YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

Recently I watched YOLT on video after neglecting it for several years. I never had much time and told myself that I'd just watch the first few minutes before leaving it for a more propitious time. In fact 30 minutes flashed by in a trice and I was still glued to the screen. I revised my first decision. Now I would wait until the first hiatus in the action came around; an hour later I was still watching and resigned myself to play it through until the end. Literally, there is no hiatus in the action. This movie is tightly scripted with exotic Japanese locations and is surely the best Bond movie ever. It was also the first in the series to significantly differ from the Fleming novel, but thanks to Roald Dahl's fine screen play that hardly made a difference.

In my opinion, the first 5 Bond films were the best. These were made before the days of political correctness which spoiled the Dalton/Brosnan movies. Bond is a sexual predator and Connery was the only Bond who appeared to happily embrace this fact. Brosnan and Dalton were both pretty boys who one could easily imagine washing the dishes at home. Quite simply, they couldn't compete with Glaswegian Connery's tough charm. Roger Moore was an OK fill in after Connery had decided to move on. Of course, he was clearly too old for the part even from the beginning, but he kept the role ticking over. George Lazenby was an unexpressive block of wood and new Bond, Daniel Craig, seems to have been carved from the same tree.

I would like to finish this entry by listing my favourite Bond movies. It should come as no surprise that the top 5 are all Connery movies. Sean Connery created Bond for most of us and those early movies were in general less fantastic and more centred on plot than the later films.

Top 5:

1. YOLT...absolutely perfect

2. Golfinger...another classic

3. Thunderball...Bond in the Caribbean

4. From Russia With Love...intrigue in Istanbul

5. Dr. No...with Ursula Andress rising from the waves like some goddess of the sea