James Bond movies are one of the first to give prominence to villains - a villain who is superior to 007 in most aspects - technically, economically, socially, professionally, and even intellectually. Their main, chief and only character flaw have been their inferior morals and a deliberate intention or will to harm humanity.
So, theoretically, every villain in a 007 film is a superstar - an incomparable bad guy on his/her own. But even within them, we have some who terrify us, impress us and many whom we have seen, but are not so much besotted with.
When the Super-villain in a 007 movie has an equally terrific assistant backed by a world threatening weapon (or not) - and a tight storyline - we have a fantastic film. OTOH, the movies where the Super-villain has the resource of only a ‘bomb’ without a scary side-kick, or when the Super-villain is himself a rehash of the earlier portrayed Bond-villains, the movie falls into ‘the-next-bond-movie’.
For example, Hugo Drax had a great sidekick with Jaws and a fantastic gadget in his nerve toxin releasing satellites; but he is actually a spruced up-mix up version of Dr. Julius No, who shoots down US missiles from his island and Karl Stromberg, who wants to trigger nuclear war, destroy humanity except for his select group.
In the later films with villains such as Franz Sanchez and Alec Trevelyan, the villains do not make as much impact - to be truthful, they are entirely forgettable in the sense, they don’t create the awe, shock and terror as much.
Again for my list, I am going to pair the Super-villains with their (prominent) henchmen wherever their impact would be diminished without one or other. For e.g., Francisco Scaramanga without Nick-Nack wouldn’t have been as effective or thrilling. But even without Karl Stromberg or Hugo Drax, Jaws is awesome.
So here are my OO7 best villains in the Bond films.
(in ascending order with 007 being the highest)
Villain 001: Colonel Rosa Klebb in From Russia With Love and her poison-tipped shoe spike is the least, but most lethal of the terrifying villain-henchman (or woman) you can ever have. To men, it is even more fearsome. For if you meet a laundress or a room-service matron with the face like Rosa Klebb, we tend to dismiss them - as not being dangerous.
Villain 002: Donald “Red” Grant again in From Russia With Love is the next best villain henchman ever in James Bond films. His garrotte wire wristwatch is one of the best James Bond movie gadgets ever. He gets into my list at OO2 for the exact opposite reason of Rosa Klebb. If you meet Donald Grant as in the movie, you tend to trust him.
Villain 003: Jaws in both The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Do I even need to say anything about this character?
Villain 004: Ernest Stavro Blofeld played by 8 or 9 actors (both body and voice) appears by my count in 6 movies - just one short of 007. There is no way for a James Bond fan to look away from Blofeld. He appears in Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, For Your Eyes Only and Never Say Never Again.
Villain 005: Francisco Scaramanga/Nick-Nack. One of the most scary combination of a super-villain and his henchman. Some say it was only the excellent portrayal of an evil-Bond by Christopher Lee and the character of Nick-Nack, who sometimes appears to mock Scaramanga himself, saved The Man with the Golden Gun from being mediocre.
Villain 006: The scariest villain-henchman combo ever in James Bond film is the Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga portrayal by Yaphet Kotto and Baron Samedi by Geoffrey Holder. The last closing scene from Live and Let Die still gives me shivers!
Villain 007: For the most urbane, ruthless, remorseless and business-like characterisation of super-villain and henchman combo, there is none to beat Auric Goldfinger and Oddjob in the Goldfinger.
Tags: james bond films,james bond movies,james bond actors,bond villains
So, theoretically, every villain in a 007 film is a superstar - an incomparable bad guy on his/her own. But even within them, we have some who terrify us, impress us and many whom we have seen, but are not so much besotted with.
When the Super-villain in a 007 movie has an equally terrific assistant backed by a world threatening weapon (or not) - and a tight storyline - we have a fantastic film. OTOH, the movies where the Super-villain has the resource of only a ‘bomb’ without a scary side-kick, or when the Super-villain is himself a rehash of the earlier portrayed Bond-villains, the movie falls into ‘the-next-bond-movie’.
For example, Hugo Drax had a great sidekick with Jaws and a fantastic gadget in his nerve toxin releasing satellites; but he is actually a spruced up-mix up version of Dr. Julius No, who shoots down US missiles from his island and Karl Stromberg, who wants to trigger nuclear war, destroy humanity except for his select group.
In the later films with villains such as Franz Sanchez and Alec Trevelyan, the villains do not make as much impact - to be truthful, they are entirely forgettable in the sense, they don’t create the awe, shock and terror as much.
Again for my list, I am going to pair the Super-villains with their (prominent) henchmen wherever their impact would be diminished without one or other. For e.g., Francisco Scaramanga without Nick-Nack wouldn’t have been as effective or thrilling. But even without Karl Stromberg or Hugo Drax, Jaws is awesome.
So here are my OO7 best villains in the Bond films.
(in ascending order with 007 being the highest)
Villain 001: Colonel Rosa Klebb in From Russia With Love and her poison-tipped shoe spike is the least, but most lethal of the terrifying villain-henchman (or woman) you can ever have. To men, it is even more fearsome. For if you meet a laundress or a room-service matron with the face like Rosa Klebb, we tend to dismiss them - as not being dangerous.
Villain 002: Donald “Red” Grant again in From Russia With Love is the next best villain henchman ever in James Bond films. His garrotte wire wristwatch is one of the best James Bond movie gadgets ever. He gets into my list at OO2 for the exact opposite reason of Rosa Klebb. If you meet Donald Grant as in the movie, you tend to trust him.
Villain 003: Jaws in both The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Do I even need to say anything about this character?
Villain 004: Ernest Stavro Blofeld played by 8 or 9 actors (both body and voice) appears by my count in 6 movies - just one short of 007. There is no way for a James Bond fan to look away from Blofeld. He appears in Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, For Your Eyes Only and Never Say Never Again.
Villain 005: Francisco Scaramanga/Nick-Nack. One of the most scary combination of a super-villain and his henchman. Some say it was only the excellent portrayal of an evil-Bond by Christopher Lee and the character of Nick-Nack, who sometimes appears to mock Scaramanga himself, saved The Man with the Golden Gun from being mediocre.
Villain 006: The scariest villain-henchman combo ever in James Bond film is the Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga portrayal by Yaphet Kotto and Baron Samedi by Geoffrey Holder. The last closing scene from Live and Let Die still gives me shivers!
Villain 007: For the most urbane, ruthless, remorseless and business-like characterisation of super-villain and henchman combo, there is none to beat Auric Goldfinger and Oddjob in the Goldfinger.
Tags: james bond films,james bond movies,james bond actors,bond villains
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