Wade’s James Bond Page III

Ranking All Things Bond

#6

GoldenEye

• GoldenEye, the first Bond film starring Pierce Brosnan, was the most successful Bond film since Moonraker, when adjusting for inflation.
• GoldenEye was released in 1995, after a six-year hiatus in the Bond franchise. Many significant events occurred during this hiatus between License to Kill (1989) & GoldenEye:
  • the fall of Communism in Europe—a circumstance used in the plot of GoldenEye
  • the 1991 death of Richard Maibaum, who wrote the screenplays for 13 Bond films
  • the 1991 death of Maurice Binder, who created the title sequences for 14 Bond films in addition to creating the signature gunbarrel sequence, which has opened every EON Bond film, except those of the tradition-destroying Daniel Craig reboot
  • Timothy Dalton resigned as James Bond, & Pierce Brosnan was hired

• GoldenEye was directed by Martin Campbell who also directed The Legend of Zorro, The Mask of Zorro, Casino Royale (2006), & Green Lantern.

• Alec Trevelyan, ably played by Sean Bean, is in many ways the ultimate Bond anatagonist—a renegade Double-O who in his own words “was always better than you, James.” With a name like Trevelyan, ’though, somebody should have seen this coming.

• Famke Janssen is outrageously appealing as the sadistic Xenia Onatopp.

• The plot of GoldenEye is completely original & uses nothing from the Fleming canon. GoldenEye, however, was the name of Ian Fleming’s estate in Jamaica.

• GoldenEye was Derek Meddings’ last film. Meddings worked on the special effects on five Bond films of the Moore era, the first three Superman films, & Batman (1989), among others. GoldenEye was also the first Bond film to use computer generated imagery (CGI).

• Albert R Broccoli died seven months after the release of GoldenEye.

• My main complaints against GoldenEye are the terrible score, M’s (Judi Dench) abrasive & abusive antagonism toward Bond, & the casting of Joe Don Baker as the Brosnan-era Felix Leiter replica. I much preferred Baker as the villain in The Living Daylights. He’s not a believable good guy.

#7

The Living Daylights

• Released in 1987, The Living Daylights, was the first EON Bond film after Moore’s departure from the role & Timothy Dalton’s first appearance as Bond.
• The Living Daylights was directed by John Glen, who directed all of the EON Bond films of the 1980s (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, & License to Kill). Glen has directed more Bond films than anyone else.

• The title “The Living Daylights” derives from an Ian Fleming short story published in 1962 & subsequently published in a 1967 anthology including “Octopussy.” The first part of the film (following the teaser & title sequence) closely follows the Fleming tale in which Bond is assigned to kill a KGB sniper who turns out to be a beautiful woman & Bond’s subsequent disobedience to M’s orders. Some of Fleming’s dialogue is closely replicated as well.

• The pre-title teaser, featuring no less than three Double-O agents, is among the best of the series.

• Surprisingly, since many claim The Living Daylights marked a return to realism & the flavor of the Fleming source material, Bond’s Aston Martin is equipped with guided missiles, outriggers, a heads-up display, & an undercarriage-slicing LASER.

• The Living Daylights marked Joe Don Baker’s first appearance in the franchise. In The Living Daylights, he’s the villain—Brad Whitaker. In the Brosnan era, Baker would reappear as the Felix Leiter stand-in, CIA Agent Jack Wade.

• The Living Daylights was the last Bond film scored by John Barry, & every Bond film since has suffered for it.

• Bond smokes at least two cigarettes onscreen in The Living Daylights despite calling smoking a “filthy habit” in Tomorrow Never Dies.

• Moneypenny admits to having a Barry Manilow collection.

#8

The Man with the Golden Gun

• The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), the ninth EON Bond film & Moore’s second outing as 007, is as unfairly maligned as Moonraker. Christopher Lee, through his portrayals of Dracula, Saruman the White, & Count Dooku, has established himself as the ultimate big-screen heavy. In The Man with the Golden Gun, Lee delivers no less as the urbane Scaramanga—the world’s best hitman. Bond, the greatest secret agent, versus another expert gunman, lends a welcome air of symmetry to The Man with the Golden Gun. Bond usually faces masterminds who are no match for him physically or their superhuman but dim-witted henchmen. It is refreshing to see 007 contend with an equal.
• Granted, The Man with the Golden Gun has a few silly scenes, which it would be better off without, such as Scaramanga’s fun house, the kung fu school, & the flying station wagon.
• Guy Hamilton directed The Man with the Golden Gun, Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, & Live and Let Die.

• The Man with the Golden Gun was downright revolutionary in its mention of another Double-O agent—Bill Fairbanks 002. This reference intensifies the credibility of the threat posed by Scaramanga, as we learn that he killed Double-O Two.
• It is funny to hear Lee, every bit as English as Moore, comment on Bond’s reluctance, as an Englishman, to kill in cold blood.

• The Man with the Golden Gun, apart from its inclusion of the characters of Scaramanga & Mary Goodnight, shares little else with the Fleming novel.
• The character of Mary Goodnight actually appears in three Fleming novels—the last three—On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, You Only Live Twice, & The Man with the Golden Gun. In the former two, Goodnight is the secretary for the 00 Section, replacing the now-married Loelia Ponsonby. At the time of The Man with the Golden Gun, Goodnight has transferred to MI6’s Jamaica Station. Fleming describes Goodnight’s hair as black in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service & blonde in The Man with the Golden Gun.

• The Man with the Golden Gun is also often criticized for the presence of Sheriff JW Pepper. While I did not care for him (or much else) in Live & Let Die, I found him amusing in The Man with the Golden Gun (and Superman II in which the role is nearly reprised).

#9

Tomorrow Never Dies

• Released in 1997 & directed by Roger Spottiswoode, Tomorrow Never Dies, the 18th film in the EON Bond franchise, is a solid entry to the series, despite being the third version of You Only Live Twice. The pre-title teaser is among the best, Elliot Carver provides ample (albeit effeminate) menace, & both Teri Hatcher & Michelle Yeoh are especially compelling Bond women.
• Tomorrow Never Dies was the first Bond film produced after the death of Albert R Broccoli.

• Tomorrow Never Dies is the only film of the James Bond series, the title of which is completely non-Fleming. I.e. it is not the title of any of Fleming’s works (long or short), it is not a phrase that occurs in any Fleming work, & it is not the name of something associated with Fleming. The plot of Tomorrow Never Dies, except insofar as it is similar to You Only Live Twice, is also not based on any Fleming material.
• Teri Hatcher was three months pregnant during filming.

• M’s (Judi Dench) abrasive & abusive antagonism toward Bond in GoldenEye has vanished by the time of Tomorrow Never Dies.
• In Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond implies that he cannot read a Chinese computer keyboard, despite having told Moneypenny in You Only Live Twice that he “took a first in Oriental languages at Cambridge.”

• Tomorrow Never Dies opened on the same day as Titanic. It stands as the only Pierce Brosnan Bond film not to open at #1 at the box office.
• In Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond unceremoniously trades his Walther PPK of 35 years for a Walther P99.

#10

From Russia with Love

• Released in 1963 & directed by Terence Young (who also directed Dr No & Thunderball), From Russia with Love was the second of EON’s immortal James Bond film series.
• Apart from the addition of Blofeld & SPECTRE, From Russia with Love is a fairly faithful rendition of the Fleming novel. In the novel, Klebb, Kronsteen, & Grant are agents of SMERSH. In the film, Klebb & Kronsteen are former agents of SMERSH, who have joined SPECTRE since the disbanding of the Soviet agency. Bond & Tatiana believe they are embroiled in a SMERSH plot & do not discover that SPECTRE is responsible until the climax. This is a plot convolution that does not, IMHO, benefit the film at all. Also, in the novel, Klebb is successful in kicking Bond with her poison shoe blade. In fact, Bond is still recovering from this poisoning at the outset of Dr No, which was the subsequent novel in the series. The reason Klebb is successful is because the silencer on Bond’s Beretta is caught in his holster as he draws the weapon. This is why M orders Bond to switch to the Walther PPK in the Dr No novel. A similar scene appears at the beginning of the Dr No film, but, since From Russia with Love had not been filmed yet, M’s reason could not be attributed to the encounter with Colonel Rosa Klebb. Furthermore, M claims that Bond’s Beretta jammed rather than becoming stuck in its holster.

• From Russia with Love is the first Bond film with the James Bond theme playing during the gunbarrel sequence, the first with a pre-title teaser, the first to have a theme song with lyrics, & the first film in which Q presents Bond with a gadget (rather than a new gun).
• From Russia with Love features the first appearance of Blofeld in the James Bond film series (although the actor is un-credited, & his face is never shown on camera).
• From Russia with Love features the first appearance of Desmond Llewellyn as Q (Major Boothroyd).

• Sylvia Trench (the girl Bond meets in a casino at the start of Dr No) appears in the beginning of From Russia with Love. This is the only time in the franchise in which Bond has a romantic liaison with the same character in more than one film. This scene also marks the only appearance of Bond’s beloved Bentley in the film series.
• Nadja Regin, who plays Kerim Bey’s girlfiriend in From Russia with Love, also played treacherous cabaret dancer Bonita in the next Bond film, Goldfinger.
• Martine Beswick, who plays one of the two fighting gypsy girls in From Russia with Love, also played ill-fated agent (unspecified, but probably MI6) Paula Caplan in Thunderball.

• Ian Fleming died just 10 months after the release of From Russia with Love & only one month before the debut of Goldfinger. Reportedly, From Russia with Love was the last film seen by President John F Kennedy before his death. JFK had earlier claimed the novel From Russia with Love as among his “top ten.” This fact is often cited as the factor that made From Russia with Love a best seller, rescued James Bond’s literary career, & launched the character into the cinema.