A Bond
Project Wrap Up: Part Deux
by Jay Maronde
by Jay Maronde
This is it. My last Bond article
for a minute (Until Bond #24--JK). It’s probably best this way. Most women don’t want to hear too
much about James Bond while at the bar, and thinking about James Bond all day
leaves one quite prone to telling women at the bar all about Bond. But after ranking all the films, it seemed to
me that there were still some things left unsaid—ratings to be made, pithy comments
I never got to commentate—so here dear readers is a long list of Bond Bests
including the best cars, Bond girls, henchmen, and villains.
Let’s start with the cars because
some of the choices are a little bit obvious.
TOP
5 Bond Movie Cars
1.
The Silver Birch 1963 Aston Martin DB5
No vehicle has ever been more
iconic or more fully aligned in the world’s understanding of a character. The
car has been in numerous films and plays a huge role in Skyfall.
2.
The Aston Martin “Vanish”
Die Another Day wasn’t that
great of a film, and everyone hated this car but I think it’s super awesome for
Bond to be driving an invisible car. Aston Actually designed and produced this
car strictly for the film and while in real life you cannot purchase an
invisible car, you can however purchase a V12 Vanquish and get your 007 dreams
on.
3.
The Lotus Espirit S1
From The Spy Who Loved Me. I’m
not necessarily a large fan of the film or of seeing James Bond outside of an
Aston, but a car that turns into a submarine is clearly so James Bond that it
hurts.
4. The BMW 750iL
From Tomorrow Never Dies. James
Bond has a smart phone that not only starts his luxury car but can also
completely control the machine. Oh and
by the way, Bond has this smart phone over a decade before the release of the
iPhone.
5.
M’s Jaguar XJ Ultimate Long Wheel Base
“Just
get out of the way! Don’t you know the car!?!” M’s car is a standout. A real
touring saloon that Bond steals with M inside.
Just imagine being able to power around London in one of Britain’s
finest luxury cars with police lights to avoid all the traffic troubles!
Honorable Mention:
The BMW R1200 Motorcycle
From Tomorrow Never Dies. As an avid motorcyclist I would like to
consider myself somewhat knowledgeable of the various types of motorbikes, and
the BMW R1200 had long been a favorite even before Bond put one through all of
its courses while handcuffed to Wai-Lin. The R1200-C model inspired by the film
was even better.
TOP
5 Bond Henchmen
1.)
Jaws
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Always Jaws. He’s the only henchmen to reprise his role. He’s so famous
it hurts and Richard Kiel still does appearances for the James Bond franchise.
2.)
Dario
From Licence to Kill and played
magically by Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro. I would suggest watching this whole
movie just to catch the glimpses of early genius at being so creepy. Truly, if
Jaws wasn’t Jaws, Dario would easily be #1.
3.)
Oddjob
The classic hat throwing monster
mute dude might even be more famous than the villain for which his featured
film is named (Goldfinger). The actor Harold Sakata paid a high physical toll
to film his death scene as he was really electrocuted.
4.)
Nick Nack
Herve Villechaize is remarkable, fun sized, and hilarious. He is the only
redeeming factor in what could be one of the worst Bond Films: The Man with the Golden Gun.
5.)
Xenia Onatopp
The only lady to make this list will actually appear in this article
twice as what’s really better than a lady henchman who kills via fornication?
Honorable Mention: The two weirdos from Diamonds are Forever.
Credited
as Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd and played by Bruce Glover and Putter Smith, these two
hand-holding murderers are funny as all get out and eliminated in a lovely
manner by Bond, but not before the very end of the film.
TOP 5 Bond Villains
#1: Silva
Skyfall’s
epic villain is played masterfully by the remarkable Javier Bardem. To be
honest, Silva is without a doubt the surprise of Skyfall. A real twisted warped evil villain, so weird and evil on
so many levels that he easily tops our #2 on this list.
#2: Max Zorin
The genetically engineered villain from A View to a Kill, played as only could
be done by Academy Award winner Christopher Walken. It’s really hard to top
Walken when it comes to the “creepy factor,” and had Bardem been anything less
than stupendous, Walken would easily be #1
#3: Auric Goldfinger
“Ha ha ha, no Mr. Bond, I expect you to
die.” One of the earliest villains in the canon could easily be the best. Mega
rich and super weird, Goldfinger not only operates on numerous continents, but
also has a plan to rob Fort Knox.
#4 Telly Savalas
Savalas is easily the best Blofeld amongst the
several actors to play the part—creepy, scheming, and definitely trying to
ruin the entire world. While Blofeld appears numerous times throughout the
James Bond canon, Savalas easily does the best job.
#5: Hugo Drax
Evil, Hitler-esque, and eugenically-minded,
this super villain from Moonraker not
only intends to destroy the whole world, but plans on repopulating it with his sort of
people. Oh yeah, and he steals the space shuttle and builds an international
space station several decades before the real ISS.
Honorable Mention: Gustav Graves and Colonel Moon
Two villains in one from Die Another Day. Granted, both of these actors are supposed to be
playing the same deranged North Korean bent on world domination, but without
both of their wonderful performances this already rough movie completely falls
on its face.
TOP
10 Bond Girls
Well,
now that we’ve come to the very end and to the part that everyone has been waiting
for, I must be honest and admit that ranking these 10 women might have been
even harder than ranking the films themselves, as there are soooo many
beautiful women in the world of Bond. I’m sure I will upset a lot of people
with this list, but IDGAF, this is my article and my opinion.
#1: Agent Caruso
The busty Italian agent that Bond has
hidden in his closet at the opening of Live
and Let Die. Played magically by the horror film classic Madeline Smith,
and reportedly working through being massively anxious due to Roger Moore’s
insanely jealous real life wife being on set during filming, Miss Smith is
amazing. Her busty physique has provided her with mountains of work throughout
the years, but her doe eyes, plush pouty lips, come hither attitude, and bad
Italian accent are absolutely perfect to compliment the debonair Moore. Further,
Bond should totally be involved with a real life sex symbol, not just a very
pretty actress.
#2: Honey Ryder
The original Bond girl herself, played by
the super famous Ursula Andress comes in a very close second—such a close
second that if I preferred blondes she could easily be first.
#3: Vesper Lynd
Played by the radiant Eva Greene, Vesper
Lynd is the only woman who Bond ever loved. Casino
Royale’s main female lead is gorgeous, and I know more than a few women who
dream of being her.
#4: The Countessa Tracy Di Vincenzo
Played
by one of the biggest stars of the day Dame Diana Rigg, the only woman
who Bond ever marries is gorgeous, and while her performance against George
Lazenby leaves just a little to be desired, this co-star of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service certainly
gets the job done.
#5: Xenia Onatopp
The villainess who literally screws people
to death is the only person to appear on multiple lists in this article. This
remarkable lady henchman from Goldeneye was
a little known actress but major model and sex symbol before this film, and
Famke Jannsen has since gone on to remarkable silver screen greatness as the
X-(wo)Man Jean Grey and numerous other roles.
#6: Dr. Christmas Jones
Denise Richards being a James Bond girl and
then later marrying Charlie Sheen easily serves to prove how much that guy is “winning.”
Her role in The World is Not Enough was almost written for her Playmate of the
month self and her name leads to one of the best puns in the canon when at the
end of film Bond says: “I thought Christmas only comes once a year”
#7: NSA Agent Jinx
Played by the stunning Halle Berry, to not
include Jinx (Bond’s American spy counterpart in Die Another Day) would be
utterly remiss. I almost wish I could put her higher but Jinx trying to be the
American Bond only serves to highlight how super awesome Bond really is.
#8: Domino
The kept woman from ThunderBall. Miss Claudine Auger was Miss France before attaining
this role. Her beauty is still remarkable all these years later and her chemistry
with Connery is beyond reproach.
#9: Maud Adams
BUT NOT FROM OCTOPUSSY. It sounds completely crazy but Adams can’t have the
award for the movie named after her character. To be honest, she was too old in
that film and she only made Roger Moore look older. However, a few years before
that, she starred as Scaramonga’s girlfriend in The Man with the Golden Gun, and while I utterly loathe Moore’s
treatment of her during the film, her beauty shines through so much that she
easily makes this list.
#10: Strawberry Fields
We never learn the real first name of Gemma
Arterton’s character in Quantum of Solace
until the film’s final credits, but the actress is absolutely perfect as a
foil towards Daniel Craig’s Bond. Her death scene is as fine of an homage to the
James Bond Canon as has ever been dreamed.
Honorable Mention:
Carey Lowell
As CIA pilot Pam
Bouvier from Licence to Kill. I just
love Carey Lowell.
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