In a crisp black tuxedo, pointing a gun with his highly trained hands and introducing himself with his typical, “The name is Bond, James Bond”, Ian Fleming’s brainchild – universally famous and loved character, Bond is a spoilt British secret service agent who has a license to kill and a bad habit of sleeping with hot and dangerous girls. The third highest-grossing movie series and more than eight authors building on Ian Fleming’s novel series is a testament to the series’ popularity. The MI6 agent movies are also famous for brand advertising, earning a lot by showcasing branded products. Here, we have compiled a list of the best and worst James Bond movies of all time (ranked in worst to best order):
26. Casino Royale (1967)
The earlier version of Casino Royale, directed by Ken Hughes, features an old retired James Bond who has been knighted and referred to as Sir James Bond. Following the death of ‘M’, who heads MI6, the ever-reliable British agent is called back into service to face off against SMERSH. 007 has a cheeky trick up his sleeve.
He names all the MI6 agents James Bond to baffle the enemy. The antagonist and Bond’s rival, Le Chiffre is not so easy to handle. The movie was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Music/Original Song category.
25. A View to Kill (1985)
The classy Roger Moore dressed as James Bond finds himself on yet another mission to save the world from catastrophe (Roger Moore remains the oldest actor to play James Bond). On his return from Russia with a microchip that seems capable of withstanding nuclear emission, Bond finds himself facing off against the manufacturer of this chip, Zorin Industries.
Max Zorin, the owner of the company, and his companion aspire to destroy Silicon Valley in San Andreas. With a super-hot Stacy Sutton (Tanya Roberts) as the ‘Bond Girl”, Bond looks to stop Zorin and his evil plan.
24. Octopussy (1983)
Directed by John Glen, Octopussy is another adventure by Roger Moore as James Bond. This time, the British agent must prevent a third world war, orchestrated by the Russian general. The plan comes to light when a 00 agent is found dead with a Faberge egg.
Always finding himself in tight spots, this time 007 has to work along with a stunningly attractive Octopussy, who happens to be the antagonist’s close friend. Bond has to act fast to prevent a nuclear blow-up and a possible third world war.
23. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
The antagonist in this movie is a British World War II veteran and actor, Christopher Lee. The fancy shoes of James Bond are once again filled with celebrated English actor Roger Moore.
The MI6 agent finds himself on the checklist of a world-class assassin when he goes after him and is caught between two dazzling beauties a gorgeous Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) alongside him and the assassin Scaramanga’s sensuous lover Andrea (Maud Adams) on the other side.
22. The World is Not Enough (1999)
One of the better-looking Bonds of his time, Pierce Brosnan makes his third appearance in Michael Apted’s adaption of Ian Fleming’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. French beauty, Sophie Marceau, features the daughter of a British oil tycoon who gets assassinated in a bombing at MI6 headquarters.
The ever-reliable 007 is assigned to protect her and also save Europe from nuclear destruction at the hands of Renard, a known terrorist. Is the charming Elektra (Sophie Marceau) what she seems to be? It is up to the British agent to find out.
21. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Sleeping with the wrong girls is second nature to the British agent. This time, Pierce Brosnan as James Bond finds himself in a stand-off against a media tycoon whose wife is Bond’s former lover. Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), the tycoon, intends to instigate a war between the UK and China to achieve Global coverage for his company.
On his heels, aided by Michelle Yeoh (Wai Lin) is 007 to stop the evil plan. With a Saturn Award for Pierce Brosnan as Best Actor (Academy of Science Fiction), Tomorrow Never Dies is one of the best Bond films directed by Roger Spottiswoode.
20. Die Another Day (2002)
For the last time, Pierce Brosnan dresses up as James Bond in Lee Tamahori’s adaption of the fiction novel character. A captured Bond is released after more than a year in exchange for a dangerous terrorist held by MI6.
Accused of leaking information and held in detention, Her Majesty’s bad boy escapes and heads off after Zao, the North Korean terrorist. Playing the Bond girl is a fashion model, Jinx (Halle Berry). 007 unveils a plan of billionaire Gustav Graves to use a laser beam from a satellite and work with his American counterpart to stop it.
19. Moonraker (1979)
Starring Roger Moore as Her Majesty’s favorite spy and Lois Chiles with her great sex appeal making the Bond girl, director Lewis Gilbert’s Moonraker was a predictable success. We have seen Bond travel in the remotest parts of the world, but here he takes off into space.
A space shuttle is hijacked and it is up to him to find out the villain behind this to prevent a genocide. Moonraker was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Effect/Visual Effects category.
18. Never Say Never Again (1983)
The Scottish Sean Connery who has a bucket load of awards to his name and even has the honor of being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000, takes the role of the super-spy James Bond.
Former model and exotic beauty, Barbara Carrera makes an appearance as Bond Girl and gives a great performance getting herself nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Supporting Actress category. 007’s mission this time is to recover the stolen nuclear warheads from a US Airbase in the UK by a SPECTRE agent.
17. Spectre (2015)
The blue-eyed Englishman, Daniel Craig, plays the super spy 007 in the latest installment of the Bond series. With his impressive physique and calm demeanor, Daniel makes a fine James Bond. Playing opposite him is a striking French actress, Lea Seydoux.
A new player, Max Denbigh who is head of the Center of National Security, enters the forum and tries to shut down 00 networks. While M, Bond’s boss, handles the political battle, Bond is busy in Mexico where he stops an Italian hitman from bombing a parade. This leads him to uncover an evil organization by the name of SPECTRE which must be stopped.
16. Quantum of Solace (2008)
Following on from Casino Royale, the British spy is seen showing emotion for the first time over the loss of his lover, Vesper Lynd, in the previous installment. An assassination attempt on ‘M’ leads Bond to pursue the assailant, who leads him to Dominic Greene, a green technology developer who intends to get his hands on barren land in Bolivia.
007 sets on to find out why Greene is after that piece of land. A lot of action follows and our efficient Bond is the last man standing in the fights. The movie was nominated for 2 BAFTA awards in the Best Music and Best Visual Effects category.
15. Live and Let Live (1973)
James Bond’s expensive shoes are filled by Roger Moore this time. He sets out to investigate the deaths of his fellow Secret Service agents and meets a powerful villain known as Mr. Big. To make matters more interesting, the on-duty spy charms and seduces a very pretty solitaire, a tarot card reader, very close to Mr. Big.
Speedboat chases and more action follows with 007 in the thick of it. Live and Let Live was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Music category.
14. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Starring Sean Connery as the British spy, this time James Bond finds himself on a mission to fish out the responsible person behind diamond smuggling.
By changing his identity, he sneaks into the network and meets a lot of shady characters. Guy Hamilton’s venture was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Music category.
13. The Living Daylights (1987)
Timothy Dalton, a charming English actor takes center stage as James Bond. The agent helps in the recapture of a Soviet General and then helps unravel the nefarious designs of an arms dealer who intends to start a war in the world.
With a pretty face and super attractive physique, Maryam d’Abo plays the Bond Girl in director John Glen’s venture.
12. You Only Live Twice (1967)
Director Lewis Gilbert’s adaption of Ian Fleming’s fictional novel character, You Only Live Twice sees James Bond fake his demise and travel to Japan to uncover an evil plot. The movie, released during the Cold War era, plays on it and shows the Soviets and the US gearing up, blaming each other when their space crafts’ go missing.
Sean Connery as 007 investigates to prevent a world war. The movie was nominated for the BAFTA Film Award in the Best British Art Direction category (Ken Adam).
11. For Your Eyes Only (1981)
A British spy has gone down, along with him a British communication device known as ATAC. The Russians are on its trail and it is up to our super spy, James Bond (Roger Moore) to retrieve it before anyone else does.
Playing the role of a Bond girl, and his aide is a beautiful French girl, Melina (Carole Bouquet).
10. License to Kill (1989)
When a drug lord, Sanchez, beats James Bond’s friend to near death and murders his wife, the British agent will not rest until he has avenged his friend. Disobeying orders and going after Sanchez, 007’s license to kill is revoked by M.
Played by a fine English actor, Timothy Dalton, Bond seeks help from a beautiful CIA agent, Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), to get inside Sanchez’s network and bring him down.
9. GoldenEye (1995)
A deadly space weapon capable of firing electromagnetic pulses on Earth falls into the wrong hands. It is up to our British agent to save the world from the devastation as he travels to Russia to retrieve the stolen codes for the weapon. The enemy seems to have a strong hatred for Bond.
As the story unfolds, it is learned that the man against Bond is none other than his ex-partner, 006 who was captured and supposedly killed while Bond escaped. James Bond is played by Pierce Brosnan. GoldenEye was nominated for 2 BAFTA film awards, in Best Sound and Best Special Effects categories.
8. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
The Australian-born George Lazenby takes the stage as James Bond and gives an impressionable performance that got him nominated for a Golden Globe award in the Most Promising Newcomer category.
Saving a powerful crime syndicate’s daughter, Tracy, 007 gets offered a marriage proposal in exchange for information on SPECTRE head, Blofeld, who intends to release a deadly virus unless he is pardoned for his past crimes.
The adventure sees Bond and Tracy getting intimate as they head to Switzerland in the hope of thwarting Blofeld.
7. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
With 3 Oscar nominations in the Music and Art direction categories and a very attractive Barbara Bach as the Bond girl, The Spy Who Loved Me was a definite success as a Bond movie. A device capable of tracking submerged submarines is making the British uneasy when one of their Royal submarines, Polaris, goes missing.
The British send their best, 007 (Roger Moore) to get the device and find the missing submarine. Helping him is a KGB agent Major Anya Amasova.
6. Thunderball (1965)
This action-packed adventure of James Bond sees the secret agent travel to The Bahamas. The fourth mission of the fictional character created by novelist Ian Fleming, as 007 meets an exotic beauty, Domino (French actress Claudine Auger), on his way to recover the stolen nuclear warheads by an international evil organization, SPECTRE.
The movie won an Oscar in the Special Visual Effects category.
5. Dr. No (1962)
The first movie in the James Bond saga, Dr. No shows the British agent 007 in action on his first mission against Dr. No, a mysterious scientist who wants to see the U.S space program fail. The first Bond girl, Honey Ryder, is a former model and sex symbol of Swiss origin named Ursula Andress.
The adventure that follows shows the British spy traveling to Nassau in pursuit of stolen nuclear warheads that have the world hostage. Bond faces off against the architect of this scheme, SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo.
4. Casino Royale (2006)
The British-born actor, Daniel Craig, takes the stage as James Bond in Martin Campbell’s adaption of Ian Fleming’s novel. The hard-featured blonde actor, with his cold outlook, makes a fine Bond. Aiding him in his mission is an attractive French beauty, Eva Green as Vesper Lynd.
Casino Royale shows 007 on his first mission against a high-profile drug dealer. He must beat the antagonist in a very high-stakes poker game that includes a lot of twists. The movie won a BAFTA Film Award in the Best Sound category.
3. Skyfall (2012)
The renowned Adele covering her original cover song for Skyfall means no surprise when it won 2 Oscars in the Music category. Daniel Craig is our secret agent with a French beauty, Berenice Marlohe, as the Bond girl.
The list of MI6 agents gets in the wrong hands while M, the boss of James Bond, gets the heat internally from the head of the Intelligence and Security Committee. Under fire from both sides, only the ever-reliable British agent 007 comes to her rescue.
The antagonist bent on exacting revenge on MI6 is someone from M’s past and it is on Bond to take him down.
2. From Russia with Love (1963)
Showing weakness for beautiful women yet again, our British spy James Bond (Sean Connery) voluntarily falls into a trap to work with a young and attractive Tatiana (Italian actress Daniela Bianchi).
The fast and efficient Bond faces SPECTRE agent ‘Red’ Grant and ex-KGB agent Rosa Klebb during his mission of retrieving the Russian decoding machine, Lektor. From Russia with Love was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Song category.
1. Goldfinger (1964)
Another Sean Connery as James Bond movie with the tagline ‘Everything he touches turns to excitement’ is an interesting watch. In Bond films, it is a guarantee to see a gorgeous actress starring as a Bond girl, and this time it is English actress Honor Blackman.
The movie is named after the villain Goldfinger who intends to make a heist on Fort Knox’s gold reserves, sending the West economies into chaos. With a license to kill and a responsibility to save the world, 007 takes on the task of unraveling and stopping Goldfinger’s evil plan.
His side aim includes charming his enemy’s pilot, an exotic Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman). The movie won an Oscar in the Best Effects/Sound Effects category.
Hope you like our list of the best and worst James Bond movies of all time. Feel free to share your views in the comments below!
