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Examples of the Americanisation of James Bond Films/Character/Dialogue etc.?

DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
edited November 2015 in Bond Movies Posts: 18,264
We all know there was Jimmy Bond in the CBS Climax Mystery Theater 1954 TV production of Casino Royale of course, but what other attempts would you say were made to Americanise James Bond?

Here are a few that I can think of offhand:

Burt Reynolds was considered for the Bond role, as was Adam West for OHMSS.

John Gavin actually signed on to play James Bond for DAF before Sean Connery agreed to return to the role he had made so famous.

I'm sure we can think of many more in the Bond films, character or dialogue or anything else.

If so, I'd really love to hear from you. :)
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Comments

  • tigers99tigers99
    edited November 2015 Posts: 582
    John Gavin signed on for DAF. Closest we've got to an American actor playing Bond.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,264
    tigers99 wrote: »
    John Gavin signed on for DAF. Closest we've got to an American actor playing Bond.

    Yes, indeed. I should have made that clearer in the OP.

  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited November 2015 Posts: 11,189
    -Pierce saying "next time I'll take the elevator" in TND.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited November 2015 Posts: 23,883
    "It's time for ...... a station break..." as well as "What do you mean, you don't know? You're fired! Get out of my sight!" also in TND,
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited November 2015 Posts: 11,189
    bondjames wrote: »
    You're fired! Get out of my sight!"[/i] also in TND, [/b]

    How is that Americanised?

  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I might be mistaken, but didn't James Brolin screentest for Bond around OP when Moore was debating whether or not to stay in the role?
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    You're fired! Get out of my sight!"[/i] also in TND, [/b]

    How is that Americanised?
    I don't recall station break being used in the UK when I lived there. 'Ads' or 'telly ads'. Is that term used there now?
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited November 2015 Posts: 11,189
    I mean the "You're fired. Get out of my sight line".

    Also, Brosnan AND Craig use the term cellphone at least once.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    I would have thought 'sacked' would be the term to use. Fired has a Donald Trump tinge to it.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited November 2015 Posts: 11,189
    bondjames wrote: »
    I would have thought 'sacked' would be the term to use. Fired has a Donald Trump tinge to it.

    You clearly haven't seen The Apprentice :p



  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited November 2015 Posts: 23,883
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    I would have thought 'sacked' would be the term to use. Fired has a Donald Trump tinge to it.

    You clearly haven't seen The Apprentice :p

    Yes, but this came well after, no? Was the term 'fired' that popular in the UK in 1997? I always thought this was an American thing. I think the US version came first too.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    I suppose not. I'd still heard of it back then though.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Also, I've never heard the phrase "watch the birdie" in Britain. Always thought that was an American thing.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,392
    The women wasn't going to say 'its time for a telly ad' now was she?
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited November 2015 Posts: 23,883
    Mendes4Lyfe wrote: »
    The women wasn't going to say 'its time for a telly ad' now was she?
    No, I suppose not. I recall noticing that line right away though first time I saw the film. "What's this?....what's going on here?" I thought
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    edited November 2015 Posts: 1,874
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Also, I've never heard the phrase "watch the birdie" in Britain. Always thought that was an American thing.

    No, watch the birdie is an old expression photographers used. That never jarred with me. Heard it a lot and used it myself.
    But when RM says 'lengthwise' in LALD that's totally American - we say 'lengthways'.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Lancaster007 wrote: »
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Also, I've never heard the phrase "watch the birdie" in Britain. Always thought that was an American thing.

    No, watch the birdie is an old expression photographers used. That never jarred with me. Heard it a lot and used it myself.
    But when RM says 'lengthwise' in LALD that's totally American - we say 'lengthways'.

    Ah ok.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    "Yo Wade": GE
    "Yo Momma": DAD
    "My cell phone opens the car": TND
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    "Because these baastards want your head.": M in CR vs. "bahstards"
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Valentine telling Bond to "chill out" in TWINE.

    *sigh* are there any that DIDN'T come from the Brosnan films?

    There's an argument for the "Yo Wade" comment that Bond simply said it back to him in response to "yo Jimbo".

    Imagine Fleming rolling in his grave at the thought of an American contact calling his creation "Jimbo" :)) :))
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited November 2015 Posts: 9,117
    'Station break' is by far the worst offender and without doubt the line that infuriates me most in the series. Utter disgrace that not one single British person who was on the set that day had the bottle to stand up and say 'hang on but that's f**king bolllocks'.

    However I feel we do have a new contender wih SP and the '00 Program'.

    Perhaps not as outright offensive to English ears as 'station break' but it pisses on the legacy of Fleming's '00 Section' and given Judi was still calling it the '00 Section' one film ago why the sudden urge to make Bond sound more like Bourne?

    And to add insult to injury they keep on saying it over and over again: C, M, Blofeld!! I think the only character who doesn't is Bond. Just F**K OFF with your 00 Program!

  • tigers99tigers99
    Posts: 582
    TheWizardOfIce wrote: »
    'Station break' is by far the worst offender and without doubt the line that infuriates me most in the series. Utter disgrace that not one single British person who was on the set that day had the bottle to stand up and say 'hang on but that's f**king bolllocks'.

    However I feel we do have a new contender wih SP and the '00 Program'.

    Perhaps not as outright offensive to English ears as 'station break' but it pisses on the legacy of Fleming's '00 Section' and given Judi was still calling it the '00 Section' one film ago why the sudden urge to make Bond sound more like Bourne?

    And to add insult to injury they keep on saying it over and over again: C, M, Blofeld!! I think the only character who doesn't is Bond. Just F**K OFF with your 00 Program!

    Yeah I was 12 when I saw TND the first time and Station Break always threw me.
  • tigers99tigers99
    Posts: 582
    bondjames wrote: »
    "Yo Wade": GE
    "Yo Momma": DAD
    "My cell phone opens the car": TND

    They should release a new version of DAD that doesn't have that line - Die Another Day (the mercifully cut version)
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    This might interest you -

    In Diamonds Are Forever the producers had been trying to Americanize the
    series; it would have been filmed in Hollywood, and the actor they had found to replace George Lazenby, was John Gavin, of “Psycho” fame, an American, for example.

    However when Connery said yes, the filming was to take place in good old Pinewood, not Hollywood, to take advantage of the Eady Levy; all films, at that time, were given a subsidy for filming in the U.K. Thus the Americanization of the series stopped. The film-makers had the questionable idea that American audiences were turned off by the fact that On Majesty's Secret Service was set in Europe. The producers seemed to have forgotten that Thunderball, the highest grossing Bond film, was set in the Bahamas.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited November 2015 Posts: 15,713
    TheWizardOfIce wrote: »
    'Station break' is by far the worst offender and without doubt the line that infuriates me most in the series. Utter disgrace that not one single British person who was on the set that day had the bottle to stand up and say 'hang on but that's f**king bolllocks'.

    However I feel we do have a new contender wih SP and the '00 Program'.

    Perhaps not as outright offensive to English ears as 'station break' but it pisses on the legacy of Fleming's '00 Section' and given Judi was still calling it the '00 Section' one film ago why the sudden urge to make Bond sound more like Bourne?

    And to add insult to injury they keep on saying it over and over again: C, M, Blofeld!! I think the only character who doesn't is Bond. Just F**K OFF with your 00 Program!

    Given the success of 'Rogue Nation', maybe EON will use the term 'The 00 Force' for Bond 25, based on 'Impossible Mission Force'. ;)
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,392
    Yes, the producers have had several 'Bond isn't American enough' scares over the years. Diamonds are forever is one example, License to kill is another. Thank god Bond isn't reliant on NA BO anymore to be successful.
  • lalala2004lalala2004
    Posts: 162
    I do wish they'd leave in British terms/slang in Bond films. It's kind of an insult to our (Americans) intelligence that they assume we can't just figure it out.

    They changed the Harry Potter books for American consumption, which annoys me. I'd love to own a copy of the British versions.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,392
    Yes, let's not forget that they didn't give Americans the credit to understand what the word 'revoked' meant. :-O
  • Matt007Matt007
    Posts: 1,314
    I think this is a very interesting discussion. for me its not necessarily the Americanisation of the character, more the films.

    Although that said i do think the Americanisation of the character reached a new low in Brosnans latter days. His delivery of "Ahm Checkin' out" after faking a cardiac arrest in DAD i simply loathe. Its not what james Bond would ever ever say. Plus Brosnans mid Atlantic "Baaahnd. james Baahnd". Add to that the hateful character of Jinx. "Yo Momma", "Bitch" "The Owls"

    Thankfully i really think Craig has clawed back a lot of the britishness of the character. Subtle things like the way he stands up when a lady approaches a table, refers to m as "Ma'am", and says "thank you" the whole time. Craig films are replete with Union Jacks, british understatement and wit "You do have a difficult day ahead".

    My main gripe which started with Brosnan and has continued to some extent is the loss of the peculiarly British aspect of Bond character of snobbery. A connoisseur. This is missing from SF and CR. I wish he name checked his drinks, or delivered put downs aimed at the villains choice of tailor or drink. It would have felt more true to the character in SP for example if when he was offered Champagne by Oberhausers butler, rather than a bland "Maybe later" he said "My dear fellow, champagne without oysters is like ....blah blah" A double "up yours"

    It worked so well in CR when he ordered the drink and pissed Le Chiffre off. These days we seem limited to cufflink adjustments.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,277
    Matt007 wrote: »
    I would have felt more true to the character in SP for example if when he was offered Champagne by Oberhausers butler, rather than a bland "Maybe later" he said "My dear fellow, champagne without oysters is like ....blah blah" A double "up yours"

    It worked so well in CR when he ordered the drink and pissed Le Chiffre off. These days we seem limited to cufflink adjustments.

    I took this moment as Bond thinking the champagne might be drugged.

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