Which Bond was the luckiest?

SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
edited August 2015 in Bond Movies Posts: 1,138
EDITED to include some suggestions.

I asked this in the James Bond questions thread, but the answers weren't very in depth. I'd like to list all the times Bond has his bacon saved by Deus ex machina. Times when he had so way of escaping or surviving and someone (or something) saved him. Also, I'd like it to be things that aren't reasonable to expect. It seems reasonable in CR for Vesper to come looking for Bond and finding him in his car. While she saves him, I don't think that counts as Deus ex machina. Some instances that come to mind:

Connery:
DN: When the three blind mice are outside his hotel with a gun trained on him. He's saved by a car driving past and blocking their view.

YOLT: Aki rolls over at the exact moment to have the poison drip in her mouth instead of Bond.

DAF: Bond is in a coffin that's being cremated. If they hadn't checked the diamonds at that exact minute and come back in time he would have died. There was no escape possible.

Lazenby: Does Tracy showing up out of the blue at the ice rink count?

Moore:

Dalton:

Pierce:
TWINE: Zuchovsky showing up at Maiden's Tower at the moment Elecktra is about to kill Bond is pretty damned lucky.

Craig:
CR: Bond is about to have his bullocks cut off and fed to him, only to be saved by Mr White killing le Chiffre.

Comments

  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,787
    Sean Connery skilfully talking his way out of the laser scene in GF comes to mind. It really looked like curtains for him until the "Operation Grandslam" mention...a truly brilliant scene.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    edited August 2015 Posts: 4,312
    It surely must be Craig in QoS:
    Cowering in a corner of a burning hotel, expecting to shoot first Olga Kurylenko and then himself, when by pure chance the outer wall gets blown out by a random explosion.
  • Posts: 11,189
    Dalton was pretty lucky to still have his cigarette lighter at the end of LTK.

    Moore was lucky to have his wrist dart watch on in the centrifuge and in space.

    Brosnan was lucky he had an eject button right next to his head.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,568
    zebrafish wrote: »
    It surely must be Craig in QoS:
    Cowering in a corner of a burning hotel, expecting to shoot first Olga Kurylenko and then himself, when by pure chance the outer wall gets blown out by a random explosion.

    Didn't Bond instigate that explosion in QOS? I may be wrong but that's how I recall it.

    They have all been damned lucky. Dalton hanging over a shredding machine thing, lucky Pam was there to switch it off. Moore, lucky Octopussy chose to believe him when he said there was a bomb in the circus. Probably easy to think of a few times in every film where Bond has his ass saved.
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    I wouldn't consider the laser scene in Goldfinger to qualify. Bond talks his way out of the situation. He's lucky in the sense that Goldfinger decided to keep him alive, but it wasn't the intervention of some unexpected outside force that saved him.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,690
    NicNac wrote: »
    zebrafish wrote: »
    It surely must be Craig in QoS:
    Cowering in a corner of a burning hotel, expecting to shoot first Olga Kurylenko and then himself, when by pure chance the outer wall gets blown out by a random explosion.

    Didn't Bond instigate that explosion in QOS? I may be wrong but that's how I recall it..

    A piece of the wall falls by itself, which unveils a gas container allowing Bond to shoot it and make a big hole in the wall to escape through.

  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,568
    NicNac wrote: »
    zebrafish wrote: »
    It surely must be Craig in QoS:
    Cowering in a corner of a burning hotel, expecting to shoot first Olga Kurylenko and then himself, when by pure chance the outer wall gets blown out by a random explosion.

    Didn't Bond instigate that explosion in QOS? I may be wrong but that's how I recall it..

    A piece of the wall falls by itself, which unveils a gas container allowing Bond to shoot it and make a big hole in the wall to escape through.

    Half lucky, half clever dick then ;)
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,312
    See, I never got that by watching QoS at the theatre, and it also escaped my attention on DVD (where I only managed to see it once). Thanks for enlightening me.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,312
    It should be said that Craig was about to be shot when he climbed out of the dragon pit. Eve saved him there.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Daniel Craig:

    Shot, falling to his certain death...drowning...to be rescued by a....mermaid??? - Skyfall

    This alone makes up for any luck of all other 5 Bond actors combined together.

    Saved by the bell, rescued by someone - that's the endless "running joke?" of the Craig movies. Does he ever actively save himself??

    Le Chiffre to be certain to castrate Bond - saved by the bell
    Dragon pit - rescued by Eve
    Burning hotel - saved be the (falling wall) bell

    just to name a few...
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,568
    Daniel Craig:

    Shot, falling to his certain death...drowning...to be rescued by a....mermaid??? - Skyfall

    This alone makes up for any luck of all other 5 Bond actors combined together.

    Saved by the bell, rescued by someone - that's the endless "running joke?" of the Craig movies. Does he ever actively save himself??

    Le Chiffre to be certain to castrate Bond - saved by the bell
    Dragon pit - rescued by Eve
    Burning hotel - saved be the (falling wall) bell

    just to name a few...
    Safe to say we can chose any actor..

    Connery
    Dr No. Saved from assassination by a passing vehicle.
    FRWL: Saved by Grant in Gypsy camp
    GF: Saved by Leiter at the end, saved by Goldfinger's change of heart when on the rack.
    TB: Saved by Pam when near death on the stretching rack. Saved from Largo's bullet by Domino on the boat
    YOLT: saved by Aki's timely intervention more than once
    DAF: Oh who knows or cares.

    You get the point.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    @NicNac

    GF: I beg to differ: Connery saved himself actively by convincing Goldfinger that it is in his interest not to kill him.

    With Connery it never felt ridiculous when he got lucky.
    But Craig's luck...as I said...mermaid...falling wall at the precise moment and location when needed.

    But anyway, that topic can be discussed and disputed to death I guess. It's really a matter of opinion.
  • Connery has also had a few close calls that haven't been mentioned yet. Grant saved him at the Gypsy camp in From Russia With Love and Tatiana saved him from Klebb. He was stuck on a spinal traction machine in Thunderball and was also saved by Domino from Largo. Tanaka also saved him from Blofeld during the shootout in the Volcano Lair at the end of You Only Live Twice. Every Bond has been lucky at one time or another and it would be difficult to determine which one was the luckiest since they all did a different number of films.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,568
    @NicNac

    GF: I beg to differ: Connery saved himself actively by convincing Goldfinger that it is in his interest not to kill him.

    With Connery it never felt ridiculous when he got lucky.
    But Craig's luck...as I said...mermaid...falling wall at the precise moment and location when needed.

    But anyway, that topic can be discussed and disputed to death I guess. It's really a matter of opinion.

    Any more ridiculous than going on about mermaids? It's not a matter of opinion. I concede the GF point you make, but my list is pretty accurate and others have been mentioned. All the films include moments where Bond is saved in some way
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    @Nicnac

    ok, ok, I stop with the mermaids... ;)

    but I have yet to hear an explanation for Bond's miraculous resurrection in Skyfall.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,568
    @Nicnac

    ok, ok, I stop with the mermaids... ;)

    but I have yet to hear an explanation for Bond's miraculous resurrection in Skyfall.

    He was rescued by a mer-man. Mermaids don't exist. Everyone knows that.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    NicNac wrote: »
    @Nicnac

    ok, ok, I stop with the mermaids... ;)

    but I have yet to hear an explanation for Bond's miraculous resurrection in Skyfall.

    He was rescued by a mer-man. Mermaids don't exist. Everyone knows that.

    =)) priceless! Good one!!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Who would have guessed that North Korean scorpion poison is actually fattening for European metabolisms?
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Who would have guessed that North Korean scorpion poison is actually fattening for European metabolisms?

    The fattening effect was from the cortisone in the syringe with the anti-dote to the scorpion poison :P
  • SzonanaSzonana Mexico
    Posts: 1,130
    Pierce Brosnan In die another day being traded for Zao, sure he lost his licence to kill and was seen as a traitor but if it wasn't for him being traded he would have died and there would be no movie lol
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Szonana wrote: »
    Pierce Brosnan In die another day being traded for Zao, sure he lost his licence to kill and was seen as a traitor but if it wasn't for him being traded he would have died and there would be no movie lol


    :))

    of course there would be a movie! It just would have a running time of only about 15 minutes and the title would be: Die This Day (short movie). :))
  • SzonanaSzonana Mexico
    Posts: 1,130
    Szonana wrote: »
    Pierce Brosnan In die another day being traded for Zao, sure he lost his licence to kill and was seen as a traitor but if it wasn't for him being traded he would have died and there would be no movie lol


    :))

    of course there would be a movie! It just would have a running time of only about 15 minutes and the title would be: Die This Day (short movie). :))

    You are right but no one wants to see Bond die lol.
    What we'd do without our favorite spy
  • Posts: 14,816
    There is an important one I don't think was mentioned: Bond in FRWL. In the novel, he is nearly killed by the poison of Klebb. In the movie, he is not even touched by it.
  • Posts: 498
    How about Aki rolling over at just the right time to get the poison in her mouth instead of Bond's? That was pretty lucky.
  • Posts: 832
    Nothing listed for Sir Roger? It was pretty lucky for him that those crocodiles positioned themselves so that he could jump on them
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Ottofuse8 wrote: »
    Nothing listed for Sir Roger? It was pretty lucky for him that those crocodiles positioned themselves so that he could jump on them

    I say, the crocodiles were lucky to position themselves that way, otherwise Sir Roger would have come up with a solution that would have been rather unpleasant for the crocs.
    :D
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    Lots of these don't fall under dues ex machina. Being saved by an ally doesn't really count-they're supposed to save your ass.
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