10 Best Film Sequels By Different Directors

The Sequel To: From Russia With Love (Young, 1963)

The Director: Guy Hamilton

Taking Over From: Terence Young

If three Bonds seems like a bit of a push, then consider that it's the longest running franchise in cinematic history; a phenomenon started in the 60s and still going today, some fifty years later. The Bond cycle has seen many peaks and valleys, and each decade has had it's own incarnation, its own Bond to call its own. 

Goldfinger, despite probably being a lesser overall film than its predecessor, From Russia With Love, is the quintessential Bond picture, a film so steeped in iconography and franchise history that it overcomes its flaws to become one of cinema's essential movies. 

And, while it doesn't quite have the technical mastery of a Skyfall, or the narrative depth of an On Her Majesty's Secret Service, what it does have is moments—moments of sheer, cinematic pleasure that have become mainstays in film discussion and lexicon: the car and its ejector seat; the girl covered in gold; the classic-line spouting villain and his hat-throwing henchman; the femme fatale with the memorable name; the music; Bond, James Bond, doing his thing in the series' most undeniable classic.