Greatest
J
ames Bond
F
ilms

Part 1


Introduction: According to Guinness World Records, the most profitable film series of all time is "James Bond." It is also the longest continuing series of English language films. The modern day action-hero - the James Bond '007' character that was employed for Her Majesty's Secret Service - was loosely based on the character in Britisher Ian Fleming's twelve James Bond novels. A number of Fleming's short stories were developed by other writers. Before the movies, Bond made his first appearance on TV, debuting on CBS in 1954, with Barry Nelson as the American 007 agent named Jimmy Bond in an adaptation of Fleming's first Bond novel Casino Royale. Fleming made his sole cameo appearance in the Bond film From Russia With Love (1963). The only Bond film with a tragic ending was On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

Beginning in the Cold War 60s (after restrictions on violence and sex were lifted somewhat), the slick, escapist Bond action/adventure spy films appealed to large audiences with their exotic, travelogue locales, tongue-in-cheek humor and dialogue, nifty gadgets and ingenious toys (provided by Q Branch) to combat evildoers, fast-action suspense and audacious stunts, and gorgeous scantily-clad sexy women. The action-oriented, sophisticated and skillful agent, with a taste for fancy clothes (often tuxedos), dry vodka martinis ('shaken, not stirred') and cars (notably the Aston Martin DB5, the Lotus Esprit, and various BMWs), battled various types of eccentric, deadly and infamous criminals who planned to assault the world. The intriguing superhero lead role has been played by six actors - Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig. Also included below are the villains and Bond girls in the films.

Sean Connery made a reluctant comeback as Bond for Never Say Never Again (1983) - a virtual remake of Thunderball (1965). The film was reportedly titled that way since Connery was quoted as saying "Never again!" after making Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Currently, Roger Moore is the longest continually-serving James Bond actor (with 12 years and 7 films).

The rankings are taken from Entertainment Weekly's November 24, 2006 issue and the article: "The Best of Bond".


Official (and Unofficial) James Bond Films
Agent 007 Spy Series

Part 1


Rank
#
Title
Director
Studio
Bond Actor
Bond
Villains
Bond
Girls
(# of Love-making Encounters)
Film
Locales
Gadgets
Vehicles
#
Kills
6
1

Dr. No (1962)
d. Terence Young

United Artists

 

Sean Connery
Dr. Julius No (Joseph Wiseman)
The Three Blind Mice
Professor R.J. Dent (Anthony Dawson)
The Photographer (Margaret LeWars)
Mr. Jones (Reginald Carter)
Miss Taro (Zena Marshall)

Honeychile Ryder (Ursula Andress)
Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson)

3

London, England
Kingston, Jamaica
Crab Key (island off Jamaica)
- 7.65 mm Walther PPK
- geiger counter
- Sunbeam Alpine Series 1
- Dragon Tank
4
8
2

From Russia With Love (1963)
d. Terence Young

United Artists

Sean Connery
Donald 'Red' Grant (Robert Shaw)
Col. Rosa Klebb or SPECTRE No. 3 (Lotte Lenya)
Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Anthony Dawson)
Kronsteen or SPECTRE No. 5 (Vladek Sheybal)
Morzeny (Walter Gotell)
Krilencu (Fred Haggerty)

Corporal Tatiana ("Tania") Romanova (Daniella Bianchi)
Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson)
Vida (Aliza Gur)
Zora (Martine Beswick)

4

SPECTRE Island (location unknown but somewhere near Adriatic)
London, England
Venice, Italy
Istanbul, Turkey
Yugoslavian locations on the Orient Express (heading for Trieste) that include Belgrade and Zagreb
- garotting wire watch
- pager
- car phone
- black leather briefcase (with ammunition, knife, tear gas canister, AR7 folding rifle with infra-red)
- telephone bug detector
- camera/tape recorder
- poison-tipped spiked shoe
- the LEKTOR decoding machine
- green vintage Bentley Mark IV
- SPECTRE helicopter
8
1
3

Goldfinger (1964)
d. Guy Hamilton

United Artists

Sean Connery
Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe)
Oddjob (Harold Sakata)
Bonita (Nadia Regin)
Capungo (Alf Joint)
Kisch (Michael Mellinger)
Mr. Ling (Burt Kwouk)

Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman)
Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton)
Dink (Margaret Nolan)

2

Fountainbleau Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida
London, England
Stoke Poges Golf Club, Buckinghamshire, England
The Swiss countryside and Geneva, Switzerland
Fort Knox, Kentucky
- seagull snorkel wetsuit
- grappling hook gun
- gadgets in Q's lab
- large and small homing devices
- Oddjob's steel-rimmed bowler hat
- Goldfinger's giant laser
- Goldfinger's golden pistol
- modified Aston Martin DB5 (with machine guns, oil slick deployer, bullet-proof glass, rotating license plates, eject seat, etc.)
- 1937 Rolls Royce III (Sedance De Ville) Silver Phantom
- Lockheed Jetstar plane
6
4
4

Thunderball (1965)
d. Terence Young

United Artists

Sean Connery
Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi)
Count Lippe (Guy Doleman)
Angelo Palazzi (Paul Stassino)
Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi)
Ladislav Kutze (George Pravda)
Vargas (Philip Locke)
Quist (Bill Cummings)

Dominique ("Domino") Derval (Claudine Auger)
Paula Caplan (Martine Beswick)
Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters)

3

Paris, France
Shrublands Health Farm/Clinic south of England
London, England
Nassau, the Bahamas and other surrounding islands

- Bell Textron jet pack rocket belt
- Largo's remote control
- underwater infra-red camera
- waterproof watch with geiger counter
- miniature underwater re-breather device
- harmless radio-active homing pill
- miniature flare
- underwater jet pack propulsion unit

- Aston Martin DB5 with high-pressure water sprayer
- Disco Volante
- BSA Lightning Motorcycle
9
2
5

You Only Live Twice (1967)
d. Lewis Gilbert

United Artists

Sean Connery
Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Donald Pleasance)
Mr. Osato (Teru Shimada)
Helga Brandt (Karin Dor)
Hans (Ronald Rich)

Kissy Suzuki (Mie Hama)
Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi)
Ling (Tsai Chin)

2

Hong Kong
Cape Cod US Mission Control and Hawaii tracking station, US
Tokyo, Japan
Kobe/Osaka, Japan
small Japanese fishing village near Matsu
Himeji Castle, Japan
Cape Kennedy and Outer Space
Pentagon
Russian launch site - Star City, USSR
- protective oxygen suit
- safe combination cracker device
- cigarette case with miniature rocket launcher
- Gyrojet rocket guns and flame thrower
- Helga Brandt's lipstick bomb
- Tigers ninja school gadgets
- wooden pole spike
- Bird 1
- white Toyota 2000 GT convertible
- Tigers helicopter
- Little Nellie Autogyro
- M1 Submarine
14
N/A
-

Casino Royale (1967) - a spoof comedy
d. multiple directors

Columbia

David Niven (as retired spy Sir James Bond)
nephew Jimmy Bond (Woody Allen) Vespa Lynd (Ursula Andress) Rural England
London, England
Scotland Highlands
Far East (in unidentified location)
Berlin, W. Germany
France
- trick carnation with cyanide-spitter
- boots with weaponry
- poisoned zipper buttons
- flame-throwing fountain pen
- Q gadgets (bowler hat gun, poison-shooting pen, 2-way radio wristwatch)
- button homing device
- exploding game birds and milk float
- flying saucer
- aspirin with atomic bomb
-bagpipes with machine gun
5
6

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
d. Peter Hunt

United Artists

George Lazenby
Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas)
Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat)
Grunther (Yuri Borienko)

Teresa ("Tracy") di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg)
Ruby Bartlett (Angela Scoular)
Nancy (Catherine Schell)

3

London, England
The South of France
Lisbon, Portugal
Geneva, Berne, and Piz Gloria, Switzerland
the Swiss Alps and surrounding areas

- radioactive lint tracking device
- small safecracker device with photocopier (or miniature camera)
- atomizer with virus Omega
- compact with radio

- Aston Martin DBS
- Tracy's Ford Cougar
- Bobsleds
7
11
7

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
d. Guy Hamilton

United Artists

Sean Connery
Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray)
Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover)
Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith)
Peter Franks (Joe Robinson)
Morton Slumber (David Bauer)
Shady Tree (Leonard Barr)
Bert Saxby (Bruce Cabot)
Professor Dr. Metz (Joseph Furst)
Bambi (Lola Larson)
Thumper (Trina Parks)

Tiffany Case (Jill St. John)
Plenty O'Toole (Lana Wood)

1

Japan
Cairo, Egypt
Spain
London, England
South Africa
Dover, England
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Los Angeles, US
Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Baja, California, Mexico
- finger or hand booby (or pocket) snap trap
- peel-off imitation (fake) fingerprints
- piton gun with grappling braces
- voice changer or synthesizer machine
- electro-magnetic RPM controller (designed to win in Vegas casinos) aka slot machine ring
- diamond laser satellite
- floating air balloon
- bomb surprise
- 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1
- Moon buggy
- Dirt Bikes
- Bathosub
6

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Created in 1996-2008 © by Tim Dirks. All rights reserved.