Alongside the “main” Deathmatches that are spilling their innards elsewhere, each day in June a one-shot random vote.
Today’s is…
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Yes, I know they’re all basically the same film.
Third time’s the charm in my book.
No!
One has Sean Connery in it and…the other 2 don’t?
SPY was my first and has an unfair advantage therefore. But MR is magnificent on its own.
YOLT is extremely entertaining and kind of wacky. But the Japanese wig for Connery is a big minus for the film, in my view. So… SPY.
I voted Moonraker, because there’s no bigger, better, more fantastic Bondmovie for me.
For 2 June…
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The Spy Who Loved Me easily got my first vote while The Living Daylights gets my second. It’s a great score. The incomparable John Barry, appropriately enough, goes out on a high note.
For June 3, this…
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From Russia, With Love gets my vote. Not only is it the best of Ian Fleming 1950s works, it’s also the best Ian Fleming novel period. FRWL has a terrific set up and plot, great villains, Bond’s best ally, and a great Bond girl. What’s not to love?
Agreed. And Grant, unlike Goldfinger (and everyone in Diamonds but that’s a personal peeve), is a fully-fleshed out character, giving the novel real “balance.”
“Moonraker” gets my vote for Gala Brand, the detailing of Bond’s life, and Fleming’s rendering of the 1955 zeitgeist of general anxiety and continued fear of Nazis, i.e., was the war really won?
For June 4, consider the Brosnan Legacy, the changes brought about in Goldeneye et seq. Which have had the most longstanding impact on the film series for you - for good or ill?
In this one you can vote for more than one choice. Limit seems to be four.
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Ah, my birthday question.
The four I voted for in no particular order were:
BMWs. They haven’t been seen to be used by James Bond since The World Is Not Enough, but they still left an impact. They were the first non-British cars Bond was given by Q, and he had two really good ones–the 750iL in Tomorrow Never Dies and the Z8 in TWINE. As a result, they earn legacy status.
Female M. It was groundbreaking at the time (especially the oft-quoted M speech in GoldenEye), and it lasted beyond Pierce Brosnan’s tenure, so it had a major impact on the series.
David Arnold. The man who inherited John Barry’s composing mantle. Arnold did five films and produced solid scores for each. He really should come back.
Daniel Kleinmann. The last two Maurice Binder main title sequences were underwhelming. Kleinmann was a breath of fresh air right from the beginning. His GoldenEye, Casino Royale, and Skyfall MTS’s are arguably all in the top five of the series. He updated Bond’s MTS look/style, and the series is all the better for it.
If I would have been able to do a fifth selection, I probably would have went with CGI enhancements. Not because Die Another Day’s CGI left something to be desired, but that it (along with GoldenEye’s PTS freefall) seemed to start the CGI wave in the series, which, to be fair, is prevalent throughout Hollywood films nowadays.
I have chosen:
Kleimann, Arnold, long precredits, CGI enhancements and more screentime for other SIS operatives.
I have voted:
The Brosnan Era was the start of the new chapter because of these changes for the Bond Franchise.
But does it really matters what kind of watch he wears?
Female M: even if it’s over now, it went on a long time and was obviously considered important enough to carry over from Brosnan to Craig when everything else was about reinvention and change.
Kleinman: for me easily the best thing about the Brosnan era and arguably the best addition to behind-the-scenes “Team Bond” since the Golden Age.
“Express analysis of Bond’s character” : Enough already.
After Kleinman, the longest lasting change may be the Omega fetish, but I don’t give a crap what watch Bond wears. I care more about the cars, and hated the BMW promotions, but that ended with Brozza, and to be honest at this point I’d accept Bond in a Yugo if it got us a break from that damned DB5.
Thank God the “shoulder mastication” didn’t stick around. Thanks for that laugh!
Yes, although bear in mind it is currently 6.45 a.m. in the UK on a Sunday morning and I am a bit old and creaky.
For June 5…
Between the broad epics of OHMSS and The Spy who Loved Me, there’s a trilogy of rampagingly tatty Bond films sharing the vision, such as it is, of Guy Hamilton and Tom Mankiewicz and all three could be said to have some issues. Not issues wholly unique to these three films but perhaps a distillation of curiosities that might perpetuate as commonly-held negative critiques of the series.
I do know that The Man with the Golden Gun had Maibaum’s input after the event, and not all of the below will be the sole and specific responsibility of Hamilton and Mankiewicz, but they were big boys and they were there.
Accordingly… (and this is another multiple vote one, limit here (00)7)
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I went with five choices:
Blofeld in drag – Blofeld didn’t need to use the disguise to get out of the Whyte House. He could have easily done it another way.
Bond’s assault of Andrea Anders – I don’t like Bond slapping/hitting good/innocent women and it certainly doesn’t fit Roger Moore and his Bond.
Goodnight’s backside nearly frying Bond – I think this film gave the Bond films the (incorrect) label of the Bond girl being a bimbo which lasted for FAR too long a time, and it was moments like this that perpetuated that label.
New York alley fight – Arguably the worst fight scene in the series. It’s either this or the A View To A Kill warehouse fight.
Space diamond laser thing special effects – The worst special effects in the series.