Four of the best ... Bond Movies
After decades of being available to rent only individually, the 25 official James Bond movies are, finally, all available to watch in one place.
Thanks to their acquisition of MGM, Amazon Prime Video subscribers can now check out all of 007’s adventures, from 1962’s Dr. No to last-year’s much-delayed No Time To Die.
To mark this momentous occasion, Stuff to Watch picked out what we believe are the British spy’s four best outings.
Goldfinger
(1964)
The quintessential Bond movie.
Boasting brilliant bad guys, elaborate traps and ridiculously monikered femmes fatales (“Pussy Galore”), it is most remembered for its terrific one liners (“No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die”) and visually aesthetic demises.
More than 50 years on, its impact is still resonating in movie-making – 2015 animated movie Penguins Of Madagascar borrowed plenty of elements.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
(1969)
We Have All The Time in The World was an even more ironic choice for the title song than the producers probably originally thought.
Not only could it refer to 007’s short-lived marriage, but also the one-film career of Aussie hunk George Lazenby who stepped into Sean Connery’s shoes. A change of pace for the series (Bond shows emotion), the plot revolves around Blofeld’s (Telly Savalas) plan to attack the world’s food supply.
It’s hard not to like a film that boasts both Diana Rigg and Joanna Lumley.
GoldenEye (1995)
Pierce Brosnan’s first outing in the tux was the film that brought the franchise back from the cliched depths of Licence To Kill.
Kiwi director Martin Campbell’s movie is a fine example of the franchise, with Brosnan bringing back the charm, Judi Dench the gravitas and Famke Janssen the beauty, after the series had foundered.
Also look out for scene-stealing cameos from the likes of Robbie Coltraine, Minnie Driver, Alan Cumming and Sean Bean as the story’s sneering villain.
Skyfall
(2012)
As a celebration of a half-century of cinematic Bond, director Sam Mendes’ film couldn’t have been more fitting.
MI6’s Quartermaster (Q) is back, there’s an island lair for the bad guy, Daniel Craig’s Bond is now more muscular than melancholic, and even the DB5 car makes an appearance.
And while the journey is still global, this feels more British than any Bond movie since Roger Moore was in the tuxedo. Plus, there are excellent performances from Dame Judi Dench and Javier Bardem.