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What would Ian Fleming's favourite Bond films be?

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  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    BeatlesSansEarmuffs wrote: »
    He liked FRWL enough to make a cameo appearance in it. Isn't that enough to demonstrate his approval?

    Nope. I want more spoken/written comments on what the man said about the first two Bond films and the production on the 3rd.

    Michael Wilson has many cameo's too.
  • BeatlesSansEarmuffsBeatlesSansEarmuffs
    Posts: 3,566
    And I want several more books written by Fleming. Guess what: I'm not getting them! MGW is one of the series' producers. One would assume that his work meets his approval, otherwise it wouldn't have been released for public consumption. Fleming's approval means something else entirely, and frankly, we're not getting any more than we've already got. We have to interpret what we have as reasonably as possible.
  • OHMSS69OHMSS69
    edited November 2014 Posts: 2,341
    I don't think fleming hated DN, I did read a quote from him that he said, he approved of it but that it was lighter than the novel. He felt that fans of the book might have been disappointed but for the most part it was satisfactory.
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    Hey, I did not know that! Which scene is he in?
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    edited November 2014 Posts: 5,080
    doubleohdad wrote: »
    Hey, I did not know that! Which scene is he in?

    Really?! It's been pretty well documented on this forum for a while...
    Nobody is 100% sure whether it was actually him, but there is a shot of the Orient Express passing a man stood nonchalantly on the side bank who looks suspiciously like Fleming.

    Edit: Voila-

    2vuwt1v.jpg
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    I would say FRWL and OHMSS since they were the closest to his novels.
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    wow that's cool!
  • StirredNotShakenStirredNotShaken Toronto
    Posts: 2,402
    I think The Living Daylights would've made Fleming exceptionally proud. Tim's interpretation, first and foremost. But the brilliant adaptation of his best short story as well as the excellent way they turned that into the plot of the whole film would've excited him.

    FRWL I would probably agree he'd enjoy, but I'm not sure how he felt about the tacked on action at the end, especially the pointless boat chase

    OHMSS, due to its' extreme faithfulness to the book, would probably be Fleming's favourite, I think.
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    doubleohdad wrote: »
    wow that's cool!

    It's so cute @MayDayDiVicenzo to see these new/young fans discover all these new things that we already know about hehe :-P. Wouldn't you say?
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    MayDayDiVicenzo wrote: »
    doubleohdad wrote: »
    Hey, I did not know that! Which scene is he in?

    Really?! It's been pretty well documented on this forum for a while...
    Nobody is 100% sure whether it was actually him, but there is a shot of the Orient Express passing a man stood nonchalantly on the side bank who looks suspiciously like Fleming.

    Edit: Voila-

    2vuwt1v.jpg
    Sadly, that is not Ian Fleming. We all have thought it would be, but Graham Rye, the author and editor of THE 007 MAGAZINE openly and clearly told me it was not Fleming. But, he didn't go further to reveal where did the novelist throw his cameo appearance.
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    MayDayDiVicenzo wrote: »
    doubleohdad wrote: »
    Hey, I did not know that! Which scene is he in?

    Really?! It's been pretty well documented on this forum for a while...
    Nobody is 100% sure whether it was actually him, but there is a shot of the Orient Express passing a man stood nonchalantly on the side bank who looks suspiciously like Fleming.

    Edit: Voila-

    2vuwt1v.jpg
    Sadly, that is not Ian Fleming. We all have thought it would be, but Graham Rye, the author and editor of THE 007 MAGAZINE openly and clearly told me it was not Fleming. But, he didn't go further to reveal where did the novelist throw his cameo appearance.

    It has neither ever been confirmed nor disproved and is been the subject of much discussion throughout the years.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Kerim wrote: »
    I would say FRWL and OHMSS since they were the closest to his novels.

    While I suspect he would have enjoyed both these entries, I don't for a minute think he took the novels, or himself for that matter, too seriously. For that reason I think it's pretty hard to say what he would and wouldn't have liked. I'm inclined to believe there's as much chance of him liking MR as LTK.

  • Mark_HazzardMark_Hazzard Classified
    Posts: 127
    I always thought Fleming merely visited the set of FRWL but never actually made a cameo. If you'd know when the cameo is, please tell me.

    Fleming would have loved GoldenEye. The backstory of Trevelyan has interesting parts that go back to WWII, while placing the story in a context of cutting-edge technology at the time. Those two elements were mostly present in the novels.
  • MooseWithFleasMooseWithFleas Philadelphia
    edited November 2014 Posts: 3,370
    Here's another photo of Fleming on the set of FRWL with cane in hand and white top. Always an interesting debate.

    http://bit.ly/1uRDn1t
  • BeatlesSansEarmuffsBeatlesSansEarmuffs
    Posts: 3,566
    I don't see why there's any debate. That clearly IS Fleming in the photo you post, he clearly IS standing in front of the same Train as shown in the movie and Fleming is wearing the same outfit as is shown in the film itself. There's no reason for that "unidentified" person to be shown alongside the train while Bond is making his escape FROM the train...if not for the purpose of the author making a cameo appearance. Why the debate? Fleming was there, he made the cameo, case closed.
  • timmertimmer
    edited November 2014 Posts: 4,622
    I think you are right @earmuffs. All the evidence points to that being Ian standing beside the train.
    Personally, I think Fleming was satisfied enough with the first 3 movies.
    I think he was thrilled that he finally got a movie deal. He'd been after one since the beginning really.
    As the series moved on and further from his source material, I think he would have resigned himself to the reality of the film biz.
    Agreed, Fleming didn't take his creation as seriously as we do.
    I think he would have enjoyed his notoriety and fame as the famous 007's creator...not to mention all the $ he would have banked, and not been too fussed about the films.
    If he'd continued writing the novels, I think he might have had some fun and made more concessions to the screen Bond.
    Fleming was mischievous. He even referenced himself and his books in the YOLT obit....plus the nods to Ursula Andreas, Noel Coward, David Niven and others.
  • Mark_HazzardMark_Hazzard Classified
    Posts: 127
    @MoosWithFleas it seems I can't open the photo.

    @BeatlesSansEarmuffs, there's is for sure not debate whether Fleming was actually on set during the filming of FRWL, but what I meant with an actual 'cameo' that Fleming would have been 'caught on camera' and shown in the final film. About that there is huge debate, but personally I do not believe it. I'm sure there's a thread about it on this website, but here's an interesting link about it:

    http://clipne.com/view/ian-fleming-cameo-in-from-russia-with-love/0TDK-xL9NOoDL58.html

    Now I'm very curious about what Fleming would have made from Skyfall. The backstory of Bond was changed (parents died in a climbing accident to 'being murdered' while he was hiding at the 'Skyfall estate'). I'm afraid that what is meant with 'Bond 24 and 25 will build on themes from Skyfall', might elaborate on Bond's new backstory.

    I always thought Fleming gave Bond a rather simple backstory on purpose, as he imagined Bond to be "just a person with a dull name to whom things just happened".

    Then there is also the erroneous use of cyanide...
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    OHMSS, it's clearly the most faithful to his book.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,362
    Mark_Hazzard wrote: »
    Now I'm very curious about what Fleming would have made from Skyfall. The backstory of Bond was changed (parents died in a climbing accident to 'being murdered' while he was hiding at the 'Skyfall estate'). I'm afraid that what is meant with 'Bond 24 and 25 will build on themes from Skyfall', might elaborate on Bond's new backstory.

    When was that ever stated? :-??
  • Matt_HelmMatt_Helm
    Posts: 908
    [quote="Mark_Hazzard;389890"
    Now I'm very curious about what Fleming would have made from Skyfall. The backstory of Bond was changed (parents died in a climbing accident to 'being murdered' while he was hiding at the 'Skyfall estate'). I'm afraid that what is meant with 'Bond 24 and 25 will build on themes from Skyfall', might elaborate on Bond's new backstory.

    I always thought Fleming gave Bond a rather simple backstory on purpose, as he imagined Bond to be "just a person with a dull name to whom things just happened".

    Then there is also the erroneous use of cyanide... [/quote]

    I'm not one of the usual suspects when it comes to defending SF, but this might be about the only cheap trick they haven't used ( though I wouldn't put it past them for Bond 24). The annoying (and embarrassing ) part there was,that young Bond had pulled off the Bruce Wayne Transformation routine back then supposedly.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    My bet is FRWL and OHMSS, although like someone said before he may not have liked the heavier action in the last part of OHMSS. I also think he may not have been happy with the casting of Lazenby and Savallas.
  • Mark_HazzardMark_Hazzard Classified
    Posts: 127
    @Murdock Sorry mate, my mistake. The part when Kincade talks to M about the escape tunnel he says that when he told young Bond his parents died, Bond hid in that tunnel for two days and that when he came out he was a boy no more. It came on top on what Bond told M when they reached Scotland. She asks Bond how old he was when his parents died and he replies "You know the answer to that. You know the whole story."

    It just felt like the movie was insinuating there was more to it, but apparently that was just my imagination. Still, something along the line of "Bofeld was behind it all along" would fit in this scenario and I agree with @Matt_Helm that this would be a cheap trick.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Mark_Hazzard wrote: »
    "Bofeld was behind it all along"

    If this ever happened in a Bond film it would taint the legacy irreparably.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    It's an old rumour though: Bond's parents being murdered. Think I first heard it before the release of GE. Oh, and Sean Connery playing Andrew Bond.
  • timmertimmer
    Posts: 4,622
    Ludovico wrote: »
    It's an old rumour though: Bond's parents being murdered. Think I first heard it before the release of GE. Oh, and Sean Connery playing Andrew Bond.

    Deaver was all set to go down this path if he had continued writing beyond his Carte Blanche. He had a grand conspiracy laid out, that he was all set to run with.
  • Matt_HelmMatt_Helm
    edited November 2014 Posts: 908
    timmer wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    It's an old rumour though: Bond's parents being murdered. Think I first heard it before the release of GE. Oh, and Sean Connery playing Andrew Bond.

    Deaver was all set to go down this path if he had continued writing beyond his Carte Blanche. He had a grand conspiracy laid out, that he was all set to run with.

    Yeah,but only judging from CB (which is the only book I know from him ) there is simply no cheap trick he feels above doing. CB was full of them. Glad he and his metrosexual Bond are gone.
  • timmertimmer
    Posts: 4,622
    Matt_Helm wrote: »
    timmer wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    It's an old rumour though: Bond's parents being murdered. Think I first heard it before the release of GE. Oh, and Sean Connery playing Andrew Bond.

    Deaver was all set to go down this path if he had continued writing beyond his Carte Blanche. He had a grand conspiracy laid out, that he was all set to run with.

    Yeah,but only judging from CB (which is the only book I know from him ) there is simply no cheap trick he feels above doing. CB was full of them. Glad he and his metrosexual Bond are gone.
    Amen to that. That book was a disaster!
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,835
    Uh, climbing accident?
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited November 2014 Posts: 15,423
    Didn't Deaver change the history of Bond's parents, with both of them being revealed as double agents working for the Russian FSB?
  • AceHoleAceHole Belgium, via Britain
    Posts: 1,731
    Judging from his books & interviews I'd say he would have approved of DN, FRWL, GF, OHMSS and perhaps TLD & CR. Other than that...
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