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TwoDelay

Member
Apr 6, 2018
1,326
I haven't seen any besides spectre which I don't remember any of. With the new one coming out next year and all the movies on stan (that's an Australian streaming service), I thought this would be the best time to catch up. Issue is theres just too many! so my question is, what bond movies are must-watches for a newcomer?
 

carlsojo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
33,731
San Francisco
Just start with Casino Royale and then go from there

I don't think you can appreciate the gritty reboot without watching the originals.

Start with the classics:
Goldfinger
The Man with the Golden Gun
Moonraker
You Only Live Twice

(I can't remember if Octopussy is good)

and then
GOLDENEYE (the best in the franchise and it isn't close)

and then Casino Royale
 

Dozer

Member
May 30, 2019
888
Orlando, FL
Watch Casino Royale, skip Quantam of Solace, watch Skyfall... reluctantly watch Spectre I guess, it seems directly related to the upcoming film
 

Prolepro

Ghostwire: BooShock
Banned
Nov 6, 2017
7,310
Im still not sure if I like the last 30 minutes of Casino Royale or not.
 

luca

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,495
I always say to start with Dr No. Just to see where it all began. And it's actually a pretty easy watch. The one right after, From Russia With Love, is a top five Bond as well alongside stuff like Casino Royale and The Living Daylights.

If you just wanna be prepared for No Time To Die, just go along the Craig movies.

And do not skip Quantum of Solace.
 
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Arc

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,500
Watch them all if you can.

Maybe rotate the era each time to keep things fresh.
 

JigglesBunny

Prophet of Truth
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
31,044
Chicago
Buy the Blu-Ray collection for a cool $70, watch from the beginning and only skip Die Another Day and Quantum of Solace. I'd say you should skip Spectre but it's basically mandatory viewing to understand the upcoming film so you're screwed there.
 
Oct 27, 2017
221
Don't listen to the Americans who'll tell you to start with Casino Royale, they're not to be trusted. Just watch them all in chronologic order. Maybe you can skip the brosnan flims after goldeneye, they're pretty bad.
 

nitewulf

Member
Nov 29, 2017
7,190
Of the old ones: Goldfinger, Man with the Golden Gun (great villain), The Living Daylights (the actual best Bond movie), Goldeneye (good modern Bond), Casino Royals. That should be good enough.
 

xenocide

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,307
Vermont
Might not be a popular opinion, but I think most of the older Bond stuff is hot garbage by today's standards. Just start with Casino Royale, since it's actually a well made film in addition to a great Bond movie.
 

Deleted member 1478

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,812
United Kingdom
Start with Dr No and if you enjoy it then just carry on. I don't like the Daniel Craig ones at all so I'd never recommend starting there. I think its better to see that the series is capable of a lot more fun and character than it's had for the past few movies.
 

Disco

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,439
the Connery run was pretty great. plus you get From Russia With Love which is top 5 for the franchise.

but for a newcomer probably just start with Craig's films and then maybe Goldeneye (the rest of Brosnan's movies suck ass) and go from the beginning if you want to see more of the character.

to catch up for No Time to Die though just watch all 4 Craig films. they're fairly interconnected.
 
Oct 27, 2017
4,104
controversial opinion: start with the living daylights if you want to avoid most of the camp. yes, there's still lots of brosnan cheese, but the production values are there at least
 

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
56,863
Watch Dr No just because it began there.

Then if you feel like watching more of that era, just Google a list of the best and pick.

Watch both Dalton films.
Goldeneye, but ignore the rest of Brosnan's.

If you would rather skip the older era, just start with Casion Royal and watch all the Craig films. It's the best Bond film by far, too.
 

Goldenroad

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Nov 2, 2017
9,475
I haven't watched any of the Craig ones or any post-Goldeneye Brosnon ones, but I watched all the rest of them on Laserdisc back in the day, and my big takeaway was the Roger Moore ones are the best.

Scratch that...I did watch Casino Royale...it is actually pretty good.
 

shaneo632

Weekend Planner
Member
Oct 29, 2017
28,964
Wrexham, Wales
Probably worth watching at least 2 films of each Bond.

Connery:
Dr. No
Goldfinger

Lazenby (only did one):
On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Moore:
Live and Let Die
Moonraker

Dalton:
Living Daylights
License to Kill

Brosnan:
Goldeneye
Tomorrow Never Dies

Craig:
Casino Royale
Skyfall
 

Quad Lasers

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,542
The two Dalton films, Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale.

After that, just throw in the towel.
 
Oct 25, 2017
2,454
I would probably watch them all in chronological order. Quality can vary wildly but even the worst ones are just dumb action movies that you can easily enjoy if you turn you brain off for a bit.
If you don't have time for that I would suggest:
-All the Connery movies from "From Russia with Love" to "You Only Live Twice".
-One movie from each following Bond actor up to Brosnan including "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", "The Spy Who Loved me", "The Living Daylights" and "Goldeneye"
-All the Craig movies.
 

Syriel

Banned
Dec 13, 2017
11,088
Goldfinger pretty much established all the elements of modern Bond. Can't believe anyone would say skip it.
 
Oct 28, 2017
5,050
I watched On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Goldeneye, and said , "yeah okay I get it."

Both were very cool in their own right fwiw.
 

Sheepinator

Member
Jul 25, 2018
27,917
I'd recommend in this order:

Goldeneye - it's more recent (1995), and it's one of my favorites. Great soundtrack. Sean Bean too.

Then go back to near the start with Connery in Goldfinger and Thunderball. All of his are good except for Never Say Never Again.

Check out Moore's best ones: Live and Let Die, Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker.

Finally, finish up with Craig's, and it makes sense to do them last because it's a reboot, and because they're all sort of connected. His best are Casino Royale and Skyfall.

I don't think there are any bad Bond movies, though there are a few that are quite average, including the one you started with OP.
 
Nov 8, 2017
13,078
If you're getting ready for the new one, just watch the Craig era. It'll be most similar in style, tone and quality.

After that, if you want more, try some of the classics, then if you like the classics, branch out into all the others. My personal recommendations would be:

  • From Russia With Love and Goldfinger to get the best of Connery
  • Live and Let Die to get a dose of the Moore silliness
  • The Living Daylights to see Dalton doing classic Bond damn well
  • Goldeneye to see the best of Brosnan (it's all downhill from there).

If you like any of these actors, dive into them more. OHMSS is a bit of a wildcard, I think it's a decent movie with a bad bond. It's the only Lazenby film.
 

Dommo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,686
Australia
If you want to watch actual good films, you watch Casino Royale. Quantum of Solace and Skyfall are both flawed but pretty good in their own right too. Craig is the closest you get to an actual human being on screen. Almost none of the rest of the series would be considered great films I don't think.

If you want to delve deeper into the history of Bond and get a taste for what each actor/period of time was up to, watch probably From Russia With Love (Connery), OHMSS (Lazneby and one of the more unique films of the series), The Spy Who Loved Me or For Your Eyes Only (Moore's best films, the former for being unadulterated camp and peak spy tropey, the latter for being the closest thing to a good film in his list), probably The Living Daylights (Dalton, but honestly, both aren't bad), and Goldeneye (Brosnan).

Or if you want to be really comprehensive, watch them all from the start or watch them all in any order. Only the Craig films have continuity that necessitate a watch order. The rest are all standalone and can be viewed however you'd like. Just be aware that these films aren't great, often quite bad, and stringing a lot of them together can get repetitive fast. They rely on staples of the series - lines of dialogue, gadgets, tropes that all crop up in their respective films. Craig's films broke from that mould, which made them so refreshing.
 

Fancy Clown

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,406
You could probably abridge this even further but this is a pretty good selection of the best cuts:
Dr. No
From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Live and Let Die
For Your Eyes Only
The Living Daylights
Goldeneye

And then watch all the Craig ones since they're probably all important for No Time to Die, and Spectre is the only bad one.
 

Paper Wario

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,623
You could probably abridge this even further but this is a pretty good selection of the best cuts:
Dr. No
From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Live and Let Die
For Your Eyes Only
The Living Daylights
Goldeneye

And then watch all the Craig ones since they're probably all important for No Time to Die, and Spectre is the only bad one.
Replace FYEO with The Spy Who Loved Me and I'd say those are about best of the best.
 

Raguel

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,275
I really don't get the hate for Quantum of Solace. I'm watching it now and it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It's better than a lot of the old bond films. The action can be haphazard, with too much cutting, and sure, the main bond girls is boring, but everything else is pretty solid.

Its Bond at his most careless - seeking revenge - and it shows in the editing and action.

I don't think its a bad Bond movie.
 

kmfdmpig

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
19,325
Watch Casino Royale
Turn off your brain and watch Skyfall for the adult Home Alone hijinks.
Then watch Night Manager instead of either QoS or Spectre as they're both dumb trash.
Check out some of the old Connery Bond films if you want campy/funny/over the top joy.

If you want to see a perfect casting utterly wasted by putting a spy in tanks and fighter planes check out Pierce Brosnan's craptastic Bond entries.
 

Moppeh

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,537
Most Bond movies suck so maybe just start with watching all the Craig Bond movies so you are all caught up for the new movie.

But here is a list of films I'd recommend if you want to see some decent/good movies and want a better sense of Bond through the ages:
Dr No
From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
The Spy Who Loved Me
The Living Daylights
License To Kill
Goldeneye
Casino Royale
Skyfall

Beyond that, I dunno maybe check out all the Connery stuff. I would recommend avoiding most of Moore's and Brosnan's films. Most of them are trash. Moore's films are super campy and a lot of them are weird genre flicks. Live or Let Die is a bad movie but a great song.
 
Oct 25, 2017
2,454
Only the Craig films have continuity that necessitate a watch order.
That's not actually true. Pretty much all early movies until Diamonds are forever (except maybe Goldfinger) have some continuity between them
Bond vs Spectre/Blofeld was a continuing story in those early movies.
A lot of the villains worked for Spectre and Blofeld was teased in two films before his grand reveal in You Only Live Twice.
Spectre decided to retcon the same story into the Craig movies and it was a mess.
 
OP
OP
TwoDelay

TwoDelay

Member
Apr 6, 2018
1,326
You could probably abridge this even further but this is a pretty good selection of the best cuts:
Dr. No
From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Live and Let Die
For Your Eyes Only
The Living Daylights
Goldeneye

And then watch all the Craig ones since they're probably all important for No Time to Die, and Spectre is the only bad one.
Everyones suggestions have been great. I think i'll follow this give or take a few (plus i'm going watch octopussy cause, i mean, it called octopussy. gotta find out what the fuck that's about lol)
 

Border

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,859
Start with the books. They are much better:


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SweetBellic

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,407
You start with Dr. No and go from there. The Connery films have a loose continuity with the exception of Goldfinger, which is great too. I'd at least watch Dr. No through You Only Live Twice if you enjoy a bit of 1960s camp.

For the Moore films, I'd try to check out The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only at the very least. All his films are pretty fun and campy too.

Been a while, but I recall both the Dalton films being pretty solid and grittier. For Brosnan, look no further than Goldeneye.

Then watch all the Craig films in anticipation of No Time to Die since his, like Connery's, also bear some continuity, and reference the Connery films quite a bit (especially Skyfall and Spectre).
 

HotHamBoy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,423
Be prepared for an entire franchise built around problematic views

I don't think you can appreciate the gritty reboot without watching the originals.

Start with the classics:
Goldfinger
The Man with the Golden Gun
Moonraker
You Only Live Twice

(I can't remember if Octopussy is good)

and then
GOLDENEYE (the best in the franchise and it isn't close)

and then Casino Royale
Lol Goldeneye is such trash

As for Goldfinger, not sure I'd start with the one where Bond rapes a lesbian.

Of course, even the first film starts things of with Connery in Yellow Face.