If he's here, who's running hell?

The first sequel comes in one spot ahead of the original Dr. No. Last Bond movie to come out before Fleming would pass away. Connery won Fleming over here though he was a naysayer against casting Connery in No. Probably didn't hurt that From Russia broke box office records. Budget was double Dr. No. Connery, Craig, Dalton and Lois Maxwell had/have From Russia as their favorite one.The plot involves retrieving a decoding device before Spectre can get it. First Desmond Llewelyn appearance. Bond doesn't appear until 17 minutes in. Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB would likely have this in the top 5 if we didn't take into account my dead last ranking of 2012. This time I placed it at 12. I quite like the train sequence and the assassination that Bond performs but it takes much longer to get to that then I had remembered. The train fight alone took 3 weeks to film. We get a poisoned shoe knife, ala Dark Knight's Joker. We also get a Spectre base scene, under water boat ride includ...

The OG film with the OG actor. Back in 1961 it was only a glimpse into what EON, Ian Fleming, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman all had in store for the next 70+ years. We had Moneypenny and M, but no Q here. Terence Young would eventually do a trilogy despite not doing Goldfinger and getting pulled back for Thunderball. Broccoli and Saltzman were high on Connery (despite already losing his hair), but Fleming wanted someone else. Bernard Lee only got the part the day before shooting because he was available. Ursula Andress (whom only made 6K on this) is currently still kicking at 88. Her character is random to the plot, she just likes to go the eventual 'bad guy island' for scavaging. The bad guys have left her alone up many times supposedly until the point where James runs into her. I can't remember any other Bond girl being essentially a 'rando' to the plot. She still gets wrapped up with Bond when they get captured. Honey Ryder getting out of the water is p...

The fourth Connery outing in four straight years. The Bond movies wouldn't come out at this rate ever again. Terence Young completes his 'trilogy' starting with Dr. No and following up with From Russia. Because Guy Hamilton's Goldfinger gets praise as the best or at least top 3 in so many eyes, Thunderball was destined for some sort of a letdown. Eon does find their footing and formula by this time. We finally get a Connery gun barrel scene. Dr. No gets praise for being the original and has some of the elements, but Thunderball has the water lair, spy infiltration, and eventual showdown between lead characters and outside fighting (60 divers were used in the underwater climatic battle) that we would come to see so many times. "Oh Shit, let's just do what we always do. Highjack some nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage?" - Dr. Evil. There have been several attempts at sort of remaking this story, and for good reason. Even at it's worst Thunderba...