The James Bond Thread

Started watching "The Man With the Golden Gun" late last night, but turned it off about 1/2 way through because of extreme sleepiness. Enjoying it so far, and I plan on finishing it this evening. Will post more thoughts once I've watched the complete film, but for now here's Maud Adams as "Miss Anders"
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and Britt Ekland as "Agent Goodnight"
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Zoo-weeeee-mamma!!!!

Finished "Man With the Golden Gun" last night. Decent flick, far from my favorite Moore Bond film though. It may be the weakest Moore entry in my book.

The whole "energy crisis" hook immediately dates the movie (I haven't heard anyone use that phrase since the late 70s!).

I also could've done without the pointless cameo by the redneck Sheriff from the previous film "Live and Let Die" - he was irritating in that film, and a return engagement was definitely not needed here.

Britt Ekland's "Agent Goodnight" was quite possibly the most inept sidekick Bond has ever had. Of course, most of the women in Bond films are there to serve as sex objects, not role models or Bond's equals, but DAMN, this chick was such a bimbo that she probably set the Womens' Lib movement of the 70s back at least a decade. I laughed like hell when she accidentally set the bad guy's Solar Doom Machine in motion by backing into the control panel with her bikini-clad ass.

Christopher Lee was cool as the villain and any movie where Herve "De Plane! De Plane" Villechaize gets stuffed into a suitcase is all right by me.

The Man With The Golden Gun is high camp. If you enter it expecting a serious film then you'll definitely be disappointed. I still find it preferable to unintentionally hilarious entries like Octopussy or A View To A Kill.

The redneck sheriff is the weakest part of the film. However, I don't think the filmmakers were going for anything remotely serious and those characters were actually popular so who knows.

The energy crisis was a big deal in the 70's and this movie was just one of many that used that as a plot element. Roger Corman's Gas-s-s-s was another.

The 80's seem more dated to me now than the 70's.

Oh yeah, "Golden Gun" is definitely camp to the max.

Makes me think of what might have happened if Adam "Batman" West (!) had actually taken the role of Bond when it was offered to him in 1970 (when Lazenby declined to return for a second film)... those first couple of Moore flicks would've suited him perfectly.

I haven't seen "Octopussy" in ages so I honestly don't remember much of it at all. I may have to revisit that one some time soon.

"A View To A Kill" is uber-cheesy but I dig it anyway. Christopher Walken was a great villain in that one. Plus, I hate to admit it, but I love that damned Duran Duran theme song.

Christopher Lee is the main reason I love Man With The Golden Gun, he was one of my all-time favorite actors as a kid and I grew up watching all the Hammer and Amicus horror films. No matter how bad the film, he always lends class to the proceedings.

*interesting side note*

Christopher Lee and Britt Eckland also starred in "The Wicker Man" together during the same time frame as Golden Gun, I believe some of the same production crew was involved as well.

Golden Gun is my all time favorite James Bond movie. It's just good campy fun, even though once they get to Scaramanga's island, it actually gets pretty damn cool. That trippy-ass duel near the end is just plain awesome.

Requested "Dr. No" at the library today. Should have it by the end of this week.

Last night I went alllllll the way back to the beginning and watched "Dr. No."



I was probably 11 or 12 the last time I saw this flick, and I remembered next to nothing about it except for a vague feeling that I didn't like it much back then... probably because it seemed snail-paced when compared to the then current whiz-bang action flicks starring Roger Moore.

30 years later I liked it a lot better as an adult. Being the first in the Bond series, obviously the "templates" hadn't been set yet. There were no appearances by "Q" or any cool, outlandish gadgetry, just a fairly straightforward cloak & dagger spy story. Bond has to go to Jamaica and check out the private island fortress of the mysterous Dr. No, an insane scientist who wants to sabotage the U.S. space program. (Even the villain's plan seems somewhat tame compared to the madmen in future efforts.) So yeah, I can see why this one might have bored me when I was a kid.

On the other hand, this flick had BABES out the wazoo. Of course everyone remembers Ursula Andress as the bikini-clad seashell hunter, "Honey Ryder"...
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...but you also have Zena Marshall as "Miss Taro," Dr. No's henchwoman who takes Bond into her bed and then tries to have him killed
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...and Eunice Gayson as the lovely Sylvia Trench, who first meets Bond across a casino table and then turns up later in his hotel room, practicing her putting in a pajama top and a pair of heels...
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Sylvia Trench would also make a brief cameo in the 2nd film, "From Russia With Love" -- James is having a picnic w/her at the beginning of the movie when he's suddenly called away on his next mission. Supposedly poor, unsatisfied Sylvia was supposed to become a recurring character in the Bond series, with the same gag happening each time (i.e. James would constantly have to leave "just as things were getting interesting"), but she was dropped after the second film.

Useless trivia, in the special features on the "Dr. No" DVD, it sez the part of Sylvia Trench was originally offered to Lois Maxwell, who decided that she didn't want to be seen prancing around in a pajama top, so she took the role of Miss Moneypenny, instead. I'd say she made the right choice since Miss Moneypenny went on to be an integral part of the Bond films for many years afterwards while the Trench character was phased out a short while later.

All in all, "Dr. No" holds up well. Now I've got to decide which of the 007 flicks I'm gonna revisit next.

The set design is amazing, typically killer creations by master Ken Adams (Dr. Strangelove) who would continue to design for the James Bond series for many years.

S.D. wrote:

The set design is amazing, typically killer creations by master Ken Adams (Dr. Strangelove) who would continue to design for the James Bond series for many years.

Yeah, Dr. No's laboratory headquarters were way cool. Though I would think nowadays, knowing what we know about nuclear power, that all those scientists who were working in the same room as the nuclear reactor core would all be dead or at least glowing in the dark by the end of their shift. Yeah, they were wearing radiation suits and we saw Dr. No's "decontamination room" but still... !!!

Funny you mention "Dr. Strangelove," that was on Turner Classic Movies a couple of weeks ago and I meant to record it, but forgot about it. I've never seen that flick, but have been wanting to for some time.

Dr. Strangelove is a masterpiece of absurdity. Kubrick was having a blast with that movie.

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

Will be stopping by the library on my way home to pickup two more bond flicks - the two Daniel Craig films I haven't seen yet, "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace." Woohoo! I'm finally gonna be caught up on my Bonds!!

...just in time for the newest 007 installment, "Skyfall," which is in the works right now and due later this year.

I will also be re-visiting a few other entries in the series, including Moore's "Octopussy" and "A View to a Kill" and Dalton's "License to Kill," sometime soon.... requested all of those @ the library, just waiting for them to come in. I haven't seen any of those in a very long time.

I've had absolutely no luck in locating the lone George Lazenby film, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," however... if I come across it on DVD at a halfway decent price I may just pull the trigger on it and buy the damn thing. I swear I still can't remember if I've ever seen that one or not!!

Casino Royale is an amazing film, probably the best all-around James Bond movie since the Connery days. Focusing on the tone of the novels instead of the earlier films really set that one apart.

Quantum Of Solace is "okay", but the direction doesn't fit the film, it uses that uber-quick-cut editing style of the Bourne films and it ruins the action sequences. It's still a better film than any of the post-1981 Moore, Dalton or Brosnan flicks, but I was really letdown after Casino Royale.

S.D. wrote:

Casino Royale is an amazing film, probably the best all-around James Bond movie since the Connery days. Focusing on the tone of the novels instead of the earlier films really set that one apart.

Quantum Of Solace is "okay", but the direction doesn't fit the film, it uses that uber-quick-cut editing style of the Bourne films and it ruins the action sequences. It's still a better film than any of the post-1981 Moore, Dalton or Brosnan flicks, but I was really letdown after Casino Royale.

Casino Royal is an AWESOME film and one of my fav Bond films.

QoS is good too - enjoyable film! I sort of agree with SD that it's better than most of post 1981 flicks

I happened to catch about a half hour of one of the Craig Bonds (I forget now if it was "Casino Royale" or "Quantum of Solace") on SyFy Channel a couple of weeks ago... enough to make me go "Damn, this looks bad-ass. Gotta make time to see this entire flick."

Fat Freddy wrote:

I happened to catch about a half hour of one of the Craig Bonds (I forget now if it was "Casino Royale" or "Quantum of Solace") on SyFy Channel a couple of weeks ago... enough to make me go "Damn, this looks bad-ass. Gotta make time to see this entire flick."

Cool - make sure you watch Casino Royal first as QoS is sort of a sequel

Quote :

Cool - make sure you watch Casino Royal first as QoS is sort of a sequel

...that was the plan, but sonofa-bitch, when I went to the library to pick the DVDs up tonight, turns out they had reserved the 1960s "Casino Royale" (the spoofy one starring David Niven) - not the Daniel Craig flick - for me.

I'm not sure if that means I reserved the wrong "Casino Royale" in the computer, or if the out-of-town library sent the wrong one, but either way, I don't wanna watch "Quantum" without seeing the preceding film first. Crapola!!!

... I'll watch the Niven film anyway, I guess... I've never seen it and I've always been kinda curious about it.

Library screwed you!

theJOKERiv wrote:

Library screwed you!

It could've been my fault. When I was reserving the stuff on the library's computer I had my 4 year old with me, and he was in the midst of a major ADHD moment so I could've clicked on the wrong movie, I wasn't able to really look at what I was doing cuz I was trying to keep him from pissing off the other library patrons

Fat Freddy wrote:

theJOKERiv wrote:

Library screwed you!

It could've been my fault. When I was reserving the stuff on the library's computer I had my 4 year old with me who was in the midst of an ADHD moment so I'll admit I could've clicked on the wrong movie, I wasn't able to really look at what I was doing cuz I was trying to keep him from pissing off the other library patrons

I can relate to that exact situation!

theJOKERiv wrote:

I can relate to that exact situation!

Kids. You can't live with'em, you can't put'em in a box and ship'em to Antarctica...

Anyway, aside from the wrong "Casino" and "Quantum" they also had "A View To A Kill" and "Octopussy" for me so I can revisit those two. "View to a Kill" gets a lotta hate but I always get a kick out of that one. Christopher Walken is great as the bad guy.

Casino Royale (the spoof) is actually very funny, cool late 60's hipster flick.

S.D. wrote:

Casino Royale (the spoof) is actually very funny, cool late 60's hipster flick.

I dunno man, I started watching it last night and couldn't really get into it. On the plus side, there's a boatload of hot women in it (the "Miss Moneypenny" in this movie in particular is "BOI-YOI-YOI-YOING!") but on the minus side it seems as if it were made up as it went along. I've gotten a few chuckles from it here and there but after about an hour I was getting seriously bored, turned it off and went to sleep. At the moment I'm not even sure if I'm gonna bother with the second half (though I'm sure my Film Watching O.C.D. will demand that I do, whether I like it or not...)

It's an odd flick, it WAS primarily made up as it went along, I think there were four different directors that worked on it. If you didn't like the first hour then I wouldn't bother with the rest.