Dr. No

release year: 1962
genre: James Bond
viewing setting: home Bluray, 1/6/19 and 12/2/12 and home DVD 11/17/99

synopsis: Someone is knocking out American rockets, and James Bond must find out who it is and stop them.

impressions: This was the first and one of the best Bond movies. It mixes action and explosions (though not in the quantities found in later films in the series) with a lot of humor. This early Bond is both chauvanistic and egotistical, and there are a lot of good lines if you're listening for them.

acting: Sean Connery set a good standard in this, his first crack at the role of 007. See the "defining Bond moments" section below for more. Joseph Wiseman made an excellent villain as Dr. No - intelligent and ruthless. Ursula Andress didn't do much acting (her voice was dubbed) but with that body and face, she didn't have to.

car chases: 1

neat gadgets: none!

confirmed Bond kills: 4

confirmed Bond seductions: 3 (one of them twice!)

obnoxious female name: Honey Rider

defining Bond moments:

Bond walks in Moneypenny's office and just starts rifling through her papers
Bond covertly takes his pistol back after handing it over to M
Bond checks his watch to make sure he has time before seducing the woman
Bond calmly plays solitaire while waiting for the assassin to show up
Bond finds that his room's been visited so he pours himself a drink

quotable:

Honey Rider: (walks out of surf in a bikini) "What are you doing here, looking for shells?"

James Bond: "No, I'm just looking."

James Bond: (to Dr. No) "So tell me, does the toppling of American missiles really compensate for having no hands?"

final word: The first and one of the best Bond movies - worth seeing.

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