My 13 year old daughter has never seen a James Bond movie. Which one should I show her to introduce her to the series?

Dr. No.

From Russia with Love. I still think it’s the best and most fun of the Connery films.

Goldfinger was kind of mellow, but not sure if it’s okay for a 13 year old.

I don’t mind violence or sex. I just want best story to start her off with.

@marinelife Dr. No is available for Comcast streaming. Bonus!

Does SHE want to see one?

I’d start with Dr No and make it a daughter and Dad event. Watch the whole James Bond catalogue. It’s also got Sean in it and he’s such a great Bond.

Why not start off with Dr. No? It was the first and still holds up well even after all these years.

After that “From Russia With Love” and ”“Goldfinger” for the exotic locations and iconic villains. It doesn’t get any better than the good old Orient Express.

After that, maybe skip around a bit and get the best ones first. I personally thought Thunderball wasn’t that great so maybe that’s a good one to break up the consecutive order with.

But the first three I mentioned are a great comprehensive intro to the Bond universe and way of doing things.

Plus, if you’re a history buff, you two might be interested in exploring the take on Jamaica (where Fleming bought himself a nice little hideaway and lived and wrote there) from other programs.

Anthony Bourdain did a fairly recent visit there and had some interesting viewpoints on it all. It’s probably available either as a CNN rerun or from a streaming service.

I still have a great fondness for Dr. No, the first one. Plus the Jamaica location gives it a great atmosphere.

@anniereborn Of course she does. I wouldn’t make her see a movie she didn’t want to.

Dr. No it is, then. Thanks everybody.

I may be a bit biased because it was my first Bond movie but Golden Eye is one of my favorites.

Start with Dr. No. It’s the first in the series, features the incomparable Sean Connery, and has at least a passing chance at being age-appropriate.

But I would also suggest that you have a conversation with her about the gross objectification of women in the series. James Bond might seem like a super-cool manly hero to you, because you grew up with him in a certain social context, but he’s really a sexist asshole, and not the sort of guy you want her to be bringing home for dinner eventually. One hopes.

@dappled thanks. We’ve had that conversation multiple times, not to worry.

Misogyny aside, those early Bond movies are the place to start. They’re great, just as a retrospective on a bygone age. The thing that always strikes me as funny about “Dr. No” is that every “agent” in the film wears a hat. Lots of skinny neckties and cheap gaudy looking suits and sportcoats. “Dr. No” was the first so I will grudgingly concede that you show her that one first. If however, upon viewing the film, she is not impressed and fails to get “the big deal”, you should bribe her if necessary to watch “From Russia with Love” I agree with @Pachy that it is the best of the Bond films, and if she doesn’t find that one intriguing, you can sigh and give up.

She’s probably not going to be all that interested in Bond’s origins, so there’s no real need to start her from the beginning. I’d go with Live & Let Die as a starting point, plenty of action, decent storyline & a supercool soundtrack.
Besides, Moore played the role with more humour & starred in the best Bond films overall.

I have only ever seen the Daniel Craig ones.

Slightly off topic, I just finished watching a very entertaining TV mini-series called Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond. If you’re a double-oh seven lover, you should check it out on Netflix.

I’m going to put my vote in for my favorite bond movie: “The Spy Who Loved Me.” It’s just the perfect quintessential Bond film, with the campy hilarity, action, exotic locations, evil lairs, shark traps, global nuclear annihilation, Jaws!, and more. It’s the seriousness mixed with the ridiculousness that makes the series so great (like when Moore drives up onto the beach in his submarine Lotus, rolls down his window and drops a fish out, while people playing at the beach stare in disbelief). A lot of the modern Bond films have lost that humor and take themselves too seriously.

I acknowledge that it’s not a Connery one, but the Moore films were just more fun overall.

I don’t know – I find the middle Bond films (especially the Moore years) quite dated now. The humour seems too hokey, and the stunts too unrealistic.

@gorillapaws, I agree. I think that was the first Bond film I saw at the cinema. (That shows my age!) I didn’t mind Roger as a Bond. Yes it was much more tongue-in-cheek, but they were fun.

@Earthbound_Misfit They were fun at the time. Moore was my first Bond, so I didn’t realize that he was meant to be more serious. But looking back on his tenure, I realize that they essentially turned James Bond into The Saint on a larger budget. I can see why hardcore Bond fans were not happy with him.

I grew up a Moore guy too. I was a little too young for Connery. I saw them all in the theater and I liked some more than others. Moonraker was terrible.

@dappled_leaves absolutely! I’ve never been such a purist that it bothered me. I don’t take JB seriously anyway (except my own JB – my husband’s initials are JB), so I’ve never really cared much about how true they are to the role. I do understand that some people take the whole thing quite seriously.

You Only Live Twice.