Action Movie For The Day - DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971) Sean Connery returns as Bond after a one film absence

After a one film absence, Sean Connery returns as Bond and it's a nice welcome back. After a solid pre-credit sequence where Bond tears apart casinos and resorts looking for Blofeld, it becomes business as usual. For this mission, 007 goes undercover as a diamond smuggler to find out who has been stealing diamonds out of Africa to use for god knows what. Once again Connery is in top form as Bond, dispensing one liners as quick as he throws punches. Charles Grey makes an okay Blofeld. But Jill St. John is a sight to behold as Bond girl Tiffany Case-beautiful and tells it like it is. Forever has some cool action scenes and a nice change of pace having the film set in America, specifically Las Vegas. Not one of Connery's best Bond films, but it's still pretty good. And look for Natalie Wood's sister Lana as Plenty O'Toole, a fetching Bond girl.

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James Bond: "Weren't you a blonde when I came in?"
Tiffany Case: "Could be"
James Bond: "I tend to notice little things like that-whether a girl is a blonde or a brunette".

Action Movie For The Day - DR. NO (1962) - The first James Bond film

The first James Bond film is a good, if not great entry. Sean Connery is perfectly cast as 007. There are no hi-tech gadgets or sensational over-the top action but a simpler adventure which has Bond dealing with bad guy Dr. No. Set in Jamaica this movie is filled with gorgerous scenery and the women are very beautiful. Ursula Andress is drop dead gorgeous as Honey Rider and Zena Marshall as the scheming Miss Taro is quite the beauty also. A fine start for the longest running movie series in history.

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Slyvia: "When did you say you had to leave?"
James: "Immediately...almost immediately".






 

Happy Birthday Carole Bouquet

Happy Birthday to French actress Carole Bouquet who is my favorite Bond Girl. She appeared opposite Roger Moore in 1981's For Your Eyes Only, one of my fave Bond films ever. She was only 23 when she was cast as Melina, the Greek daughter seeking revenge for her parents murder.

Top 5's with James Bond

The SyFy Channel recently had a marathon of Bond films. So I thought now would be a good time to write a blog about my personal favorites of the long running series broken down into different categories with my top 5 picks in each of them. So here we go:

FAVORITE BOND
1. Sean Connery - this was actually a close call. I grew up watching Bond when Roger Moore was playing him and recently I loved when Pierce Brosnan took over. But I had to go with Sean...he did start it after all.
2. Pierce Brosnan
3. Roger Moore
4. Daniel Craig - is off to a good start but he needs to lighten up just a bit
5. Timonty Dalton - not as bad as everyone remembers.


FAVORITE FILM
1. Goldeneye (1995) Brosnan's first Bond film and it's awesome. Made Bond more of an action hero to compete with the current stars of action films today, and it works.
2. Goldfinger (1964) This is the one where most people remember when the series started to really click. The cool opening scene, Connery very relaxed in the role now, a dastardly villian, the gadgets, and the unusually named Bond girl of Pussy Galore.
3. For Your Eyes Only (1981) Roger Moore toned down the jokes and played Bond with a serious edge. This is one of my all time favorites and I watched it like a million times growing up.
4. Casino Royale (2006) Bond remade with Daniel Craig taking over the role and knocks it right out of the park. Very entertaining entry.
5. From Russia With Love (1963) Rosa Klebb. Red Grant. Tatiana Romanova. The thrilling train fight and boat chase scenes. Nuff said.

FAVORITE SONG
1. Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon) From The Spy Who Loved Me, so good it should be the theme song for the entire series.
2. Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney) Hell yeah. Paul rocks it like no other.
3. Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey) This woman could belt out a song with very strong vocals.
4. For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton) Catchy song.
5. Dance Into The Fire (Duran Duran) Probably one of the few good things about Roger Moore's last Bond film, A View To A Kill.

FAVORITE VILLIAN
1. Auric Goldfinger - Goldfinger. Classic Bond villian that set the standard for others to follow.
2. Scaramanga - The Man With The Golden Gun. As played by horror vet Christopher Lee.
3. Blofeld - Appeared in several Bond films, each time by a different actor. The best to me was Donald Pleasance in 1967's You Oonly Live Twice. But Charles Gray in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever is pretty good too.
4. Max Zorin - A View To A Kill. Psychotic bad guy, played by Christopher Walken.
5. Elektra King - The World Is Not Enough. First main villian played by a female and actress Sophie Marceau is fabulous.

FAVORITE HENCHMAN/HENCHWOMAN
1. Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) - GoldenEye. Delicious and sexy henchwoman that loves to kill and thrill.
2. Jaws (Richard Kiel) The only bad guy to play in more than one Bond film. More than a worthy enough adversary for Mr. Bond.
3. Red Grant (Robert Shaw) - From Russia With Love. The ultimate Cold War soldier who fights Bond memorably in a small train compartment.
4. Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) - Thunderball. More woman than any man could handle even James Bond. She also has one of the best quotes in the entire series: "But of course, I forgot your ego, Mr. Bond. James Bond, the one where he has to make love to a woman, and she starts to hear heavenly choirs singing. She repents, and turns to the side of right and virtue... but not this one!"
5. Oddjob (Harold Sakata) - Goldfinger. He may be mute, but he makes quite an impression, especially on James.

FAVORITE GIRL
1. Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) in For Your Eyes Only. There is just something about this beauty who had smarts and looks and was deadly with a crossbow.
2. Tracy Di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The former Mrs. Emma Peel became Mrs. James Bond for one film. No other actress could have pulled that part off I don't think.
3. Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) in Licence To Kill. Carey brought a gritty new feel as a Bond girl who could handle herself in a fight, chase, or argument. Plus she could fly anything being a pilot
4. Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman)in Goldfinger. To be able to pull off this character with a name like that, Honor should have received some type of award.
5. Solitaire (Jane Seymour)in Live and Let Die. The lovely Jane was quite good in one of her first roles.

FAVORITE PRE-TITLE SEQUENCE
1. Goldeneye (1995) Awesome action in Russia at a weapons facility with Bond doing his thing.
2. For Your Eyes Only (1981) Riding inside a helicopter is what most people do, not James Bond..he has to dangle outside the door miles up in the air while his enemy Blofeld remote controls the copter to make it crash. Very cool.
3. Casino Royale (2006) Simple but effective introduction of Daniel Craig to the series. He makes two kills in the space of minutes. One is quite clean and efficient, the other one is quite nasty with a brawl in a men's bathroom.
4. From Russia With Love (1963) Red Grant's training exercise to dispatch Bond will throw you off because you don't realize it's just an exercise.
5. Moonraker (1979) Over the top but still exciting as Bond free falls from a plane without a parachute and also has to contend with Jaws. Classic.

FAVORITE CHASE SEQUENCE
1. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) Bond in the Lotus being pursued by the bad guys via cars, motorcycle, helicopter, and undersea divers. Doesn't get any better than that.
2. Quantum Of Solace (2008) Thrilling opening chase scene has Bond eluding the bad guys coming down a mountainside.
3. For Your Eyes Only (1981) Bond on skis being chased by other skiers and bikers. Cool. And later on the car chase with Bond and Melina being pursued by the bad guys.
4. Licence To Kill (1989) The truck chase finale has to be seen to be believed with Bond using a semi as his own personal Tonka toy.
5. Live and Let Die (1973) Probably the most exciting boat chase you will ever see.

FAVORITE BEVY OF GIRLS CAST
1. Octopussy (1983) Stunning women from all around the world for this one.
2. Moonraker (1979)
3. From Russia With Love (1963)Rosa Klebb aside, there are quite the few lovelies in this one.
4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)Several stunning women all gather in Switzerland much to the delight of Bond.
5. Dr. No (1962) The first Bond movie features several stunning women including Ursula Andress, Eunice Gayson, and Zena Marshall

FAVORITE FIGHT SCENE
1. From Russia With Love (1963) Bond and Red Grant go at in a small train compartment. Very brutal and well done.
2. The Living Daylights (1987) One of the best fights not to feature Bond. Instead it's another British agent fighting an assassin in the kitchen.
3. Goldeneye (1995) Bond vs his onetime friend an fellow agent Alex.
4. Casino Royale (2006) Bond fights some bad guys in a fancy hotel. Very exciting.
5. The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) Not the best Bond movie but it does have a good fight scene with Bond against the baddies while trying to romance an exotic belly dancer. Only Bond could do something like that.


I believe that will wrap it up for now but as the credits all say I will return.
Oh one more category..
FAVORITE SECONDARY CHARACTER
1. Q (Desmond Llewelyn) The weapon master. His banter with 007 is always good for a laugh.
2. M (Judi Dench) The best of all of Bond's bosses. Judi rocks.
3. Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) Forever in love with James.
4. Felix Leiter (David Hedison) Bond's CIA counterpart has been played by so many different actors but Hedison is the only one who played him twice.
5. Charles Robinson (Colin Salmon)