Daniel Craig's CR leap is James Bond's 'best stunt

[carl stromberg]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... stunt.html

Daniel Craig's death-defying crane jump in Casino Royale has been voted the best James Bond stunt of all time.

The acrobatics featured in the opening scenes of the 2006 film, with Bond chasing the bad guy into a building site and battling him 200 feet from the ground.

Casino Royale marked Craig's debut as 007 and the actor took part in the stunt himself. "It was important to me that I do as many of my own stunts as possible for authenticity," he has said. "I wanted to be seen jumping from crane to crane, physically exerting myself. I didn't get fit just to take my shirt off."

The scene topped a poll for the Radio Times, beating classic stunts involving previous 007s Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.

Over 1,500 film fans cast their vote at RadioTimes.com, with second place going to the downhill ski chase in The Spy Who Loved Me which ends with Moore floating to safety under a Union Jack parachute.

Moore's "barrel roll" car jump over a canal in The Man With The Golden Gun was third, followed by the speedboat leap from Live And Let Die.

Pierce Brosnan entered the list in fourth place for his speedboat chase along the Thames in The World Is Not Enough.

The earliest stunt is the Aston Martin ejector seat in 1964 film Goldfinger.

Other entries in the top 10 are Brosnan's spectacular dive off the Verzasca Dam in GoldenEye, the ski chase from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, hopping across the backs of crocodiles in Live And Let Die and jumping a helicopter with a motorbike in Tomorrow Never Dies.

The survey was carried out to mark the publication of the latest Radio Times Guide to Films.

Andrew Collins, Radio Times Film Editor, said: "My personal favourite Bond stunt is the ski jump off the mountain, because it was actually done. There would be no need to do that today thanks to digital effects and, even if they did do it, we'd assume it was tampered with afterwards by a man at a computer."

The 'free running' scenes in Casino Royale marked a return to more realistic stunts. Collins said: "They were actually done by very agile men bouncing off walls but, for me, it can never match the good old days of stuntmen, parachutes and no re-takes."

The new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, is released on November 7.

Top 10

1 Crane jump - Casino Royale

2 Ski chase and Union Jack parachute jump - The Spy Who Loved Me

3 Car 'barrel roll' - The Man With The Golden Gun

4 Speedboat leap - Live And Let Die

5 Thames speedboat chase - The World Is Not Enough

6 Aston Martin ejector seat - Goldfinger

7 Dive from the Verzasca Dam - GoldenEye

8 Ski chase - On Her Majesty's Secret Service

9 Jumping over crocodiles - Live And Let Die

10 Motorbike jump over a helicopter - Tomorrow Never Dies

I find this a little silly. I can't say his "jump" stuck in my mind.

[katied]

Bond -related lists are subjective.I've never agreed with any of them.

[Kristatos]

Another example of a poll being biased toward recent flms. It's like these music magazine polls that rank Miley Cyrus or whoever as the greatest singer of all time.

[katied]

Another example of a poll being biased toward recent flms. It's like these music magazine polls that rank Miley Cyrus or whoever as the greatest singer of all time.

Yup.And Miley Cyrus is a newbie compared to some of the TRUE talent in the music biz.

[oscartheman]

I wouldn't rank the jump.The Car flip maybe. In 21 Bond movies there are other better done stunts.

I didn't think about that one after the movie let out.Haven't given it a second thought years on.

[katied]

I wouldn't rank the jump.The Car flip maybe. In 21 Bond movies there are other better done stunts.

I didn't think about that one after the movie let out.Haven't given it a second thought years on.

No.Not that memorable. I't's gotten to the point that I just ignore lists like this since they're so ridiculous.

[stockslivevan]

On a list of variations of stunts I would place the crane jump in its respective category, but overall at #1? No.

[Mazer Rackham]

Car 'barrel roll' - The Man With The Golden Gun
Hate the movie but the stunt is impressive 34 years after the fact.

[stockslivevan]

Car 'barrel roll' - The Man With The Golden Gun
Hate the movie but the stunt is impressive 34 years after the fact.

I don't hate the movie, but I hate the slide whistle.

[The Sweeney]

Car 'barrel roll' - The Man With The Golden Gun
Hate the movie but the stunt is impressive 34 years after the fact.

I don't hate the movie, but I hate the slide whistle.

Great stunt, and I agree with Mazer that it probably that should have been no. 1, but yes the slide whistle ruins it completely.

[Mazer Rackham]

Car 'barrel roll' - The Man With The Golden Gun
Hate the movie but the stunt is impressive 34 years after the fact.

I don't hate the movie, but I hate the slide whistle.

Great stunt, and I agree with Mazer that it probably that should have been no. 1, but yes the slide whistle ruins it completely.

Agree with both of you about the slide whistle.

Looking back I think Moore took criticism for his Bond that are nothing to do with how he played it. I doubt he got a hold of Cubby in private and demanded "I gotta have more slide whistle or I walk".
"I gotta have more cowbell!"

[stockslivevan]

"I GOTTA FEVAH!"

[James]

I think Rog's ski-jump off the mountain in his banana jumpsuit has to take some beating. And Roger actually did that stunt himself...probably...

[Dr. No]

I don't think the jump was that great. I mean I see similar stunts on CIS Miami.

Moore had a lot of good stunts.
What a bout Connery? Ejector seat seems kinda thin.

Dalton had a few nice stunts, I like the hanging on the cargo net behind the plane. LTK had some impressive stunts. If the OHMSS ski chase counts then the cello chase should count too.

CR was very skimpy on the stunts. Nothing sticks out as puting itahead of the other moives.

Top 10

1 Crane jump - Casino Royale

2 Ski chase and Union Jack parachute jump - The Spy Who Loved Me

3 Car 'barrel roll' - The Man With The Golden Gun

4 Speedboat leap - Live And Let Die

5 Thames speedboat chase - The World Is Not Enough

6 Aston Martin ejector seat - Goldfinger?

7 Dive from the Verzasca Dam - GoldenEye

8 Ski chase - On Her Majesty's Secret Service?

9 Jumping over crocodiles - Live And Let Die

10 Motorbike jump over a helicopter - Tomorrow Never Dies

[katied]

The ejector seat is a classic.It's been referenced in a zillion movies.The rest,not so much.

[Dr. No]

The ejector seat is a classic.It's been referenced in a zillion movies.The rest,not so much.

yeah, um, I was trying to think of a better Connery Stunts. Theres Little Nelly, the diving stunts for TB, boat stunts for FRWL. Dr No have much in the way of stunts.
DAF Car chase.


I thnk the Moore stunts stood out more. Dalton had some good ones too. Brosnan also had some memorable ones.
But Moore had the more iconic never been seen before moments IMHO.

[Gary Seven]

It was great to see the Thames speedboat included. It gets a little stick from some quarters, mainly because of the underwater tie segment.

I think Casino Royale steered clear of iconic stunts, so it is surprising that a "crane jump" has appeared. There is a possiblity that some more colourful stunts will be included in Quantum of Solace.

[katied]

The crane jump won't be considered Iconic years from now, as much as it got mentioned in reviews of CR.

[Captain Nash]

The crane jump in CR is a very good stunt, and thankfully done for real.
But as far as the best go, for me it's not quite there.
Here then (cos I know you're all waiting to see) are my top ten ranked Bond stunts. In reverse order.

10. Barefoot waterskiing behind a plane in LTK
9. Capturing the plane from a helicopter in LTK
8. The cliff fall finale from FYEO
7. Ski sequence in OHMSS
6. The train sequence from OP
5. The finale aboard the plane in OP
4. The bungee jump from GE
3. The barrel roll / bridge jump from TMWTGG
2. The ski / parachute jump from TSWLM
1. The cargo net fight from TLD

One thing I always found the Bond series could do (for the most part) was lead the way in how stunts were performed for real. And were genrerally the best going. This is especially true throughout the 70's and 80's. Unfortunately cgi came into big budget films in the 90's and continue into the 00's, though with CR Bond is doing it for real once again. I don't mind cgi to be used, but not to create the whole scene.

[katied]

Unfortunately cgi came into big budget films in the 90's and continue into the 00's, though with CR Bond is doing it for real once again. I don't mind cgi to be used, but not to create the whole scene.

Too right.There is WAY too much of a dependence on CGI. It's OK in small doses but using it to make whole scenes is, IMO laziness.