The HMSS Editor's Survey of the Bond Film Villains

THE HMSS EDITORS SURVEY -- The James Bond Film Villains

The villain is the engine that drives the machinery of a James Bond story. It's not a coincidence that the best Bond films usually feature the best of the Bond villains, and vice-versa. And a Bond villain is not your standard movie bad guy -- not by a long shot.
Larger-than-life; strangely dressed; possessed of a hunger for power and riches far greater than that of an ordinary gangster; they want a piece of the world itself, and if they can't have it, they'd just as soon blow it up.
Herewith is how the senior editors of Her Majesty's Secret Servant grade, rank, and think of the bad guys of the James Bond film series. Clicking on any of the characters faces will take you to a separate "comments" page, loaded with insightful commentary and colorful artwork. at the bottom of the page is a navigation bar that will take you to pages where we give our attention to the Henchmen and the Femmes Fatale of the series. Enjoy!

First up,


CLICK ON CHARACTER TAB FOR EDITOR'S COMMENTS
								4.35 points
								4.75 points
								4.89 points
								4.90 points
								4.46 points
								3.31 points
								4.21 points
								3.38 points
								3.00 points
								3.27 points
								3.27 points
								2.88 points
								3.60 points
								3.56 points
								4.18 points
								3.84 points
								4.11 points
								2.01 points
								2.59 points
								3.11 points
								3.59 points
								4.17 points
								3.50 points
								3.82 points
								3.94 points
								4.69 points

	3.83	3.59	3.94	4.08	3.71	3.35	3.64	3.74 points

A NOTE ABOUT THE GRADING CRITERIA

We're trying to quantify subjective material here, which is probably not a smart thing. But, because we are geeks for this sort of stuff, we're going to try our best anyhow.
We instructed the participants of this survey to grade these characters, "A+" through "F," in four different areas:
SCHEME: The character's raison d'éttre. Why are they in the story, and what are they up to?
AS WRITTEN: What has the character being given to do or say by the screenwriters?
AS ACTED: How was the character performed by the actor? What did the actor bring to the role?
"BONDINESS": Good or bad acting; great dialogue or not; interesting plot or just stupid actions -- how did the character resonate with you as a James Bond villain? Did they embody that ineffable Fleming-esque quality that sets a Bond villain apart from the common run of movie bad guys? You know... were they Bondy?
We felt the last criterion was a little more important than the others, so we weighted that grade to account for fully 1/3 of the average. It's entirely possible to have a really good villain in an otherwise subpar James Bond story, and we wanted to give the proper respect to such an integral part of the Bond film experience.

The numerical equivalents of the grades are thus:

Grade Score Grade Score Grade Score

A+ 5.00 A 4.90 A- 4.66

B+ 4.33 B 4.00 B- 3.66

C+ 3.33 C 3.00 C- 2.66

D+ 2.33 D 2.00 D- 0.00

F - 1.00

For those that are interested, a spreadsheet showing the full breakdown of grades and scores per category per character per editor can be found HERE.

VILLIANS RANKED IN DESCENDING ORDER
1.   Auric Goldfinger    Grade A
               4.90 points
       Film: GOLDFINGER   4.57 points    Grade B+

2.    Rosa Klebb    Grade A-
               4.89 points
        Film: FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE   4.97 points   Grade A

3.    Kronsteen    Grade A-
               4.75 points
        Film: FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE   4.97 points   Grade A

4.   Le Chiffre    Grade A-
               4.69 points
          Film:  CASINO ROYALE   4.91   Grade A

5.   Emilio Largo    Grade B+
               4.46 points
          Film:  THUNDERBALL   4.67 points   Grade A-

6.   Dr. No    Grade B+
               4.35 points
          Film: DR. NO   4.51 points   Grade B+

7.   Ernst Stavro Blofeld (OHMSS)    Grade B
               4.21 points
          Film: ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE   4.66 points   Grade A-

8.   General Orlov    Grade B
               4.18 points
          Film: OCTOPUSSY   2.43 points   Grade D+

9.   Alec Trevalyen    Grade B
               4.17 points
          Film: GOLDENEYE   4.09 points   Grade B

10.   Ernst Stavro Blofeld (NSNA)    Grade B
               4.11 points
          Film: NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN   3.00 points   Grade C

11.   Col. Moon/ Gustav Graves    Grade B-
               3.94 points
          Film: DIE ANOTHER DAY   3.90 points  Grade B-

12.   Maximillian Largo    Grade B-
               3.84 points
          Film: NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN   3.00 points   Grade C

13.   Elektra King    Grade B-
               3.82 points
          Film: THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH   4.22 points   Grade B

14.   Aristotle Kristatos    Grade C+
               3.60 points
          Film: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY   3.98 points  Grade B-

15.   General Ourumov    Grade C+
               3.60 points
          Film: GOLDENEYE   4.09 points   Grade B

16.   Franz Sanchez    Grade C+
               3.59 points
          Film: LICENSE TO KILL   3.71 points   Grade B-

17.   Kamal Khan    Grade C+
               3.56 points
          Film: OCTOPUSSY   2.43 points   Grade D+

18.   Elliott Carver    Grade C+
               3.50 points
          Film: TOMORROW NEVER DIES   3.09 points   Grade C

19.   Ernst Stavro Blofeld (DAF)    Grade C+
               3.38 points
          Film: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER   3.28 points   Grade C

20.   Ernst Stavro Blofeld (YOLT)    Grade C
               3.31 points
          Film: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE   3.14 points  Grade C

21.   Francisco Scaramanga    Grade C
               3.27 points
          Film: THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN   1.00 point   Grade D

22.   Karl Stromberg    Grade C
               3.27 points
          Film: THE SPY WHO LOVED ME   3.33 points   Grade C+

23.   General Giorgy Koskov    Grade C
               3.11 points
          Film: THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS   4.41 points  Grade B+

24.   Dr. Kananga/ Mr. Big    Grade C
               3.00 points
          Film: LIVE AND LET DIE   2.09 points  Grade D+

25.   Hugo Drax    Grade C-
               2.88 points
          Film: MOONRAKER   0.90 points   Grade D

26.   Brad Whitaker    Grade D+
               2.59 points
          Film: THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS   3.71 points   Grade B-

27.   Max Zorin    Grade D
               2.01 points
          Film: A VIEW TO A KILL   0.67 points  Grade D

AVERAGE SCORE BY DECADE DECADE    AVG. SCORE   GRADE
1960s              4.41                 B+
1970s              3.16                 C
1980s              3.34                 C+
1990s              3.77                 B-
2000s              4.32                 B

VILLAIN / MOVIE RATIO
B EST VILLAIN IN BEST MOVIE
    Rosa Klebb (A-) & Kronsteen (A-) in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (A)
              TIED WITH
    Le Chiffre (A-) in CASINO ROYALE (A)
WORST VILLAIN IN WORST MOVIE
    Max Zorin (D) in A VIEW TO A KILL (D)
BEST VILLAIN IN WORST MOVIE
    General Orlov (B) in OCTOPUSSY (D+)
WORST VILLAIN IN BEST MOVIE
    Brad Whitaker (D-) in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (B+)

BIGGEST CHANGES
LARGEST AVERAGE DROP IN CONSECUTIVE FILMS
    2.10 points (NSNA to AVTAK)
LARGEST AVERAGE GAIN IN CONSECUTIVE FILMS
    0.90 points (YOLT to OHMSS)

BATTLE OF THE BLOFELDS
FAVORITE
    Telly Savalas (OHMSS)  4.21 points  (B)
LEAST FAVORITE
    Donald Pleasance (YOLT)  3.31 points  (C)

EDITORIAL DIFFERENCES
MOST CRITICAL
    Ed Werner  (3.13 avg.)  Grade C
MOST FAVORABLE
    Deborah Lipp  (4.13 avg.)  Grade B
CLOSEST TO 3.67 AVERAGE
    Paul Baack  (3.65 )
FARTHEST FROM 3.67 AVERAGE
    Deborah Lipp  (4.13 )
WIDEST VARIANCE
    3.35  (Carver)  Lipp / Cotton
2nd WIDEST VARIANCE
    3.25  (Zorin)  Koenig / Werner

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