Let's Bond
Welcome to a Monday edition of A Little Over The Top. This week’s rundown is going to be a little different because we’re not going to be doing our usual menu.
To celebrate No Time To Die’s formidable performance at the worldwide box office, as well as Daniel Craig’s record-setting tenure coming to a close, we’re going to shake and stir up some statistics to pit all of the big screen James Bonds against each other.
I feel that I am uniquely suited to run such an exercise because I have no dog in this fight. For some reason, I have never really connected with James Bond. I mean the only Bond joke I can make is the lame shaken/stirred reference above.
This detachment is in no way a personal value judgment on the films. The multi-decade contribution to cinema history is undeniable and the overall durability of the franchise, across multiple generations, is quite astounding. Maybe it’s because I came of age in the era of Pierce Brosnan (spoiler alert, this isn’t going to be fun for him) but whatever the reason it’s just never clicked for me.
But that’s what has made this a lot of fun. I’m proud of the fact that in a world of never-ending opinions being thrown at us every second of the day, we can use this space to be almost comically objective. So without any bias whatsoever from your trusty author, let’s enter the ring and see who comes out on top.
First, a quick point of reference. While I’m sure even this is debatable, I’m choosing to only look at the James Bonds from the Eon Productions produced films. This excludes David Nieven and Barry Nelson.
That leaves us with these six Bonds to battle it out:
Sean Connery
George Lazenby
Roger Moore
Timothy Dalton
Pierce Brosnan
Daniel Craig
Even within this shortlist there is a ton of disparity in terms of era, amount of movies, and generational trends. So while there is no perfect solution to create a level playing field, here are the factors we’ll be scoring everyone on.
Total box office (adjusted for current inflation).
A new metric I’m calling Franchise Share which is individual total adjusted box office/total franchise adjusted box office.
Average Rotten Tomatoes critics score.
Average Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
Average IMDB score.
Tenure - e.g., the total number of years spent in the role of Bond.
So there we have it. Six categories for six bonds. As we’ve done in the past, we’re going to weigh the two user-driven scores (RT & IMDB) higher to prioritize audience preferences.
The Bonds are ranked in each category and awarded their points based on that rank (6 being highest and 1 being lowest). In total and taking into account the weighted scores, 42 possible points are available to each person.
Ok less talk, more action. Here are the final rankings based on this scoring system.
Daniel Craig - 37 points
Sean Connery - 34.5 points
Timothy Dalton - 23 points
Roger Moore - 18 points
Pierce Brosnan - 17.5 points
George Lazenby -17 points
And since I’m sure there will be some interest in seeing how each Bond stacks up in each respective category, here is the full breakdown of the rankings.
Congrats to Daniel Craig and a respectful tip of the cap to Sean Connery who battled valiantly. I should note that in the category of Franchise Share, Connery completely annihilates the competition as he sits 21.05 percentage points ahead of the second-place Roger Moore.
Things aren’t looking as rosy for Brosnan and Lazenby at the bottom of the rankings, however, the points total paints an interesting picture.
Lazenby, one of the more polarizing actors in the Bond arena, was only in one film before departing the franchise abruptly. Over time he’s gained a more favorable view from critics and some audiences which is reflected in him holding his own in those categories. Without that recent critical assist, his total would have been much lower. Perhaps he may one day even overtake Pierce. Only time will tell.
And finally, since I never want to leave you without a menu of some kind, below is where you can find all of the available Bond Films. Aside from the obviously absent No Time To Die, all titles are available to rent or buy.
The only Bond unavailable for streaming is Roger Moore’s For Your Eyes Only.
I assume we may be seeing all Bond films available exclusively on Amazon Prime some day in the near future. For now though, you can find their availability below.
Hope you have a great week. Until next time!
Dr. No (Sean Connery) -- Hulu, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, EPIX Amazon Channel, Epix Roku Premium Channel, DIRECTV, Epix, Spectrum On Demand, Pluto TV
From Russia with Love (Sean Connery) -- Hulu, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, EPIX Amazon Channel, Epix Roku Premium Channel, DIRECTV, Epix, Spectrum On Demand, Pluto TV
Goldfinger (Sean Connery) -- Hulu, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, EPIX Amazon Channel, Epix Roku Premium Channel, DIRECTV, Epix, Spectrum On Demand, Pluto TV
Thunderball (Sean Connery) -- Pluto TV
You Only Live Twice (Sean Connery) -- Pluto TV
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (George Lazenby) -- Pluto TV
Diamonds Are Forever (Sean Connery) -- Pluto TV
Live and Let Die (Roger Moore) -- Pluto TV
The Man with the Golden Gun (Roger Moore) -- Pluto TV
The Spy Who Loved Me (Roger Moore) -- Hulu, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, EPIX Amazon Channel, Epix Roku Premium Channel, DIRECTV, Epix, Spectrum On Demand, Pluto TV
Moonraker (Roger Moore) -- Pluto TV
Octopussy (Roger Moore) -- Pluto TV
A View to a Kill (Roger Moore) -- Pluto TV
The Living Daylights (Timothy Dalton) -- Pluto TV
License to Kill (Timothy Dalton) -- Hulu, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, EPIX Amazon Channel, Epix Roku Premium Channel, DIRECTV, Epix, Spectrum On Demand, Pluto TV
GoldenEye (Pierce Brosnan) -- Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, EPIX Amazon Channel, Epix Roku Premium Channel, DIRECTV, Epix, Spectrum On Demand, Pluto TV
Tomorrow Never Dies (Pierce Brosnan) -- Amazon Prime Video, Pluto TV
The World Is Not Enough (Pierce Brosnan) -- Amazon Prime Video, Pluto TV
Die Another Day (Pierce Brosnan) -- Amazon Prime Video, Pluto TV
Casino Royale (Daniel Craig) -- Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV
Quantum of Solace (Daniel Craig) -- Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV
Skyfall (Daniel Craig) -- Hulu, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, EPIX Amazon Channel, Epix Roku Premium Channel, DIRECTV, Epix, Spectrum On Demand
Spectre (Daniel Craig) -- fuboTV, FXNow, DIRECTV, Spectrum On Demand