Watch Mojo: Top 10 James Bond Facts

10 Best James Bond Escapes -from WatchMojo

10 Best James Bond Escapes -from WatchMojo

Video Post: WatchMojo's Top 10 Bond Babes

Video Post:  WatchMojo's Top 10 Bond Babes

A Cool Goldfinger Video Tribute

A Cool Goldfinger Video Tribute

Original Japanese Movie Poster For Goldfinger

Original Japanese Movie Poster For Goldfinger

November 30, 2013-

Happy Birthday Mr Bond: Sean Connery Turns 83!

Happy Birthday Mr Bond: Sean Connery Turns 83!

August 25, 2013- While Sean Connery is an accomplished actor and producer, whose diverse body of work is beloved by people all over the world, his most notable film accomplishment, to date, is that his 1962 portrayal of Ian Fleming's Secret Agent in Dr. No transformed film history forever.  While people around the world were familiar with the character of James Bond from the written works, that exposure pales in comparison to the familiarity of people to the character as a result of the 50 year film legacy launched by the compelling performance of this dashing, witty, rugged, Scottish Actor who was, virtually, unknown at the time he took the role.  His James Bond was beloved, and set a high standard for his 5 predecessors to follow.  For many Sean Connery IS James Bond.

Sean Connery's work outside of the World of Bond is memorable, and have earned him an Academy Award, 3 Golden Globes, and 2 BAFTA Awards.  Scores of fans, who never even knew him as James Bond were stunned by his award winning performance in The Untouchables (1987).

Happy Birthday, Mr Bond!  We look forward to what the remainder of your "third act" will bring.

World Of Bond Product Review: 007 Signature Fragrance For Men

World Of Bond Product Review:  

007 Signature Fragrance For Men

August 21, 2013-Part of the fun of exploring the culture and lifestyle of James Bond is the opportunity to explore and review various James Bond/007 products under the guise of "work".  I had read about the international release of the the James Bond 007 Signature Fragrance for Men for sometime; however, I struggled with whether or not to purchase it.  My main reason for delay was that I have established certain personal guidelines for adhering to the culture of The World of James Bond.  One of the questions I always ask in relation to these scenarios is "What would Bond do?".

This leads to the invariable question, "Would James Bond, in any of his various incarnations, wear a men's fragrance that bore his name, or even the fragrance of some other character of iconic status?"  The answer is probably not.  Regardless of this response, I decided to broaden my thought processes in order to justify a purchase of this product.  So the next question I asked myself was "Does this product respect the sensibility of the true James Bond Fan?".   The only way to answer this question, I decided, was to purchase the product and find out.

The product is carried in the United States in Kohl's Department Stores.   The packaging and bottle are sharp and aesthetically pleasing.   The bottle has the 007 License to Kill embossed on the side of the glass bottle with a veiled, disappearing spray guard for the nozzle.  The packaging includes a personal, numerical, code which unlocks some additional video footage about the product on the Fragrance's website. All in all, I think the packaging and thoughtful design are really in line with the James Bond style and masculine character.  I approve.

As for the fragrance itself, I believe this is a very subjective determination; however, I tried to judge the fragrance on the standard of whether or not I would purchase the fragrance, again, if it were not a James Bond collectible, which makes it worth an initial purchase, for certain.  The answer to that question is yes.  The scent is appealing and masculine.  It subtly stays with you and stays aromatic without being overpowering at any point.

So, in conclusion, while I am not sure it is the fragrance James Bond would wear, it does treat the culture of Bond, and its fan base respectfully, and it is my new fragrance of choice.

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.

Your Favorite Bond Is.....

Your Favorite Bond Is.....

The votes have been cast and tabulated in The World of Bond's Which Bond Is Your Favorite contest.  For some this may be one of the most significant elections of the 21st Century (For James Bond Fans that is).  Our readers were asked to choose their favorite actor, who played James Bond, from among the Eon Productions' film Bonds; from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig.  Our readers have, overwhelmingly, selected Daniel Craig as their favorite Bond Actor.

What does Craig's selection tell us about the modern Bond audience?  It may reveal that the modern Bond fan appreciates the dramatic, gritty, course that the series has embarked upon since Craig's elevation to the role with 2006's Casino Royale.  It may be evidence that the current crop of Bond fans are traditionalists that harken for the three dimensional, flawed character of the Ian Fleming novels and short stories founded on a bedrock of strong spy stories, rather than the the two dimensional Roger Moorish character films that degenerated into formula films relying too heavily on one liners, gadgets, and gimmickry.  Craig, in only three film installments, delivers this traditional Bond for the new age.

This selection of Daniel Craig is not a huge surprise when one looks at the financial and critical success garnered by Skyfall, the 23rd installment in the James Bond movie series, and the most successful by any standards used to measure success.   It is also not a surprise when one looks at the current actor and winner who, to some, not only plays Bond but is Bond.   Despite the early skepticism over the selection of Craig as Pierce Brosnan's replacement, he quickly won the attention of fans, film critics and the broader movie audience by playing the role with believable grit, intelligence, and masculine sex appeal.  Perhaps it was Craig's training on the British stage, television, and films that prepared him to fill the role so adeptly.  Regardless, as we approach the 24th installment of the franchise and rumors of the return of Sam Mendes as the film's Director and the casting of the beautiful, Penelope Cruz as the latest "Bond Girl" circulate, one thing is for certain, Daniel Craig will return as James Bond.

On an additional note, the beloved and iconic Sean Connery was the runner up in our reader poll.  There is no doubt, had he not made such a indelible contribution towards launching the film franchise and molding our impression of Bond, there would have been no place for any of the other five actors who filled his very large shoes.  Thank you, Sir!

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

The Fighting Style of James Bond

Anyone who is familiar with the novels or films featuring the James Bond character knows that although 007 is an unmatched sharpshooter with his Beretta and later, his famed Walter PPK, he is also very capable of defending himself in an unarmed, hand to hand situation.  Virtually every work has him, at some point, squaring off with an opponent, or henchman without the aid of a firearm.   So what fighting style is Britain's favorite fictional son skilled in?  Kung Fu? Jui-Jitsu? Taekwondo perhaps? Even as a Bond fanatic over the years, I never really, seriously contemplated this question until now.   While the answer may vary slightly from Bond persona to Bond persona, it seems 007 may have been a real frontrunner in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) arena before it was even called MMA, and he is certainly a man whose hands are to be feared.

Going back to the source material, as I always do, Ian Fleming's Bond references our hero training in British Naval Intelligence.  This training would, likely, be a form of what has been referred to as Close Quarters Battle Combat, an unorthodox, little documented fighting style that involves deadly blows and the use of economic, crippling strikes which can be executed in close proximity to an opponent when locked in close combat, hence its name.   There is also some reference to boxing in his youth and, later in the military which is evidenced throughout all the Bond personas with his striking blows.   Fleming's Bond also references some Combat Judo training.  Eastern style Martial Arts training is very common today in the West.  Varied styles, from Karate to Taekwondo to Competitive MMA, are taught throughout Europe and the United States; however, this was not the case in Fleming's day.  Martial Arts study was a closely guarded secret of the East and many Asian countries had strict prohibitions on teaching their secret arts to Westerners.  It is no surprise, with Fleming's background, that Bond was a well versed combatant with his hands and in the Asian martial arts.  He adeptly kills his arch-nemesis, Blofeld, in the epic novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service, not with an assassin's bullet but with his bare hands.  Fleming's Bond is a dangerous secret agent with, or without, a weapon.

Sean Connery is heralded, in the pre-Daniel Craig era, as a tough guy without question.  Connery even did many of his own Bond stunts.  Connery, himself, was a student of Karate, and his swagger, confidence, and skill are evident in his portrayal of Bond.  His Bond persona was good with his hands, whether it was defending himself against Red Grant in From Russian With Love (1963), or his prowess in the deadly elevator fight in Diamonds Are Forever (1971).   In You Only Live Twice (1967) Bond's Judo skills are evidenced in many of the fight sequences in Japan and, later, he is trained in the art of Ninjitsu, under the supervision of Tiger Tanaka, in preparation of his infiltration of Blofeld's Volanic hideaway.  One of the widely and wildly circulated story's emanating from Connery's return to Bond in the non-Eon Productions Thunderball (1965) remake, Never Say Never Again (1983), is that Connery is alleged to have had his wrist broken while undergoing martial arts instruction, and a possible disagreement with, non other than Steven Seagal.  In true Connery "tough guy" fashion he ignored the pain until well after the production was wrapped on the film, only to discover that lingering pain was a broken wrist.

While Roger Moore always appeared to be more concerned about his hair and appearance to get his hands dirty, he was, in fact, an adept Karate student of Aaron Banks.  There are numbers of hand to hand sequences in the Moore films, many include "karate chops" and some low kicks and many campy uses of props but his fight scenes never reach the intensity and grit of Connery's, or later, Craig's, fight scenes.  Moore understood his limitations in this area, and opted for cunning rather than grit in gaining the upper hand on his opponents in hand to hand combat scenes.  The series aided this paradigm by introducing characters such as Tee-Hee of Live and Let Die (1973) and Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)and Moonraker (1979) to make Moore's mortal fighting deficit seem less personal in light of these super-villains extraordinary strength and size.

Like many other aspects of the film series neither Timothy Dalton nor Pierce Brosnan made very memorable contributions in the perpetuation of Bond's reputation as a skilled hand to hand combat expert.   Dalton is a grittier in his portrayal and more believable as a hand to hand tactician.   Brosnan is clearly the most debonair of the Bond actors, but he is the least believable in the "mano-a-mano" arena unless you consider George Lazenby's fighting style, which I choose not to ever consider.  Both Bonds hold their own with their hands when appropriate but neither performance had audiences hankering to learn to fight like Bond.

After these lackluster years for lovers of good, manly combat scenes along came Daniel Craig, a gritty, brawler who is skilled in the lethal art of Krav Maga, the martial art of choice of the Israeli Defense Forces.  This lethal art combines kickboxing, karate, wrestling, street fighting and Close Quarter Combat.  Craig was trained by Darren Levine, founder of Krav Maga Worldwide.  The emphasis in Krav Maga is "continuous motion" and this emphasis is exhibited in dynamic form in the amazingly memorable and riveting scenes in Casino Royale (2006) as the one were Bond does mortal combat with Obanno and his Ugandan mercenaries who are are seeking a return of their funds from Le Chiffre one way or another.    Craig is believable in the role and believable in the fight scenes.   These fight scenes have moved beyond the formula, and sometimes gimmicky, fight sequences audiences had become used to in Bond films and, like the film, into a new grittier, dramatic World of James Bond.   These fight sequences are engaging, brutal good film making and remind us that, while Bond is far from a super hero, he is a dangerous and skilled combatant.

Jeffrey Deaver's outstanding James Bond treatment Carte Blanche delivers us a gritty, Craig-like Bond who is skilled in the art of Systema, a Russian fighting style that is designed for close quarters and defense against guns and knives.  The key in Systema is the use of an opponent's own energy against them and the focus on key pressure point areas of the elbows, neck, knees, waist, ankles and shoulders to control them.   Systema fighters exert little energy and move very efficiently, often giving them the ability to outlast their opponents before crippling them with their effective striking points.   Deaver graphically depicts several fight scenes in his novel with such color that one can envision them taking place.  In fact, his depiction was so colorful it immediately drove me to seek out and observe the work of Martin Wheeler, one of the foremost Systema practitioners and teachers in the world in the hopes of learning more.  For true Bond Traditionalists they would rather see Bond fight an opponent with his hands than with his exploding pen, and Deaver gets it.

James Bond, at his core, is a government assassin.  Whether it is under Fleming's "License to Kill" or Deaver's  "Protect the Realm...by any means necessary" Bond is is a deadly force to be reckoned with.   When most people think of James Bond,  they envision the iconic opening sequences of so many of the Eon Production films where Bond turns, fires a single shot, and blood runs down the frame.  While there is no question that Bond's skills with a gun are unmatched, he is equally deadly in a close contact combat situation with his hands.  Given a choice, which Bond would you stand the best chance of holding your own against in a fight?


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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....