Reblogged » Bond Directors: Licence to List – #Bond_age_
Been a while since the blog has done a post dedicated to the longest running movie series in history. Since I’m attending the re-screening of the most recent film, SPECTRE, over at the Petersen Automobile Museum this evening, we should fix that. Reblogging what the good folk over at #Bond_age_, The James Bond Media Project, recently did should suffice. The piece by Greg McCambley will do nicely as it ranks all the James Bond directors, and I’m not saying that because we agree wholeheartedly.
Bond Directors: Licence to List – #Bond_age_
From Terence Young to John Glen to Lee Tamahori, Greg does a simply splendid job at gauging the impact that each of the Bond directors had during the five-plus decades of Bond…James Bond by highlighting their achievements. As he put it:
“For this newest Licence to List, #Bond_age_ HQ has compiled and ranked a list of the best Bond directors. As always, we’ve used highly specific and wholly arbitrary methods for ranking. We each have our favorite films and our favorite directors and our favorite films filmed by our favorite directors. What was I saying? Oh yeah, I was saying this is highly scientific.”
Without a doubt the top five I enthusiastically agree with, and in the same order, surprisingly. There wouldn’t have been the kind of James Bond that’s lasted this long without Terence Young molding Sean Connery and the onscreen character as he did. Moreover, good to see Martin Campbell picking up more acclaim for his superb twosome1. But it’s the next quintet that’s going to get the most disagreement among Bond fans, me thinks. Especially with this entry that’s going to draw criticism, no doubt:
Granted, I didn’t enjoy SKYFALL as much as most did, but I’d still have Sam Mendes higher2, as would Lewis Gilbert’s contributions. We’ll just leave Lee Tamahori exactly where most Bond fans will place his lone work…right along with that horrid Bond number Madonna left in her wake. Either way, the licence to list article is a thoroughly enjoyable read that should draw a lot of attention, and I recommend to Bond as well as movie fans alike.
- His work on British TV mini-series (Reilly: Ace of Spies and Edge of Darkness) should not be underestimated, either; but let’s just agree he just should stay as far away from any big screen comic superhero genre as possible. ↩
- Have already gone on record American Beauty is entirely overrated; there I said it again. ↩
It Rains... You Get Wet 
6 Responses to “Reblogged » Bond Directors: Licence to List – #Bond_age_”
Very interesting – and I agree with you about the top 5. In fact, I would probably say the only real disagreement is, as you predict, Mendes, who I would put put at 7 after Apted instead of Spottiswoode and move everyone else down a notch as a result.
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Great to have you chime in on this, Sergio. Yeah, that Mendes ranking no doubt is causing many to weigh in. Thanks, my friend. 🙂
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Great reblog Michael! I like Skyfall, it’s Spectre I have lots of issues with but I still think Mendes is one of the best directors of the franchise. I’m still hoping they’d hire Martin Campbell again though, considering how good Casino Royale was. But yes, no more Lee Tamahori!
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Oh, thank you, Ruth. Yeah, this would grab the attention of most Bond fan, to be sure, so I had to share. 🙂
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You can’t beat a bit of Bond-age!
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Well put, Mark. Thanks, my friend. 🙂
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