Well, a lot comes down to how the question is phrased. If it’s “I am open, in theory, to watching lots of Bond, what film would be the best primer?” then I’d go for a Moore entry (probably TSWLM). If it’s “I need to be able to say I watched a Bond film, but I have no intention of ever taking it beyond that,” then I’d probably go for a Connery (likely GF).
In real life, you’d obviously ask questions of a newbie to get them off on the right foot. What do they know they like? If they love “Die Hard” I might point them to LTK or CR. If they’re into Hitchcock, maybe FRWL. If they dig “Fast and the Furious,” maybe a Brosnan. If they’re “Kingsman” fans, point them to Roger. If they only “know” Bond as something to ridicule thanks to Austin Powers, maybe jump straight ahead to Craig.
The key would be hook them with something you know they’ll dig, as opposed to your own favorite or what critics say is “the best.” Then once you’ve hooked them, they can move on and explore the rest of the series. Like all of us, they’ll have some entries they like better than others, but they can always go back to the one that worked for them. And complain about how all the others keep “getting Bond wrong.”
For June 19th, more of seemingly untouched Fleming you’d like to see executed into a Bond film (and given how they have adapted some of Fleming, “executed” is the word)…
Villains accidentally(-ish) blowing themselves up (Casino Royale)
The Cave of Pirate Gold (Live and Let Die)
Torture by blowtorch and steamhose (Moonraker)
Train chase through the desert (Diamonds are Forever)
Gun hidden in a book (From Russia, with Love)
Giant Squid fight (Dr No)
Bond going beserk and strangling the viillain to death (Goldfinger)
(Slight) murder mystery element (The Hildebrand Rarity)
SIS complicity in having used the now-villainous organisation in the past (Thunderball)
Someone else is the major character for the story (The Spy who Loved Me)
If inadvertently, Bond taking on the Sicilian Mafia (OHMSS)
Australian assistance (You Only Live Twice)
Brainwashing/assassination attempt (The Man with the Golden Gun)
Bond goes shopping for socks (007 in New York)
0voters
I know they sort of did the Moonraker one in the film, sort of, and apparently some sort of blowtorch element was coming for the third Dalt-Ton (to the negative, probably) but - not quite the same and/or not filmed.
The Hildebrand Rarity one got me thinking; Eon has ripped off almost everything else so why not Agatha Christie? I suppose the location-hopping doesn’t suit but they could do Murder on the Orient…that’s it, the whole of the Orient, or Death on the Nile. And the Ganges. And the Potomac. And the Shropshire Union Canal. Moist death, basically
Ah, yes, good point, that must be the reference there - never spotted it a.k.a. I tend to skip that bit as it goes on way too long.
Don’t vote for that one, or perhaps do if you would like to see it again. If disturbed by the Casino Royale one and it’s roughly molested your Sunday, and I can’t edit polls once they’re five minutes live, call the Casino Royale choice:
They’re all good, I liked the Bad Guys blowing themselves up in Casino Royale, it’s probably one of my favorite scenes in the book that ironically didn’t appeared in the film, I’d also want to see that.
Second is the Giant Squid in Dr. No, maybe we can have something outlandish while still keeping the Flemingesque style, what’s the better way to introduce lightheartedness back, other than to get some from Fleming, and this scene speaks volumes.
But for now, I’m going to vote for the Brainwashing sequence in The Man With The Golden Gun, looking now, it’s the only possible way to introduce the new Bond actor and make the transition in the reboot better, the better way to easily explain of how he survived the last film.
I chose the train chase through the desert, mainly because it would be another potential great setpiece.
The brainwashing idea is effective - but in the novels much more so since it is the last one and a consequence of the previous ending. In the movies it would be as hot air as killing off Bond in the first scene - we all know he will get over it and become the Bond we all, well, love.
If someone else got brainwashed however… now that would be interesting. M? If he at least had to resign at the end, if not killed by Bond (he has practiced that, after all).
The untouched Fleming I’d like to see executed in a Bond film comes down to three choices for me:
Gun hidden in a book (From Russia, With Love)
Giant squid fight (Doctor No)
Brainwashing/assassination attempt (The Man With The Golden Gun)
All would be great, but my vote goes for the brainwashing/assassination attempt in TMWTGG. Of the options above, it would be the most memorable and iconic, but unfortunately, since No Time To Die ended the way it did, it will likely be a loooong time, if ever, before we get it.
I’m sticking with the squid. I’d also love to see the question room from YOLT adapted as an interrogation technique. Seated above a volcanic geyser which goes off every fifteen minutes, Bond gets up at the last second and thus breaks his cover. It would also provide for a grisly villain death.
The squid, no question about it. I remember I saw a re-run of Dr No for the first time (together with my father in a local cinema) and I was a little disappointed that they not used the test course with the squid at the end, now it’s too easy for Bond to escape from his cell.
NSNA had more action than the original Thunderball (there’s a sequence where Bond was riding a motorbike while being chased by Fatima Blush in her red car, her dialogue “He’s mine!!!” Love that lunacy from Fatima and Connery in that motorbike was cool).
And not slow paced particularly the underwater scenes, the underwater scenes in NSNA is better.
It’s not really explored in any real depth, but I like how NSNA takes the existing Thunderball concept of unhealthy living and puts it in the context of an older Bond nearing retirement - who seemingly does so at the end of the film. I feel NSNA now has added relevance given it provides the happy counterpoint to how Bond’s career could come to a close.
Rather than turning this into a thing about my thing for Pamela Salem (obviously I am of indeterminate middle-age), I’ll second the Felix offering by Orion, and add that Algernon is a refreshing 7 minutes compared to the already showing curling around the edges Q appearance in TB. Some Thatcher era social commentary and a Vicks inhaler gag all within a couple of pages of dialogue? No mean feat, that…
and Connery in that motorbike was cool).