In No Time To Die (2021), right before Bond (Daniel Craig) gets coaxed out of “retirement,” we see the simple solitary island life he leads, content with the world. After a successful snapper catch/diving session, he comes to port in his sweet sailboat (with Red Ensign flag on the stern) and his speargun, flippers and snorkel in tow. He’s not dressed to impress here, as his t-shirt has multiple holes and I’d advise not to wear those dorky croakies anywhere in public. He seems carefree.
Eagle-eyed James Bond fans would recognize the setting as the real-world Goldeneye estate where Ian Fleming first started writing the James Bond novels – an awesome hat-tip to Bond history. My only complaint is that we didn’t see more of Bond’s island life. It would have been great to go along with him on his diving session or see how he passes the time.
The first minute of Skyfall (2012) is just awesome. Like other Craig Bond movies, it dabbles in change from the traditional Bond formula and in this case, the gunbarrel sequence with a blaring James Bond theme is nowhere to be found. The originalist in me was first skeptical against this change, but tacking it on to the end (as in this movie and in Quantum Of Solace (2008)) adds a certain awesome celebratory bookend to a James Bond movie. I remember feeling refreshed at the end of Quantum because of this.
But back to the start of Skyfall – I remember the high anticipation as the vanity logos appeared for MGM and their Leo the Lion roar, and the silent, classic Columbia logo. And instead of the traditional gunbarrel, the camera isn’t even in focus for the last 20 seconds of the first minute of the movie but it didn’t matter. When Bond’s figure appears and the horns make that signature James Bond intro sound – wow! The hair stood up on the back of my neck and I was locked in. A perfect way to start a James Bond movie!
Daniel Craig looking like a spy in Skyfall (2012)
Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) is merciless in Moonraker (1979). In this scene, he’s had enough with his incompetent employee Corinne Dufour (Corinne Clery) who slept with Bond and led 007 to the safe in Drax’s study. She was an easy mark for Bond – giddy chatting him on the helicopter ride to the Drax estate and a asinine glance at the safe’s location in Drax’s study. Her fate was inevitable – a simple snap of his fingers and henchmen Chang (Toshiro Suga) releases the hunting dogs to maul her to death.
Oddly enough, the subsequent dog chase scene in the eerie forest and its accompanying harrowing music feels more like a horror movie than a James Bond movie.
Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) fires Corinne Dufour (Corinne Clery) in Moonraker (1979)
The World Is Not Enough (1999) boasts one of the quickest gambling sequences in any of the James Bond movies. Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) playfully joins James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) at Valentin Zukovsky’s (Robbie Coltrane) casino, L’Or Noir (Black Gold). Bond fears for her safety as the casino is filled with people from rival oil companies, so he insists they leave right away.
Although she doesn’t seem like the gambling type anyway, King abides. They are taken to a private room where Zukovsky credits her with $1 million dollars from her late father’s casino account. Instead of risking it on blackjack or other casino games, however, King prefers a straight up single, high card draw. A pity – since a private blackjack sequence with Bond, King and Zukovsky would be pure entertainment.
The cards for the shortest game of war are revealed and King loses – her queen of hearts is beaten by Zukovsky’s ace of clubs. But not before she drops a significant quote: “There is no point in living if you can’t feel alive.” …the same quote used by Renard later in the movie that lets Bond know that Elektra is not who she seems.
The quickest gambling sequence of any James Bond movie in The World Is Not Enough (1999)…PS peek the cameo by producer Michael G. Wilson!
It’s cool we get a sneak peek into Commander James Bond of the Royal Navy’s funeral in You Only Live Twice (1967). As a secret agent, however, it’s surprising to see his funeral well attended and “known” judging by the crowds and mystery man using binoculars to verify Bond’s body is “buried” at sea. But it makes sense after the start of the movie reveals that “our man in Hong Kong” was “killed” while on assignment investigating the stolen US spacecraft. Surely his actions and efforts prevented further escalations in the international incident, and maybe even the next world war.
Bond’s memorial is short-lived though. As the movie’s title suggests, he’s saved from his grave at sea and boards a British Navy vessel to get back on the job, now with better cover.
The Kevin McClory/EON dispute over the filming rights to the Thunderball storyline was eventually settled after a long legal battle and resulted in a rather bizarre resurgence of Sean Connery’s James Bond character in 1983’s Never Say Never Again (1983). Overall, I’d say the movie in average or below-average quality James Bond movie, but it also didn’t help that (for legal reasons) was missing standard aspects aspects of a Bond movie – most notably the gun barrel sequence and the classic James Bond theme. Putting aside comparisons of other parts of the Thunderball story, it’s fun but a bit bland overall.
Anyways, in the scene featured above set in a rehab clinic, a nosy Bond is suspicious of some peculiar activity he witnesses through a window. Another patient, Jack Petachi (Gavan O’Hurlihy), is in the midst of an eye scan procedure with the help of Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera), and it piques Bond’s interest. Bond’s cover is blown, and although he attempts to hide, he’s eventually seen by Blush (a SPECTRE agent) as she scans the area with night vision goggles. It’s a pretty cool shot at the end and Blush memorably enunciates Bond’s agent number. This encounter eventually leads to the uncovering of a plot of stolen identity (explaining Petachi’s procedure attempting to replicate an iris pattern) and nuclear weapon robbery.
It’s obvious (and referenced) throughout the movie that Connery is an aged James Bond, but I’d say not any more so than his counterpart Roger Moore in his final movie < ahref="/avtak/">A View To A Kill just two years later in 1985. NSNA is cool for what it is, but nothing to write home about.
James Bond (Sean Connery) delivers his first one-liner in the first movie, Dr. No (1962) after Bond eludes and eventually permanently subdues a baddie in a car chase in his Sunbeam Alpine. The cinematography of the scene is without a doubt memorable and has a distinct, vintage look common in such movie scenes in the 1960s and earlier (and is sometimes replicated for nostalgic purposes in modern arthouse movies).
Anyways, after Bond drives his adversary off a cliff, he callously answers to a road worker’s “what happened” question with a menacing quip. In my opinion, it’s a bit brash for the scene, and doesn’t make complete sense. I mean, if they were on their way to a funeral, I guess Bond is technically implying it would be their own funeral since they die in the scene. But then again, the act of dying in a car crash isn’t really a funeral in and of itself…right?
Whatever. I never found myself laughing at the line, especially after the fiery death we are subjected to as the car plummets down the embankment. It’s also a bit odd (and I’m sure it’s a limitation of filming such a scene in the 1960s) that the car explodes in the passenger area and not in an anticipated spot such as the car’s engine or gas tank. The explosion happens almost in the front seat, and an obvious effigy flails wildly and burns as the scene ends.
So although it’s not the most appropriate or funny of James Bond one-liners, it still is significant as it’s the first ever – and there’s something awesome about that!
Herve Villechaize’s portrayal of henchman Nick Nack in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) packs a pint-sized punch, but is a bit of an enigma. The bizarre setup of the start of the movie with Nick Nack as ringmaster in assassin Scaramanga’s survival-of-the-fittest circus is difficult at first to understand. But eventually, their interactions exhibit an almost trainer/trainee relationship, unique for a character pair relationship in any other James Bond movie.
Villechaize is such an interesting choice for the role, and it always makes me wonder how it’d differ with a traditional actor cast. And the more I think about it, the more I believe it was a casting that paid off. Villechaize’s unnerving voice and nuanced French accent is perfect as a vulnerable but all-knowing sidekick to Christopher Lee’s seemingly untouchable Scaramanga. There are a few times where we see Scaramanga’s annoyance with his minion, but it always ends with Scaramanga (if not begrudgingly) appreciating Nick Nack’s tests to hone the world class assassin’s skill. As in the clip above, that teasing Nick Nack voice only pushes Scaramanga harder to overcome the odds set before him, and implies that Scaramanga’s successes are a direct result of Nick Nack’s efforts.
There are a few scenes where Nick Nack uses his small stature to his benefit, but in the later scenes of the movie it does in part lead to his eventual demise…or at least his “caging” in the final boat scene. We always have to have to remember, however, that he was *this* close to killing the world’s greatest secret agent, James Bond, by way of a drop-in stabbing. Even though his mouth knife-holding method always gave me pause! Ouch!
This is a great 30 second summary of Live And Let Die (1973), from a short 30 second scene from itself – the scene where Bond (Roger Moore) and Solitaire (Jane Seymour) escape San Monique. Bond summarizes that the entire Kananga operation and voodoo mystique on the island was a front for heroin smuggling. I’ve always said that the simpler a Bond villain’s plot in any James Bond movie, the better.
Also, now that Solitaire has finally lost her “magic,” she is horny. Really horny.
I love when we get a glimpse into how “to get” to a villain’s physical location. It’s one thing to hear a villain’s speech or sit in on a SPECTRE meeting scene, but a whole other bit of awesomeness to take into account setup location shots and see where you would actually find a world-class villain. Not necessarily in a hollowed-out volcano or some other stereotypical villainous “lair” that Bond laymen refer to, but as in the case here in From Russia With Love (1963), an unassuming, anchored luxury yacht (steamship?) off a beautiful coastal city.
In the scene, we see SPECTRE Number 5 Kronsteen summoned from his victorious chess match to this luxury liner to meet his faceless and heavily guarded boss, the movie’s villain and head of SPECTRE – Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Alongside Blofeld is the uncharacteristically nervous Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) whose pointy shoes won’t help her out here. She’s chopped liver in this scene, and she knows it.
Blofeld’s boat in From Russia With Love (1963)
The faceless Blofeld is effective here, even though his fascination with the fighting fish is a bit disconcerting. He seems to have properly small-sized and compartmentalized tanks for betta fighting fish, but they look to be halfway filled and raise so man questions as to their maintenance and upkeep on the boat. (he likes these kinds of fish *that* much?
Klebb would agree to the oddity, and can only muster that his comparison of SPECTRE to a lurking fighting fish killing a weakened one was “amusing.” Blofeld is trying to say that SPECTRE as a whole “strikes” when they are most effective – regardless if it’s up against a weakened or oblivious opponent, it’s at the right time.
Russia‘s villain’s eccentricity is on display here a bit, but what I wouldn’t give to check out that awesome bar/lounge combo in that boat!
