The Best James Bond Movies, Definitively Ranked

They may have presaged summer-blockbuster culture more than a decade before that culture stormed (slash created) the multiplex, but the James Bond movies will always be associated with Thanksgiving, at least to a certain segment of the U.S. population. After alternating between (mostly) summer-ish and (occasionally) Christmas-ish releases for 33 years, British superspy James Bond made his ‘90s comeback with the Thanksgiving-season release of Goldeneye, starring Pierce Brosnan, in 1995. Most of the subsequent Bond pictures of the 30 years since have arrived on U.S. shores in November, with just one in December (opposite Titanic!) and one in October (following a nearly two-year, COVID-assisted delay from its original November release date). Plus, throughout the ‘90s and into the ‘00s, various cable channels made Thanksgiving-season Bond marathons a holiday staple, keeping the series in heavy circulation even when a new entry didn’t hit theaters.

It’s a bizarre arrangement, given that Bond himself wouldn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, probably not even during an unsanctioned mission on American soil. Still, who are we to argue with tradition? While I can easily recommend a small group of excellent genuinely Thanksgiving-themed movies, it probably feels just as homey, if not moreso, to get a Bond playlist going, whether you want to arrange a Best James Bond Movies marathon or a 007 Eras Tour that gives equal time to some of the less well-regarded fellows. Prime Video, the official streaming service of Bond’s new owners at Amazon, seems to understand this Thanksgiving tradition, as they have all of the Eon-produced Bond movies on hand through the end of November. It’s a little strange that they haven’t found a permanent home there, but a license to stream may be more valuable than a license to kill.