Currently most of the James Bond movies are available streaming on Netflix. Here is your user’s guide to these awesome gems.
I love the James Bond series and have watched them compulsively since I was a kid. So I was very happy to see Netflix offering the majority of the series (Thuderball through License to Kill) on Watch Instantly. If you have never seen an old James Bond movie or if you’ve only seen bits and pieces on TV, now is a great time to check them out.
Thunderball
As the follow up to my personal favorite Bond, Goldfinger, Thunderball largely builds on the formula established in that movie. After the opening adventure before the credit sequence, Bond is off to the Bahamas to stop a nuclear missile launch against the US. For my money, this is a solid but largely unremarkable entry in the series. I know that a lot of people like this one even more than even Goldfinger though. This was also the first Bond movie to introduce a scene involving sharks, which would become a go-to danger in the series. The main draw of this one is watching Sean Connery do his thing. I do love the Thunderball song though, easily one of the best in the series.
You Only Live Twice
In this one, Bond goes to Japan to fight SPECTRE along the way he meets his arch nemesis, Blofeld. This entry is quite fun. I like when Bonds usual adventures also manage to capture him being a sort of fish out of water. This has a really bizarre sequence where Connery is made up to look Japanese… except for the fact that he’s about twice as tall as everyone else. It’s apparent though that by this point Connery was running out of steam. Interestingly, the screenplay was written by Roald Dhal. This is the movie where most of the classic Bond spoof jokes come from.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
I think that On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is the best Bond movie next to Goldfinger. After Sean Connery left for the first time, George Lazenby took over. He’s a younger bond with more energy. I think he’s a better bond than Roger Moore, but I know that some people have a hard time with him. In this one, Bond must infiltrate Blofeld’s compound and stop his evil plan. The bond girl and love interest is played by Dianna Rigg, who also played Emma Peel on The Avengers TV show. I had major issues with Casino Royale for how they handled the Bond-in-love theme; they totally botched it. This movie though, nails it. This is also the first bond movie to feature skiing, which eventually appears in many other Bond movies. Watching this again, I was really struck by the direction. Peter Hunt does an amazing job capturing a kinetic energy that really makes the action sequences in this movie come alive, those parts feel very modern.
Diamonds are Forever
Diamonds are Forever is excellent. Connery returns to the role for this movie set largely in Las Vegas. This movie is largely concerned with the reclamation of a large quantity of stolen diamonds. Significant menace is provided by the evil homosexual hitmen Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd. This would make a really cool double feature with the original Oceans 11 to see how much Vegas had changed in twenty years. Diamonds are Forever is great fun all around and also features one of the best credit sequences and songs. More than any of the other Bond movies captures the effortless cool of Sean Connery.
Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die is the first of the Roger Moore movies, and the best of his bunch. This one takes Bond to New Orleans and the surrounding area to investigate the murder of a diplomat. This is filled with great characters like Baron Samedi, the hook-wielding Tee Hee Johnson, and Jane Seymour’s Solitaire. Live and Let Die is fast paced and very exciting until about halfway through the movie and the introduction of simpleton red-neck sheriff, J.W. Pepper. The presence of Pepper and the He-Haw level of comedy he brings out of nowhere severely de-rails the movie. It’s as unfunny as it is embarrassing. Aside from that, the voodoo flavor brought to this movie is a good foil for Moore’s borderline apathetic attitude.
The Man with the Golden Gun
In Roger Moore’s second movie, he fights Dracula himself, Christopher Lee. OK, he’s not really Dracula, but that makes the movie all the more awesome. Lee plays the international assassin, Francisco Scaramanga who wields the eponymous golden gun. Legendary little-person character actor Hervé Villechaize (Forbidden Zone!) plays Lee’s assistant, Nick Nack. Golden Gun is an interesting movie, it has some of my all-time favorite Bond moments in it, the excellent chase scene, Lee’s training course, his island, meeting the gunsmith and some of the objectively worst moments – like when Sheriff J.W. Pepper inexplicably shows up in the middle of Asia on vacation and derails this movie too for a good 15 minutes. There is also a pointless and weird ninja fight… and did I mention superfluous third nipple? This marks the start of when the Roger Moore movies got goofy.
The Spy Who Loved Me
Aside from the awesome theme song performed by Carly Simon, there is a lot to like here. Either this or View to a Kill is probably the most solid of the Roger Moore era. Bond and the ludicrously named Russian Agent XXX (played by super sexy Barbara Bach) must team up to take down a super villain who wants to flood the world. The real menace though is Jaws. This was his first appearance in the series. He is humongous and is as scary as he is imposing. There is an awesome set piece at the beginning of the movie where Bond is involved in a shootout during a cheesy light show outside the pyramids.
Moonraker
This is where things get really silly. This movie is an obvious cash-in on the Star Wars craze. Bond goes to a space station and people shoot at each other with lasers. Jaws is back too. There’s not a lot of substance here. It’s clear that the filmmakers were trying to capture the same lightning that made The Spy Who Loved Me so great again. A failure, but an interesting one, and one that is worth watching if only for the spectacle of it.
For Your Eyes Only
This one also isn’t very good. It’s also not very crazy. I think this is the main reason why Roger Moore got such a bad rap. There’s nothing really remarkable about this movie and Moore goes through the movie like he’s sleepwalking. Probably the least essential of Moore’s movies.
Octopussy
This one benefited the most from re-watching. Octopussy is even weirder than Moonraker. Bond gets involved with Octopussy, who leads an international girl gang and is obsessed with octopuses. For those of you familiar with comic books, this is like silver-age bond. There’s a scene where Bond hides in a giant plastic crocodile, dresses up like a clown and fights people, and sleeps with Octopussy in her giant brass octopus bed. Octopussy’s hench-women wear bright red jumpsuits that would have looked silly in the 60’s. I kind of loved it, but be warned: this is not serious Bond.
Never Say Never Again
Sean Connery returned again to the Bond role in this one-off non-canonical movie. Released the same year as Octopussy, Never Say Never Again is essentially a remake and updating of Thunderball. This time though, Bond must come out of retirement to fight SPECTRE. If you can get over the fact that it feels like an off-brand knock off, it’s actually quite good. The bond girl is a young Kim Basinger, and that helps quite a bit too. Steven Seagal apparently helped coordinate the stunts.
A View to a Kill
Roger Moore ends his tenure on the series on a high note. A View to a Kill is solid and has aged surprisingly well. Bond has to stop an evil tech company from causing an earthquake. The majority of the awesomeness comes from Grace Jones who plays the villain, May Day. Jones is awesome, and I have loved her in every role I’ve seen her in. She’s a good successor to Jaws and a more interesting one too. The villain behind her though is played by Christopher Walken. Add to those ingredients an early appearance by Dolph Lundgren, the awesome theme song by Duran Duran, and the epic climax on the golden gate bridge and you have the best Roger Moore Bond movie.
The Living Daylights
I’m partial to Timothy Dalton’s Bond. It’s easy to see why a lot of people don’t like him though. He’s a far more conventional action hero type than any of the other Bonds and next to Roger Moore, he looks like the ultimate straight man. None-the-less, I think The Living Daylights is a better movie than people give it credit for. In this one, Bond is on the run with a beautiful cellist and possible assassin. Ah-Ha (“Take on Me”) provide a fun and very 80’s theme song. It’s a solid flick all around, and in tone is much darker and more “realistic” than the previous few Moore movies.
License to Kill
License to kill ends the brief term of Timothy Dalton in 007’s shoes. In this one, Bond goes to Columbia to fight a drug lord. It doesn’t really feel like a Bond movie. In tone and execution, it’s more like a big budget Cannon Group action picture. Overall though License to Kill is OK and better than For Your Eyes Only and the later Pierce Brosnon movies.
So where should you start?
I’d suggest starting with one of the early classics like Diamonds are Forever or On Her Majesty’s Secret Service to see some of the best that the series has to offer. From there, sample some of the better Roger Moore movies, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, and A View to a Kill. At this point, you could conceivably have had enough Bond. If not, you’ll probably have enough inertia to pull you through the rest.
For more in-depth analysis, check out the excellent series of posts our friend Andrew did over at his blog, The Hollywood Project