We assess the superspy's first half-century on the big screen
By Glenn Kenny
Special to MSN Movies
It's the 50th anniversary ... not of James Bond himself, who was invented by
author Ian Fleming in 1953, but it is the 50th anniversary of the first official
Bond movie, 1962's "Dr. No," which also marked actor Sean Connery's debut in the role. It's not too
well known, but the first Ian Fleming Bond novel, "Casino Royale," had already been adapted for the
screen -- the small, black-and-white TV screen -- some years before. You'll find
out more about that below.
With a special tribute planned at the Oscars,
it's an opportune time to look at the action-espionage franchise that, at
various points, set the bar for its genre. For this assessment, we enlisted MSN
Movies' chief film critic, Glenn Kenny, to put his license to judge on the line
and actually rate the Bond pictures from worst to best. We've also thrown in two
Bond movies that are not part of the official series, for reasons that will
become clear. Agree? Disagree? Hopefully the ranking will leave you not shaken,
but rather stirred to check out the best of the Bond movies one more time.
Bing: 'Skyfall' | More about Ian Fleming
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(Daniel Craig in "Skyfall"/MGM) |
