From Russia With Love

Starring: Sean Connery, Pedro Armendariz, Lottie Lenya, Robert Shaw, Bernard Lee, Daniela Bianchi
Directed by: Terence Young
Rating: PG
Genre: Action, Thriller
Box Office: $24,796,765
1963

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Agent 007 James Bond (Sean Connery) travels to Istanbul to recover a top secret Russian decoding machine. His mission becomes more complicated when a double agent (Daniela Bianchi) gets involved. The pair then are followed by a beautiful assassin (Lotte Lenya) and a deadly agent (Robert Shaw) focused only on killing Bond.

Review:
Tim: From Russia With Love is a good action/spy film. This time Bond is in Istanbul, Turkey, searching for a Soviet decoding machine. This backdrop greatly affects the mood and attitude of the film. On a housekeeping point, "Q" makes his Bond debut here.

This film is not as exciting as the first Bond adventure, but is still a good movie. It is important for several reasons, as it introduces the SPECTRE organization and "Q". The movie also feels as if it is on a lesser scale than Dr. No, but it is interesting to watch James Bond not battling to save the world, but only trying to recover an important item. It gives a more full impression of what it is like to be a secret agent.

I was slightly disappointed to find that Bond doesn't have too much of his trademark humor and wit, and doesn't even order a vodka martini!

Sean Connery is terrific as James Bond and you can see him becoming more comfortable in his role. He definitely made it more his own with this film.

Daniela Bianchi is a pretty decent Bond girl. She is no Ursula Andress, but is still pretty amazing in the role. She helped continue the precident of what it meant to be a "Bond Girl".

Robert Shaw makes for a formitable opponent. The scenes between he and Connery on the Orient Express are the highlights of the film.

All in all, From Russia With Love is a good Bond adventure and a fitting follow-up to Dr. No.

Finally, to follow up with my experiment started with Dr. No, Bond is with four different women in this film. I should note that I going out on a limb by claiming he was with the two gypsy daughters, although it isn't for sure. The evidence seems to point that way, so the total tally after the first two films is: Women Count- 7



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Vampires, Solaris, Pulp Fiction, Three Kings, 28 Days Later, Kill Bill volumes 1 & 2