8 Fun Facts About James Bond-Vol. 2

8 Fun Facts About James Bond-Vol. 2

July 26, 2013-  Here is our second installment in the 8 Fun Facts About James Bond series.  Enjoy.

1.   Ian Fleming's novel, The Spy Who Loved Me, (1962) has the distinction of being one of the least popular and most critically despised novels in the James Bond series.  This experimental tale is told from the perspective of the lead character, Viv Michele, a Canadian woman.   007 does not even appear in the story until the final third of the novel.  The 1977 Roger Moore film of the same name has no plot or character elements from the novel whatsoever.

2.   Christopher Lee, British film actor who began his career in the 1940's, and has starred as such great film characters as Dracula, Saramun the White, Count Dooku and 100's more, played James Bond villain, Francisco Scaramanga in 1974's The Man With The Golden Gun.  Lee was the first cousin to James Bond novelist, Ian Fleming, who never lived to see Lee play the part.

3.  The voices of the actors playing Bond villains, Auric Goldfinger and Emilio Largo, played by Gert Frobe and Aldolfo Celi, respectively, in the films Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965), were dubbed for the films due to the belief that audiences would find their think accents difficult to understand.

4.  Here is some insight into the universal impact that one movie series can have on the world.  It is estimated that more than one half of the entire world's population has seen, at least, one of the James Bond films.  This statistic may make James Bond the single most recognizable fictional character in the history of the world.

5.   Two universally recognized associations of the James Bond character are that his drink of choice is  a martini, "shaken, not stirred" and that he drives an Aston Martin, yet neither appears in any of the Sir Roger Moore films.  Moore felt distancing himself with certain associations of Sean Connery's version of the character would allow him to carve out his own, distinct persona as Bond.

6.   Sean Connery faces the issuance of an arrest warrant in Spain if he fails to appear to testify, before the end of the year, in a corruption investigation involving the sale of a home in Marbella, Spain to developers several years ago.   The property was later demolished and a scandal over zoning laws, money laundering, and political corruption ensued.   To date, Connery has refused to appear.

7.   George Lazenby, star of 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, was a Used Car salesman prior to being selected to fill Sean Connery's shoes in the role of the world's most famous secret agent.

8.   Skyfall (2012), the 23rd installment in the James Bond film series just surpassed Avatar (2009) as the highest grossing film ever in the history of Great Britain.  

I'd love to hear from you with any Fun Facts, or story ideas....

Book Review: Bond on Bond by Sir Roger Moore

Book Review: Bond on Bond by Sir Roger Moore

July 14, 2013- Bond on Bond: Reflections On 50 Years Of James Bond (Lyons Press, 2012) by Sir Roger Moore is everything you would expect from a 220 page, photo filled, coffee-table book written by the actor that starred as the world's most famous Secret Agent for the longest run of the Big Six.  It is entertaining, informative, and rich with nostalgic photos and artwork from the 50 year legacy of the James Bond movie franchise.

Moore tells the story of the transition of James Bond from the fictional character of the Ian Fleming novels to the central character of the longest running film franchise in movie history.  This is all done through Roger Moore's eyes, and in his unique voice.  Moore provides a chronological perspective and a "behind the scenes" look at the how the Eon Productions' team created the winning James Bond formula, and what it has taken to sustain it through 50 years, 23 films, and 6 Bond Actors. 

Bond on Bond includes chapters on the Gadgets, the Villains, the Bond Girls, and even, one on James Bond's style.  It is light hearted, self effacing and filled with personal narratives, opinion, and touching tributes to many of the individual actors and professionals that have passed on from the long history of Bond film making.  Moore provides a wealth of information and trivia in an easy to read, visually pleasing format.

While it is no secret that Roger Moore is not my favorite Bond, I found his perspectives on the series, the character, and the films riveting.  While Moore could have written a book solely devoted to his tenure as Bond, he chose to take on the entire Bond franchise and he manages to provide a work that gives respectful and insightful treatment to the other 5 actors who played the role; although clearly from his personal perspective.  I applaud Moore's deference to Sean Connery, his praise of Daniel Craig, and his unbiased approach to discussing Lazenby, Dalton and Brosnan, as well as his honesty about the limitations of his own approach to the role.  

The book is filled with a wonderful collection of photos from the films and from "behind the scenes".   It also contains full page, colorful photos of the original movie posters from the entire film series, which makes the book worth the cover price, in and of itself.

Bond on Bond is a fun, fact filled, trip through 50 years of Bond film history. Moore is an excellent tour guide and this book is a must for any Bond Fan.

8 Fun Facts About James Bond-Vol.1

8 Fun Facts About James Bond-Vol. 1

Every week as I research article topics for The World of Bond I find myself smiling as I stumble across fun facts that I either didn't know, or had completely forgotten, about the world's most famous secret agent, James Bond.  I decided to compile these facts and share them in a new series called "8 Fun Facts About James Bond".

Here is our first installment:

1.     James Bond was not Ian Fleming's first choice for the character's name.  The original draft of Casino Royale identified the character as James Secretan.  Fleming then opted for a name less coded in double meaning and, subsequently, chose Ornithologist James Bond to model the character after, in name only.

2.     Ian Fleming was unhappy with the selection of Sean Connery for the role in Dr. No.  He actually referred to the choice of Connery as "simply dreadful" after an initial screening of Dr. No.   He later changed his mind.  By the time he died, prior to Goldfinger's release, Fleming began to appreciate the choice.

3.     President John F. Kennedy's praise of Ian Fleming's James Bond series propelled the sales of the Ian Fleming novels, which were previously less than stellar sellers.

4.     George Lazenby was the only Bond actor to publicly criticize the Daniel Craig era films.   While Lazenby praised Craig as an actor, he felt that the Bond character in the Craig era lacks heart.  That characterization makes me wonder if Lazenby actually sat through till the end of Casino Royale.

5.   Roger Moore used a stunt double for scenes where he was running, of all things.   Not that Moore was incapable or unwilling to engage in a good sprint; he simply felt he looked awkward doing it after watching himself run in test footage.

6.   Sean Connery broke his hand training with, none other than martial arts master and fight coordinator, Steven Seagal, on the set of Never Say Never Again (1983).  There is, apparently, still no love loss between the two actors.

7.     In 1986 Pierce Brosnan was the popular favorite to ascend to the Bond throne, succeeding Roger Moore in the film, The Living Daylights.   He was forced to wait another 8 years to fulfill that destiny because the producers' of the television show, Remington Steele (1982), refused to allow Pierce out of his contract.

8.    Daniel Craig's film, Casino Royale (2006), the 23rd installment in the James Bond, Eon Productions film series was, by far, the closest in plot, character development, and dialogue to the original Ian Fleming novel.  It took almost 50 years for Hollywood to acknowledge that Fleming's source work was the best place to re-visit to insure that the James Bond legacy stay alive.   This was a genius move that together with the casting of Daniel Craig, resuscitated a franchise headed for decline.

Stay tuned for more installments.  Please send any Fun Facts you'd like me to include in future installments.

JAMES BOND REMINDER:    Only 4 months until the release of the new James Bond novel, SOLO, by William Boyd.

Which James Bond Is Your Favorite?

Which James Bond Is Your Favorite?

While I certainly have my own opinion about who is the best Film James Bond, I decided to give my readers an opportunity to vote and have their voice be heard on this important debate among Bond aficionados.  I limited the choice to the Eon Productions' Bonds to provide a more even playing field among the choices.  On June 1, 2013 the results will be published and the winning Bond will be the subject of a feature story in The World of Bond.   Who will the public choose:

Sean Connery?   Daniel Craig?  George Lazenby?

We will soon find out.

Who is your favorite film Bond?
	Sean Connery
	Roger Moore
	George Lazenby
	Timothy Dalton
	Pierce Brosnan
	Daniel Craig
pollcode.com free polls

May 21, 2013

Random News From The World Of James Bond

Random News From The World Of James Bond

It seems like only yesterday that George Lazenby's agent advised him that the heyday of James Bond popularity was past.  Now, just a mere 43 years later,  every single day is filled with interesting news and happenings about the world and phenomenon known as James Bond.  Here are just a few noteworthy items:

1.     Subscribers to Netflix were outraged to learn that they were losing access to all of the James Bond Film Collection, plus many more titles owned by MGM Studios, effective May 1, 2013 as a result of an attempt to foster parent company, Warner Bros.'s, competing service by making these products exclusive.   This decision was bad for Netflix fans but it demonstrates that the Bond Films are still a valuable asset to any film collection.

2.    Wanna drive around town like 007?  Well the opportunity to live the secret agent's lifestyle may be at hand in not just one, but two, separate sales of famous Bond Aston Martins.  Sean Connery's iconic car of Goldfinger and Thunderball is yours to own for a mere $4.7 million dollars "fully loaded".  If the classic is a little beyond your budget, there is still a shot at the rare, Aston Martin V8 Volante driven by Timothy Dalton in 1987's The Living Daylights for sale by Classic Driver for considerably less.

3.     Sir Roger Moore is lending his star power to celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the founding of STARS (Syncope Trust and Reflex Anoxic Seizures).  This charity, an international organization, has assisted 50,000 people since it's inception who suffer from unexplained blackouts.   Sir Roger suffered one such blackout in 2003 due to a later diagnosed, low heart rate.  The installation of a pacemaker helped him to address this problem and he has committed himself to spreading the word about the foundation's good work.  That is up there with the most heroic of Bond's deeds.

4.     Pierce Brosnan, in a recent interview surrounding the opening of his new film "Love Is All You Need", had high praise for Daniel Craig's portrayal of the world's most famous secret agent.  "..I loved it.  I did.  I really did.  I've covered a lot of ground since playing James Bond.  I knew Daniel.  We passed in the night..and we spoke about life and how wonderful it was for him to do 007."   As for his time playing Bond, "Bond was a glorious time for me.  I have nothing but gratitude for having played such a role...and Daniel is magnificent."

Brosnan really gets it.   His perspective on playing Bond in a difficult transitional time, where so much of the source material was experimental and where the public and the producers were unsure of what Bond-type they were looking to associate the series, with is terrific.  "My era of playing Bond was still a cross-pollination of Sean Connery and Roger Moore.  They hadn't made the leap into the next phase: the huge action, and more Brutal Bond."  In retrospect, I think this open minded, embracing perspective is one of the reasons why, although the source materials for his Bond films were not all that memorable, his portrayal of the character was infinitely more likable than his immediate predecessor.

5.     George Lazenby really doesn't seem to get it at all.   In a recent interview for Entertainment Tonight he talks about his decision not to return to the role of James Bond, not because he was lackluster in the role, but because the days of Bond were winding down.  That was 43 three years ago, and here we are with the series making a robust comeback.  In fairness to Lazenby he succeeded the iconic Sean Connery, who was inextricably linked to the character itself.  He also was faced with a time period which he referred to as "the hippie era" and it was hard for him to see the clean cut Bond character competing in the movie world alongside an  "Easy Rider" movie audience.  Falling in step with the other Bonds, however, Lazenby did praise Craig's acting in the lead role, although he longs for license to kill who "could still shed a tear over someone dying".  Maybe that is the major difference between Craig and Lazenby's portrayal of Bond; Lazenby longs for a 007 who sheds a tear with every killing and Craig, to quote Casino Royale "...wouldn't be very good at my job if I did."   I am with Craig.

More news for the World Of James Bond to follow....

The Five (5) Most Disappointing Films

The Five (5) Most Disappointing Films

In preparation for my last blog post, The Top Five (5) James Bond Films Of All Time,  I went back and watched the entire catalogue of Bond Films again.   What struck me most was how disappointing so many of them were.  I use the term "Disappointing"very consciously because, while I loved all of them when I saw them originally, and don't think any were truly bad,  I was disappointed by many of them in my recent viewing.  This is why I choose not to use the term "Worst" in this positing; it is too pejorative for my taste.

So what has changed from my original perspectives on the works?   I think my disappointment stems from a combination of several factors; namely:

1.  I have aged and, hopefully, matured and so have my tastes.  The more juvenile the content of some of the Bond films, the less I connect to them .  Bond started out as chauvinistic, gritty, adult themed series and devolved into a quasi-comedic, teenage action series as the films departed from the Sean Connery Era.  This was disappointing.
2.  I have become so much more familiar with the written word of Ian Fleming that the more a film varies from the essence and character of the source material the less I regard it;
3.  In the pre-Daniel Craig era, I think, my expectations had diminished so much that I stopped holding the films out to high standards.  The question became "Is this a good Bond movie?" and not "Is this a good movie?" when judging the series.  The Daniel Craig films reminded me that, at its heart, the Bond films, originally, were good movies that held their own as such and that is how they should be judged.

With those fundamentals being laid out, here is my list of the most disappointing James Bond films in the Eon Productions Era:

5.  The Living Daylights (1987):     The fact is that there are elements of Timothy Dalton's portrayal of James Bond, in his first appearance as the iconic 007, that are redeeming.  His edgier than Moore interpretation of the character was actually refreshing, but not refreshing enough.  I struggled over determining which of the two Dalton Bond Films was more disappointing.   In the final analysis, after seeing The Living Daylights, I was so disappointed that such a great opportunity to transform and resurrect the franchise was squandered, that it was hard to be more disappointed by subsequent films in the Dalton era.   The essential defects revolve around an identity crisis for a franchise in transition.   I think the move to a grittier Bond was a smart contrast to Moore's light-hearted hero, but the complexion of the rest of the film is not entirely in sync with this posture.  Joe Don Baker's, over the top, campy, ridiculous performance as Brad Whitaker is among the worst in the film franchise's history.  Maryam d'Abo's performance, like much of the film, is just flat as the Cellist Kara Milovy.  Is this a terrible film-no; but the opportunities squandered at this critical time in the franchise's chronology is what is so disappointing.

4.  License to Kill (1989):     While this film is better than it's predecessor, mostly due to a grittier, more Fleming based portrayal by Timothy Dalton in the lead role, the film just never really manages to impress.  The plot, with loose ties to several Fleming sources, revolves around Bond seeking revenge for a brutal attack on CIA Agent and friend, Felix Leiter and his wife, by henchman of Robert Davi's Villain, Franz Sanchez, who's performance is one of the admirable parts of the film.  Despite strong elements the film never seems to find it's own identity and, despite the minimization of the camp of earlier films, the film seems to just be moving along without any real enthusiasm.  The fact is that, despite the flaws of Moore's last few Bond Films, he still brought his own charm to the character.  In fact, his later films relied too much on that charm and not enough on other elements.  The Dalton films lack dimension and character as films and Dalton disappoints because the foundations of his Bond portrayal lend themselves much more closely to the Fleming, Connery and, later, Craig, interpretation of the character but he never builds on that strong, fundamental attachment to the original character.

3.  A View To a Kill  (1985)     This last installment of the series starring Roger Moore came, at least, one film too late.  Named after an Ian Fleming short story of the same name, this film has nothing to do with that source work.   Once again, the further the Bond films stray from the source material, in substance and in essence, the bigger the disappointment they are, in my humble opinion.  Christopher Walken's portrayal of Max Zorin is the most redeeming part of the film.  While many critics commented on Moore's portrayal of Bond as a 57 year old as problematic, I think the real failure was not to address the aging Bond within the context of the film, rather than dismissing the obvious and having him portray Bond as much younger character with little credibility.  Tanya Roberts, Grace Jones, and Richard Kiel represent the epitome of bad acting and camp and do nothing to support this installment.

2.  Moonraker (1979):     Christopher Null of FilmCritic.com said everything that needs to be said about this film,  "Most rational observers agree that Moonraker is without a doubt the most absurd James Bond movie, definitely of the Roger Moore era and possibly of all time".  Once again the significant variation from Fleming's source material combined with campy, comedic gags, over the top gimmicks, and two dimensional characters really disappointed.  One of the most significant criticisms of  the film is that it suffers from an identity crisis.   While the film was released in the Star Wars era the effort to have the film compete with that genre transformed Bond, even if only for this film, from a trendsetter to a wannabe in the film industry.  Moonraker could have been an exciting, action packed Moore portrayal if it tried to stay true to what made Bond movies so beloved.

1.  On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969):     This film is the greatest Bond Disappointment of all time.   The source material is the second book in what has become to be known as "The Blofed Trilogy".   For many literary critics the written source is the greatest of all the Fleming Bond books, perhaps setting any film interpretation up for failure.  Despite the fact that the plot is very close to the original Fleming work of the same name, the execution is where the film falls short.  George Lazenby, sandwiched between two Sean Connery appearances falls flat in his portrayal of Bond.  His character does not have the grit or depth of his predecessor, and lacks the charm of his successors.  The fight sequences are not well choreographed, the music is more suited to a 70's romance, and the film-making is "B-Movie" quality at best.  I have tried to watch and re-watch this film over the years with an open mind but it does not improve with age.  Perhaps I judge this film too harshly, but I loved the novel and I loved Connery as Bond and this installment diverges so far from either of those that it may not be the worst but it is the most disappointing, by far.