Best Gadget
Jet Pack • Thunderball (1965)
Bond’s jet pack was not only awesome but also, unlike most Q gadgets, real: For the flying scenes, production used a jet pack prototype developed for the U.S. military.
Best Villain’s Lair
Blofeld’s volcano • You Only Live Twice (1967)
The standard by which all future evil masterminds would judge their hideouts. Blofeld’s pad was inside a volcano, under a lake, and capable of firing a rocket into space.
Best Sex
Zero-gravity humping • Moonraker (1979)
In this scene, Bond gave us a glimpse of what intercourse will be like in the future. Just remember: If the space shuttle is a rockin’, don’t bother a knockin’.
Best Villain
Ernst Stavro Blofeld
The leader of SPECTRE shows up in six Bond films, although twice as nothing more than a voice. He has inspired countless spoofs, from Dr. Evil to Inspector Gadget’s Dr. Claw.
Best Camouflage
Fake alligator in Octopussy (1983)
Got to sneak onto a remote island populated only by women? Clearly, the best thing to use is a tiny sub that looks like an alligator.
Most Nebbishy Villain
Woody Allen • Casino Royale (1967)
In the orginal spoof version of the film, Woody Allen plays James Bond’s nephew, Jimmy Bond, whose evil plan involves killing all men over 4'6".
Most Awesomely Unrealistic Death
Jill Masterson covered in gold paint • Goldfinger
Bond explains that the paint caused his bedmate to die from “skin suffocation.” Which totally doesn’t exist. But it sure looked cool.
Hottest Wrestling Match
Gypsy-chick smackdown • From Russia With Love (1963)
Two gypsies fight to the hot, skimpy-clothed death to see who will marry the chief’s son. Even we’ll admit this one is a tad gratuitous.
Lamest Transforming Vehicle Gondola turns into a hovercraft • Moonraker
Converting a gondola into anything cool is an uphill battle. This particular transformation just looks like a canoe on an air mattress.
Best bargain
No, it wasn’t the 100-pack of exploding pens Q got at Costco. The iconic “dum di-di dum dum” theme was played in Dr. No by guitarist Vic Flick, who was paid just $15 for his strumming.
BEST BOND SHOWDOWN: Goldfinger
Death by Laser
In the novel Goldfinger, Bond faced genital dissection from a rotating saw. To hell with that! Producers upped the ante by swapping in a laser—at the time an exorbitantly expensive tool that had been invented just a few years earlier.
Sweetest Dialogue
This scene includes what is arguably the greatest verbal exchange between Bond and a villain. Bond: “Do you expect me to talk?” Goldfinger: “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.”
Best Bond
Sean Connery was the perfect 007, except for one thing: His hairline was already getting thin. So that unflappable Bond who always looks suave even when facing death? He’s aided by a toup.
Best Dubbing
The most sinister Bond villain after Blofeld, Auric Goldfinger (note the first two letters of his name, Au, are the chemical symbol for gold) was played by German character actor Gert Fröbe. But you’re not actually hearing Fröbe’s voice. Because his German accent was so thick, the filmmakers eventually decided to have all of his lines dubbed over by another actor.
BEST HENCHMEN
May Day
Sexual plaything to A View to a Kill’s murderous industrialist Max Zorin. Capable of lifting a man over her head. Fond of fashions that perhaps seemed like a good idea in the ’80s. Victim of a misguided hairstylist.
Jaws
The strongman with metal teeth that can bite through steel appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Has survived a shark tank, speeding off a cliff, crashing in a cable car, and falling out of a plane.
Oddjob
Lethal enforcer, trusted manservant, and passable golf caddy to Auric Goldfinger. Armed with a razor-brimmed hat. Reported to know seven ways to kill a man with one blow. Doesn’t talk.
Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint Merciless hitmen for Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Prefer complex forms of assassination that they find amusing. Often finish each other’s sentences and seen holding hands.