It’s been 50 years since the first James Bond film hit screens, and some might say that England’s greatest super spy is getting a little long in the tooth. To that we say au contraire! In fact when it comes to foiling evil plots, seducing beautiful women and driving amazing cars, there’s still no one who does it better.
Why do we still love James Bond? It’s all in the video above, but just for fun let us count the ways:
1. He Meets Such Interesting People. People with names like Xenia Onatopp and Plenty O’Toole. These are just two of the ridiculously named Bond girls (from GoldenEye and Diamonds Are Forever, respectively) that appear in pretty much any movie. We also like Octopussy and Christmas Jones. (Actually, it’s Doctor Christmas Jones — she’s a nuclear physicist. Seriously.)
(MORE: 50 Things You Didn’t Know About 007)
2. He Has Some Great Toys. Wouldn’t you like to have a car with an ejector seat? Or one that turns into a submarine? Or one you can drive from your mobile phone? How about a watch with a buzzsaw hidden inside or a ski pole that turns into a rifle? (Actually, we probably wouldn’t have a lot of uses for that one.) Bond has all of the above — and he gets some new gadget, courtesy of MI6’s Q branch, in every movie.
3. He Has a Way with Women. It had to be something. Nothing else can explain why pick-up lines like “I’m just looking” actually seem to work. One hundred percent of the time.
(MORE: An Exclusive Excerpt from LIFE’s New Book 50 Years of James Bond)
4. He’s Cool under Pressure. Whether he’s about to be sliced in half by a laser beam or driving a tank through St. Petersburg, it’s hard to make this guy sweat.
5. He can do anything. Jump off a construction crane? Check. Drive a motorcycle through the spinning blades of a helicopter? Check. Leap from a cliff while wearing skis? You bet. And most of the time he’s doing it while wielding a gadget, keeping his cool and coming to the rescue of a beautiful if preposterously named woman. What’s not to love?
(MORE: Javier Bardem Talks to TIME About Playing a Bond Villain)