One-liners are a staple of the James Bond character. 007’s snappy wisecracks are as much a part of his characterization as the Walther PPK he carries, the Aston Martin DB5 he drives, and the shaken, not stirred martinis he drinks. Whenever he kills a bad guy, he cracks a joke to lighten the mood. If he didn’t use humor to relieve the tension, Bond would just be a cold-blooded murderer. Whenever he’s in bed with a woman, he fires off a sexual double entendre as a wink to the audience.
The 007 one-liner tradition was defined by the first Bond actor, Sean Connery, whose wry delivery style made them iconic. From his immortal introduction, “Bond... James Bond,” to his “positively shocking” pun, Connery’s 007 landed some unforgettable one-liners.
From Russia With Love: “She’s Had Her Kicks.”
Bond’s second big-screen outing, From Russia with Love, still holds up as a masterpiece. The producers hadn’t quite perfected the formula yet, but it’s a rollicking spy caper. The film saved Bond’s best one-liner for last. Near the end of the movie, after the main conflict has been resolved, the villainous Rosa Klebb is sent to kill Bond and his latest love interest, Tatiana Romanova.
Klebb attacks them in a hotel room, disguised as a maid, and tries to stab Bond with a knife concealed in the tip of her shoe like the Joker. When 007 has dispatched the SPECTRE agent, Tatiana calls her a “horrible, horrible woman.” Bond quips, “Yes, she’s had her kicks,” in reference to the shoe knife that just almost ended his life.
Diamonds Are Forever: “Welcome To Hell, Blofeld.”
Connery took a one-movie break from the Bond franchise before returning to the role one last time. Diamonds Are Forever follows on from George Lazenby’s 007 outing as Bond confronts his arch-nemesis and declares, “Welcome to Hell, Blofeld.” This isn’t a clever pun or a crude double entendre, because Bond doesn’t have time for wordplay; he’s out for blood.
The straightforwardness of this one-liner highlights Bond’s drive for revenge against Blofeld following the tragic events of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. 007 is on a narrow-minded quest to kill the head honcho of SPECTRE after he ordered the hit on his wife Tracy Bond.
Thunderball: “I Think He Got The Point.”
Although it’s generally considered to be one of Connery’s weaker Bond films, Thunderball still has a couple of memorable quips. One of the life-threatening situations 007 finds himself in is being strapped to a mechanical masseuse in a health spa. After he narrowly escapes from the overloaded motor of this high-tech traction table, he jokes, “I must be six inches taller.”
That one isn’t particularly clever, but it still points to the goofy sense of humor that Bond always maintains in the face of certain doom. The best line in the movie is a much smarter joke. When Bond kills a villain with a spear gun, he makes a pun: “I think he got the point.”
Goldfinger: “Shocking, Positively Shocking.”
In the opening scene of Goldfinger, Bond thinks he’s out of the woods after blowing up a drug laboratory. Seemingly, his mission is over. He goes back to his hotel room for some rest and relaxation and returns to the lover waiting for him in the bathroom.
Just in the nick of time, 007 spots a henchman ambushing him from behind in the reflection in her eyes. After a brief scuffle, he shoves the bad guy into a bathtub, then tosses a lamp in the water with him. Once the henchman has been electrocuted to death, Bond jokes, “Shocking, positively shocking.” This is one of the early puns that laid the groundwork for Bond’s comedic sensibility.
You Only Live Twice: “Bon Appetit!”
Bond finally confronted his arch-nemesis in You Only Live Twice after his appearance was teased in various subplots and off-screen cameos over the years. In the movie’s explosive climax, 007 infiltrates Blofeld’s iconic secret lair burrowed into a hollowed-out volcano.
This movie provides one of Bond’s most morbid one-liners. After he throws one of Blofeld’s henchmen into a water tank, the poor henchman is promptly devoured by piranhas. While the ravenous fish are feasting away, giving the henchman a slow, drawn-out, agonizing death, Bond gleefully tells them, “Bon appetit!”
Dr. No: “Bond... James Bond.”
Easily Connery’s most renowned one-liner in the role of 007 is his immortal introduction – “Bond... James Bond” – when he greets fellow secret agent Sylvia Trench in a nightclub. This line has since become a calling card for the character. It’s been repeated by subsequent Bond actors, who all put their own spin on it, and it appears in just about every entry in the franchise.
According to the BBC, “Bond... James Bond” was voted the most beloved movie quote of all time by 007’s countrymen: British film buffs. The line also appeared on the American Film Institute’s “100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes” list. According to Looper, this line was originally scripted as “I am James Bond,” but Connery spruced it up to be a little more unique and ended up making movie history.