New Bond Film Set for 2014: “The Scatter of Pareto”:

Just kidding, although the title is probably isn’t any more obtuse than 2008’s “Quantum of Solace.”

Prompted by the release of the new Bond film “Skyfall,” various publications have carried articles on the Bond films. A couple, quite amusingly, resorted to clever uses of graphical tools to enliven their pieces. Truth be told, their graphics are quite good and do what good graphics should: provide insight at a glance. I wish managers in business used these tools as well as the authors.

The first, from The Economist, features a pareto analysis of the number of martinis, love conquests, and villains killed per film by each 007 actor. Their conclusion:

James Bond films are almost always the same: Bond is sent to an exotic location, meets and seduces a woman, gets caught by the villain, escapes, kills the villain and gets the girl. Known for martinis, Bond girls, apocalyptic antagonists and heavy innuendo, Bond has schmoozed, boozed and bruised his way through women and villains alike. Or not alike. Data compiled by The Economist show that of the six Bonds, Pierce Brosnan was the most bloodthirsty, bumping off an average of 19 baddies per film. The short-lived George Lazenby, it turns out, was the Bond for the babes, whereas Daniel Craig, the latest, is notably less successful. Maybe that’s because he drinks the most martinis. Still, all that risks being shortlived. In the new Bond film, “Skyfall”, Heineken has paid to ensure the hero only drinks beer. Neither shaken nor stirred, presumably.

The second, from a November 5th Time magazine article by Lily Rothman, shows through the use of a scatter plot, the Bond films that most maximized commercial success (in 2012 dollars) and critical acclaim. They are Goldfinger (1964), Casino Royale (2006), Thunderball (1965), and From Russia with Love (1963).