BackThe fab five
The fab five
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1963
From Russia With Love:
2006
Casino Royale:
A bit too violent for some who were brought up on the Roger Moore films, this one reinvented the Bond franchise and took it closer to the rough-cut original in Ian Fleming’s books. Proof: when asked by a bartender whether he liked his Martini shaken or stirred, Bond replies: “Do I look like I give a damn?" The silly witticisms were cut out. And, in a twist to the usual eye-candy moment, Daniel Craig (rather than one of the Bond women) emerges out of the sea in a pair of La Perla swimming trunks.
1977
The Spy Who Loved Me:
By far the best Bond film starring Roger Moore. The villain is a megalomaniac who lives undersea and his henchman has teeth of steel. But these weak story props don’t take away from the fact that this is a stylish film. In keeping with the spirit of détente, Bond and a Russian spy (female, of course) work together to recover submarines armed with missiles. The opening chase on skis in the Alps is stunning.
1967
You Only Live Twice:
This film takes 007 to Japan. The first half of the film has an edginess that was lost in many of the later films, where Bond comes across as an upper-class British snob. The pace of the film was taut, thanks to a very good script by Roald Dahl. And Bond even marries a Japanese woman to make his cover as a local fisherman more convincing.
1995
GoldenEye:
The first one with Pierce Brosnan, this film was perhaps the last gasp of the old Bond films before the very rough and physical Daniel Craig came along and breathed new life into them. It was the first Bond film that was shot after the collapse of communism in 1989. With the old enemy gone, both writers of spy novels and film-makers living off the Cold War were forced to find new villains. This is the first time Bond reports to a female boss—a clear attempt to make Bond more sensitive and in step with the new times.
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