The Bond series named 5th most influential by BBC film poll

07-Apr-2003 • Bond News

A BBC poll to determine the most influential films has registered the Bond series in fifth place.

The poll was created by BBC Online to find the most influentional films of the last 75 years to mark the 75th Academy Awards.

The five Star Wars films created by George Lucas, released between 1977 and 2002, were picked as the most influential by more than a third of the 18,000 people who voted online. Peter Jackson`s The Lord of the Rings films were second in the poll, chosen by almost a quarter of voters.

Orson Welles` acknowledged masterpiece Citizen Kane was third, followed by The Godfather series in fourth spot and the 20-strong James Bond film series fifth.

The first Lord of the Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring, won four Oscars in 2002 and director Peter Jackson is set to discover if his film series can add to its tally this year.

Although The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars dominated the poll, taking more that 60% of all votes, more established classics were also selected. Welles` 1941 film Citizen Kane earned 8.65% of the vote, while Francis Ford Coppola`s Godfather trilogy took 7.22% of votes.

The James Bond films earned 6.81% of the poll votes, followed by 2001: A Space Odyssey with 5.4% of votes. The Matrix was seventh in the poll, followed by prison drama The Shawshank Redemption in eighth spot. All of the films and collective film series have won Oscars, with the exception of the Shawshank Redemption.

Gone With The Wind, winner of 10 Oscars, more than any other single film in the poll, took only ninth position while Quentin Tarantino`s Pulp Fiction, winner of one Oscar, was tenth.