The Best That Bond Has Offered Over 50 Years

It's hard to believe that James Bond first came to the big screen 50 years ago with Dr. No.  Now comes Skyfall, which some believe may be the best Bond film ever.  Let's look at some of the best of 50 years of 007!

First you need to know that the buzz on Friday's opening of Skyfall in the U.S. is huge!  The movie has already earned over $320 Million overseas in less than 15 days, Adele singing the theme became an awesome coo for the film considering she's taking significant time off for motherhood, and former 007 star Roger Moore (7 films as James Bond) stated on the Today show with Matt Lauer that Skyfall is the best Bond film ever!

You can judge for yourself when the film opens on Friday, but let's look back at some of the best that the Bond films has ever offered.  We all have grown at some point in this series of films, and have caught at some point on cable or the theaters.  This is just my skewed point of view:

Best Villain -- Donald Pleasance (You Only Live Twice) as Blofeld is unforgettable with his cat in his arms, his calm but chilling voice, and later influence Mike Myers to create Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers films.  For this he noses out Christopher Walken as Zorin (A View To a Kill).  This is close in my heart because Walken was pure evil - any villain that would throw someone out of his blimp for disagreeing with him is someone who knows how to control a meeting.

Best Henchmen -- The most memorable is Richarl Kiel.  Hell when you are 7'2" and you have steel teeth, you are hard to forget.  Kiel earned the nickname "Jaws" because of his character in 2 Bond films (The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker).   Harold Sakata was "Odd-Job" (in Goldfinger) who had the sharpened, steel-brimmed hat - one of the best weapons in Bond history and totally unforgettable!  My guilty pleasure is Grace Jones as May Day (A View to A Kill).  Quite a dynamic trio!

Best Bond Girl -- Michelle Yeoh as "Wai Lin" made Tomorrow Never Dies special.  She became the most unique Bond Girl in the history of the film series.  Cannot ignore Hallie Berry (Die Another Day) - name me any red blooded heterosexual male who could?  My guilty pleasure was Lynn-Holly Johnson (For Your Eyes Only) as Bibi Dahl (creative name!).

Best Bond Gadget  -- The Aston Martin car with all the cool extras (ranging from the bullet proof shield, to the missile launchers, hubcap laser and slashers, plus the dashboard fax machine) is the standard bearer of all Bond Gadgets!

Best Invention by Q that was never used -- "It's something we're testing for the Americans - it's called a Ghetto Blaster!"  It was what you may think (from The Living Daylights).

Best Bond Song -- "Skyfall" by Adele is brilliant!  Before this Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" was the standard bearer.  Most Underrated Bond Song to me is "The World Is Not Enough" by Garbage.

Best Bond Movie -- Impossible to choose one!

Best 007 -- I grew up on Roger Moore (and I enjoyed the humorous one-liners he would have) , but depending on how good Skyfall is I may have to go with Daniel Craig.

Enjoy 007 this weekend!