James Bond: Old vs. New

I'm a fan of James Bond. I've seen all the installments so far. My favourite period was Connery's run through to Moore's. I really found the franchise dropped considerbly after Moore left in 1985 (A View to a Kill being the final classic).

I have a friend who was debating me on this and said Brosnan was pretty good, as is Craig. I asked him if he'd ever watched Connery or Moore. He said no. The way I see it, if you're going to have an opinion on Bond, you must have seen AT LEAST 90% of Connery's films and 90% of Moore's to even have a fundamental opinion on the franchise.

There are many people who dismiss early Bonds as 'boring' yet they haven't even watched them in there entirity. These fake-buffs haven't got a clue from where I'm standing.

Who agrees?

And who thinks the old classics are better than Goldeneye/Quantum of Solace etc?

Hey TheBondLover,

There are literally pages of threads on James Bond films. Check out the search function and chime in on the existing topics.

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Ok I will. But I am really shocked (from conversations irl) at how so many people can claim Brosnan and Craig are in 'epic' Bond films yet they haven't even seen Dr. No or Goldfinger. Imo people like that don't really understand the franchise. I've been watching Bond since I was a kid and have probably seen each one a half dozen times or more also.

I think we'll let this topic slide, since it's a bit more specific than the usual "best Bond film" or "who was the best Bond?" threads we already have.

That said, I did change the thread title to reflect this sub-topic.

I feel like Daniel Craig has a chance to be a great Bond. I really liked Casino Royale, but would like to forget about the trash that was Quantum of Solace. Overall though, he is a really fresh take on the character. My favorite still remains Sean Connery. Also, little love here for Pierce Brosnan.

Just curious (addressed to both Fiscal and Yoda): how many Bond films have you watched? And more importantly from what era (the sixties? seventies? or just the nineties and beyond?)

Whenever I talk Bond, I like to know what people's backgrounds are. Bond has spanned for many years and has been played multiple times, so (and no offence) if I'm talking to someone who hasn't even seen Connery in the role, then I have a hard time taking them seriously. Not being nasty or anything, but I'm passionate about this topic and hope to talk to fellow Bond lovers like me who have seen either all of the titles or at least in the region of 85%+. If you've read the books please say so too.

Blanketly claiming anything with Connery or Moore is automatically better than the others is silly. But then again, you have told us that you think A View to a Kill is a "classic". A View to a Kill, Moonraker and Octopussy are right down there with the absolute worst of the Bond franchise. Embarrassingly horrid and lame. Diamonds Are Forever would be in that mix, too. I'd take both of the Dalton Bond flicks over any of those turds.

The Brosnan era started out fine with GoldenEye but went immediately and quickly downhill. His last couple, Die Another Day and The World is Not Enough, were so interchangeably dull yet noisy that I can scarcely tell them apart...except I know Halle Berry was in one of them. They are terrible, too, and rank down with the worst of Moore and Connery. As for the Danny Craig entries, while the action scenes were sometimes forced (why chase a man up a crane when he has to come down?), they certainly had the energy and style that the last three Brosnan's did not, and at their best they belong right up there with the best stuff in the 007 franchise. And for the record, one of the better Bonds stars not Connery, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan or Craig but George Lazenby.


But, you know, to each their own.

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Craig is far from being the best bond, let people claim this all they want.. But I will never believe it.. He has brought nothing new to the Bond franchise, except for his double shoulders.
but there's no doubt he's impressive to the newer generation of movie lovers, which is not exactly a bad thing.

Craig's Casino Royale is definitely one of the better films, but far from the best...

Best campy spy Bond movie - Goldfinger
Best Bond movie - From Russia With Love.

Best Bond - I have to go with Sean Connery.

Ok GenesisPig I'm guessing you've watched most/all of the Bonds, so for a start, I'm listening to what you have to say.

I agree that Craig is impressive to a new generation of movie goers but imo that's not saying much. Most movie goers are entertained by such trash these days (Kick Ass/Inception/Other special effects heavy-yet storytelling weak flicks) that they probably wouldn't be able to sit through genuine classics like Octopussy or Dr. No.

Best Bond for me would be a toss of the coin between Connery and Moore. Both completely different styles and approaches to the character. Brosnan tried (imo) to imitate both and failed miserably. He should have been himself more. He came across as a try hard.

Holden Pike, are you seriously saying that Brosnan and Craig come even close to Connery and Moore? Even Lazenby made more of an impression than Brosnan and Craig, and that's saying a lot.

I can't even watch any Bond made after 1995 without falling asleep midway through. They are terrible. Whilst Diamonds are Forever wasn't the best Bond, it beats Goldeneye/Die another Day etc every time.

Nevermind. It's FilmExpert. Had my suspicions, particularly the moment he started trying to turn which films people had or hadn't seen into some kind of barrier to entry, but I wanted to confirm, which I now have. It was particularly telling that he asked me to enumerate the Bond films I've watched, even though I hadn't made any attempt at all to participate in the discussion.

Anyway, feel free to enjoy the thread.

No way..
The reason why people like Daniel Craig's movies is because they were less campy & the serio-action thriller types... Craig has brought about a serious image to the previous lighter versions of Bond.

To me the perfect Bond would be, Connery's looks & Dalton's personality & acting.
Many hate Dalton as Bond, but he tried to be a bit more serious than the previous Bonds.
I personally don't care for Roger Moore, I have always disliked him as Bond.
But he was good as The Saint, but never accepted him as a Bond.

Pierce is the worst of all IMO... But I like GoldenEye & Tomorrow Never Dies. They were good spy action films...

I was really hoping they would pick Clive Owen as Bond.

LoL.. I had a feeling as well.
He was trying to be politely rude this time.. I remembered he had previously mentioned that he liked Roger Moore.

Anyway one of his least irritating attempts.

This is how I rank 'em, Walther-PPK to my head...



1. From Russia with Love
2. Goldfinger
3. Dr. No
4. The Spy Who Loved Me
5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
6. For Your Eyes Only
7. Casino Royale (2006)
8. The Man with the Golden Gun
9. Thunderball
10. You Only Live Twice
11. Live and Let Die
12. The Living Daylights
13. The Quantum of Solace
14. GoldenEye
15. Never Say Never Again
16. License to Kill
17. Tomorrow Never Dies
18. Diamond Are Forever
19. Die Another Day
20. A View to a Kill
21. The World is Not Enough
22. Moonraker
23. Octopussy

I'll chime in, as I have seen all the Bond flicks at least twice, and some of them many more times. I will start off by saying Moonraker is probably one of the worst flicks ever made. James Bond in space? Yeesh...

As far as quality, the entire franchise is just all over the place. Since I grew up in the 70s, I have a soft spot for Moore 9especially Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun), but overall, the films are sort of cold war relics, just like M said eventually about Bond himself...

Ah, it's Filmasspert?

What a dolt!

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Holden - Moonraker over Octopussy? Does the name earn the extra hate? Moonraker makes my eyes physically bleed... but then again Octopussy has a traveling circus in it...

Moonraker was indeed terrible..
The whole plot is laughable..

I dislike You Only Live Twice a bit, except for the ninjas.
The movie is just too silly, once again except for the ninjas.

Yeah, judging which of these piles of crap is more repellent is no easy task, and really, there's no wrong answer: they are BOTH terrible. I almost gave worst honors to Moonraker for trying so shamelessly and poorly to get in on the Star Wars craze, as if they were Roger Corman all of the sudden, but I gave the slight edge to Octopussy for, if nothing else, that all-time groaner of a name. I remember a gag HBO's "Not Necessarily the News" did around then with a movie marque double bill of Octopussy and "Eight is Enough".

Horrible, horrible movies.

Film Expert was here and I missed him! He was just getting warmed up when he was banned again. He was a little milder this time. First time I encountered him was on another site and he said Roger Moore was the very best Bond and should still be playing him today. It shows how he just says things to yank people's chain because he didn't like Connery at the previous site.

I really do think From Russia with Love is the best Bond.

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Glad to know so many of us agree that FRWL is the best of all..

I think The Man With The Golden should be remade, as much as I love the original one. I'd love to see a modern take on it.