FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
My favorite of Sean Connery's Bonds and for my money, the best Bond film of them all. From Russia With Love contains the proper introduction of Q and the cinematic debut of Ernst Stavo Blofeld and SPECTRE. Steeped in Cold War intrigue, the main setting of Istanbul is a more exotic locale than Jamaica in Dr. No, including a fun sequence of Bond touring the underground catacombs and spying on the Russian consulate, as well as being videotaped in turn by SPECTRE having sex with the voluptuous Bond Girl, Tatania Romanova. A memorable jaunt to a gypsy camp comes complete with belly dancers, gypsy girls fighting to the death, and a violent shootout (accompanied by a thematic score used for Connery's Bond's action sequences). The Orient Express and boat chase sequences are great fun. A young Robert Shaw is unrecognizable and deadly as the SPECTRE agent assigned to kill Bond. From Russia With Love is the Bond film Mike Myers homages most in Austin Powers.
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