Least of Connery movies? - Dr. No (1962) Discussion

[–] EleazarHisSon (750) a year ago

I think most would either say Diamonds Are Forever or You Only Live Twice is the least of Connery's Bond entries. Or the non-EON Never Say Never Again. I'd go with the former.

Then some might also say that the least of Connery's is still better than a mid-range Moore entry. Although I'm not sure I agree in the case of DAF. It has that Moore campiness anyway, plus a totally bored Connery who's only there for the paycheck and almost sleeps.

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[–] [deleted] a year ago

DAF has a great chase through Vegas and Lana Wood. Beyond that, it's pretty boring, I agree.

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[–] Roguemail (1614) 25 days ago

Hardly great. It should have been, but with the streets lined with hundreds of onlookers ruining the mood, a very obvious conveniently placed ramp in the car park, and the silly editing error with the car going up on two wheels, I think its very lack lustre.

Chase set pieces in Bond movies usually have a 'moment' to make them memorable or cool...such as the car flip in Golden Gun, the boat jump in Live and let die, the car flip in Casino Royale. This movie had none of that.

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[–] FootOfDavros (8140) a year ago

From Russia With Love for me. Just too dull...

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[–] jk90us (7138) a year ago

I like this one more than From Russia With Love.

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[–] FilmBuff (7234) a year ago

I certainly think it's a solid Bond film, and it features perhaps the greatest Bond Girl of all time. To quote Sick Boy, "Ursula Andress, the quintessential Bond girl. That's what everyone says. The embodiment of his superiority over us. Beautiful, exotic, highly sexual and totally unavailable to anyone apart from him."

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[–] stevewyzard (1583) a year ago

It's only the "least enjoyable" if you're looking for humor. Starting with You Only Live Twice, the series unapologetically threw out Ian Fleming's books and were played for both action and laughs to draw larger audiences.

The Connery Bond films, ranked best to worst:

1. From Russia with Love
2. Thunderball
3. Goldfinger
4. Dr. No
5. Diamonds are Forever
6. You Only Live Twice

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[–] [deleted] a year ago

Because there was no humor in the Bond movies before YOLT...🙄

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[–] BillySlater (4241) 25 days ago

Putting DAF above YOLT is sacrilege!

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[–] KingBob (2107) a year ago

No this film is very enjoyable. In fact I think this is Connery’s best performance.

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[–] Ripkens25 (2013) a year ago

I put it right up near the top as well.
Connery looks fantastic here, and is the embodiment of cool.
The Jamaica setting is nice, Felix is cool, and Ursula emerging out of the water is jaw-dropping.

Sure, as a first outing, the franchise is just geeting its sea legs.....but when the camera finally finds Connery's face at that iconic scene at the gaming table when he first says: "Bond, James Bond"......cool and casual, that alone was pretty fantastic.

Other great moments:

I also especially like the scene where he comes back to his beach house, puts a record on, pours a double scotch, kicks his feet up...and waits for Professor Dent to come after him. "You had your six".

Bond singing "Underneath the Mango Tree" with Honey Ryder when she first emerges from the water and doesn't see him yet.

Dr. No is just cool and classic. No cgi, and no over-the-top action. A favorite of mine, and a perfect way to introduce Connery as Bond.

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[–] Lucia2016 (612) 6 months ago

I like to watch this one and FRWL back to back, if you wanted to be greedy you could add Thunderball as well. Basically all the Terrence young ones are i think the definitive Bond Films

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[–] [deleted] 2 months ago

If only they hadn't used that Mango Tree song like 10 times throughout the movie. It was overused and became annoying quick.

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[–] letess (1513) 2 months ago

Did you know that was an original song? It is actually the first Bond song. It was only used twice. She sang it and then he sang it.

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[–] [deleted] 2 months ago

No, I've just watched the movie a couple of hours ago and the song was used at least five times.

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[–] letess (1513) 2 months ago

I can’t imagine counting. If I see this again…

“Underneath the Mango Tree is a song written by Monty Norman, which appears in the film of Dr. No. It is sung by Diana Coupland dubbing the voice of Ursula Andress playing Honey Ryder. Sean Connery's James Bond sings it back to her in his own voice.”

Calypso was a big thing at the time out of the Caribbean. I think Jamaica was still part of the UK when this movie came out. And samba came out of Brazil. The music of the early 60s.

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[–] BillySlater (4241) 25 days ago

Yeah that hack Monty Norman's score was atrocious and brings the film down a bit.

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[–] letess (1513) 2 months ago

It’s the best one. It was the first and Connery looked his best ever. He was also the most deadly, as those one-liners were yet to be interjected. The tone was different in this one - it had trepidation. And later, Connery had that horrible hairpiece and then he was out of shape. Ursula was great as Honey Ryder. I think they originally wanted Julie Christie. They dubbed all the actresses’s voices. He commits a cold blooded killing in this one that you really don’t see that again until opening scenes of Casino Royale. There are no gadgets. Dr. No as the villain was fantastic bc he was real. When you first see Connery as Bond, his very first line is - “You’re out to get me” to Sylvia Trench while playing Baccarat Chemin de Fer. It was devilish and magnetic probably the best first scene of anybody. Goldfinger and From Russian with Love and Thunderball followed and are the favorites of many. I think not until Casino Royale came out was there a better Bond movie than Dr. No. Bond only falls in love twice - with Vesper in Casino Royale and with Teresa in Her Majesty’s Secret Service. They could do this latter one again.

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[–] KingBob (2107) 2 months ago

No, Diamonds Are Forever is the least and it’s not even close.

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