007Dome - Connery vs Craig

Ok gentleman and gentleladies, no more fuckin around. Which is it gonna be? Connery or Craig?!

Plus - Best Bond Girl
and - Best Bond Villain

It's too close to call, but I'm going with the "who would win a fight", which Daniel Craig's Bond would win.

These are the only two Bonds to get at least two dead brilliant installments, as far as I can see. (From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, Casino Royale and Skyfall). They each also have at least one turd (Quantum of Solace was kind of terrible, and I rank Diamonds Are Forever as one of the worst in the series). I do think that Connery has some pretty good other outings too though. Dr. No is pretty darn good, and You Only Live Twice has its moments. Not a big Thunderball fan, but it's an important one in the history of the series.

I'd entertain an argument that Craig might be considered the best Bond 20 years from now, and I don't think I'd argue with someone who says that Casino Royale and Skyfall might be the best installments ever. But Connery's shadow is just too huge to overcome at this point. The very fact that we're having this conversation shows that he's the standard. Check back a couple of Bonds from now, but the original is clearly the king still.

Vote: Connery

Connery certainly defined the movie role, but Craig (and his scripts, to be fair) is the most faithful to the original character [who, IMO, was kind of a mess of a man]. Unless his 4th picture is a complete dud , I think Craig is The Man.

Best bond girl? Ursula Andress (Honey Ryder? I forget the character's name...), though I'll always be partial to Pussy Galore and her All-Lesbian Flying Circus [yea, that's what it was in the book] for the utter ridiculousness of the name.

Best villain? Auric "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die" Goldfinger. He's also the source of one of my favorite lines in any movie: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times, it's enemy action."

If it weren't for the laser sharks, Dr. No would be second to Casino Royale. CR was easily the near-best Bond film of all time, IMO, and I'm a huge fan of the books and films.

I love Connery as Bond, but I think Craig's Bond is better. When the new movies were announce I had zero hope for any future James Bond movies to be any good but CR definitely changed my mind. It's probably a function of the eras they were made in, but Craig's Bond seems like a person that could exist in our world, where the Connery Bond was more of a character.

Never thought I'd choose someone over Connery.

Connery IS Bond. That 60s rat pack, drunken cock swinger vibe, true to the books or not, IS Bond.

Craig is great and the new movies are awesome, but when I think of Bond, I don't think of him. He's a different, albeit fabulous, character, in a whole different universe.

Best villain is absolutely Goldfinger.

Pussy Galore wins for no other reason than the sheer awesomeness of her name and the flying circus.

Connery IS Bond. That 60s rat pack, drunken cock swinger vibe, true to the books or not, IS Bond.

Craig is great and the new movies are awesome, but when I think of Bond, I don't think of him. He's a different, albeit fabulous, character, in a whole different universe.

Best villain is absolutely Goldfinger.

Pussy Galore wins for no other reason than the sheer awesomeness of her name and the flying circus.

Woops, did someone already say all of this?

How can this not include best Bond song?

Because it's clearly You Only Live Twice. Goldfinger is SECOND. After that, it'd be Thunderball, Live and Let Die, and For Your Eyes Only.

Michael Barnes wrote: How can this not include best Bond song?

Because it's clearly You Only Live Twice. Goldfinger is SECOND. After that, it'd be Thunderball, Live and Let Die, and For Your Eyes Only.

It's a two-horse race between Live and Let Die and Goldfinger. At the risk of starting another The Smiths vs. REM fracas, I have always had a strange affinity for Chris Cornell's song from Casino Royale. But it obviously isn't in NEARLY the same class as anything from the early days of the series.

Goldeneye isn't bad either.

I always liked that On Her Majesty's Secret Service used score instead of an opening song, because John Barry thought it'd be more appropriate. A couple of modern incarnations could have learned from that. (I'm looking at you, Die Another Day and Quantum of Solace.)

*edit*
Oh, and best Bond villain is clearly Goldfinger. He's the man with the Midas touch, after all.

Best Bond girl is probably Pussy Galore, but I also like Diana Rigg as Tracy di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

What's your view on Never Say Never Again?

I always like it.

Return of Connery.
Kim Basinger.
Klaus Maria Brandauer as Largo.

That said, Goldfinger, Pussy Galore are tops.

Where does all this leave Pierce Brosnan or Roger Moore?

VOTE: Lazenby

Barbara Bouchet's Moneypenny in the original Casino Royale

Jaws in Moonraker

I have a strong fondness for GoldenEye, but I haven't seen it in a long time and I think I might only have an affinity for it since the game was such a touchstone.

Best song is Goldfinger. That initial horn section is the fucking best.

Roger Moore is pretty underrated, I think. The Spy Who Loved Me is one of my favorites, and most of his others (Live and Let Die, Man With The Golden Gun, Moonraker, Octopussy) are completely bananas. Just loaded with silly stunts and bad puns. If a Bond fan can't get comfortable with at least some of that, they're going to have a bad time. That's part of the series I say. He definitely had the role for too long though. View To A Kill is awful.

Pierce Brosnan had a good first outing, and then never really was great again. Goldeneye is a lot of fun. Tomorrow Never Dies has its moments. The World Is Not Enough is half awful, and Die Another Day is simply dreadful.

Timothy Dalton is the worst Bond, btw. He's the only one who didn't get a really good movie.

San Il Defanso wrote: Timothy Dalton is the worst Bond, btw. He's the only one who didn't get a really good movie.

True, he didn't get a good movie, but I don't think that makes him the worst Bond. He's actually my favorite after Connery. Dalton can play suave, but he also has an edge about him where you wouldn't doubt that he could ruin your day.

Craig is good for this Bourne era we're in, but he's not 'Bond'.

vote: Connery