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Top Bond Films & Other British Spy Movies (with links to full reviews)Dec 13 '05 (Updated Nov 24 '06) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Use this list as a guide to the best Bond films and other British spy films. Recently, I reviewed all twenty-four James Bond films, including twenty-one in the "official" series, two non-series films for the big screen, and one television program. To facilitate comparisons between the various Bond films, I introduced my Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating system that evaluated twelve characteristics of each film on a 1-5 point basis for each characteristic. The maximum overall score that a film could achieve was 60 points (5 pts. times 12 items). Half of the 12 items were cast related and five were invariable: Bond, Villain, Henchmen, Bond Girl, and Colleagues. The sixth cast item varied depending on what other characters the film provided, but was usually either Henchwoman or Secondary Bond Girls. The 6 non-cast items included Storyline, Action, Toys, Character Development, Music, and Locales. You can find the detailed Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating for each film by clicking on the links provided below for any film's full review. This list provides a compilation of the films from highest to lowest Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating ******************************************************************* 1. Goldfinger (1964) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 53/60 Star Rating * * * * * Director: Guy Hamilton Bond: Sean Connery, at his peak Primary Bond Girl: Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) Villain: Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) Primary Henchman: Oddjob (Harold Sakata) Strengths: Connery at his best, top-notch villain and chief henchman, great theme song, good plot, intriguing toys and action Weaknesses: Scenes using rear projection, mediocre Bond girls Storyline: Knocking over Fort Knox 2. From Russia with Love (1963) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 52/60 Star Rating * * * * * Director: Terence Young Bond: Sean Connery, at his peak Primary Bond Girl: Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) Villain: Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) Primary Henchman: Donald "Red" Grant (Robert Shaw) Strengths: Connery in excellent form; stellar performances by Lenya, Armendáriz, and Shaw, intrigue, action, soundtrack, and locales Weaknesses: Bland Bond girl Storyline: Stealing Lektor from Russian consul in Istanbul with help of Russian cipher clerk 3. For Your Eyes Only (1981) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 52/60 Star Rating * * * * * Director: John Glen Bond: Roger Moore at his best Primary Bond Girl: Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) Villain: Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) Primary Henchman: Emile Leopold Locque (Michael Gothard) Strengths: Strong script, well developed characters, Carole Bouquet among best Bond girls ever, Topol as Columbo, strong outing for Roger Moore, good title song, plenty of atmosphere Weaknesses: Villain and henchmen not especially memorable, absence of John Barry score Storyline: Recovering a missing ATAC missile control system from sunken spy ship 4. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 52/60 Star Rating * * * * * Director: Lewis Gilbert Bond: Roger Moore at his best Primary Bond Girl: Maj. Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) Villain: Karl Stromberg (Curd Jürgens) Primary Henchman: Jaws (Richard Kiel) Strengths: Memorable henchman (Jaws), one of the best Bond girls (Barbara Bach), cool underwater lair, great gadget (white Lotus Esprit), strong soundtrack, Roger Moore at his peak Weaknesses: Partly recycled plot Storyline: Villain hopes to trigger Armageddon from underwater fortress 5. Licence to Kill (1989) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 51/60 Star Rating * * * * * Director: John Glen Bond: Timothy Dalton, at his most brutal Primary Bond Girl: Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) Villain: Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) Primary Henchman: Dario (Benico Del Toro) Strengths: Rugged, furious Dalton as Bond, three-dimensional Bond girls and villain, great action, strong contemporary story Weaknesses: Mediocre score, so-so gadgets and locales Storyline: Central American drug lord maims Felix Leiter; Bond wants revenge 6. The World Is Not Enough (1999) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 50/60 Star Rating * * * * * Director: Michael Apted Bond: Pierce Brosnan, with feeling Primary Bond Girl: Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) Villain: Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) Primary Henchman: Renard (Robert Carlyle) Strengths: Strong, credible story, three-dimensional characters, Brosnan with personal involvement in story, two excellent Bond women Weaknesses: Robert Carlyle underutilized, mediocre henchmen, saying goodbye to Desmond Llewelyn as Q Storyline: Destruction of oil pipeline with stolen weapons grade plutonium 7. Thunderball (1965) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 49/60 Star Rating * * * * Director: Terence Young Bond: Sean Connery, at his peak Primary Bond Girl: Dominique "Domino" Derval (Claudine Auger) Villain: Emilio Largo (Claudine Auger) Primary Henchwoman: Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) Strengths: Connery at his peak, superb underwater sequences, great locales and soundtrack, riveting action, numerous cool gadgets Weaknesses: Mediocre villain, weak henchmen, weak performance (though great looks) from Miss France, Claudine Auger Storyline: Stealing nuclear warheads for ransom 8. The Living Daylights (1987) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 49/60 Star Rating * * * * Director: John Glen Bond: Timothy Dalton, lean and dangerous Primary Bond Girl: Kara Milovy (Maryam d'Abo) Villain: Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker) Primary Henchman: General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) Strengths: Dalton as Bond, three-dimensional Bond girl, romantic chemistry, great action, strong contemporary story with twists Weaknesses: Lacks a compelling villain Storyline: Defecting Russian general, illegal arms peddling, diamonds for opium 9. Casino Royale (2006) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 46/60 Star Rating * * * * Director: Martin Campbell Bond: Daniel Craig, buff and robust Primary Bond Girl: Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) Villain: Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) Primary Henchman: Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian) Strengths: A dark, dangerous Bond, humanized and mistake prone; strong script; strong performances by Craig and three other lead characters Weaknesses: Some weaknesses in secondary characters and performances after the top four; mediocre musical score Storyline: Besting Le Chiffre at Texas Hold-'Em at Casino Royale 10. You Only Live Twice (1967) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 45/60 Star Rating * * * * Director: Lewis Gilbert Bond: Sean Connery, gliding a bit Primary Bond Girl: Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi) Villain: Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Donald Pleasence) Primary Henchman: Mr. Osato (Teru Shimade) Strengths: Highly atmospheric with plenty of Japanese cultural elements, outstanding make-up for Pleasence, well-developed colleague (Tanaka), beautiful primary Bond girl (Akiko Wakabayashi), cool Ninja action, imaginative volcanic lair, great score Weaknesses: Weak henchmen and henchwomen, somewhat passive Bond Storyline: Stealing satellites to trigger superpower conflict, using volcanic fortress ***************************************************** The Rest of the Bond Films: (11-24): 11. GoldenEye (1995) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 42/60 Star Rating * * * * Director: Martin Campbell Bond: Pierce Brosnan, with feeling Primary Bond Girl: Natalya Fyodorovna Semyonova (Izabella Scorupsco) Villain: Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) Primary Henchwoman: Xenia Onatopp (Famke Jannssen) Strengths: Somewhat humanized Bond, Dench as M, some good action scenes, more than typical thematic depth, drama and humor Weaknesses: Some cartoonish action, weak score, perverse linking of sex and violence, few cool gadgets Storyline: Former double-0 and betrayed Cossack and now leader of St. Petersburg branch of Russian mafia steals powerful space weapon from Soviets 12. Diamonds Are Forever (1971) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 42/60 Star Rating * * * * Director: Guy Hamilton Bond: Sean Connery, a bit past prime, but engaged Primary Bond Girl: Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) Villain: Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray) Primary Henchmen: Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith) and Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover) Strengths: Connery back as Bond and feeling enthused, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, Bond girl with personality, memorable set pieces, wit Weaknesses: Somewhat fragmented storyline, so-so action, unimpressive gadgets Storyline: Bond seeks revenge for Tracy's death, then turns attention to a diamond smuggling operation that leads to the Las Vegas penthouse of the reclusive billionaire, Willard Whyte 13. Live and Let Die (1973) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 42/60 Star Rating * * * * Director: Guy Hamilton Bond: Roger Moore, youthful but feeling his way Primary Bond Girl: Solitaire (Jane Seymour) Villain: Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) Primary Henchman: Tee Hee (Julius Harris) Strengths: Atmospheric, two strong action segments, youthful Roger Moore, excellent black character actors, Paul McCartney's title song Weaknesses: Fragmented story, below average Bond girls, Moore still finding his way in the role, two dimensional characters Storyline: Heroin smuggling operation with links to Caribbean voodoo, Harlem, and New Orleans 14. A View to a Kill (1985) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 42/60 Star Rating * * * * Director: John Glen Bond: Roger Moore, ancient Primary Bond Girl: Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts) Villain: Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) Primary Henchman: Dr. Carl Mortner (Willoughby Gray) Strengths: Christopher Walken's scenery-chewing performance, Grace Jones as May Day, perfection of comic book-style action Weaknesses: Over-the-hill Roger Moore and Lois Maxwell, lack of class and style, dirty-old-man sexual innuendos Storyline: Former Nazi steroid kid grown up wants to corner the market on microchips by destroying Silicon Valley in an earthquake 15. Dr. No (1962) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 41/60 Star Rating * * * * Director: Terence Young Bond: Sean Connery, acquiring the mystique Primary Bond Girl: Honey Rider (Ursula Andress) Villain: Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) Primary Henchman: Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) Strengths: Connery establishes Bond persona, Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder, classic villain in Dr. No, calypso music and title song Weaknesses: Bond formula not fully established (no pre-credit action sequence, no intimidating henchman, no toys) Storyline: Toppling scheme (electronic interference) to disrupt American missile program 16. Casino Royale (1967), non-series Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: N/A Star Rating * * * * Directors: Val Guest, Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, and Robert Parrish Bond: David Niven comes out of retirement Primary Bond Girl: Mata Bond (Joanna Pettet) Villain: Jimmy Bond Jr. (Woody Allen) Primary Henchman: Le Chiffre (Orson Welles) Strengths: Wacky, psychedelic, chaotic, wry parody of Bond films; parade of stars; Burt Bacharach score; Peter Sellers as Evelyn Tremble Weaknesses: Viewer has to have patience for wacky absurdity Storyline: Sexually insecure Jimmy Bond plans to release toxin to make all women beautiful and kill off all men taller than 4'6". 17. Moonraker (1979) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 41/60 Star Rating * * * Director: Lewis Gilbert Bond: Roger Moore at his best Primary Bond Girl: Dr. Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) Villain: Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) Primary Henchman: Jaws (Richard Kiel) Strengths: Elaborate action sequences and special effects, Jaws, Roger Moore in peak form Weaknesses: Drama and character development subordinated to special effects and slapstick humor, mediocre villain and Bond girl Storyline: Madman wants to kill off world population with toxin from rare orchids and replace them with perfect human specimens preserved in orbiting space city 18. Octopussy (1983) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 40/60 Star Rating * * * Director: John Glen Bond: aged Roger Moore Primary Bond Girl: Octopussy (Maud Adams) Villains: Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan) and Gen. Orlov (Steven Berkoff) Primary Henchman: Gobinda (Kabir Bedi) Strengths: Impressive Indian ambiance, tense story, some scary henchmen, Jourdan as Kamal Khan, climactic scene at circus Weaknesses: Slapstick style mismatched to narrative, mediocre Bond girls, villains, and main henchman Storyline: Hawkish Soviet Gen. Orlov wants to trigger European war by setting off a nuclear bomb in West Berlin and is using stolen Kremlin Art Depository treasures to fund his scheme. 19. Never Say Never Again (1983), non-series Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 40/60 Star Rating * * * Director: Irvin Kershner Bond: Sean Connery, over-the-hill Primary Bond Girl: Domino Petachi (Kim Basinger) Villain: Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) Primary Henchwoman: Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera) Strengths: Brandauer as Largo, Carrera as Fatima Blush, scrumptious Kim Basinger, some character development and exploration of aging-Bond theme Weaknesses: Tired looking Sean Connery, imposters in recurrent roles, weak score Storyline: Stealing nuclear warheads for ransom (remake of Thunderball) 20. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 38/60 Star Rating * * * Director: Guy Hamilton Bond: Roger Moore, growing into role Primary Bond Girls: Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) and Andrea Anders (Maud Adams) Villain: Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) Primary Henchman: Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize) Strengths: Christopher Lee's classy villain performance, several lovely lasses, exotic locales, Villechaize as Nick Nack Weaknesses: Weak story with little spy quality, excess of silliness, weak gadgets, hammed-up action scenes Storyline: Solex agitator stolen by assassin intent on man to man showdown with Bond 21. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 37/60 Star Rating * * Director: Peter Hunt Bond: woeful George Lazenby Primary Bond Girl: Contessa Teresa "Tracy" Di Vicenzo (Diana Riggs) Villain: Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) Primary Henchwoman: Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat) Strengths: Best Bond girl ever, personal side of Bond, Feraetti as Draco, romantic story Weaknesses: The worst Bond actor ever, the worst villain ever; ridiculous mind control plot Storyline: Bond finds his true love while pursuing Blofeld, who is engaged in a biological warfare extortion plot 22. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 34/60 Star Rating * * * Director: Roger Spottiswoode Bond: Pierce Brosnan, mechanized Primary Bond Girl: Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) Villain: Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) Primary Henchman: Stamper (Götz Otto) Strengths: Excellent pre-credit sequence, strong action performance by Michelle Yeoh, good performances by Jonathan Pryce and Vincent Schiavelli Weaknesses: Inane comic book style action, weak henchmen, too little chemistry with Bond girl, one-dimensional Bond Storyline: Megalomaniac media mogul wants to trigger nuclear war for ratings and to gain access to Chinese media market 23. Die Another Day (2002) Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 30/60 Star Rating * * Director: Lee Tamahori Bond: Pierce Brosnan, mechanized Primary Bond Girl: Jinx (Halle Berry) Villain: Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) Primary Henchwoman: Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) Strengths: Rosamunde Pike and Halle Berry, torture subplot Weaknesses: Comic book quality action, awful computer graphics, no chemistry between Bond and women, fantasy element Storyline: Korean fanatic seeks space weapon as ace-in-the-hole for reunification push. Bond, caught, tortured, and abandoned in Korea during mission has to prove himself still useful. 24. Casino Royale (1954), non-series, television Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 27/60 Star Rating * * Director: William H. Brown Bond: Barry Nelson, too American and unsure Primary Bond Girl: Valerie Mathis (Linda Christian) Villain: Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre) Primary Henchman: Basil (Gene Roth) Strengths: Peter Lorre, first Bond and first Bond film ever Weaknesses: Weak production values, American Bond (sacrilege); English Leiter, uninteresting henchmen Storyline: Bond beating embezzling Soviet agent at Baccarat ***************************************************** Bonus: The Best Non-Bond British Spy-related Films: (Alphabetically): The Ipcress File (1965) The Lady Vanishes (1938) The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) The 39 Steps (1935) *************************************************************** You might enjoy my other lists relating to British films: All One-hundred and Six BAFTA Award-Winning Films London Critics' Circle Awards for Best Foreign Film British Films Selected by the London Critics' Circle as Best Film or Best British Film The British Film Institute's Top-100 British Films All-Time Top-Ten English-Language ~Horror~ Films from Outside the USA Top Ten British Comedies Top Ten British War Films Top Ten British Thrillers Top-Ten British Costume Dramas  |
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