The James Bond Countdown

20. MOONRAKER
A pretty awful film with a ridiculous plot-Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) plans to destroy the human race from outer space and then repopulate the globe with a super race. Lonsdale is a forgettable bad guy, as is the Bond girl, Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles). I would have liked to see more of Drax's assistant (played by Corinne Clery) instead. This film features Roger Moore playing Bond as a not-so-funny comedian rather than a super-cool secret agent.

19. A VIEW TO A KILL
Along with Moonraker, A View to a Kill is the only other Bond film I would give a thumbs-down. Moore's last film features Christopher Walken as a surprisingly poor bad guy who is out to destroy Silicon Valley. Tanya Roberts, the heroine in the film, should have stuck to "B" movies. Grace Jones, who plays Walken's assistant, is awful. Like Moonraker, more of an attempted comedy than an adventure film. The Duran Duran theme song is the only Bond song to reach #1.

18. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
This film was not bad, but it had the potential to be so much more considering the fact that it features the first ever confrontation between Bond, played by Sean Connery, and his arch-nemesis: Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of the terrorist organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E. The Japanese sets and the final battle, featuring Bond leading an army of Ninjas against Blofeld's stronghold, are pretty cool.

17. THUNDERBALL
Typical plot of Bond trying to foil a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. plot. The bad guy, Largo, is pretty cool, but Thunderball has too many slow parts, making it one of Connery's worst efforts.

16. LIVE AND LET DIE
Roger Moore's first film features Bond taking on Mr. Big and his evil schemes involving heroin and voodoo. The film has the fetching Jane Seymour as Soltaire, and a couple of cool henchmen in the claw-handed Tee Hee and the seemingly immortal Baron Samedi. Too many comical scenes for my taste. Paul McCartney & Wings sang the theme song.

15. TOMMOROW NEVER DIES
Brosnan's second film is hurt by the early disappearance of Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher). The plot has Jonathon Pryce as Elliot Carver, a Ted Turner-like media mogul out to manufacture a war. The best parts of the film are Michelle Yeoh as Chinese agent Wai Lin and Bond's remote control BMW.

14. THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
Timothy Dalton's first effort has a weird plot involving Soviet defectors, opium, and diamonds. Dalton takes the role of Bond a little too seriously, but the film is saved by the supporting cast, including Maryam d'Abo as a very worthy Bond girl, and Jeroen Drabbe and John Rhys-Davies as Soviet generals.

13. NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN
A remake of Thunderball features Connery's return after a long absence. Not the best of films, it is nevertheless saved by the fact that the audience gets to see Connery take a shot at the role one last time. Kim Basinger is the Bond girl, and it also features the return of one of the better Bond bad guys: Largo.

12. LICENSE TO KILL
Far and away the darkest of the Bond films, with 007 out to gain revenge against a drug dealer who murdered CIA agent (and Bond film regular) Felix Leiter's newlywed bride. The villain, Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), is great, and the girls (Carey Lowell and Talisa Soto) are not bad, but the plot is way too dark for a Bond film. Thankfully, this is the over-serious Dalton's last movie.

11. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
Roger Moore as Bond takes on arguably his best enemy-the world famous hitman Scaramanga, played by Christopher Lee. Scaramanga outshines 007, and he is also helped by some good supporting roles, including Herve Villechaize as his assistant Nick Nack, and two solid Bond girls played by Britt Ekland and Maud Adams.

10. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
The most serious of the Roger Moore films combines Bond's mission to recover a stolen missile-launch transmitter with a beautiful Greek woman's (Carole Bouquet) desire to avenge the murder of her father at the hands of the thieves. Bouquet shines in the role of the vengeful Melina, and Moore handles the slightly more serious characterization of 007 well. All and all, a very different - and much better - movie than its predecessor, Moonraker.

9. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH
Brosnan's third effort is a very good movie which has arguably the best set of Bond girls of any film in the series. Sophie Marceau is great as the mysterious Elektra King. Denise Richards (Dr. Christmas Jones) is the most unlikely of nuclear physicists, but who cares? And Maria Grazia Cucinotta sparkles in her brief appearance. One could easily make the argument that this is Brosnan's best film to date.

8. GOLDENEYE
When this film came out in 1995, it broke a six-year hiatus for the series. The three movies before the break were the disappointing View to a Kill and two films by Timothy Dalton, arguably the weakest of the 007's. The wait was definitely worth it. Brosnan proved to be a fantastic choice for the role. He is probably the best Bond since Connery. The plot (not that it really matters) has to do with a top secret space weapon which is a leftover from the Soviet Cold War days. Judi Dench is a great, albeit surprising, choice to step into the role of "M." Sean Bean, cast to play Boromir in the upcoming Lord of the Rings and best known for his portrayal of Richard Sharpe on UK television, is very good as Bond's old friend-turned-enemy, Agent 006.

7. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
The plot here is of your typical run of the mill "Blofeld/S.P.E.C.T.R.E. builds a super-weapon and is out to blackmail the world" variety. The first film to really stress humor and over the top stunts. It is most notable as being the film that marked Sean Connery's return after a one-film hiatus.

6. OCTOPUSSY
Moore's second-to-last film has just about everything: stolen Faberge eggs, stolen nuclear weapons, miniature jets, British agents disguised as circus clowns, and a mysterious organized crime figure known only as "Octopussy." Oh yeah, and all of this has something to do with a plot to start World War III. Not the most realistic of films, but highly entertaining.

5. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
Probably the one film that generates the most controversy. Many fans criticize George Lazenby as the worst of the James Bonds, and also take exception to the fact that Bond actually gets married in the film. Others consider this movie to be the best in the series. While I tend to agree with Lazenby's critics, I also consider this to be a great movie. Bond's obsession with hunting down his arch-nemesis Blofeld, this time played by Telly Savalas, is at the heart of the movie, as is Bond's growing love for Tracy, played by Diana Rigg, best known as Emma Peel from the television series The Avengers. The screenplay is one of the best, and the action - most of which takes place on and around the Swiss Alps - is spectacular.

4. DR. NO
The first of the bond films, Dr. No, is ironically very different from those that follow. It's plot - having to do with Bond investigating the murder of British agents in Jamaica - is somewhat lower-key than those that would follow. Honey Rider (Ursula Andress) and Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) are worthy characters to start the tradition of 007 films featuring beautiful women and evil lunatics.

3. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
The second Bond film is considered by many fans to be the best. This time around Bond is tricked by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. into teaming up with a Russian agent in order to steal a decoding machine. The film has many highlights, including an exciting battle in a gypsy camp, a gallery of eccentric villains, some pretty cool gadgets, and a climatic fight between Bond and the man who was trained by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. to kill him.

2. GOLDFINGER
When I think of James Bond, Goldfinger is the first film that comes into my head, and rightfully so. It features all of the things that make Bond movies great - a unique villain (Goldfinger) and his evil henchman (Oddjob), beautiful women, gadgets, and sportscars with smoke-screens, oil-slicks, spikes, and ejecting passenger seats. Probably the most complete film in the series.

1. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
As Carly Simon sings in the theme song, "Nobody does it better." Bond movies are action movies, and no other film in the series is as action-packed as this one. The plot has Karl Stromberg (Curt Jergens) trying to destroy the world and create a new one undersea. Bond teams up with the fetching Russian agent XXX (Barbara Bach) to stop Stromberg and his henchman, the giant steel-toothed Jaws (Richard Kiel). The film also has what may be the coolest of the Bond cars - the Lotus Esprit, which is capable of transforming into a submarine.

Submitted 1/19/00 by Y2K-compliant Notre Dame law student Julio.