In the ‘60s, the wildly successful James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the super spy became one of the most copied and parodied franchises in film history. There were the FLYNT films, the Matt Helm films, something called SUPER AGENT SUPER DRAGON, LICENSED TO KILL (decades before the Bond series used the same title), THE IPCRESS FILE (produced by Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman), DEADLIER THAN THE MALE, and the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Get Smart, for starters (much too many to keep listing).
But the most curious of these knock-offs is Alberto De Martino’s 1967 action comedy entitled OPERATION KID BROTHER, or its original title, O.K. CONNERY, or its later video release titles OPERATION DOUBLE 007, or SECRET AGENT 00 (none of these are good titles). This Italian flick’s big gimmick is that it stars Sean Connery’s younger brother, Neil.
Neil, who had more than a passing resemblance to his famous brother, played a cosmetic surgeon whose chief skills are hypnotism and lip-reading. But what’s really comically notable is that his name is his own, Neil Connery, and his brother, whose name is never mentioned, is described as the Secret Service's top agent, is obviously 007, and whose name is likely Sean in this film’s wacky world.
So they couldn’t use the name, James Bond, and when someone mentions his code number “00…” someone interrupts then, so they apparently can’t use that either.
Then there’s the rest of the cast, which is brimming with cast members from the Bond series including Bernard Lee who played Bond’s superior M, Lois Maxwell who played secretary Moneypenny (she’s named Miss Maxwell, which is really unimaginative, but I guess is keeping with the theme), Adolfi Celi from THUNDERBALL, Yee-Wah-Yang from YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Daniela Bianchi from FROM RUSSIA FROM LOVE, and Anthony Dawson from DR. NO.
The effect here is that the filmmakers wanted to trick moviegoers into thinking that this film is part of the official Bond canon. The soundtrack, written by Ennio Morricone (!) and Bruno Nicolai, buttresses this conceit with its convincing variations on the Bond theme, and comparable incidental music.
A strange element here is that Neil’s voice is dubbed by an American actor and it doesn’t seem to fit. One of the reasons that he was cast was because along with his looks, his voice sounded like his brother’s. From what I’ve read, this was for some sort of medical reasons, but, man, was it bad timing for him to not have his voice for his film debut. There was also the matter that he refused to shave off his goatee, which is even mentioned in the movie (“I’m attached to it”).
OPERATION KID BROTHER (that’s the title I’m going with) is billed as a comedy, but it’s not very funny, nor does it try to be for most of its running time. When a character says “You read too much Fleming,” it’s obviously an attempt to be an inside joke but it’s more a groaner. The plot is a typical one about thwarting world domination (of course), which ends in a big battle at the villain’s castle base in Munich. The gray metal interiors look like half finished sets from YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – consider it Bond on a budget.
It’s hard to fault Neil for this not-so-craft cash grab. Who can blame him for attempting to step into the shoes of his international super star brother. Trouble is, he didn’t get to walk in them very far as he was only in two other movies: the 1969 schlocky sci-fi thriller THE BODY STEALERS (also known as THIN AIR, or INVASION OF THE BODY STEALERS - jeez, can’t these film stick with one title?), and the 1984 action comedy ACES GO PLACES 3, in which he had a cameo as Mr. Bond. After that it has been reported that his career as a plasterer ended in the mid ‘80s, and he went on to run a company in Glasgow, but besides that nothing much is known about Neil’s life in the decades since.
OPERATION
KID BROTHER got something of a second life as an episode of Mystery Science
Theater 3000 in 1993, though I don’t think it’s one of their better ones. The
original film, under the OKB title is currently available streaming on Amazon
Prime, which is where I watched it. Can’t say I’d recommend it, but those who are
curious about this curio may get a kick by checking it out.
For the last 34 years, I’ve been asked by numerous people (mainly because I’ve worked in video stores and theaters) if I’ve ever seen HIGHLANDER. Obviously I hadn’t, and I would say something like “I’ll get to it someday.” Well, someday came a few weeks back when I got a copy from Netlflix (yes, I still get discs delivered), and got onto my exercise bike to pedal my way through Russell Mulcahy’s 1986 cult fantasy favorite.
My belated viewing of the movie was inspired by the death of the great Sean Connery earlier this fall. I figured that as I’ve seen most of the man’s major work, I should finally tackle this beloved ‘80s epic. Connery’s voice is the first thing heard in HIGHLANDER, as he recites the red text that sets the tone with such high falutin prose as “From the dawn of time we came, movie silently down through the centuries.”
Queen, who, along with Michael Kamen, provides the film’s soundtrack, takes us through the credits and drops us into a wrestling match at Madison Square Garden in 1985 where we meet protagonist Conner MacLeod (Christopher Lambert). When McLeod has flashbacks to a battle in the Scottish Highlands in 1536, I realized that for years, decades really, that I didn’t know the movie’s real premise. I had thought it was about someone from the present (well, mid ‘80s that is) who was somehow thrown back in time to the medieval age and trained by old sage Connery in the ways of sorcery and swordfighting.
I was unaware that HIGHLANDER largely deals with immortality, and that its hero has lived for hundreds of years. MacLeod is being pursued by other immortals, one of which he beheads in a sword fight in a parking garage (parking garage scenes were big in the ‘80s). You see, beheading is the only way to permanently kills an immortal – I did not know that.
The film bounces back and forth from the gritty Scotland of the 1500s, where we get MacLeod’s backstory as a blacksmith to the gritty New York of the 1980s, where we learn that the man is an antique dealer, which, of course, is fitting. The only part that I got somewhat right is that MacLeod is trained in olden times by Connery’s character, Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez. There’s love interests in forensics specialist Brenda Wyatt (Roxanne Hart), and McLeod’s past wife Heather (Beatie Edney), but they are little more than requisite damsels in distress, but Hart and Edney both make the most of their underwritten roles (underwritten roles for women in movies like this were big in the ‘80s).
An element I didn’t care for was the villain, named The Kurgan, portrayed by a scenery-chewing Clancy Brown. I’ve seen Brown in other films, and he is nowhere near as overwrought as here so maybe he got lost in the ridiculously over the top character.
So I finally saw HIGHLANDER. For the most part, I enjoyed it for its cheesy ‘80s fantasy feel, and the Queen tunes. But I couldn’t really see that special thing that would make it somebody’s favorite film. Also, why didn't anybody tell me that Sean Connery’s role was only 20 minutes long?!!?
Connery does return for HIGHLANDER II: THE QUICKENING, but I’ve been advised not to go there. Also I’ve been told not to watch the other sequels (there are four!), which honestly I was unaware of. I had heard of the TV series (1992-1998), but like the original film, I never saw any of it. I also didn’t know that there are novels, comics (sorry, graphic novels), an animated series, and video games. Jeez – how was I so oblivious to the vast extended HIGHLANDER-verse?
I’ll most likely heed the warnings especially when they are stated like this: “DO. NOT. WATCH. THE. SEQUELS” – that came from the comments on a Facebook post I made when I announced I was finally watching the first flick.
I suppose that the movie’s most famous line, and tagline, “There can be only one” is right. On that note, I’ll leave you with this:
As a young aspiring filmmaker, Steven Spielberg really wanted to direct a James Bond movie. After his successes with JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, he even reached out to the 007 camp, but as he told The Independent, “I called up Cubby (producer Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli) and offered my services but he didn’t think I was right for the part.”
So, as the legend goes, Spielberg went on vacation with his friend George Lucas in the summer of 1977. Lucas’ breakthrough smash hit STAR WARS had just been released, and Spielberg had just completed CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, due to be released later that year. While building a sand castle on the beach at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (hey, this is how the legend goes), Spielberg told Lucas his dream of making a James Bond movie and how it would probably never come to be.
Then Lucas told his friend he had an idea that was better than Bond.
In a later interview, Lucas explained, “So I said, 'Well, look, Steven, I’ve got a James Bond film. It’s great - it’s just like James Bond but even better. I told him the story about this archeologist and said it was like a Saturday-matinee serial, that he just got into one mess after another. And Steven said, ‘Fantastic, let's do this!’”
Lucas’ character was named Indiana Smith – after his dog’s name. Spielberg disliked the name but agreed it should be an all-American moniker, so they settled on Indiana Jones.
This simple beach chat led to one of the biggest movie franchises in history with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK , INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, and INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE dominating the ‘80s box office.
LAST CRUSADE, the third entry, was especially notable as it featured Sean Connery as Indy’s father, Henry Jones, which brought the Bond connection full circle. Although he was only 12 years older than series star Harrison Ford, Connery convincingly owned the role, playing against type as a nebbish bookworm, and the part introduced the actor to younger generations who had never seen any of the seven films in which he portrayed the suave super spy, 007.
As Spielberg later said to Empire Magazine, “Who else but Bond could have been worthy enough to play Indiana Jones’s dad?”
Spielberg never did direct a Bond film, repeatedly saying in interviews that with his colossal career, “now they can’t afford me.”
Connery retired from acting in 2003, but he did consider returning when the fourth Indiana Jones film was in development later in the decade.
He ended up issuing this statement: “If anything could have pulled me out of retirement, it would have been an Indiana Jones film, but in the end, retirement is just too damned much fun.”
Connery’s role was reduced to his picture being seen on Jones’ desk along with Denholm Elliot (Indy's mentor Marcus Brody) in an early scene. As INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL is far from a fan favorite, maybe Connery made the right decision.
In the scheme of things, Connery’s role as Indiana Jones’ dad is a small part of his lengthy legacy, but it’s still a crucial one as it connects the franchises in a major way. Undoubtedly, many kids sought out Connery’s Bond movies after seeing LAST CRUSADE, and went from there to discover his other work which is getting spotlighted right now on the sad event of the great actor’s death.
In conclusion, Spielberg didn’t get what he wanted (making his own James Bond film), but he sure got what he needed (co-creating an iconic character that was almost as good - sorry, Lucas, but it’s true).
One last tidbit is that Connery’s Henry Jones Sr. reveals that his son’s name is Henry Jones Jr., and that their dog’s name was Indiana (obviously inspired by Lucas's dog). This leads to Indy’s long-time pal, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) to mock him for being named after a dog. A few lines later, the original trilogy is done.
This morning, word got around online that the great actress Diana Rigg had passed away at age 82. Most obituraries highlighted that she was Emma Peel in The Avengers series in the ‘60s, and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, but for many fans her defining role was as the one woman in entire 25 film run of the James Band series who married the super spy.
After five films in which Sean Connery portrayed 007, the actor wanted out and opted not to reprise the role in the sixth entry in the franchise. The unknown model, George Lazenby, took over the iconic Bond part for ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, and was paired with leading lady Diana Rigg as Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (nickname: Tracy).
Despite Lazenby’s inexperience, he had good chemisty with Rigg, and it felt plausible that Bond had found his true love, after he had yet again saved the world – this time from a deadly worldwide virus (hmm) that his arch enemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) was attempting to inflict.
Moments after 007 and Tracy have a lovely wedding ceremony in Portugal, Bond pulls over his car (an Aston Martin, of course) on the winding mountain road to remove flowers from the car’s hood. Suddenly a vehicle containing Blofeld and his henchmen rapidly appears, and perform a deadly drive-by. Rigg’s Tracy dies instantly from a headshot, while Bond cries and tells a passing motorcycle cop: “It’s all right. It’s quite all right, really. She’s having a rest. We’ll be going on soon. There’s no hurry, you see. We have all the time in the world.” (This was also the title of the Louis Armstrong-sung romantic theme song for the film)
This shocking killing is undeniably the saddest moment in the entire James Bond canon. It devastated me when I first saw the movie as a kid on TV, and it’s still a powerful scene over 50 years later.
Although he was in one of the series’ best entries, Lazenby was a Bond one-timer, and Connery was tempted back into the fold with the next film, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. The 1971 film opened with Connery’s 007 scouring the world to find Blofeld in order to take revenge for the death of his wife.
Now, her name was never mentioned but audiences just knew that’s what the deal was. After Bond supposedly takes down his greatest adversary – “Welcome to Hell, Blofeld” – Tracy is again, not referenced in the rest of the movie, but that’s not surprising as DIAMONDS was intended to be an cheeky old school exercise in GOLDFINGER-style colorfulness (Shirley Bassey was even back to sing the theme!).
Roger Moore took over for 1973’s LIVE AND LET DIE, but neither it nor its follow-up, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN had any mention of Mrs. James Bond. Since Moore signified a re-booting of the series (of course, nobody said reboot back then – the concept didn’t exist), so maybe they had left behind the idea that Bond had a wife who died tragically.
But then there was 1977’s THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, arguably Moore’s finest film as 007. In one scene, Bond’s latest lady, Barbara Bach as Russian agent Major Anya Amasova statically states his resume to his dismay.
Major Anya Amasova: “Commander James Bond, recruited to the British Secret Service from the Royal Navy. Licensed to kill and has done so on numerous occasions. Many lady friends but married only once. Wife killed…”
James Bond: [interrupts her] “Alright, you've made your point.”
Major Anya Amasova: “You’re sensitive, Mr. Bond?”
James Bond: “About certain things, yes.”
There we get that Moore’s Bond is indeed the same Bond from ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, and that he’s still profoundly hurt by the experience of her murder.
Four years later, the point is driven home by the opening of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981). Moore’s 007 visits the grave of Teresa Bond, as she’s identified on her tombstone along with the inscription “1943-1969, Beloved Wife of James Bond,” and “We Have All the Time in the World.”
The next and last time there was a mention of Bond’s long slain wife was in LICENSE TO KILL (1989), which was Timothy Dalton’s second and final film as Bond.
When Bond’s best friend CIA agent Felix Leiter (David Hedison, reprising the role from LIVE AND LET DIE) gets married, his new bride Della (Priscilla Barnes from Three’s Company!) offers to throw her garter at 007 saying, “You know the tradition? The next one who catches this is the next one who...”
But Bond deflects, “No. No. Thanks, Della. It's time I left.” After he exits, Della asks Felix, “Did I say something wrong?” Felix: “He was married once, but it was a long time ago.”
20 years to be exact. Technically this is the last reference in the franchise to Bond’s long lost flame, but in Pierce Brosnan’s 007 debut, GOLDENEYE (1995), there is a notable line from 006, Alex Trevelyan (Sean Bean), that seems to have some resonance about Bond’s past:
Alex Trevelyan: “I might as well ask you if all those vodka martinis drown out the screams of the men you've killed, or if you find forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for the dead ones you failed to protect.”
Daniel Craig, whose fifth and final Bond adventure, NO TIME TO DIE, is slated for later this year, never had to deal with the issue of having his wife die, but did have in CASINO ROYALE, a true love in the form of Vesper Lynd (Eve Green) whose death affects him greatly.
That is indeed sad, but c’mon, her impact will never come anything close to that of Rigg’s Teresa/Tracy. The tributes I’ve seen today from folks about the how the character got to them at an early age can’t be denied.
Of course, we don’t have all the time in the world, but the short time we had with Mrs. James Bond will just have to do.
Occasionally, I’m going to shine a spotlight on a could be classic scene from cinema history. This time around, let’s take a look at the final casino scene from Martin Campbell's 2006 James Bond film CASINO ROYALE.
The film, the 21st in the series, was the first outing as 007 for Daniel Craig, and it served as a reboot for Bond after the increasing silliness of the Pierce Brosnan entries.
A film I wrote about earlier this year, John Dahl’s 1998 poker-driven crime drama ROUNDERS is widely respected within the casino games community, on the grounds that the gambling is more realistically depicted than usual in Hollywood movies, but the gambling scenes in CASINO ROYALE put cinema over realism in a way that only Bond movies can.
No one should ever expect gritty realism in a Bond film so when our secret agent hero faces off against arch villain Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) over a game of Texas Hold’em the stakes are absurdly high. Bond knows he has to win, because le Chiffre plans to use the winnings to aid terrorists, which gives the game an edge even the most gripping of cinematic poker games could never match.
In the scene, the game is down to four players - Bond, Chiffre, Fukutu (Tom So), and Infante (Ade) – with four million in the pot. Bond has the biggest stack of chips, and the coolest demeanor, of course. After studying his main opponent with his icy eyes, Bond puts his entire 40 million, 5 hundred thousand in on the next hand to the gasping of the roomful of patrons surrounding them. Chiffre follows suit, and puts his money, all $115 million of it, in the pot.
Watch the scene and feel the tension:
With so many glitzy gambling scenes throughout the series, it would be hard to say that this one is the best, but it's definitely in the top 5 I'd say. It also recalls that the first time we met 007 on the silver screen, portrayed by Sean Connery in 1962’s DR. NO, he was sitting in a tux at a gambling table. Some things never change.
Louis Leterrier’s star studded comic thriller NOW YOU SEE ME, which was something of a surprise hit early in the summer, heads the pack of new releases on Blu ray and DVD today. Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine star in this piece of passable entertainment about a group of magicians who pull off international heists that often reward their audiences with riches while pissing off the police. Its tag line “The closer you look, the less you'll see” is a rare example of truth in advertising.
The 2-disc Blu ray set features an extended cut of the film along with the theatrical version, with Special Features including a commentary with Producer Bobby Cohen and Director Lettelier (on the theatrical version Only), a few featurettes (“Now You See Me Revealed,” “A Brief History of Magic”), deleted scenes, and two trailers (teaser and theatrical).
Ariel Vromen’s THE ICEMAN, featuring an intense performance by Michael Shannon as Mafia hitman Richard Kuklinski (read my review), releases this week in single disc Blu ray and DVD editions. There are only two short featurettes included as Special Features – “making of” and “behind the scenes” segments – but they’re better than nothing.
One of the best documentaries of the year, Sarah Polley’s STORIES WE TELL, her investigation into her complicated family ties, also drops today but only on DVD, and with no Special Features. That doesn’t make the film any less essential viewing.
Other notable feature films debuting on home video today: Rob Zombie’s THE LORDS OF SALEM, Dante Ariola’s Colin Firth/Emily Blunt comedy ARTHUR NEWMAN, Gorō Miyazaki’s 2011 animated hit FROM UP ON POPPY HILL, Craig Sisk’s THE ENGLISH TEACHER (starring Julianne Moore), Pablo Berger’s Spanish black-and-white silent fantasy film BLANCANIEVES, Matthias Hoene’s British thriller comedy COCKNEYS VS. ZOMBIES, and this last summer’s Syfy Channel sensation SHARKNADO.
On the older films new to Blu ray front, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 psychological thriller MARNIE, starring Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren, previously available only as part of a Hitchcock box set, gets its own individual release on the popular new format. It’s joined by Mario Bava’s A BAY OF BLOOD (1971), Michael Gornick's CREEPSHOW 2, and Richard Rush's 1967 Jack Nicholson vehicle HELL’S ANGELS ON WHEELS.
TV season sets out today include Person of Interest: Season Two, Spartacus: War of the Damned - The Complete Third Season, The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Fourth Season, Scandal: The Complete Second Season, Criminal Minds: The Eighth Season, The Office: Season Nine, Parks and Recreation: Season Five, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season 8. More later…
Just 2 days left until the 23rd James Bond movie, Sam Mendes’ SKYFALL, comes out so let’s continue on the countdown with another 007-centric post.
Starting in the summer of 2010, the Colony Theater in Raleigh, N.C. started showing 35 mm prints of the bulk of the James Bond series, one a month, in chronological order from DR. NO (1962) to DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002). To cap off the canon, last summer they re-screened the first 3 Connery classics to celebrate the series’ 50th anniversary.
I attended just about every screening (I missed one or two of the Pierce Brosnan ones), many of which I’d only seen on TV before, and covered the run for Examiner.com. Here are the links to those posts, back from when the Examiner would pay more for local content (those were the days). Please check them out (because, you know, every click I get at that content farm helps):
Since the 23rd James Bond movie, Sam Mendes’ SKYFALL, releases in 4 days, and also because it's the 50th anniversary of the series, I thought it would be cool to have some 007-centric posts leading up to my review of the highly anticipated film.
First, I thought I'd babble about one of my favorite parts of every Bond movie - the gun barrel opening, created by Maurice Binder. It's a piece of pure '60s pop art that I always love seeing. Check out this cut all of the previous 22 gun barrel sequences together in chronological order into this 9:09 clip from YouTube:
It's fun to see them back to back, because you get a mini-history of the actors who played Bond and see that Sean Connery and one-timer George Lazenby wore hats, Roger Moore mostly wore a tux (they use the same footage of Moore 5 times), and Pierce Brosnan also wore a tux but struck less of a pose than his predecessors.
Incidentally the first 3 gun barrels aren't Connery, they're stuntman Bob Simmons. For THUNDERBALL, they shot one of Connery that was first shown in color, then in reused in black and white in his next 2 Bonds for reasons unknown.
They re-use the same footage of Brosnan throughout his run too, but they add the bullet coming right at you in DIE ANOTHER DAY. Daniel Craig's first film as 007, 2006's CASINO ROYALE, doesn't open it with the gun barrel bit; it comes at the end of the cold opening leading into the theme song.
In 2008's QUANTUM OF SOLACE, it appears at the end of the movie before the credits roll. Will it be back to the beginning of SKYFALL to pay homage to the tradition? We shall soon see.
I also love how the above montage of gun barrels works as a mini-history of how Monty Norman's (or John Barry's, uh, it's complicated) “James Bond Theme” changed to suit the times over the years. Listen how it starts out orchestral, then gets vamped up with surf-guitar, becomes slightly funk-ified in the '70s, and all techno-ized in the '90s.
The gun barrel sequence has been parodied many times, too many to list (though I'm sure a site somewhere does), but here's my top 5:
The Simpsons: “And Maggie Makes Three” (Aired: Jan. 22, 1995)
Monty Python's Flying Circus: “The Pantomime Horse Is A Secret Agent” Film from episode 30: “Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror” (Aired: Nov. 9, 1972)
I liked but did not love CASINO ROYALE – the 007 reboot debut of the robust Daniel Craig but I was way in the minority, mind you. Folks who never cared for a James Bond movie before, and many who had never seen one before as well, fell head over heels for the intensity of the lead man, the non-stop action set pieces, and the emotional realism that many thought the series would never have.
Craig proved himself as a Bond with a difference; one that really bleeds with a powerful palpable anger bottled inside to form a fierce focus. He’s never in need of a gimmicky gadget to save him or a clever quip to break the tension. More BOURNE than Bond some critics claimed, but this was still a preferable approach to the dated fading status of the superspy.
Helmed by a different director (Marc Forster who has never directed an action film and man does it show) QUANTUM OF SOLACE picks up where CASINO ROYALE left off with Bond in revenge mode chasing down the killers of slain lover Vesper Lynd. His adventure begins with wretchedly cut and ferociously un-involving pre-credits car chase which unfortunately sets the standard for the entire episode.
We follow Bond, who is still into running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, from one locale to the next- Haiti, Bolivia, Austria (you gotta have globe trotting) as he kills government traitors and fights to bring down the ginormous terrorist organization Quantum, which is the only connection to the odd title (yes, I know it’s taken from a Ian Fleming short story and that with Bond titles don’t matter).
That’s the best I can do with the plot or lack of it. Hard to make that a matter of much criticism when even the best Bond films have had thin narratives but when I didn’t care what the significance of a particular character was or what exactly was happening it’s hard to overlook.
Craig’s performance is the saving grace of this tangled tortured mess of a movie. He has perfected his unique take on the iconic character and has a scorching presence that often helps this material rise above its turgid trappings. It also helps that there’s a strong cast on the sidelines – the always appealing Judi Dench returns as M, Jeffrey Wright again plays Bond’s CIA ally Felix Leiter, and Olga Kurylenko does the best she can with her role as Bond’s requisite love interest Camille.
The elements of sex and humor that I found largely lacking in the previous film are also absent here but what’s worse is that this exercise is sadly sans both style and substance. QUANTUM OF SOLACE is a failed follow-up to what I realize much more than before was one of the strongest entries of the Bond canon. CASINO ROYALE didn’t just think outside the box, it ripped the box to shreds and discarded the remains to build its own new box. That the new box is already rotting and needs to be replaced is a shame, but we know James Bond has overcome bigger obstacles and will resiliently return regardless.
And now, for the bloggosphere geek record, and because I feel many of my fellow film bloggers and readers haven’t grown up with 007 like I have, here’s my favorite films featuring the original international man of mystery:
Film Babble Blog’s Top Ten Best Of Bond
1.FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE(Dir.Terence Young, 1963) Despite the heavily derived from Hitchcock’s NORTH BY NORTHWEST helicopter chase sequence, the fight scenes, and the now obligatory boat chase this is more of a straight thriller laced with romance than the expected high octane action ilk and that’s how I like Bond best. Sean Connery’s second performance as 007 captures him in suave stride as he romances a Russian agent (Daniela Bianchi) while battling SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). Filled with finesse from the first frame to the last and still as sharp today as Rosa Clebb’s poisoned shoe spike was back in the Kennedy Camelot era.
2.GOLDFINGER(Dir. Guy Hamilton, 1964) It’s close to a tie between this and #1; this being the fine tuning of a formula that served the series very well. A megalomaniac (Gert Fröbe) sets out to commit “the crime of the century” by literally going for the gold (Fort Knox) but Bond (Connery) foils his plans and gets Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) in the process (also literally). The theme song sung by Shirley Bassey (who later did the better than the movie theme for DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) is as definitive as the film itself.
3.THE SPY WHO LOVED ME(Dir. Lewis Gilbert, 1977) There’s a bias here because this was the first one I saw as a kid at the theater but it’s certainly considered the best of the Roger Moore Bond movies (Moore himself agrees). It has one of the best Bond babes (Barbara Bach), one of the best Bond theme songs (Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better”), and one of the best Bond automobiles (a Lotus Esprit that can convert to a submarine car). It also has the infamous overlarge henchman “Jaws” (Richard Kiel) who was popular enough to be shamelessly trotted out again in the next movie.
4.DR. NO(Dir. Terence Young, 1962) Yep, like the first 3 Elvis Costello albums the first 3 Bond movies are essential IMHO. Connery assumes the role immediately and this has much evidence of the cold cunning killer that folks these days seem to think Craig created. The shot of Ursula Andress emerging from the water in a white cotton bikini with a knife holster is forever etched into my psyche and into film history. Fittingly the scene was recreated with Halle Berry in DIE ANOTHER DAY and to show the tables have been turned in terms of sexual objectification nowadays, Daniel Craig did the honors at the beach in CASINO ROYALE.
5.ON HER MAJESTY’S SERCRET SERVICE (Dir. Peter Hunt, 1969) Maybe an odd choice to some because it featured a Bond one-timer (George Lazenby - who I believe is Marge Simpson’s favorite Bond) but I think it’s crucial for several reasons, the most important being that this is the one he gets married in. Former model Lazenby may have been a horrible actor but he’s got a grand movie surrounding him with the elegant Diana Rigg (fresh from The Avengers) as his bride, Telly Savalas as the most energetic version of Bond’s arch enemy Blofeld to be found in the series, and the first and still best ski chase Bond’s ever been in.
6.FOR YOUR EYES ONLY(Dir. John Glen, 1981) This was a noble and successful attempt to get Bond back down to earth (again literally) after the sublimely stupid STAR WARS cash-in MOONRAKER. Roger Moore’s 5th outing as the secret agent was nicely plotted with a great McGuffin (ATAC - Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator, a thingie that looked like a big calculator) and a toned down sense of self satire, i.e. fewer one-liners. There is genuine drama involving yet another revenge scenario amongst the action sequences which include the expected ski-chases, underwater fights, and a mountain climbing climax which defines the word “gripping”.
7.GOLDENEYE(Dir. Martin Campbell, 1995) Honestly, though I thought he was well cast, I wasn’t a big fan of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films. I felt that it all had been done to death and that the series should retire. This film does address that with M (Judi Dench – the only linking cast member to the Craig Bonds) calling Bond a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur” and a “relic of the cold war”. There is a streamlined effort present to preserve and re-invigorate the adventures of 007 and Brosnan here for his first of five films is well up to the task even if the formulaic packaging falters. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of fun to be had so it makes the grade.
8.THUNDERBALL(Dir. Terence Young, 1965) Err, make that the first 4 films! Michael G. Wilson, producer and screenwriter of many Bond movies, not long ago remarked “We always start out trying to make another FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and end up with another THUNDERBALL.”
As Bond blue-prints go though that’s a pretty good one to end up with. While it’s bogged down with too many underwater fights, THUNDERBALL has a great villain in Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo (SPECTRE #2) and features Connery’s last best performance as Bond (he pretty much walked through 3 others after this including the weird remake NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN in 1983). I believe this makes the list again because of my love of it as a kid and my ironic fondness for the swinging theme by Tom Jones. Austin Powers took a lot of notes on this one.
9.THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS(Dir. John Glen, 1987) Maybe I’m just throwing a bone to everybody’s least favorite Bond Timothy Dalton or maybe I just have a thing for every actor’s first time in the role but this was a fair effort to move the franchise into a new more realistic direction after the parting of Roger Moore. Dalton, who was excellent as the moustache twirling villain in HOT FUZZ a few years back, brings his stage training to the part and while the standard cold war plot (itself a relic) holds no surprises there is considerable charm and a nice chemistry with Maryam d’Abo, definitely one of my favorite Bond women.
10.LIVE AND LET DIE(Dir. Guy Hamilton, 1973) Roger Moore’s first is again a favorite from my youth and one I always stop and watch when coming across it when flipping through the channels. It has the key elements – great theme song (by Paul McCartney and Wings), great action set-pieces (definitely the best boat chase of the canon), a great lovely lady (Jane Seymour), and a great edgy adversary (Yaphet Kotto).
Bond’s brush with Blaxploitation is only marred by the worst, and most embarrassing, deaths of a villain (or of anybody) of all the movies – don’t worry no Spoiler but you’ve been warned.
Whew! Well, that’s my best of Bond. If you are weary of going to see what is surely going to be #1 at the box office this weekend, you may consider catching up with one or two of the classics above.
