From Russia With Love vs. Goldfinger

chrisisallchrisisall Western Mass, USAPosts: 9,061MI6 Agent
in The James Bond Films
FRWL, Bond's second outing, and more refined than the first. Cold War coolness, and one of the greatest hand to hand fights of all time.
GF, an iconic meeting of Fleming & cinema. Almost OTT, but not quite. Yet. And... a laser.

I have no problem citing GF as my favourite of the two, despite Sir Sean's personal feelings on the matter. :))
Dalton & Connery rule. Brozz was cool.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
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Comments

  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Very close but I'd pick FRWL. -{
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • BRIXMISBRIXMIS Great BritainPosts: 171MI6 Agent
    From Russia with Love, for me. That classic fight, in fact whole train journey, give it that whiff of 50's/60's espionage.
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,924MI6 Agent
    FRWL is a shining Example on how to make a Cold War Era Espionage Film -{
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • Ens007Ens007 EnglandPosts: 863MI6 Agent
    AlphaOmegaSin wrote:
    FRWL is a shining Example on how to make a Cold War Era Espionage Film -{

    My sentiments exactly -{
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    ..... and it's got a Train in it too ! :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • DevilMayCare007DevilMayCare007 Posts: 196MI6 Agent
    Give me FRWL any day a better film IMO. Sean Connery is also close to Fleming's Bond in FRWL. Not saying I don't like GF bc it is one of the best, but I just find it a bit overrated.
    Also the train scenes reminds of Sherlock Holmes Terror by Night with Basil Rathbone for some reason :))
    Top 10 Bond Films
    1. Thunderball 2. FRWL 3. Casino Royale 4. TLD 5. OHMSS 6. SkyFall 7. GF 8. TSWLM 9. GE 10. FYEO
  • welshboy78welshboy78 Posts: 10,292MI6 Agent
    Also a massive FRWL fan and to me the better film and a great adaptation of the book - is it me or do you really sense some danger towards Bond during the film which of course in later films the viewer doesn't really see or care about.

    The two films couldn't be further apart really, one is a spy (near thriller) the other total Hollywood.
    Instagram - bondclothes007
  • broadshoulderbroadshoulder Acton, London, UKPosts: 1,363MI6 Agent
    Two great Titans of the James Bond series..

    Minds gonna be FRWL, mainly because Fleming writing is superb. You get the build up to the best set of villains in the series ie Klebb, Kronsteen, Grant and Kerim Bey

    Just nudging is Goldfinger and it actually improves on the book. T'hey plot to destroy Fort Knox seems incredible not to mention the edge of your seat climax.
    1. For Your Eyes Only 2. The Living Daylights 3 From Russia with Love 4. Casino Royale 5. OHMSS 6. Skyfall
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,924MI6 Agent
    Guy Hamilton commented on the implausibility of getting all of the Gold out of Fort Knox.
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • broadshoulderbroadshoulder Acton, London, UKPosts: 1,363MI6 Agent
    AlphaOmegaSin wrote:
    Guy Hamilton commented on the implausibility of getting all of the Gold out of Fort Knox.

    Thats why I think they changed from the book where they are stuck on the sidelines to the film where an atom bomb is in place and about to be detonated.
    1. For Your Eyes Only 2. The Living Daylights 3 From Russia with Love 4. Casino Royale 5. OHMSS 6. Skyfall
  • BlackleiterBlackleiter Washington, DCPosts: 5,615MI6 Agent
    Gotta go with Goldfinger, my all-time favorite. But FRWL is superb as well.
    "Felix Leiter, a brother from Langley."
  • Virgil37Virgil37 Posts: 1,212MI6 Agent
    FRWL and GF are the templates for everything that followed. When a film is a more serious spy thriller, it's FRWL. If it's a fantasy spy, it's GF. Both of them are just the peak of the franchise IMO. If I have to pick one over the other, I'll say FRWL, just because I love Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendariz, Robert Shaw, the Orient Express sequence,and of course a 32 year old Connery at his very best as Bond. Based on one of Fleming's best novels, possibly his best Bond title ever, and Terence Young really making it all happen.
  • DevilMayCare007DevilMayCare007 Posts: 196MI6 Agent
    Quick question. Do any of y'all think they would make a spy thriller type Bond anytime soon ?
    Top 10 Bond Films
    1. Thunderball 2. FRWL 3. Casino Royale 4. TLD 5. OHMSS 6. SkyFall 7. GF 8. TSWLM 9. GE 10. FYEO
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Oh yes, Mission Impossible 5, will be out soon! :))
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • DevilMayCare007DevilMayCare007 Posts: 196MI6 Agent
    Thunderpussy wrote:
    Oh yes, Mission Impossible 5, will be out soon! :))
    No :)) I'm talking about if a Bond will be like Spy Thriller again?
    Top 10 Bond Films
    1. Thunderball 2. FRWL 3. Casino Royale 4. TLD 5. OHMSS 6. SkyFall 7. GF 8. TSWLM 9. GE 10. FYEO
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    :)) :))
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • DEFIANT 74205DEFIANT 74205 Perth, AustraliaPosts: 1,881MI6 Agent
    From Russia With Love, by a long way. It is one of the most Flemingesque of Bond films that accurately adapts the source material to film.

    Terence Young, Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendariz, the train fight (on board The Orient Express, no less), gypsy camp fire fight (and girl fight :) ) ... what more could one ask for? In my view, it is the best Bond film ever made - hell, I'd even say it's one of the finest films of any genre, ever made.

    Goldfinger is good, but it isn't nearly as good as From Russia With Love.

    P.S. All those From Russia With Love fans out there, please go to the Bond film elimination game in the Trivia forum to prevent it from being eliminated far too early :p
    "Watch the birdie, you bastard!"
  • BIG TAMBIG TAM Wrexham, North Wales, UK.Posts: 773MI6 Agent
    From Russia With Love

    I like the differences between the first few Bonds. The (admittedly enjoyable) sense of deja vu hadn't kicked in yet.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Western Mass, USAPosts: 9,061MI6 Agent
    Blackleiter wrote:
    Gotta go with Goldfinger, my all-time favorite. But FRWL is superb as well.
    Just now watched From Russia With Love on Blu Ray, wow, what a great film. I haven't watched it in years... I still like DN a bit better, but this was pure awesome. My Son & I enjoyed it quite a bit, and he said it was dated, but I found it to be beautiful time capsule and a rousing Bond experience. Apart from the Popeye hat & the dodgy 'OMG' music during the gasoline drum explosions, this was a pretty flawless film IMO. Connery's most lively & engaging turn as OO7, and the best Cold War era movie ever.
    I'm gonna get GF on BR next, but I already know that will be my co-favourite of Connery's early films. Jeeze, those first three were astounding.
    Dalton & Connery rule. Brozz was cool.
    #1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
  • BIG TAMBIG TAM Wrexham, North Wales, UK.Posts: 773MI6 Agent
    FRWL & GF are two fine examples of Bond at his best. Everything's clear-cut & well defined, be it the villains, their scheme or Bond himself. You know where you are & what's going on without it ever feeling lowbrow or condescending. Compare this approach to later Bonds (e.g. TWINE & DAD) with their tricksy plotting where it takes several viewings to work out exactly what is going on.
  • InternationalExportsInternationalExports Posts: 269MI6 Agent
    In the docu film Everything or Nothing I was shocked to learn Thunderball outsold both. FRWL for me. Goldfinger I love but I think Bond spends to much time in captivity in the film, hes not out doing much from a majority of the movie hes behind bars. I know its central to the plot but after such a great start is troffs in the middle before peaking again at the end. FRMWL is just beautifully made, probably the most elegant bond. The story is good, The dialog is awsome and the locations are beautiful.
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,689MI6 Agent
    FRWL for me as GF was the perceptible beginning of film Bond and the beginnings of a move away from the literary Bond.
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Agreed, In FRWL Connery played Fleming's Bond, while in GF, He played EON's 007. :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • LegoBatman008LegoBatman008 USAPosts: 189MI6 Agent
    From Russia With Love because Terence Young basically took some ques from Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest and made it his own.
    "Ahem, you know in the future if you're going to steal cars, don't dress like a car thief, man." - Spider-Man
  • chrisisallchrisisall Western Mass, USAPosts: 9,061MI6 Agent
    LegoBatman008 wrote:
    From Russia With Love because Terence Young basically took some ques from Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest and made it his own.
    FRWL was the perfect Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made. -{
    Dalton & Connery rule. Brozz was cool.
    #1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
  • TecoloteTecolote Mississippi,USAPosts: 121MI6 Agent
    FRWL for me,and pretty much agree with all the pro FRWL posters. I especially agree with Silhouette Man and Thunderpussy on the transformation of Bond from Fleming to Eon.

    Regards,

    Tecolote
  • LegoBatman008LegoBatman008 USAPosts: 189MI6 Agent
    chrisisall wrote:
    LegoBatman008 wrote:
    From Russia With Love because Terence Young basically took some ques from Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest and made it his own.
    FRWL was the perfect Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made. -{

    A lot of people say the same thing about 1963's Charade as well.
    "Ahem, you know in the future if you're going to steal cars, don't dress like a car thief, man." - Spider-Man
  • chrisisallchrisisall Western Mass, USAPosts: 9,061MI6 Agent
    LegoBatman008 wrote:
    chrisisall wrote:
    LegoBatman008 wrote:
    From Russia With Love because Terence Young basically took some ques from Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest and made it his own.
    FRWL was the perfect Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made. -{
    A lot of people say the same thing about 1963's Charade as well.
    Absolutely. Charade is an excellent movie (I own it)- it's very much in the vein of North By Northwest (I also own that), but FRWL is more like Topaz (except that FRWL is better!).
    Dalton & Connery rule. Brozz was cool.
    #1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
  • AirJordanFan93AirJordanFan93 Posts: 92MI6 Agent
    FRWL. I think its a much better movie than GF and makes for a better spy story as well. GF maybe the essential Bond film in a lot of peoples minds but FRWL is just so damn good. GF is much easier film to watch though the fact the plot isn't as complicated as FRWL helps that.
  • BlackleiterBlackleiter Washington, DCPosts: 5,615MI6 Agent
    Thunderpussy wrote:
    Agreed, In FRWL Connery played Fleming's Bond, while in GF, He played EON's 007. :D

    Which works out fine for me, because I'm more of a fan of EON's 007 as portrayed by Connery than I am of Fleming's literary Bond. :007) (Fleming purists, please don't hurt me!)
    "Felix Leiter, a brother from Langley."
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