Ranking films by their influence?

M16_CartM16_Cart Craig fanboy?
edited October 2021 in Bond Movies Posts: 538
The criteria for this is: Commercial success is the factor, but also long-term legacy, how much it influenced other films and how much it strengthened the franchise.

Essentially, I'm putting my preferences aside and looking at how the film impacted the world overall.

Top 7
1. Dr. No - This was during the struggle days when no one knew whether it would be a hit or flop. Without this, none of the others exist.
2. Goldfinger - Beyond being a classic, this film established all the tropes that the later films followed.
3. From Russia With Love - Proved that Dr. No wasn't just a one-off, that the series can continually be successful.
4. You Only Live Twice - Established a lot of the campy and farfetched parts of the series that would later come, but did so in a beautiful and memorable way.
5. Casino Royale - A reboot and return to form after the silliness of the previous movies.
6. Skyfall - A mega-hit that brought millions of viewers who never saw a Bond movie before into the series.
7. Goldeneye - Rejuvenated the series after 16 years of declining sales

Top 12
8. Thunderball - Aspects of it were controversial (the runtime, underwater scenes, some of the camp). But still one of the earlier classics.
9. The Spy Who Loved Me - After the previous film was a dud, this film showed Moore could balance camp with an epic fantasy adventure.
10. Live and Let Die - Somewhat successful. Established that a new actor could follow Connery.
11. On Her Majesty's Secret Service - To many people, featuring an unknown actor instead of Connery made it forgettable, but to many other people, the score, story, directing and faithfulness to novel make it stand out as a classic.
12. No Time to Die - Where other actors tenures have ended abruptly or on a sour note, Craig was given the opportunity to shape his legacy and leave his mark.

The other rankings not sure, still working on

mid tier? https://pastebin.pl/view/4d88145c
bottom tier? https://pastebin.pl/view/7c964d04

(This list is a rough draft and not final. Ordering will change)

If you have suggestions, or a list of your own, post it.
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