Notes on James Bond

Connery

            Eon productions released their first film, Dr. No, in 1962 based on Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 book series. The film was a success and has produced twenty three films total in the series over fifty years, pioneering the modern action film. Known for elaborate action sequences, beautiful women, and exotic locations; the combined series has grossed almost 8 billion dollars worldwide.

            Aside from two other adaptations of Casino Royale, six men have played the part of James Bond. The first and most famous 007 is Sean Connery, who appeared in 6 of the Eon films. He established the character as cool and clever. The role made Connery a sex symbol and launched his career. Connery’s Bond was slightly paranoid, reflecting the Cold War mentality. He often checked his hotel rooms for microphones or other tampering and was often right in his suspicions. Easily the most popular actor in the role, all who followed him have been compared to him.

Lazenby

            George Lazenby starred in only one film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. He brought a youthful swagger to the role and until Daniel Craig, was the best brawler of the Bonds. His take on the part was derided by fans of the series and his off screen behavior led to Connery’s return for one more film. I found him very entertaining in the part and would have liked to have seen more him in the role.

            Following Connery’s return in Diamonds are Forever, Roger Moore assumed the role for the next seven films over twelve years. He brought a winking sense of humor to the part and his Bond relied more on his charm than his physicality. Because of Moore’s lack of action star appeal, his Bond films became more and more absurd, almost parodies of the earlier films. His later Bond’s became increasingly distracting as he aged with the role while the Bond Girls remained youthful.

Moore

            Moore finally relinquished the role in the late 1980’s. The first choice for his replacement was Pierce Brosnan, who couldn’t take the job due to his commitment to NBC’s Remington Steele. Instead, Timothy Dalton assumed the 007 mantle. Dalton was a much more serious Bond than the previous actors, doing away with the one-liners. The AIDS scare also affected Bond’s sex life, meaning fewer women being bedded by Dalton. The fans were not ready for such a drastic change in tone and rejected him after two films. His last outing, License to Kill is actually one of the best films in the series. Making Bond’s mission personal refreshed the tired megalomaniacal plots of the previous films.

            Following a six year absence from the screen, Bond returned in Goldeneye. Pierce Brosnan was finally 007 and brought some of Moore’s humor back into the fold. He was extremely confident as Bond and was very popular in the role. His Bond suffered from increasingly bad screenplays and by 2002’s Die Another Day, Bond had once again become too absurd to handle.

Dalton

            Timothy Dalton was in many ways ahead of his time as Bond. The tongue in cheek aspects of the role were no longer relevant in a post 9/11 world and the part was once again recast with the current Bond, Daniel Craig. Early fan reaction was overwhelmingly negative due to Craig’s blonde hair and much different physique from the previous Bond actors. Casino Royale changed the minds of the fans. Craig is both the most physically intimidating and the most emotionally vulnerable of all the Bonds. He has updated all the traits of Bond and made them in line with current times.  

            Bond is backed up by many allies from MI6 throughout the series. The most important is his direct superior, code named M. Bernard Lee originated the role and played the part with exasperated charisma as he tried to keep Bond focused on his missions. Following Lee’s death in 1981, Robert Brown took over as M. Brown’s M was serious and lacked the personality that Lee brought to the role. Beginning with Goldeneye, M was portrayed by Dame Judi Dench. Dench brought a no-bull shit authority to the role, as well as a loyalty to Bond that was often tested. Dench’s stature as an actress allowed for an expanded role for M, especially in Skyfall, whose plot was focused on M’s past. The conclusion of Skyfall sets up Ralph Fiennes as the newest M. Fiennes is great in everything and I look forward to him and Craig testing each other’s patience in future films.

Judi Dench as M

            The Bond films are well known for their gadgets, provided by Q. The character was played by Desmond Llewelyn from 1963-1999. Llewelyn is the heart of the bond series, the only link from the original Connery films through the Brosnan films of the 1990’s. His Q was excited to show off his new inventions and innovations, while constantly scolding Bond for destroying them. His final film, The World is Not Enough, introduced John Cleese as his replacement. Cleese only appeared in the final two Brosnan Bonds. He continued the comedic touch of Llewelyn while injecting his own unique personality into the part. The casting of Cleese always struck me as stunt casting. Q was absent from the first two Craig films, but returned in Skyfall, this time played by Ben Whishaw as a young tech nerd. The casting of Whishaw seems perfect as his age is in line with most of the leaders in the technology field. His age should allow him to stay in the role for the foreseeable future, possibly breaking Llewelyn’s seventeen film record.

Desmond Llewelyn as Q with Dalton

            My personal favorite supporting character is Miss Moneypenny. Moneypenny is the assistant to M and seems to carry a torch for James Bond. Lois Maxwell is most associated with the role, appearing in the series from Dr. No until Roger Moore’s final appearance in 1985’s A View to a Kill.  She starts out as a sex-pot in the earlier films, always ready to trade a double entendre with Bond. Her chemistry with Connery was electric and their scenes together were some of the best in the films. As she aged with the role, Maxwell became less flirtatious and suffered from decreasing screen time. Caroline Bliss played Moneypenny in the two Dalton films. Like Robert Brown’s M, she lacked the charisma of her predecessor. Goldeneye introduced Samantha Bond as an updated Moneypenny. Working for Dench’s M, This Moneypenny was less sexy secretary and more modern personal assistant. Miniskirts were replaced with professional pant suits, however, Moneypenny still carried a flame for 007. Bond’s best scenes as Moneypenny were from Die Another Day, were she gets a chance to make out with Brosnan, albeit in a fantasy sequence. The character would not return after that until Skyfall, this time portrayed as more of a badass by Naomie Harris. Paired with Craig’s Bond, This Moneypenny comes the closest to the original Connery/Maxwell chemistry.  

Lois Maxwell and Sean Connery 

            Other Bond allies appeared in the films, including CIA agent Felix Leiter and MI6 Chief of Staff Bill Tanner. These characters lack the consistency of having the same actors in the role for multiple films and rarely made as big an impact as the likes of M and Q.

            007’s love interests, popularly known as Bond Girls, generally fall into 3 categories: A partner who teams up with Bond in sharing a common enemy, A lover of the villain who has a change of heart and helps Bond in his mission, or a Villainess herself who uses her sexuality to get to Bond. Whether a Bond Girl is effective as an on-screen character often depends on the actresses’ chemistry with Bond. The first, Ursula Andress, is perhaps the best. Honey Ryder as played by Andress is strong, smart, and sexy. Other great Bond girls include Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Barabara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me, and Eva Green in Casino Royale. The most high profile actress to play a Bond Girl would have to be Halle Berry in Die Another Day. I expected not to like the character due to stunt casting, but the opposite turned out to be true. The film as a whole is ridiculously over the top and the effects have not aged well, but Berry is the one saving grace. She is the closest Bond has come to meeting his match and I understand why there was talk of giving her a spin-off franchise. Not all Bond Girls are spectacular, however. Denise Richards seems over her head in The World is Not Enough, and most of the later Roger Moore Bond girls are unbelievable due to their age difference from Moore.

Andress in Dr. No

            Equally hit or miss is the villains of the film. In an attempt to differentiate between them in the films, the writers often give them odd idiosyncrasies or physical malformations which tend to make them cartoonish. However, in the fifty year history of Bond films, 007 has gone against some great bad guys.

            Without doubt, Bond’s greatest nemesis is Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The leader of the terrorist group SPECTRE, Blofeld is at first portrayed as a man behind the curtain, seen only from the waist down or from behind. His is recognizable by his gray jumpsuit and the fluffy white cat he is often stroking. Blofeld has been played by a different actor in each film he is in. The most effective is Donald Pleasance in You Only Live Twice. Pleasance brings a manic energy to Blofeld that explains the motivation behind his deeds. I wish that Pleasance would have returned to the role, but his successors, Telly Savalas and Charles Gray did a great job at filling in. Legal issues behind the scenes kept Blofeld and SPECTRE from officially appearing after Diamonds are Forever.

            Before Blofeld, there were two other classic titular villains in Dr. No and Goldfinger. Dr. No was the first to feature the physical abnormality that has become a trademark of the series. He lost his hands in a previous accident and have been replaced by steel stumps that make fighting easier, but climbing difficult. Goldfinger is portrayed by Gert Frobe as ruthlessly obsessed with gold and is usually one step ahead of his enemies.

Donald Pleasance as Blofeld

I enjoyed Christopher Lee in The Man with the Golden Gun. Lee is a master at playing the heavy and his deep voice and dark persona was a good counterbalance to Moore’s lighter take on Bond. Christopher Walken in A View to a Kill makes his character a full on sociopath, not matched in menace until Javier Bardem’s Silva in Skyfall. Joe Don Baker contributed another looney bond villain in The Living Daylights as wanna-be military power player Brad Whitaker. Baker’s appearance in the later Brosnan film as a good guy CIA agent were less effective due to being over shadowed by his Whitaker. Sophie Marceau is the best of the villainess’s as Elektra King in The World is Not Enough. The Daniel Craig films have had the strongest antagonists in Bardem as well as Mads Mikkelsen’s ball busting Le Chiffre.

            For every menacing baddie, there is a less than intimidating one. Hugo Drax in Moonraker has the silliest of all the plans for world domination. His attempt to destroy the earth and repopulate it with only good looking couples is the epitome of the series disconnect with reality. Jonathan Pryce’s Elliot Carver in Tommorow Never Dies is another example of the character being overshadowed by his motives. Attempting to be timely in the internet age, his media mogul stages crimes to sell his newspapers and television broadcasts the next day. He is the least intimidating of all the adversaries.

            In addition to the big baddies, unique henchmen also grace the series. From Russia with Love gave us Rosa Klebb as the one woman Bond could never bed. Her small stature was offset by her hidden shoe knives and her determination not to become shark bait for Blofeld. Goldfinger’s Odd Job was another early menace, using his razor sharp hat brim as a throwing weapon. Famke Janssen in Goldeneye effectively used her sexuality to literally crush her targets.

Brosnan

            Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are perhaps the most bizarre of the henchmen. Appearing in Diamonds are Forever, they seem to be in another movie entirely. Their style and personality are offbeat and strike me as an attempt to appeal to the counter culture by being “far out”. Nick Nack and Jaws represent the cartoonish nature of the era and never seem like credible threats. The most dated of the henchmen would have to be Grace Jones in A View to a Kill. A mixture of body builder and punk, she has 80’s MTV culture written all over her.

            The final thread that run throughout the Bond series is the elaborate opening title sequences and theme songs. In some cases, these serve as the best part of the films. Dr. No’s opening is pretty straightforward and features the signature Bond score. Goldfinger sets the bar for openings with its classic theme performed by Shirley Bassey, who also performed the themes for Diamonds are Forever and Moonraker. Paul McCartney’s theme for Live and Let Die has taken on a life of its own. Duran Duran’s theme song for A View to a Kill is the worst of the theme songs. Like much of the aesthetic of the film, it is now dated and cheesy. The majority of the Brosnan films opening titles are also underwhelming due to its use of CGI, which was still pretty new and has been greatly improved on since then. The Craig openings are good, particularly Casino Royale which uses a simple template that is similar to the opening of the AMC series Mad Men.

Craig

            The influence of the Bond series on modern action films cannot be overstated. Most summer blockbusters now open with an elaborate action sequence and over designed title sequences. The Bourne films and the Mission: Impossible series also borrow heavily from Bond’s blueprints. With the success of Skyfall, Bond is as popular as he has ever been. I would like future films to introduce a villain similar to Blofeld who will stick around for multiple films and present 007 with a larger challenge. The introduction of the Quantam organization in Quantam of Solace provides the chance for this to happen. Until then, I just look forward to spending more time with Bond, M, Q, and Moneypenny.