Flashback Friday: James Bond, 007

Today, the latest Bond adventure is released, so to get hyped up on Bond-mania once again, I will reveal my favourites from the most successful film franchise series ever. Nobody is cooler than Bond. Okay...maybe JFK, the Rat Pack, and Obama...but I think Bond is the ultimate in coolness that probably every guy at some point in his adolescence wished that he could be.

Sean Connery has always been my favourite of the Bonds. He played it with a sardonic coolness that set the standard. Though I grew up seeing the later Moore films in theaters, he always seemed a bit too jokey for me, playing for the cheap laughs. Timothy Dalton brought Shakespearean seriousness back to the role, but it was a case of being a little bit too serious. He was alright, though. George Lazenby only played Bond once in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and it was a pretty good job.

In the late 1980s, when there was talk about Remington Steele actor Pierce Brosnan taking over the role, I thought it was a good idea at the time. However, his films aren't as good as the Moore films. Two of the them, I didn't like very much and he didn't really make me forget Sean Connery's Bond. At least Moore brought his own unique style to Bond. When Brosnan decided not to resume the role for a fifth film, the search was on for a new Bond and my choice was Clive Owen, who was rumoured to be considered but supposedly didn't want to commit to the franchise. Daniel Craig was a shocking pick, but unlike some Bond fanboys, I didn't go ape shit about it. I decided to wait and see, and thus wasn't surprised that he nailed the part. He is the best since Connery. Without a doubt. He brings an intensity to the role no one has and if he continues making great Bond films, he might become the Bond everyone thinks of first.

I was fortunate to have parents who are fans of the James Bond series. Both my mom and dad loved Bond films before they even met. This meant that for as young as I can remember, the latest Bond film was a definite family trip to the theater. The first one I remember seeing in a theater is The Man With the Golden Gun in 1975 and I never missed any since then when it plays on the big screen. Below is a short take on all of them.

Dr. No -- Not my favourite. The only image that comes to mind is Ursula Andress emerging from the water in her bikini, which was copied in Die Another Day by Halle Berry and Casino Royale by Daniel Craig.

From Russia With Love -- Don't remember much about this one, other than knife-tipped shoes and an awesome train scene.

Goldfinger -- The Classic Bond. The one that set the standard for others to follow. Cool car (check); Bond babe with a provocative name (check); crazy villain (check); gadgets galore (check); unique sidekicks (check); exotic locales (check); over-the-top climatic scene (check); and quotable lines (check). Unforgettable and timeless.

Thunderball -- More like Thunderbleah! My least favourite. All I seem to remember are sharks.

You Only Live Twice -- Bond goes to Japan! I think this was the film that got my dad interested in Asian women. The plot is classic Bond and remade in two later Bond films. The title song is quintessential Bond that was sampled in a Robbie Williams song in the late 1990s in his bid to be considered for a future Bond.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service -- Bond gets married! Lots of action on the ski slopes. The first in the series to feature a different actor in the starring role.

Diamonds Are Forever -- Connery is back in a dud. This one is horribly bad and cheesy. Even today, Mr. Went (sp?) and Mr. Kidd still give me the creeps.

Live and Let Die -- Roger Moore assumes the role as Bond does a blaxploitation flick featuring a voodoo cult in New Orleans and the Caribbean. Very dated now, but I'd love to see an update where Bond infiltrates another cult...like, say, Scientology?

The Man With the Golden Gun -- Bond goes to Thailand, a car turns into an airplane, and the henchman is Nick Knack, best known as the shrimpy guy from Fantasy Island who announces "the plane! the plane!" I remember mocking him as a kid with that line. The funhouse scene with the mirrors scared me at the time I first saw this.

The Spy Who Loved Me -- The Lotus Esprit that turns into a submarine! And Jaws makes his debut, the best loved henchman in the series.

Moonraker -- Even as a child, I thought this movie was lame. It was pretty good until they went into space, which killed the movie with ultimate cheesiness. There's no mistaking the Star Wars influence in this one. The title song sucks. My sister and I just laugh if we even hear someone say, "where are you?" Jaws falls in love in this one and turns good. Kind of cheesy, but you gotta love it! He's a monster giant with a heart after all.

For Your Eyes Only -- They went back to the basics with this one. It set a more realistic tone and remains one of my favourites. I loved the setting in the isles of Greece and the Olympic training in Cortina, and most especially the hideaway on an island with rocky cliffs. Simply a class act in the series. And Sheena Easton's theme song is awesome.

Octopussy -- Horrible title but a decent follow-up. I especially liked that it was set on a U.S. military base in Germany, as my family was stationed in Germany two years after this film came out. The scenes in India were pretty good as well.

A View to a Kill -- I was especially excited to see this film in the summer of 1985. Not only was I crazy about the theme song by Duran Duran, I liked that it was set in Paris with an exciting scene on the Eiffel Tower. The scenes in San Francisco were also pretty good, with a breath taking climax atop the Golden Gate bridge. Grace Jones, however, still scares me. I never understood why she was popular in the 1980s. There's nothing graceful about her.

The Living Daylights -- My favourite Bond film of all time! I loved the locales (Gibraltar, Vienna, Bratislava, Tangier, and Afghanistan), the updated Aston Martin with special features, and of course, Kara Milovy, the most gorgeous and classy woman to ever grace the series. This film probably had the biggest impact on me in terms of places I wanted to see. In 1993, I did get to see Gibraltar and Tangier for myself, as well as Prague (though not Bratislava). I sometimes wonder if my desire to go to Afghanistan stems from this film having left an impact on my impressionable teenage mind back in 1987. I remember thinking back then that I loved the clothing style that the mujahadeen wear...including the hat. That's so my style! The way they portrayed the conflict in Afghanistan made me believe the cause was just and to this day, I support what we're doing in Afghanistan and don't believe we should leave anytime soon. My teenage self wanted to be Bond in this film.

Licence to Kill -- Bond is back with two competing babes. I preferred the Puerto Rican, Lupe over his assistant, Ms. Kennedy. The story was ripped from the headlines, as the villain was a total knock-off on Manuel Noriega, with the fictional Isthmus City a stand-in for Panama City. This film came out in the summer of 1989, and by fall, President Bush the elder had launched "Operation Just Cause" to snatch Noreiga from Panama. It wasn't the first or last time a Bond film seemed to predict a course of action.

Goldeneye -- After a hiatus of six years due to a lengthy legal battle, Bond finally returned with Pierce Brosnan and the most over the top villain ever (Xenia Onatopp, played by supermodel Famke Janssen, whose preferred mode of killing is with her thighs). It was the highest grossing Bond film up to that time and I didn't understand why. It was kind of ho-hum for me. Even the theme song was dull, which is surprising as it was written by Bono and the Edge and sung by Tina Turner. They could've come up with a catchier tune, right?

Tomorrow Never Dies -- I saw this one in Hawaii with Nathan. When we went to the theater, I was shocked to see a huge line that I didn't think we'd make it in to see it. It's funny to reflect on now, but that monstrous line was for Titanic, not a James Bond movie. I loved Michelle Yeoh as Chinese agent Wai Lin. The plot was an update of You Only Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me, featuring a bad guy manipulating events to get two superpowers to wage a war with each other over stolen nuclear weapons. Even though the plot was a remake, the film is original enough to feel fresh. The locales didn't hurt either (Saigon). But mostly, Michelle Yeoh made this film a lot better than it might have been otherwise.

The World is Not Enough -- I saw this one on break from my studies at BYU with Yudelka Castro, a lady I was dating at the time. She loved Bond films too, so it was great to see this with her. The plot was straight out of a Political Science class lecture I had two years earlier. I remember Professor Valerie Hudson of Intro to International Politics spend an hour discussing the problems of oil in the Caspian Sea area and all the conflicts in the region and that if anyone had a writing talent, they could probably make an excellent thriller about how to go about extracting the oil from this volatile region for our use. That's the plot of this Bond film, which again was timely. However, what I remember most about this film was the groaner of the last punch line. Even Yudelka thought it was lame. The whole audience groaned when Bond delivered the line (if I remember it right): "this is the first time Christmas will come more than once a year." You have to see it to understand the context. It's a cheesy line that made me wonder if the script was written by a teenage boy.

Die Another Day -- An attempt to reboot the series by featuring a popular actress as a Bond girl rather than an unknown as is usually the tradition; a visual tribute to previous Bond films; an update on the Aston Martin (this time, the ability to appear invisible); and a telling line that M delivers to Bond that the world had changed without him. Madonna was even given the title song, which was the best Bond theme song since the late 1980s. It was pretty good and featured a timely plot about North Korea. However, despite the hype of Halle Berry...it still featured cheesy lines, which Ms. Berry delivers with relish. Not a bad film, but after this...Bond definitely needed a reboot.

Casino Royale -- A stylistic return to the classic Bond. This one features Bond in his first assignment, before attaining "00" status. The opening action sequence is also done differently from previous ones. We also learn more about Bond's past and how he got to be who he is and why he seems so emotionally detached from the women he beds through the series. Daniel Craig definitely proved the naysayers wrong...so fanboys need to chill out and wait until the final product before they judge casting decisions.

It's hard to watch the scenes at Lake Como, however, without thinking of Naboo and Senator Amidala's forbidden romance with a certain young Jedi. That's one locale I definitely hope to see one day. Gorgeous!

This film restored my faith in the Bond series. Gone are the cheesy sexual puns and the over the top gadgets. This is Bond at it's best. Classic all the way. I hope Quantum of Solace will continue in this vein.

a-ha sings one of my favourite Bond theme songs, but they're better known for the hit single and video "Take on Me."

Without a doubt, the best James Bond theme song of all time! Nobody does it better than Duran Duran. The video is kind of cheesy, but hey...this was back in the middle of the 1980s when everything was cheesy. I haven't grown tired of the song in all these years. It's just a classic, what can I say?

This scene of the Lotus Esprit coming out of the water in The Spy Who Loved Me was filmed on a beach in Palau, Sardinia. I learned this when I lived there in the early 1990s. In fact, I went to that beach with a young female sailor I was interested in. The ship also had a 4th of July picnic on this beach in 1994.

It's amazing to me that in my young life, I managed to see a lot of the locations featured in quite a few Bond films. I'm not rich or debonair as Bond, yet as I watch Bond films, I'm struck with a certain kind of "deja vu" that I have been there too. I think that's cool. Shows that you don't have to be Bond or rich to "experience" exotic locales like he does.

The best villain and sidekick of the series...Auric Goldfinger and Odd Job.

Now, it's time for my Top Five list of Bond Babes:

5.

Talisa Soto -- Licence to Kill

4.

Sophie Marceau -- The World is Not Enough

3.

Halle Berry -- Die Another Day

2.

Michelle Yeoh -- Tomorrow Never Dies

1.

Maryam d'Abo -- The Living Daylights

She represents all that I desire...internationally mixed (English, Dutch, and possibly other nationalities), classy, intelligent, stylish, fun, tough yet still feminine, and I especially love women with that kind of hairstyle. I've seen her in a couple other movies (horribly bad) and she doesn't capture the same magic as her role as Kara Milovy. It was considered a big deal in 1987 that Bond was monogamous in the new film, but he's smart. Who better to give up all the Bond babes for than one as gorgeous as Kara Milovy?