The Bond retrospective - Number 5

And the top five is off...


Controversial?...


5. Dr No

Quarrel's way better than Honey

The original James Bond film is rather different from its successors, it develops some traditional themes such as the evil, deformed megalomaniac and his lair, but is also far closer to a real spy flick, as Bond gets his hands dirty investigating a mysterious murder in Jamaica without gadgets or car chases, and there’s some real chemistry between Bond and Ursula Andress’ legendary Honey Rider – some may find the plot a little slow at times, and it’s definitely very dated, but this is probably the most ‘real’ Bond film until the Daniel Craig era.

Alright, there you go

So, the original is not quite the best, while an excellent film on it's own it is, rather paradoxically, not the 'iconic' Bond - its greatest contribution was probably giving the world Connery's Bond, but beyond that most other series staples, and a lot of the best moments, came from the next few films

Pros:
Connery
Some realism – particularly the climb through the vent
That bikini scene

Cons:
A bit slow
‘Underneath the Mango tree’ sticks in the head - not in the good way

Place here a commercial, followed by a recap, then another commercial...then a teaser of the next few, then another commercial