Despite its fragmented/choppy editing (and maybe the overdone shuffling shoe noises), the final countdown scene in Goldfinger (1964) is great. The anxiety buildup as the clock winds down is palpable, and every time I watch I’m invested in Connery’s fate.
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I love the way that Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) bets “300 grand” in Casino Royale (2006).
Sure, splashing the pot is poor poker etiquette, but who can blame our brother from Langley? The way the chips gracefully exit his hand and spin perfectly to the pot…man, he looks cool!
Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) bets 300 grand in Casino Royale (2006)
This BAM! moment from Diamonds Are Forever (1971) always reminded me of the old onomatopoeia words from fights in the live-action Batman television show from the 1960s.
It doesn’t involve a fight with Sean Connery’s Bond, but only serves to convey Bond’s quick departure from his phone call with Q when Bond realizes he has to cover his tracks with a newly escaped Peter Franks. While Bond congratulates Q on his successful fingerprint scam gadget, it’s kind of neat to check out what’s going on in the background at Q Branch. It looks like one of the few instances where we see a Q Branch Bond car – in this case some sort of an Aston Martin – getting serviced (they’re installing its stinger missiles).
And it’s funny because in the next scene, Bond *does* fistfight Peter Franks ithat could get away with using some BAMs! POWs! or THWACKs! Oh well…
Every six months or so, as I re-watch and analyze all of the James Bond movies for fun, I always find myself temporarily forgetting, and then remembering, the awesomeness of Dr. No (1962). Yes, it’s the first James Bond movie, and yes, Sean Connery’s Bond sets the stage for the remaining movies, and there is definitely a reputation it has since it’s the first James Bond movie. But more often than not, I’d say Dr. No is underrated in fans’ top Bond movies lists, and the above Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) interrogation scene is one of the many reasons why I’d argue as such.
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This is easily some of the worst 44 seconds of any James Bond movie ever.
As anyone who knows my opinion of No Time To Die (2021), it obviously revolves around the awful Mathilde/daughter plot line from the movie. In this cringe-worthy, throwaway, awful scene, we see an attempt at portraying a domesticated secret agent James Bond, 007 interact with a toddler (his daughter…ugh!) during a morning routine where a false sense of security is palpable.
I hate everything about it:
- Mathilde
- Her stupid bunny doll, dou-dou
- The stupid kid’s tv show shown on the TV (no one cares!)
- The way Bond peels the apple
- The fact that Bond uses a switchblade to peel the apple
- Bond’s “cutesie” look at Mathilde
- Why are none of the subtitles punctuated? (maybe it’s just this version?)
- Madeleine’s “now, dear!” look
- Did I mention Mathilde???
Just total cringe. Friends don’t let friends put kids in a James Bond movie. *puke*
James Bond’s daughter, Mathilde (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet), from No Time To Die (2021)…ugh.
I like the way Agent XXX/Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) was introduced in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Instead of showing the agent on a mission, in the thick of it, they use the bait-and-switch strategy to make the audience think that the USSR’s “best agent,” according to General Gogol (Walter Gotell), is not much different from James Bond: a man on a mission, bedding a beauty and ready to answer their country’s call.
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Bond (Roger Moore) and Tibbett (Patrick Macnee) have a great rapport in A View To A Kill (1985), and it peaks in this scene. Just after arriving in their room at Zorin’s compound and setting up their recorded dialogue as cover for eavesdropping ears, the two make their way to the balcony where they focus on their mission of investigating Zorin more deeply. They playfully comment on the hilarious, charade relationship they’ve exhibited since they arrived, but then get down to business.
Bond trusts Tibbett’s play-by-play of the parties welcoming and arriving on the helicopter, and when an absolutely stunning Stacy Sutton (Tanya Roberts) arrives, focus quickly turns to her. Side note: the jazzy/mysterious 80’s music of this scene is great, and it’s some of my favorite from the movie. This is also by far the best look for Sutton in the movie, and she seems a bit star-struck herself when she meets Zorin (Christopher Walken) on the launchpad.
Bond cracks a joke to Tibbett that Sutton needs “closer inspection” after they silently acknowledge her good looks, and a more serious Tibbett can’t believe Bond would suggest such a thing: “We’re on a mission!” – to which Bond quips that any interaction between the two would be his own “sacrifice” for the mission – a win-win for Bond and her majesty’s secret service, no? I think their characters’ dynamic (although short-lived) is some of the best Moore’s Bond has with any other during his tenure as 007.
This exchange from Spectre (2015) elicited a loud laugh from the movie theater audience at my first viewing. The “bar” at Swann’s health clinic wasn’t serving any alcohol, so Bond ordered a drink based on Q’s recommendation. From the sound of it and its dark green looks, Bond was uninterested and sealed its fate with a memorable one liner – a rare occurrence that 007 talks about his bowel habits. Maybe the other time in the series is when Moore’s Bond asks a taxi to go to a pharmacy for aid in the “release” the golden bullet he accidentally swallowed in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)?
Bond is having none of this nutritional cleanse drink in Spectre (2015)
Normally when James Bond interacts with wait staff or passersby, the scene is normally short and sweet, and his own quips and charm make the scene somewhat memorable, if at all. It’s not the case in this scene from The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), however.
As Bond searches for Scaramanga’s girl, Andrea Anders, in a hotel, this helpful worker asks Bond (Roger Moore) if he needs help with his champagne on ice delivery. Bond declines, but gladly has uses him to open the door to room 602, Andrea Anders’ room. Does Bond want the staff member to open the champage? Nope – no further assistance is needed from staff, as Bond says he wants his visit to be “a surprise.”
The hotel worker’s response is hilarious in its giddiness and glee. I wonder if it was improvised?
This scene from The Living Daylights (1987) is how I like my Timothy Dalton James Bond: rough around the edges and disgruntled with superiors – has his own disagreeable opinions and agendas but in the end always wants to get the job done, and does.
This scene takes place in M’s office with M, Bond and Frederick Gray, the Minister of Defense assessing the catastrophic event that just occurred, where a defected Georgi Koskov was re-captured by the KGB and MI6 made a “laughingstock” in the intelligence community as a results, as relayed by Gray.
I like this scene so much because everyone expresses their own frustrations in unique ways. M grumpily cleaning out his pipe, Gray begrudgingly leaving to meet the Prime Minister evoking his disdain, and Bond defiantly bending to M’s orders to take out Pushkin. This is a relatively rare direct “termination order” issued by M to Bond in his office, and although Bond has a license to kill, in this case Bond is skeptical that Pushkin could be behind the plot. M senses his defiance instantly (you can sense this isn’t the first time this has happened between the two) and his “What? Do you think I don’t?” is expertly delivered as a “STFU, obey my orders” declaration to Bond.
M, Bond and Frederick Gray meeting in M’s office in The Living Daylights (1987)
Despite Bond’s pleas, M demurs and tells him to either do the job or leave for a fortnight and 008 will do it – since 008 will follow “orders, not instincts.” I always love when other double-oh agents are mentioned in Bond movies. 🙂 And it happens doubly so here, since 004 was killed in the Gibraltar training exercise at the start of the movie, as a result of the Smernt Spionom (Death to Spies) agenda that has commenced. So even though M attempts to allay Bond’s hesitations, Bond still relents and says he would like to delay the operation to obtain more information. M’s job transfer threat is all Bond needs to hear, and he takes the mission.
Knowing this James Bond, however, we know that his agenda will come before MI6’s, for better or worse.
