The Correct Order To Watch Sean Connery's James Bond Movies

There are countless ways to enjoy the James Bond series, and every 007 aficionado has their preferred method. And they'll talk your ear off about it. Some suggest starting with the highlights, the best of the best, and then doubling back to fill in the gaps. It's the most fun way to do it. Others will tell you to take a deep breath, lean into the wind, and just watch the whole shebang straight through in chronological order of release. It's the most rewarding way to do it (even though you'll suffer through some serious stinkers).

A similar logic applies to each individual Bond era. Some, like Timothy Dalton's brisk run as the world's most dashing secret agent, are over in the blink of an eye. Others, like Daniel Craig's modern reboot, actually demand a specific order to be fully appreciated. But Sean Connery, the first James Bond actor and the one every subsequent 007 gets measured against, is just long and weird enough to offer a viewer flexible options. Over a half-century later, Connery's take on Bond commands the screen: a debonair and dangerous man, quick with a quip but also a terrifying force of violence. There's an edge to his Bond that gets softened by many other actors, an air of cruelty and casual sadism that demands your attention. He's a man of his time, unleashed upon the world.

Depending on what you want to get out of your James Bond viewing experience, there are several ways to approach the Connery era, which is simultaneously a thrilling time capsule and a wince-inducing window to a very different time. (I promised you a Bond fan would talk your ear off about this.) But you're in too deep now. Let's talk about how you, the new fan or the seasoned fan looking to introduce someone to the series, should go about watching these early James Bond movies.

The obvious answer is, of course, to watch the Sean Connery James Bond movies in the order they were produced. After all, shouldn't you just start with the first James Bond movie ever made and then go from there? Sure! Yes! Not a bad approach if you're looking to enjoy the film as something of a pop culture archaeologist. Here's the order:

• Dr. No (1962)
• From Russia WIth Love (1963)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Thunderball (1965)
• You Only Live Twice (1967)
• Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

An important note! If you do take the chronological order approach, you'll need to actually slip in one non-Connery film: 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," which features George Lazenby in his one and only appearance as 007. This film was made after Connery grew frustrated with the role and left the series, although he was wooed back for one more go with "Diamonds Are Forever." This makes "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" an outlier and an oddity, but a darn good outlier and oddity — it's one of the best movies in the entire franchise and shouldn't be missed.

So, what's the advantage to watching these movies in order of release? Simple enough: you can watch the James Bond franchise be born and evolve. Budgets get bigger. The tone shifts, with comedy and wackiness slowly overtaking the more straight-faced atmosphere of the early adventures. You can even track the evolution of what cinemagoers thought was cool as Bond's fashion, cars, and even taste in women and finer things evolve. To watch the James Bond movies in order is to travel back in time and truly explore a past culture. You'll suffer through some occasionally bad movies, and even good movies with aspects so dated they'll make your hair stand on end, but it's a rewarding, fascinating process.

But what if you don't have the time for all of that? Or what if you have just one movie to convince someone to check out additional James Bond movies? That's where you need to get selective. Thankfully, the early Bond films don't require much attention to continuity — each of them largely stands alone. While certain motifs or running gags emerge, they can be enjoyed in any order, and references to past adventures are kept to a bare minimum. After all, this was many years before blockbuster cinema started asking moviegoers to keep track of a half dozen storylines between entries.

So, where do you start if you want a quality-first approach? Simple: "From Russia With Love" is the best of the Connery Bond films, and one of the best espionage movies ever made. Some viewers may find it a tad slow, but allow yourself to luxuriate in its pacing, its blend of actual spycraft and lunatic action, and Connery's sensational, steely performance. Anyone who's going to embrace early James Bond movies at all would be hooked by this one.

From there, "Goldfinger" is the next logical choice, as it's so friggin' famous, and fabulously entertaining (if not as consistent as its predecessor). After that, you're entering "dealer's choice" territory. If the goofy aspects of Bond are winning you over, the outrageous pop art chaos of "You Only Live Twice" is the next step. If you want something with a bit more of a sharp edge, "Thunderball" is the way to go. "Dr. No," despite being the first movie, is just pretty good at best, and should be enjoyed later on.

Completionists will want to seek out "Diamonds Are Forever" to see Connery's final performance in a mainline James Bond movie, but be warned — it's a stinker through and through, and should only be watched if you're pot-committed. You should at least watch "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" first, even though it doesn't feature Connery, because "Diamonds" is intended to be a loose sequel to that film and pays off a lingering plot thread. Just ... not very well.

If you still want more, Connery did play 007 one more time in the unofficial Bond film "Never Say Never Again," which was produced in 1983 and acts as a loose remake of "Thunderball" due to a rights issue that gave ownership of this particular storyline to folks outside of the regular Bond producer family. It's not very good, and Connery seems awfully sleepy throughout the whole film. You're better off just rewatching "From Russia With Love" again.