By David Fear
Special to MSN Movies

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At a baccarat table in a classy London gambling club, a man in a tuxedo is dealing cards. We can't see his face, but judging from the look the lady in the red evening gown is giving him, he's undoubtedly good-looking. After he wins a few hands, the woman asks his name, and finally, the camera reveals a handsome devil with slicked-back hair and a cigarette dangling out of the side of his mouth. He then utters, for the very first time ...

"Bond. James Bond."

And thus, a legend was born. Granted, "Dr. No" (1962) wasn't the debut flesh-and-blood appearance of Ian Fleming's suave superspy; a 1954 television play of "Casino Royale," broadcast live on CBS and starring Barry Nelson, predates the first Bond movie by eight years. But it was this initial big-screen outing, and Sean Connery's performance as the secret agent with a license to kill -- and quite the ladykilling manner -- that burned the character into the pop cultural consciousness. The basic template of what would become Hollywood's longest running franchise hasn't changed much since those first few movies: exotic locations, dastardly villains, outlandishly beautiful women, nifty gadgets and sexual innuendos galore, all accompanied by John Barry's twangy score and Maurice Binder's abstract erotic credit sequences.

In honor of Daniel Craig's inaugural turn as the sixth actor to play 007 in "Casino Royale," we look back at 10 of the most memorable moments from the Bond films. (We've limited the list to one per movie, to avoid an inevitable glut of "Goldfinger" mentions.) So sit back, pour yourself a martini -- shaken, not stirred, of course -- and remember that when it comes to wooing international hotties or saving the world from megalomaniacs, nobody does it better.

10. Bond and Wai Lin's Escape, "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997)
Bond films had borrowed elements from martial-arts movies in the past, from the ninja army in "You Only Live Twice" (1967) to the "Enter the Dragon"-era dojo in "The Man with the Golden Gun" (1974). But it wasn't until they brought in Asian cinema legend Michelle Yeoh ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") that the series finally found the proper East-meets-West balance. Yeoh's big scene with Bond could have been lifted from one of her Hong Kong action films: After fighting numerous bad guys, her character, Wai Lin, and 007 leap out of a skyscraper's window, jump onto a motorcycle, crash through buildings and, finally, slide underneath a helicopter before blowing it up. Did we mention that the duo was handcuffed to each other while all this was going on? It's one of the most impeccably choreographed chase sequences in any of the movies, and likely to leave any viewers who aren't short of breath saying "Yeoh-za!"

9. Goodbye, Q, "The World is Not Enough" (1999)
Desmond Llewelyn's cantankerous tinkerer Q had been a staple of the Bond films since "From Russia with Love" (1963), and he was one of the few actors with the distinction of appearing in all of the various Bond eras. After 36 years on the job, however, the actor decided it was time to hang up the labcoat. In his last appearance, he introduces his successor, played by Monty Python's John Cleese, and then exchanges a few parting words with his co-worker: "Never let them see you bleed," he tells him, "and always have an escape plan." The elderly man then presses a button, and descends through a secret doorway in the floor. It's a funny, fitting exit for the series' long-suffering supplier of gadgets; tragically, Llewelyn would pass away in a car accident a month after the movie was released. R.I.P., Q.

8. Welcome Back, Sean, "Never Say Never Again" (1983)
Okay, so this remake of "Thunderball" isn't really a bona fide Bond film (the movie's creator, screenwriter Kevin McCory, and longtime Bond producer Albert Broccoli had been battling each other in court over rights issues since the '60s). But McCory did manage to get one crucial player onboard: Sean Connery, playing the secret agent again for the first time since "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971). It was thrilling enough just to see the man who many consider the one true Bond back in the saddle, and compared to its "official" counterpart that same year -- the embarrassingly titled "Octopussy" -- this back-to-basics thriller feels like a return to form. Connery doesn't play down the fact that he's not the young man he used to be, but as one cohort says "With you back on the job, Mr. Bond, we can look forward to some good, healthy sex and violence." Amen to that.

7. She's Got Legs, "GoldenEye" (1995)
Pierce Brosnan's leaner, meaner version of Bond was a nice throwback to the earlier entries after the disappointing tenures of Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton, and his debut as 007 signaled a revival of interest in the series. What's most memorable about "GoldenEye," however, is the film's femme fatale: Famke Janssen's Xenia Onatopp, a drop-dead gorgeous assassin known for crushing her victims with her incredibly strong thighs. Her encounter with Bond is one of the series' more sexually charged stand-offs, as the two grapple in a locker room while wearing only swim trunks and a robe. Luckily (or unluckily), Bond doesn't succumb to her deadly charms, and the future "X-Men" star's character ends up meeting a grisly end involving a helicopter and a tree. Janssen's feral, orgasmic hit-woman, however, revived the former model's acting career.

6. The Man with the Metal Teeth, "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977)
Bond has fought his share of goons, but none of them have been as tenacious as Richard Kiel's Jaws, a giant with a set of steel choppers and a work ethic that would put the Terminator to shame. After battling Roger Moore's Bond in an Egyptian rune and on a train (a tip of the hat to "From Russia with Love"), Jaws' climactic tête à tête is regrettably brief. But two things make it memorable: First, the towering villain is dispatched in an ingenious way (note to evil masterminds: If you're going to hire someone with metal teeth, you'd better not keep a high-powered magnet around). Second, Jaws is forced to fight a man-eating shark ... and guess who wins? Kiel would reprise his popular character in "Moonraker" (1979) where, unfortunately, he'd end up helping the good guys after falling in love (?!?).

5. The Face of Blofield, "You Only Live Twice" (1967)
The ultimate nemesis of Bond and head of SPECTRE (Special Executor for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), Ernst Stavro Blofeld was the man behind many of the early film's plots for world domination. You usually only saw Blofeld's hands stroking his omnipresent white cat, or the back of his grey coat; his face, however, remained hidden. That is, until the fifth entry in the series, when viewers finally got to see what he looked like, only to realize that maybe ignorance really is bliss. As played by Donald Pleasance, Blofeld is distinguished by his baldness, an unpleasantly long scar and a look of madness is his eyes. The scar would mysteriously disappear in Blofeld's future appearances, and other actors such as Telly Savalas and Max von Sydow would play the character before he was killed off in the opening of "For Your Eyes Only" (1981). But it's Pleasance's performance and that initial peek that's makes the character the creepiest of Bond villains.

4. The Death of Mrs. Bond, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969)
George Lazenby's single turn as the secret agent is generally regarded as a footnote, though a contingent of fans consider his Bond second only to Connery's. The most distinguishing factor of the film, however, is that it's the only one in which Bond actually gets hitched (his marriage in "You Only Live Twice" is a fake one). And since Diana Rigg was chosen to play the lucky woman who'd be his wife, the mind boggles at what might have happened had the union lasted: Imagine the offspring of Bond and Emma Peel! Alas, it was not to be, since Rigg's Teresa "Tracy" di Vicenzo Bond would be the victim of a drive-by shooting mere minutes after the ceremony. Bond's reprise of an earlier promise to her -- "Darling, we have all the time in the world" -- is one of the few moments of true pathos in the series. 007 would never take the plunge again.

3. Strangers on a Train: "From Russia With Love" (1963)
Though the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the second Bond film is Connery squaring off against Lotte Lenya and her blade-tipped shoes, it's actually the mano y mano between Bond and Robert Shaw's "Red" Grant that's the better -- and more significant -- fight scene. When SPECTRE's muscle-bound agent has 007 at his mercy, Bond tricks Grant with a booby-trapped suitcase; what follows is a lengthy confrontation between the two men in a crowded train compartment that, even today, seems brutal and violent. After the twosome beat the living daylights out of each other, our hero finally uses Grant's garrote-watch against him to good effect, and sets the standard for every brains-versus-brawn battle the series stages from then on. There'd be no one-on-one bouts with Oddjob or Jaws had this knockdown match not occurred.

2. Sweeter than Honey, "Dr. No" (1962)
There have been plenty of memorable Bond girls over the years, but in terms of introductions, none have packed as much as a wallop as the very first. When Honey Rider sashays out of the sea in her white bikini, you could almost imagine scores of jaws hitting theater floors; no single movie scene may be responsible for such an instant onset of puberty among young males. As played by Swiss bombshell Ursula Andress, Rider is the epitome of pin-up cheesecake circa '62, and while the voice may not have actually been hers (because of her heavy accent, all of the actress's lines were dubbed by Monica Van der Syl), who cares when you're talking about those insanely voluptuous curves? When Halle Berry paid homage to the famous sequence in "Die Another Day" (2002), it proved that nobody -- not even the equally stunning Berry -- could top Andress' entrance.

1. Laser Treatments, "Goldfinger" (1964)
Picking the most memorable moment from what's universally considered the crème de la crème of Bond films is tough: The fight with the sharp-dressed (literally) henchman Oddjob? The discovery of that gold-covered girl? The amazing pre-credit sequence, which is almost a complete movie unto itself? One scene, however, stands out above the rest -- Bond's too-close-for-comfort encounter with Goldfinger's lasergun. Strapped to a table, 007 finds himself in a jam when the titular villain decides to test out his latest toy ... which cuts a path between Bond's legs and right up to his crotch. "Do you expect me to talk?" he asks. "No," Goldfinger replies deliciously. "I expect you to die." Ever the resourceful secret agent, Bond manages to extract himself from the potentially crippling situation, but the point has been made: This blond-haired bad guy ain't fooling around. And seriously, is there a more Freudian way to threaten the screen's most virile spy than with an even bigger phallic symbol?

What is your favorite Bond moment? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com

David Fear is a film critic for Time Out New York. He's also written for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Filter and Moviemaker Magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.