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The best James Bond fights


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#1 White_Knight

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Posted 07 December 2014 - 11:37 PM

Hi everyone, first time posting here at CBn.

 

I recently wrote about the 33 best hand-to-hand fights of the James Bond franchise on my film blog, hopefully my first of many James Bond articles leading up to next year's SPECTRE.

 

https://enjoythecraw...bond-franchise/

 

 

Over the years, James Bond has relied on a lot of things to get his job done: friends in foreign countries, presents from Q-Branch, a way with the ladies, fluency in many languages, superior knowledge of wines, precious metals, and butterfly species, blind luck, damaged nerve endings, engines that run 0-62 mph in 4.6 seconds, and on occasion drinking the bar out of its vodka and brazenly telling the enemy who he is and what he’s after. But more often than not the most direct way to save the day is simply to roll up the sleeves and start throwing punches.

 

Bond has battled atop speeding trains, aboard luxurious yachts, high on snowy peaks, deep within a volcano lair, and yes, even in outer space, using any combination of fighting styles from Krav Maga and Jiu-jitsu to Victorian boxing. He’s never lost a bout yet, but that doesn’t make the fights of the James Bond films any less thrilling. Still, with over a hundred to choose from, some have been more memorable than others. The fights mentioned here were chosen for their brutality, originality, humor, artistic merit, bearing on narrative, editing, cinematography, choreography, and use or absence of music. And of course, a cool retro-futuristic set designed by Ken Adam never hurts.

 

Disclaimer: Only the 23 James Bond films produced by Eon have been included. Otherwise, Never Say Never Again‘s epic health clinic battle between Sean Connery andIndiana Jones stuntman Pat Roach featuring hurled hand weights, a metallic whip, and a beaker of Bond’s own urine chucked in the face would surely have made the cut.

 

In the words of Elliot Carver: “Let the mayhem begin.”


Edited by White_Knight, 08 December 2014 - 01:26 AM.


#2 thecasinoroyale

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Posted 08 December 2014 - 10:21 AM

Welcome to CBn, White_Knight!

 

Great little write up! Great analysis and I think a very accurate and well thought out run-down for personal opinion!  :D



#3 billy007

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Posted 08 December 2014 - 10:32 AM

I may have reversed your second and first choices simply because the sound editing of train fight in FRWL was state of the art(in its time)



#4 Turn

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Posted 09 December 2014 - 12:14 AM

Nice read and I applaud being able to put something this vast together.

 

But part of the fun is debating the choices. I'd have reversed 1 and 2. The FRWL fight is simply one of the great movie fights and has lost none of its raw power 50-plus years later. It's a mini masterpiece in a classic film.The GE fight was a welcome return to that type of hand-to-hand combat, but still couldn't reach those heights, IMO.

 

I don't consider Bond and Onatopp a hand-to-hand fight, more of a tussle and something like a leftover from a Moore script. I'd replace it with an actual Moore fight, that against the three guys in Saida's dressing room in TMWTGG. I'd also get in there somewhere Bond vs. Largo and his men at the end of TB. Yeah, it's sped up a bit but a great bit of mayhem with Bond dominating until that lurch throws him off balance.

 

Bond vs. Franks was way too low at 17. That's top 10 at least for me.

 

Lastly, and I may be the only one with this belief, but Bond vs. Oddjob is so one-sided it's hardly a fight. It's Bond being toyed with and thrown across Fort Knox like a rag doll. It's more of a struggle than fight. Yeah, Bond wins, but it's more through luck and ingenuity than strength and force.



#5 sharpshooter

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Posted 09 December 2014 - 02:47 AM

My favourite is still the hotel room brawl in OHMSS, followed by the FRWL train sequence. Of the modern era, I'm leaning towards the Slate fight in QoS.



#6 White_Knight

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Posted 09 December 2014 - 02:55 AM

Thanks for reading and commenting, guys. I put a lot of consideration into my choices and appreciate your feedback. I knew ranking FRWL's train fight second instead of first would be a controversial decision, but the stakes do feel that much higher for me in Bond's fight with Trevelyan. My fear of heights probably feeds into that.  ;)

 

I can't wait to see Daniel Craig face off against Dave Bautista. I really think Sam Mendes and company are going to deliver another iconic fight for the series—one for the ages.