10 Essential Bond Films to Watch Before SPECTRE

Every time a new James Bond movie comes out, the adolescent 007 super fan in me comes out to play. I saw my first Bond film in 1998. I was 9 years old and my parents had rented the newly released Tomorrow Never Dies from Blockbuster. I had come home from school just in time to see Pierce Brosnan swiftly hijack a missile-armed jet from a terrorist arms bizarre, defeat his adversaries with some aerial acrobatics, and brush off all the carnage with a clever one-liner. Then the trippy, sexy title sequence rolled and I was hooked.

Every Bond enthusiast has a story similar to mine. From 1962's Dr. No to 2012's Skyfall, the release of every new Bond film inevitably ushers in a new generation of fans who look back at the whole series for the first time. As we're only a week away from the release of the latest Bond adventure, here are 10 essential Bond films that every beginning, intermediate, and expert Bond fan should see before watching SPECTRE:


From Russia With Love
The second and greatest Bond film of them all, From Russia With Love is a classic piece of Cold War spy cinema that gives audiences their first real look at SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), the evil worldwide terrorist organization that would provide Bond's most iconic group of adversaries. Most notably, From Russia With Love marks the first appearance of SPECTRE's enigmatic leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (though we never see his face). In addition to the winning plot that places Bond in the thick of SPECTRE's revenge scheme for the death of their operative Dr. No (the titular villain of the previous film), From Russia With Love features Sean Connery in his finest performance as 007. Long before the cinematic James Bond became a much-parodied caricature, Connery created a version of the character unlike any big-screen hero we had seen before; taking the blue print found in the source material of Ian Fleming's novels and infusing it with a devilish mix of steely ruthlessness, catlike elegance, brooding danger, and ferocious sexual potency. In From Russia With Love,  Connery provides a character framework that will make it possible for 5 other actors to re-interpret 007 in future films.

Goldfinger
This is the film that most frequently snags the #1 slot on Bond movie ranking lists, and not without good reason. Is it actually the best Bond film ever made? Not quite, but it is the film that triumphantly established what is now referred to as the "Bond formula". Rolling Stone's Peter Travers called it "the time capsule Bond movie, the one that explains to future generations why we've been obsessed for 50 years and counting with British agent 007." Indeed, the success of every Bond film that comes after this one can be measured by how well it manages to hit all the Bond formula beats while also bringing something new to the table, which is why even the most casual Bond enthusiast should see Goldfinger at least once.


Thunderball
The movie that introduced the world to the jet pack. Thunderball is a sleek, bold and beautiful follow up to Goldfinger, and in many ways it's superior. Connery is at his coolest and most confident, as are the villains of SPECTRE (Italian actor Adolfo Celli is sufficiently devious as baddie/playboy Emilio Largo, and Luciana Paluzzi gives a strong, inspired performance as femme fatale Fiona Volpe), whose plot to steal nuclear weapons and hold them for ransom in the Bahamas makes for some beautiful location shots and an exciting finale of brilliantly choreographed underwater action.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Most famous for featuring Australian model-turned-actor George Lazenby in his one-off 007 performance, On Her Majesty's Secret Service claims a devoted fan base who hails it as the best Bond film of all time. As I mentioned before, every Bond film should be judged by how well it either follows or deviates from the Bond formula. OHMSS deserves a lot of credit for being the first post-Goldfinger Bond film to deviate heavily, and to great effect. In addition to a much more character-driven screenplay (featuring the strongest female character for Bond thus far in Diana Rigg's Tracy Di Vincenzo), Director Peter Hunt's '60's-arthouse visual style, combined with his notable faithfulness to the source novel, make the film stand out as one of the aesthetic triumphs of the series. It also features one of Bond's most acclaimed action sequences: a thrilling, ingeniously filmed ski-chase. For new fans gearing up for the release of SPECTRE, the film will serve as a great introduction to Blofeld (who may or may not be appearing in the new film). Though he was first revealed in the previous Bond adventure, You Only Live Twice, Blofeld's appearance as played by the bald, prosthetically scarred Donald Pleasance may resemble Dr. Evil (a parody of Blofeld who has since become far more famous than his inspiration) far too closely to even look at without laughing. Meanwhile, Telly Savalas' portrayal in OHMSS is still menacing, but tempered with a healthy dose of charm.

Live and Let Die
To a modern audience, Roger Moore's bizarre Bond debut may be about as politically incorrect as they come. The film takes a big queue from the blaxploitation craze of its era and pits Bond against a cast of black, drug-dealing villains who practice voodoo rituals. Nevertheless, there's plenty of fun to be had with this movie (It also helps—if only a little—that the villains are cooler and smarter than Bond every step of the way). As the second actor to step in for Connery, Moore succeeds where Lazenby failed by completely re-interpreting the role and making it his own. Younger fans beware: this is not the gritty Bond you've seen in recent years. Moore's Bond is defined by his humor, elegance, and dandy-ish charm. The stunts in this film are also a riot, especially the insane speedboat chase at the end of the 2nd act. It's also worth noting that Live and Let Die was the first Bond film that both Daniel Craig and SPECTRE director Sam Mendes ever saw. We've already seen plenty of visual homages to the film in SPECTRE's promotional material, so be on the look out for more when you see the new movie.

The Spy Who Loved Me
Everything that the Roger Moore era has to offer is perfectly encapsulated in The Spy Who Loved Me. The action (Bond ski-jumps off a cliff and ejects a union jack parachute), the ladies (Bond is partnered with a sexy Russian agent with the code-name XXX), the villain plot (a maniacal wealthy recluse intends to destroy the world and create a new civilization under the sea), the henchman (Jaws, the 7'2" assassin with a nasty set of metal teeth), the gadgets (Bond's car is a Lotus Esprit that turns into a mini-submarine) and the humor (the now-famous "Keeping the British end up" line)—it's all so wonderfully ludicrous. The series would completely jump the shark with 1979's Moonraker (where Bond goes to...you guessed it...outer space!), but in The Spy Who Loved Me, all the insanity amounts to a solid helping of sleek and sexy entertainment.

Licence to Kill

After Moonraker left the Bond creators with nowhere to go but back to earth—literally—the films took a major back-to-basics approach in the '80's. Moore would do three more Bond films, each maintaining the humor and camp associated with his tenure, but with stories more akin to the Cold War exploits that defined Bond in the '60's. Timothy Dalton would then take over the role for two films: The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989). The latter is a particularly dark, bloody outing, sort of a prototype for our current incarnation of 007. At the time of its release, Licence to Kill garnered significant criticism for its grittier violence and drug cartel revenge plot, which seemed to evoke the oeuvre of popular action properties like Lethal Weapon and Miami Vice more than they did a proper Bond film. As time has passed, however, the film has aged surprisingly well. Outside the context of other '80's action franchises, Licence to Kill's story of Bond going rogue and seeking revenge for the torture of CIA buddy Felix Leiter at the hands of drug kingpin Franz Sanchez (brilliantly played by Robert Davi) is one of the most effective in the series, and Dalton plays Bond with powerful rage and Shakespearean gravitas.

Goldeneye

Pierce Brosnan's reputation as the 5th Bond has wavered significantly since Daniel Craig took over. His first Bond outing serves as a reminder that he was truly great in the role. Before Goldeneye, the series had been dormant for 6 years and the cultural relevance of James Bond in a post-Cold War world was highly suspect. Brosnan's graceful, enthusiastic approach to the role removes any doubt that, as one of Goldeneye's taglines suggest, "you can still depend on one man." The film itself also addresses these questions directly, boasting a shadowy aesthetic and compelling story that forces Bond to confront the ghosts of his Cold War past (there's also a tank-chase sequence that's freaking awesome). Brosnan's three subsequent Bond films may have been duds, but Goldeneye will always be one of the series' finest moments.

Casino Royale
2006 saw the first official reboot of the Bond series by way of a modern-but-faithful adaptation of Ian Fleming's first novel. It was an inspired choice on the part of longtime Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, as was the casting of Daniel Craig. Each actor who played Bond after Connery has brought something of themselves to the role, but Craig is the only Bond to completely rise above the long-cast shadow of the original 007. As the only Bond film to completely ignore any sense of loyalty to the Bond formula, Casino Royale shifts its focus to explore the emotional brass tacks and fascinating psychology of the troubled spy that Ian Fleming created. Just as Goldfinger is the route to understanding James Bond the franchise, Casino Royale is the route to understanding James Bond the person.

Skyfall
The movie that marks the 50th anniversary of the series, Skyfall is deeply rooted in the strange, sinister camp of Fleming's novels, and does much with the history of the franchise by making it all resonate emotionally. Skyfall reinforces the notion that James Bond is a deeply conflicted character who dulls the pain of his violent existence with all the glamorous trappings of his job that have brought fans back to see him for decades. It's also the most beautiful looking Bond film ever, thanks to the top-notch work of cinematographer Roger Deakins and director Sam Mendes. Most who read this will have already seen Skyfall, but seeing how Mendes returned to direct SPECTRE out of a sense of ownership over the characters and story arch that he introduced, its probably worth another watch before stepping back into the theater for the next James Bond adventure.