depicted as stereotypically as humanly possible. Live And Let Die did the Caribbean, TMWTGG did China, Octopussy did India, but it's You Only Live Twice which started the trend by focusing on Japan. There's a lot I could criticize here, from the stereotypical accents to the bizarre Japanophilia to the typical abundance of sexism, but let's face it, nothing tops Bond putting on yellowface to disguise himself as Japanese. Granted, it's mercifully not as much of the film as I originally thought, but there's still a dreadfully uncomfortable 10-15 minutes with Bond pretending to be a British person's version of an Asian. The frustrating thing is that Bond's disguise doesn't add anything to the movie, it would be almost exactly the same had he not disguised himself. It makes me so mad that Eon decided to throw in such a stupid bit of racism here that only detracts from what's otherwise a really fun and energetic movie.
Overall, You Only Live Twice is like the Return Of The Jedi of Bond. It's a climactic entry that nails everything it needs to, but the stuff it doesn't nail seriously drags down the film. So much of YOLT is great, from Blofeld's debut, to the thrilling action, to the tight pacing, to the awe-inspiring direction. However, the decision to have Bond wear yellowface is yet another disappointing bit of racism that really holds the film back from being a personal favorite. Goddamn it, Eon.
3.5/5 Stars
Diamonds Are Forever: Well, we're finally at the end of this marathon and quite frankly what a lame way to end it. Despite being "the last Connery film" Diamonds Are Forever is an interesting installment in the Bond series for a number of reasons. For starters, it came right after OHMSS, which at the time faced backlash for its many differences to the previous movies. Second is it's the first of three films in a row that Guy Hamilton, director of Goldfinger, would direct. What are the other two films? Live And Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun. Joy...
Okay, so just remember the ending of On Her Majesty's Secret Service for a second. Blofeld had just killed Bond's wife, leaving the spy utterly broken. Diamonds Are Forever starts, and the first thing you see is Bond running around beating up a bunch of guys in a furied search for Blofeld. You think, "Oh, shit, Bond's getting revenge for what happened to Tracy!". But as the opening goes on, something starts to seem off. Tracy isn't mentioned at all, Bond doesn't seem particularly broken up, and most shocking of all, Bond flirts with another woman. That doesn't seem like a man who's mourning the death of the wife, and that's because it's not. Despite the Bond series having had a light continuity up to this point, Diamonds Are Forever starts off by misleading the viewer into thinking it was paying off OHMSS only to toss that movie's plot points completely out the window. But that isn't the only thing wrong with the opening, the whole thing feels off. Connery's acting feels especially tired and bored, the editing is choppy and unusual, the tone wildly fluctuates between bizarre gags and some truly dark death scenes, and the pacing moves a mile a minute. And keep in mind, this was just the opening.
So yeah, Diamonds Are Forever is really bad. I'd easily call it the most incompetently made Bond movie. The plot is a mess, trying to force Blofeld into a plot about a diamond smuggler by having his plan be to use diamonds to create a space weapon. The tone is a mess, jumping between sincere and comedic pretty much every scene. Every time you think the film is getting serious, it's immediately undercut. Every time you think it's setting up for a comedic gag, it sudden erupts into a genuinely serious sequence, only to veer right back into comedy at the very end. Diamonds Are Forever goes for a "everything but the kitchen sink" approach, each scene feels like it's from a different film and it leaves DAF feeling incredibly disjointed (the Blofeld clones was where it really lost me). It also doesn't help that the editing is a jarring mess, never guiding you from scene to scene, which causes the pacing to feel like it's on crack for the whole movie. Between scenes like the Blofeld clones, Bambi & Thumper, Bond talking to a rat, and Blofeld in drag (because haha man in dress funny right?), this feels like a series of parody sketches rather than an actual Bond film, maybe even more than the already horribly parodical TMWTGG.
Connery's acting, as strange as this sounds, is a mess. You can tell he's tired with the role, so he only puts in effort sparingly. And, of course, don't get me started on the typical Connery racism and sexism. I already mentioned the black person that turns into a gorilla, and the fact that the henchmen are gay leads to a decent chunk of homophobia, but the treatment of the female characters here is especially bad. Every female character is a buffoon who usually ends up in a pretty awful position by the end of the film. The bizarre thing is that every once in a while, Diamonds Are Forever pulls out a genuinely good scene that leads you to think that maybe, just maybe, you're watching a good movie. The theme song from Shirley Bassey is fantastic and dare I'd say better than that of Goldfinger, the elevator fight is genuinely brutal and tense, the car chase is a ton of fun, Plenty O'Toole was a pretty fun character before getting literally thrown out the window, and henchmen Mr Wint and Mr Kidd are actually really great. I can at least say that, with all of its incompetence, I enjoyed Diamonds Are Forever more than I did The Man With The Golden Gun. But don't get me wrong, those scenes are in the minority.
Diamonds Are Forever is down there with Die Another Day as the closest thing Bond had to a "So Bad, It's Good" film. It's so incompetently made, so obsessed with making a joke out of itself, so poorly paced and edited, that I can't look away. It's like a dumpster fire. What an awful way to end Connery's time as Bond, and what an awful way to end my marathon.
1/5 Stars
Here's how I'd rank the Sean Connery movies:
- Goldfinger
- From Russia With Love
- You Only Live Twice
- Dr No
- Thunderball
- Diamonds Are Forever
All that's left is for me to rank everything in the final post of this marathon.
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