A lot can happen while watching James Bond movies. This weekend, as I was rewatching "The Man with the Golden Gun", a thought had occurred to me. Aside from the fact that that line was a favorite of that film, I also thought about how that film was alike with some elements present in "Dr. No", the series' first offering.
Although Bond films would follow a formulaic template, there's still distinctive elements for each one. However, with the films in this list, some clear similarities are present.
Due to their lengthy tenures as James Bond, Sir Sean Connery and Sir Roger Moore are both regarded as the best ones to play the role, the classic Bonds. Also due to that lengthy tenure, Bond actors who came before and after them are often lost in the mix (George Lazenby, and Timothy Dalton).
Both Connery and Moore have seven Bond films and here are how each of their films seemed to fit one another.
1. You Only Live Twice (1967) and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Starting off with the most obvious ones, these films were both directed by Lewis Gilbert and both featured Bond in a naval uniform. And with what they say about the Bond films of Gilbert, YOLT and Spy shared a seemingly similar premise, to instigate a war on two different countries after sabotaging space and naval operations of each countries. Blofeld was the main villain on the former, while Stromberg was on the latter.
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| Sean Connery as James Bond in M's office in "You Only Live Twice" from bondsuits.com |
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| Roger Moore as James Bond from a promotional photo of "The Spy Who Loved Me" from bamfstyle.com |
Both films featured Bond pairing up with a different secret service agency other than the MI-6. Additionally, these were two of the films that featured a "Team Good" versus "Team Evil" battle by the end of the film, complete with contrasting costumes.
2. From Russia With Love (1963) and For Your Eyes Only (1981)
It is not often that Bond films would have a McGuffin like what Ethan Hunt films tent to do, but when Bond films do, it is done quite beautifully.
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| Bond with the Lektor decoder in the final confrontation scene of "From Russia With Love" from screenrant.com |
From Russia With Love's "lektor" gets an update with For Your Eyes Only's "ATAC". Both items have no severe impact onto any of each film's characters, aside from helping our heroes and villains from one place into another.
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| ATAC Device in For Your Eyes Only from universalexports.net |
3. Goldfinger (1964) and A View to A Kill (1985)
Sir Sean Connery's most iconic outing, Goldfinger, gets to be paired with Sir Roger Moore's swan song due to the fact that these film's villains share almost identical villain goals.
Auric Goldfinger wants to have the monopoly of the gold deposit after securing Fort Knox's gold supply, while Max Zorin plans to supply Silicon Valley with a man-made earthquake to monopolize the deposit of microchips. With these films, the saying that "the old Bond films were just as good as their villains," can be actually taken to be a fact. Most of the memorable scenes often feature Goldfinger and Zorin.
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| Goldfinger's exposition scene for the Operation: Goldfinger in the film from reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com |
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| May Day and Zorin aboard the blimp in "A View to a Kill" for Project: Mainstrike from bondsuits.com "Does anybody else want to drop out?" |
Do yourself a favor and watch out for the interrogation/laser scene in Goldfinger and the city hall and the mining shoot out in A View To A Kill.
Additionally, both these films have the creepiest henchman/woman in Odd Job and May Day.
4. Thunderball (1965) and Moonraker (1979)
The next films on this list may be good ones for some Bond fans, and these are also the bigger Bond films, big in production, a spectacle in the visuals, and higher level of stunts were made for this film to be Bond-level.
However, I find these films to be unwatchable and a legit snooze fest. Perhaps I just don't like watching the same plot for a third time (Moonraker is just You Only Live Twice, and The Spy Who Loved Me in space).
Thunderball had some good scenes though, especially the Spectre meeting, and they were great with Bond's one-liners and witty quips.
Another similarity that these films have? The local parade in the night where terror would commence.
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| The Junkanoo parade in "Thunderball" from huntingbond.com |
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| Bond at the Carnival in Rio (Moonraker) from pinterest.com |
5. Dr. No (1962) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Dr. No, the villain, was great as the first one to match against 007. After his death, extreme and heavily obsessive and excessive villains would face Bond in the likes of Red Grant, Goldfinger Largo, Blofeld, and even Dr. Kananga. It was only by the time of "The Man with the Golden Gun" where Bond would face a villain that was almost his equal, Francisco Scaramanga.
Additionally, by the film's end, at the Hotel Crab Key and Hotel Scaramanga, Bond girls Honey Ryder and Mary Goodnight would be taken by the villain, awaiting Bond's rescue.
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| Bond and Honey Ryder having their escape in the end of "Dr. No" from chrism227.wordpress.com |
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| Bond and Goodnight having their escape in "The Man with the Golden Gun" from 007.com |
Maybe a time at the beach after some explosions? Only to be followed by more explosions off of course, of course.
6. Diamonds are Forever (1971) and Octopussy (1983)
In Diamonds are Forever, Bond would have to overcome various Blofeld clones in the process of saving the world, this time from the hands of Spectre, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, and Bambi and Thumper.
While in Octopussy, Bond would face Kamal Kahn and General Orlov in the middle of the Fabergé Egg as this film's McGuffin.
Aside from the use of a circus setting, both films also displayed Bond's ability to disguise himself as another man, or even another living thing like an animal, or a non-living thing such as a mummy as he did in Octopussy.
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| Peter Franks (left) and Bond (right) in "Diamonds are Forever" from express.co.uk |
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| Bond (left) and Col. Toro (right) in "Octopussy" from 007museum.com "Toro? Sounds like a load of bull." "Small world, you're a Toro, too." |
Bond disguised himself as Peter Franks in Diamonds are Forever, complete with Franks' fingerprints (through Q), while in Octopussy, Bond disguised himself as Col. Toro in the pre-title sequence, among many other disguises he had in that film (which in itself is a topic for a different blog).
Another side note, these films had some of the best one-liners from both Bond actors.
7. Never Say Never Again (1983) and Live and Let Die
Sir Sean Connery's final Bond outing is paired with Sir Roger Moore's first one. Although these are both good ones, with great Bond films, Felix Leiter's and stunts/action, these were quite hard to watch.
There's a certain part of these films which seemed to make them a bit dated, even as if these were made before You Only Live Twice.
Additionally, both films had two memorable but very lengthy chase scenes. The boat chase in Live and Let Die and the motorcycle chase scene in Never Say Never Again which was also quite hard to watch due to the cheap way of disguising a stunt double for Sir Sean, put a helmet on. A full-faced one!
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| Bond in the motorcycle chase scene in "Never Say Never Again" from bmt216a.dk |
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| Bond in the boat chase scene in "Live and Let Die" from 007museum.com |
#TheList ends here, and I'd love to know about your thoughts about these!
Keep 'em comments coming!
#JamesBond #007 #NoTimeToDie #SeanConnery #RogerMoore #PierceBrosnan #DanielCraig #TimothyDalton #GeorgeLazenby
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