110 replies to this topic

[MajorBoothroyd]

Someone should make a bashing FRWL thread.

[seawolfnyy]

Someone should make a bashing FRWL thread.

What's there to bash?

[MajorBoothroyd]

Ah, it's a joke from the title.

[seawolfnyy]

Ah, it's a joke from the title.

Oh, gotcha.

[MajorBoothroyd]

 

Ah, it's a joke from the title.

Oh, gotcha.

 

 

The clue was in the emoticon.

[Iceskater101]

 

I actually ended up rewatching this movie, and I enjoyed it. I think when I was younger, I was rather bored by this movie, but I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought. I actually rate it highest out of the Connery Bonds.

That's a pretty common reaction. When I was a kid, I never missed a Bond film when they played on ABC in the days before home video and numerous cable outlets. Then as I was getting older I recall skipping FRWL to do something else and not really caring, whereas something like MR kept my attention better.

 

Now the film has gone up more than any other Bond film in recent years in my personal rankings.

 

 

Yeah I really enjoy this Bond movie. It's one of my favorites.

[Mallory]

I thought the Bulgarian/Gypsy battle was poorly choreographed and unrealistic like most shootout scenes at the time but other than that it is one of my favorites.

[Iceskater101]

That's my least favorite part of that movie ^

[Mallory]

That's my least favorite part of that movie ^

 

But the gypsy cat fight was one of my favorite parts. 

[Iceskater101]

I hate the gypsy cat fight lol

[Mallory]

The cat fight was pretty hot. Having watched it again.

 

Tatiana was a very boring Bond girl. Not as boring as Aki and Kissy but pretty boring.

[QLink]

The cat fight was pretty hot. Having watched it again.
 
Tatiana was a very boring Bond girl. Not as boring as Aki and Kissy but pretty boring.

I think that's due to the passive nature (outside of the bedroom) of the character. She isn't much more than a useful tool to either side. IIRC, the book didn't treat her any better.

[RMc2]

From Russia With Love is probably the only Bond film which seems to be unanimously & universally loved by Bond fans. At least on CBn, I've not come across a single person who seems to dislike anything about it. Is it really the most perfect Bond film of all time? At least I've not encountered any FRWL-bashing anywhere on this forum (I think all other films except this one have been bashed at some point or the other, even Goldfinger).

 

FRWL has always been the quiet one, the one that doesn't scream loudly about how good it is like GF or SF therefore it doesn't attract criticism so much. It's also had a very slowly growing reputation, only really surging into popular acclaim after CR put the emphasis back on Fleming and espionage, so maybe we haven't had time for the backlash to happen. I must admit that it's the only film in the series that constantly gets better with age and wows me every time. (OHMSS also does this, but less well). 

 

However, when I was a kid I hated it because it wasn't 'exciting'. I've completely reversed my stance now! As an adult I utterly adore it, though for a long time I still had problems with the gratuitous gypsy girl fight and the casual misogyny. But as I've watched it more and more I've realised this isn't a problem with the film so much as Fleming's world, and that the misogyny is an acknowledged flaw in the hero, which seems very bold today and gives him a more rounded believable character. Although the gypsy girls are still gratuitous, but in that cheeky ironic way I can almost forgive and have come to like as a minor flaw - they're only doing it to entertain us! - in a nearly perfect film.

 

I would say it isn't the best 'Bond' film though, because FRWL isn't your normal Bond film at all.

 

But it is my favourite.

[Safari Suit]

It's also had a very slowly growing reputation, only really surging into popular acclaim after CR put the emphasis back on Fleming and espionage, so maybe we haven't had time for the backlash to happen.

 

Hmm, don't know about that. I've certainly been reading that it's the best Bond film for as long as I've been reading about Bond

[tdalton]

It's also had a very slowly growing reputation, only really surging into popular acclaim after CR put the emphasis back on Fleming and espionage, so maybe we haven't had time for the backlash to happen.

 

Hmm, don't know about that. I've certainly been reading that it's the best Bond film for as long as I've been reading about Bond

 

I don't agree with that either.  FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE has been widely considered one of the better Bonds, as far as I can tell, since well before the release of CASINO ROYALE.  How far back that goes, I don't know, but it's been widely considered one of the better films since about the middle of the Brosnan Era at the very least, which was when I started following things a bit more closely.

[Dustin]

FRWL's acclaim - as far as I'm aware of - dates back to the Moore era. Prior to that the two big ones used to be GOLDFINGER and THUNDERBALL, with FRWL often having to take the back-seat. Somehow the serious tone and Cold War backdrop lacked the appeal of what people wanted to see in Bonds, colourful, bright adventure with a touch of irony. TSWLM then had to invent its own story from scratch but picked up FRWL's main elements, the mysterious killer, immensely powerful and superior to Bond, working for some time in the background and picking off the leads Bond follows, the vicious train fight, the main villain used only sparingly. Of course TSWLM as a result was nothing like FRWL, but since then the producers and directors often claimed to aim for the atmosphere of that early classic. 

[Professor Pi]

Michael G. WIlson said, "We always start off trying to make From Russia with Love ... "

[Lucky]

It is hard for me to find any faults with it. It is my favorite Bond film for at least the first 25 years of the franchise. 

[RMc2]

It's also had a very slowly growing reputation, only really surging into popular acclaim after CR put the emphasis back on Fleming and espionage, so maybe we haven't had time for the backlash to happen.

 

Hmm, don't know about that. I've certainly been reading that it's the best Bond film for as long as I've been reading about Bond

 

I've only been reading about Bond since 95-96 so I can only speak for myself, but FRWL was always a Top 3 or Top 5 entry in the critics' lists until post-CR,when it began topping lists, or coming in a close second. It's always been cited as one of the best, but to my knowledge GF, TSWLM or YOLT were the most commonly cited influences or standards critics and filmmakers spoke of when describing what makes the perfect Bond film, until DAD and CR made people reevaluate. The last decade has seen a big shift in favour of Fleming-fidelity and realism being among the most highly valued aspects of a Bond film.

Edited by RMc, 24 February 2013 - 08:16 PM.

[Connerybond]

The first 2 Bond novels I read in 1958 in myuniversity years were interestingly Dr No and From Russia With Love.  Emotionally,  in Dr No in 1962 I saw Bond appear in the large screen, and that remains embedded in my meory, but From Russia With Love, to me is the best Bond film todate

[The Shark]

I love bashing to FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.

[jrcjohnny99]

Have always loved FRWL, my 2nd fave Connery pic after GF and in my top 5 of the whole series.

It's probably (along with OHMSS) the closest to Fleming the series has gotten and it's also one of the darkest and most psychological of the series.

The cast is almost uniformly wonderful and the whole train sequence is as good as anything in the series.

[Mallory]

It is not the perfect Bond film. That to me goes to Goldfinger. I always felt the biggest flaw with FRWL is the continuity with Dr. No. Having Bond killed out of revenge for the death of Dr. No. Quite unessecary but they didn't think the series would have gone on like it did.

 

It is still my favorite Connery film.

[RMc2]

I think the real reason FRWL endures as a favourite is because it is just a great Cold War thriller in its own right, thoroughly believable but with enough humour and big action to make it escapist and allow us to overlook those little flaws. Then on top of all that, it's a Bond film with the appropriate trappings, which happen to be among the best in the series.

[jrcjohnny99]

I think the real reason FRWL endures as a favourite is because it is just a great Cold War thriller in its own right, thoroughly believable but with enough humour and big action to make it escapist and allow us to overlook those little flaws. Then on top of all that, it's a Bond film with the appropriate trappings, which happen to be among the best in the series.

This is a great point, it's one of the few Bond films that really stands alone, it's typically a fave movie among those that typically don't like Bond...

[Dustin]

I think the real reason FRWL endures as a favourite is because it is just a great Cold War thriller in its own right, thoroughly believable but with enough humour and big action to make it escapist and allow us to overlook those little flaws. Then on top of all that, it's a Bond film with the appropriate trappings, which happen to be among the best in the series.

This is a great point, it's one of the few Bond films that really stands alone, it's typically a fave movie among those that typically don't like Bond...

 

 

Agreed. Eric Ambler in his introduction to the anthology TO CATCH A SPY argues if it had been just up to him this anthology would have contained - amongst others - the entire ASHENDEN, MINISTRY OF FEAR and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE as the best of espionage fiction. It's a hands-down classic of the genre and despite the somewhat romantic scheme of Smersh undoubtedly a comparatively realistic depiction of what the whole business of spy vs. spy is about. The Cold War was seldom depicted with more absorbing expertise and suspense. Ambler knew what he was speaking of, after all the one writer to surpass Fleming's best efforts on a regular basis was Ambler himself.          

[Connerybond]

I too liked the helicopter scene.  Did not realise, it was shot in Scotland.

[Hansen]

I only see one major downside on FRWL: the shot of Dianiela Bianchi naked is really too short.

[Dustin]

According to various publications she wore a body stocking, didn't she?

[Hansen]

According to various publications she wore a body stocking, didn't she?

yeah... Another downside...