The London Times lists some of the worst James Bond movie moments. I disagree with a lot of their choices, especially when there are so many truly awful moments to choose from.
For me, the worst moments were in "Moonraker" (Jaws flapping his arms, trying to fly as he fell from an airplane; Bond riding a horse to the theme from "The Magnificent Seven"), "A View to a Kill" (Bond skiing across an ice-lake to a Beach Boys song; getting into bed with Grace Jones and looking like a dirty old man), "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (007's arch-nemesis Blofeld doesn't recognize Bond because he's wearing a kilt!), "Diamonds Are Forever" (Bond tooling around the desert in a moon buggy), and "Die Another Day" (the invisible car and a ridiculous CGI Bond surfing a tidal wave).
(Thanks to Bill Crider for the link)
He got his Jaws See The Light moment wrong. Shortly after we see Jaws and his lady love toast one another, there is a shot of a Mission Control guys turning to M and telling him that two survivors were found in some wreckage, “A tall man and small woman.”
Gee gee, who could it be? 😉
There’s no doubt that DIE ANOTHER DAY was way, WAY over the top, but I thought that was part of its baroque charm (my favorite was the car chase where each vehicle sprouted weapons like it was a Japanese cartoon).
The relatively sober CASINO ROYALE was a much better picture, though.
Although GOLDFINGER is one of my favorite movies, I agree that Goldfinger offing the gangsters after showing them the cool diorama and telling them his plan makes about as much sense as Goldfinger crushing his limo — and his gold, and “the unfortunate Mr. Solo” — in the junkyard. (Why not just toss Solo into the limo’s trunk and bury him at the farm? That’s presumably what Oddjob will do with the other dozen mobsters Goldfinger killed. Or maybe he’ll crush them in a school bus.)
The explanation, of course, is that Goldfinger is a grandiose egomaniac. And it’s no fun coming up with the crime of the century if you can’t brag about it to someone. Why not tell someone you plan to kill anyway?
I am a big fan of the James Bond franchise, but I have to agree – there are many, many truly awful moments.
I’m a big fan of James Bond too. My favorite is Diamonds Are Forever, Sean Connery’s last Bond film (if you didn’t include Never Say Never Again, I’d rather not). Die Another Day is over the top, period. Too much special effects, too much fantasy. Although I think the sales of diamonds rose after Halley Berry’s diamond-filled belly scene, hahaha.