From Russia with Love (1964)

This movie is my favorite of the 007 movies I've seen. It's a bit more down to earth with some semi-realistic cold war political intrigue in it. Still has some ridiculous stuff in it too, but I wish other Bond movies were a bit more like this one. For those keeping track, Bond had sexual relations with 4 women in this movie. 2 in a threesome, even, but one was a lady he had sex with in Dr. No. So for the first 2 movies his total number of women is 6.

What I liked1. Like with the other two films so far of his, Connery did a great job2. It was interesting to see a movie about Russia in the sixties3. The chess scene was pretty cool to watch4. It felt like the first Bond movie that showed itself to be a part of something biggerWhat I didn't like1. The first twenty or so minutes are kind of confusing if you are not much of a Bond fanOverall I would say that this is still a very solid effort for Bond and that this movie deserves good reviews and is quite under rated compared to other Connery titles in the series.

This film has everything that was great about the first bond film, and more. The plot is wiser, the characters have more to do, the action is much more developed, and the character-to-character dialogue scenes are some of the most intense scenes I have ever seen in a movie. This film does everything to perfection, and what I love so much about these films is how easily each cast member can work with each other. They all feel so comfortable. I have no complaints about this film, besides a few characters that were brought up, but left out until then end of the film, but every movie can be poked at. "From Russia With Love" is a stunning Bond feature!

From Russia With Love (1963)Plot In A Paragraph: Crime cartel SPECTRE seeks revenge for the death of its operative Dr No and sets a trap to lure British agent James Bond (Connery) to his death. From Russia with Love, is a classier and more expensive movie than Dr. No, and it's all up there on the screen, planes are blown out of the sky, boat chases end in flames, suitcases explode on trains and Bond was chased by helicopter (a straight rip off of Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest but hey it's fun.)Whilst the script is surprisingly short on wit, it's a very tight and taunt affair, and it's not hard to see why this more grounded in reality Bond, is Connery's personal favourite. It's also very risqué with its nudity (the gorgeous Tatiana Romanova is seen getting into bed completely naked) and voyeurisam (is that how you spell it??) we have lesbians with flick knives in their shoes, Robert Shaw with a blonde crew cut, a tank of battling fish and out introduction to Q (the delightful Desmond Llewelyn) who would become a fan favourite. On a $2 million budget, From Russia With Love grossed $24 million at the domestic box office, to end 1964 as the 5th highest grossing movie of the year.