Recently, I’ve been doing a series of James Bond ranking articles, breaking the series down by each actor. For some reason, I’ve been going backwards, starting with Daniel Craig, onto Pierce Brosnan and then Roger Moore. Yeah, I missed Timothy Dalton, but it’s hard to do a proper ranking when you’ve only done two movies, so I might combine him and George Lazenby into one. Of course, that brings me to the man himself, Sean Connery.
As I like to say, all the other actors played James Bond, but Sean Connery WAS James Bond. Not only was he iconic in his classic tux, but he helped transform the idea of a modern action hero, with everyone who followed in his wake owing a certain something to Connery, as these were truly the first modern action movies. Interestingly, James Bond creator Ian Fleming was opposed to this balding, Scottish former truck driver taking the part, but of course, going against type often has the best results, and Connery remained one of the greatest cinema icons of our time until the day he died. He ties with Roger Moore for the number of Bond movies made, with him hitting seven if you include the non-EON Never Say Never Again, which I do. So here are his James Bond movies ranked from worst to best.
How We Ranked the Sean Connery James Bond Movies: This ranking considers the overall quality of each film, including its story, direction, action sequences, villains, supporting characters, and Connery’s performance as 007. We also take into account each movie’s entertainment value, its place in the Bond franchise, and how well it holds up today.
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
I’d wager James Bond never went through a worse period than in the first half of the seventies, as they struggled to reinvent the character, which they only really managed to do in 1977 with The Spy Who Loved Me, by going ultra-light and making Bond a more lighthearted kind of hero. But they’d actually tried to do this once before with Connery, of all people. When On Her Majesty’s Secret Service underperformed, the suits at EON decided a return to more lighthearted, Goldfinger-style capers was needed, but they went way overboard with this one, with James Bond going to Las Vegas, fighting a camp Blofeld (played by The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s Charles Gray) and tangling with two incredibly over-the-top gay henchmen, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd.
While it’s cool to see Connery back in the role, one can’t ignore how much he phones it in, with him overweight, sporting a really obvious hairpiece, and kind of sleepwalking through this silly adventure. Of course, even if it’s not one of the better Bond movies, it does have some redeeming elements. It was all shot on location in Vegas, so it’s neat to see the city in its prime (a big chunk of the movie is set at the still-standing Circus Circus), plus the score by John Barry is excellent. Jill St. John also looks great as Tiffany Case, with her and Connery having nice chemistry, although it’s weird how she’s turned into an airhead in the film’s finale after having been a pretty slick con woman for most of it.
Never Say Never Again (1983)
This non-EON-produced James Bond movie has a fascinating production history, but it could have been so much better than it ended up being, considering it was helmed by the director of The Empire Strikes Back and shot by the DP of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sadly, the filmmakers were hampered by a script that, legally, had to be almost an exact copy of Thunderball. It’s a lavish Bond movie, and Connery, despite being twelve years older than he was in Diamonds Are Forever, looks notably better, having slimmed down and put on some muscle. He was more than up to the task of reprising Bond, and the supporting cast is among the best ever assembled for a Bond film, with Barbara Carrera stealing the movie as villainess Fatima Blush. Sadly, the action—minus a good motorcycle chase—is sluggish. The movie is foiled by too much underwater action and an atrocious score by Michel Legrand, which should have been dumped. It’s one of the worst action-movie musical scores of all time.
You Only Live Twice (1967)
By the time Connery got to You Only Live Twice, he was having issues with the franchise, with him tiring of his sudden global fame and typecasting. Everywhere he went, people treated him like he WAS James Bond, and he didn’t like it. He apparently hated shooting this movie in Japan as he was mobbed constantly, and he looks tired and somewhat out of shape here—delivering one of his more listless performances. Even still, it’s an action-packed, exotic Bond movie, with great location shooting, incredible sets by Ken Adam, a great John Barry score (and theme song), and cool ninja action. I also think Donald Pleasence is the best Blofeld ever, and they should have stuck with him. It’s also probably the best-photographed Bond film until Roger Deakins shot Skyfall, with EON having hired David Lean’s DP Freddie Young to shoot it. I was lucky enough to see it screened in 35mm, and it blew my socks off, and of the current generation of 4K transfers, I’d argue it looks the best.
Thunderball (1965)
By the time Thunderball went into production, Bondmania was in high gear. Sean Connery’s fame as James Bond was on par with what was happening with the Beatles, and the studio financing the series threw buckets of cash at the producers, meaning this was shot on a scale that was rare for the era. No expense was spared. While too much of it takes place underwater (shooting underwater action is always boring), Connery is in top shape (his fight scenes are killer), and I’d wager this has perhaps the two hottest Bond girls of the sixties—Claudine Auger as Domino and Luciana Paluzzi as the evil Fiona Volpe. John Barry’s score is up there with his best, and all the elements are in fine form here.
Dr. No (1962)
When this movie was greenlit, no one knew it would become a global phenomenon. United Artists treated it as a B-movie, with it assigned a low budget, with the idea being it would be a movie they’d play on the bottom half of double bills in the States. History had different ideas. While more of a programmer than later Bond movies, with it more dated than any of the others (including makeup that makes white actors look Asian), it still has an explosive performance by Connery as 007. He rocked people’s worlds with this one. While uneven, it has some of the most iconic moments of all time, including Connery’s “Bond, James Bond” introduction and Ursula Andress emerging from the sea in an iconic white bikini.
From Russia with Love (1963)
The jump in quality from Dr. No to this is striking. Having learned their lessons from what worked in the last film and what didn’t, the Bond producers and director Terence Young were able to course-correct and make a spy movie classic. Connery delivers his best-ever James Bond performance, setting the template all would follow. John Barry contributes his first full James Bond score to this one, while the editing by Peter Hunt sparked a revolution in action movies. The fight scene between Sean Connery and Robert Shaw in the climax has an intensity that had never been seen in an action movie up to this point, and without it, the history of action on screen would have been notably different. It also sports an unusually realistic and grounded plot for a Bond film, making this an all-time favorite for many fans.
Goldfinger (1964)
While I love From Russia with Love, Goldfinger remains my favorite Connery Bond film. It set the template many Bond films followed, with it having the perfect mix of gritty spy movie intrigue and outlandish fun. It was the first Bond movie to give him a tricked-out car (although Desmond Llewelyn made his debut as Q in From Russia with Love), while Gert Fröbe, despite being dubbed, is a perfect larger-than-life villain as the titular Goldfinger. There are so many indelible images packed into this one, including the famous golden girl (Shirley Eaton), Bond strapped to a table and being menaced by a laser beam, and more. The score by John Barry is ace, with Shirley Bassey contributing perhaps the greatest James Bond theme song of all time. The film’s release sparked the moment James Bond turned into a global phenomenon, and it was so successful that the rest of the decade saw pretty much every studio try to launch their own James Bond-type hero. No joke, the release of Goldfinger was like when the MCU released The Avengers and suddenly every studio tried to do their own shared superhero universe. It changed cinema history forever. It also still holds up as one of the most entertaining movies ever made. I’ve probably seen it about fifty times, and I never get tired of it.
Seven films, six decades of cinematic history, and one actor who defined an entire franchise. Sean Connery’s James Bond movies aren’t all equally successful, but even the weaker entries have something worth revisiting. And while From Russia with Love might be his finest performance as 007, Goldfinger remains the definitive Connery Bond adventure. Nobody did it quite like him.
What do you think of our rankings? Let us know in the comments.
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