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Yes, he may have been screwed out of his rights by Fleming, but the matter was eventually settled, he got writer's credit, he got producer's credit over TB and he got to make his own film. What more did he want? It's not like Fleming had destroyed his life, run off with his wife or downright plagiarized something that McClory had written entirely by himself.
So, I agree that he deserved some compensation because Fleming had, indeed, wronged him, but his eventual quest to take down EON was disproportionate to anything that may have gone wrong when they were writing the original TB story. Hence I agree with the thesis: the man went too far. Fleming had committed petty theft and McClory answered by embarking on a lifelong religious crusade. He not merely fought for what was rightfully his, he purely sabotaged people who had, in essence, nothing to do with his quarrels with Fleming. Even we, as fans, should be mad at McClory. We want good Bond films and he tried more than once to keep us from getting any. His own attempt, NSNA, wasn't such a supergreat film anyway.
I therefore blame him for showing an irrational hatred towards something that existed far beyond his reach and which he, as the puny, bitter, money hungry man, so desperately tried to damage.
He may be deceased now and I usually don't talk bad about the dead, but I'll be honest. I hate Kevin McClory. I hate how he constantly sought methods to bring down the franchise I love passionately. I hate how, like a nasty cold that keeps coming back, he never gave up. I hate how restoring his credit + getting producer's credit for TB + obtaining the rights to make his own Bond film wasn't enough for him. In my opinion, he was royally compensated for whatever meagre injustice he had suffered. It should have stopped after '65. He should have given it a rest. Bitter . old . man!
He got what he wanted, after that his continued lawsuits were unnecessary. At least with TB, EON, Cubby and Harry had some degree of control, NSNA showed what a Bond franchise under him would've been like. I would hope we're all glad that his rights ended there, though even then he wouldn't let it die.
I'll entirely second you on this, awesome post by Dimi and couldn't agree more.
The last time I watched Thunderball, I pointed out McClory in the casino lounge to my son and told him the story behind the movie and all the things he tried to do. He said "what a jerk". Both my son's statement and "Good riddance" ought to be on his tombstone as far as I'm concerned.
I feel sorry for "anyone" then. He got a fair and just settlement according to the letter of the law. I can understand if his lawyer told him he might be able to get more, but the rest of his actions showed in vivid color he held a grudge and was malicious.
I hope your comment about jerks was not directed at my boy, or myself for that matter.
I don't love NSNA--or TB, for that matter--but how much of Bond's success is attributable to SPECTRE? For example, Stromberg was basically Blofeld; they excised references to "Number One" from the script. McClory was asserting the rights of a character/organization he co-created.
McClory's tactics may have been unpleasant, but Bond is not a charity; it's a hugely successful moneymaking endeavor. If any one of us had those rights, we'd be asserting them too--not just letting Broccoli/Saltzman use them at will.
Everyone would have acted the same... it's human nature. when dealing with something worth several billion, everyone would act greedy and irrational. with hindsight people can say 'what an idiot', but if it were you in his shoes at that time, you would have accomplished the same acts and behaviour. If you call McClory as jerk, then you call every single person on earth a jerk, because it's in the human nature to act the way McClory did when dealing with multi billions $$$
Just because its human nature doesn't mean its right.
where did I say it was right ? all I am saying is that the 7 billion people living on this planet today would have acted the very same way as McClory. I didn't say human nature is always right, I am merely saying everyone on this earth has the same human nature.
You said McClory did "nothing wrong'' in a previous statement.
he did nothing wrong aka he acted like a normal human being would. I don't agree with his behaviour, because I'm a Bond fan and wanted a 3rd Dalton outing, but I would almost certainly have accomplished the same acts of greed, vengeance, etc., if I were in his shoes.
Not all human beings would act the way he did, not even close to true. He got much more than he deserved in his compensation and the rights to make his own adaptation, and as such anything after that is simply wrong. Whether anyone else would act that way is, in my opinion, irrelevant because we're not talking about anyone else. He didn't just go for things he had a right to, he attacked the franchise itself because of a personal grudge. I don't think trying to justify his actions as human nature is appropriate, no offence @DaltonCraig007.
What about Sean Connery who demanded royalties for every Bond film made without him ? He still holds a grudge with Cubby today, long after Cubby's death.
It's greed, revenge, personal grudges... everyone has these issues, which are implified when the stakes are very big.
BUT, a man has got to know his limitations. McClory spent nearly four decades trying to cause damage to one of the most successful film franchises ever, after having been indulged in several ways already.
Disputes related to film rights and creative control etcetera are plenty but usually they get settled and people move on. McClory blew this thing out of proportions. What the hell had Broccoli and Saltzman to do with his quarrels with Fleming? Nothing! Also, he made his version of TB, it wasn't very good and that should have put a full stop to already two and a half decades of pursuing 'justice'.
It simply isn't sane anymore when you fight a war over a little gripe. It becomes madness when you already got more out of this than you deserved and you're still unwilling to give up.
So yes, were I McClory, I would have tried darn hard to give Fleming some bad nights and sue him for a couple of dollars that will send my kids to college, but after that, wow, enough is enough. Why not try to have my own film career? Why not come up with my own film franchise, my own characters, my own pride? His career post TB is limited to NSNA for the love of God. This man, this "filmmaker", spent the last forty - fifty years of his life doing exactly two things: remaking TB and having his lawyers figure out how to sue EON out of existence and deprive us of our beloved James Bond!
Fleming wrote several Bond novels pre-TB and they convince me of the man's talents. McClory was one of three people adding elements to Bond's universe (not creating said universe, mind, but adding a few things to it) and that's about it. Wow, what an artist. He produced two films between 1965 and 2006 and both existed because of Fleming's creation - not his. Why not create something himself and try to compete with EON in an honest way?
I can't take this man seriously. This is he:
But also part of the reason we got a Casino Royale film, so it's swings and roundabouts. Such as life.
But take John Barry for example. He didn't do the score for the heretic movie. Was it because they didn't pay him enough? They say he was like the Scaramanga of the soundtracks: a million dollars a score. But wasn't any loyalty towars Broccoli and EON?
I consider myself rational in many senses and of course McClory actions were economically rational. But wasn't there any anger against Fleming and EON? Wasn't the opposite of Barry whose work was properly acknowledge?
And another example: Monty Norman could have sued for money, but he also wanted be recognize as the composer of the Bond theme.
It all depends of your understanding of the human nature.
I saw greed but also confrontations about honor, recognition and pride.
When I see the stubborn behaviour of McClory I see greed, yes, but also a desire of vengeance. Was a remake of Thunderball his only source of income? I doubt that... So why follow with it? You had my answer to that.
Although, like DC said, we probably would've all done the same.
I'd happily sacrifice CR for another Dalton (I like CR but, a third Dalton film, how awesome would that have been).
<font color=blue size=7><b>The fact that the DAD Bond threw away his cyanide long ago is entirely in the spirit of Fleming's Bond.</b></font>
When is that mentioned??
When Bond is recovering on the ship and M comes in.
M: You had your cyanide
Bond: Thew it away years ago, what the hell is this all about!?
Would Fleming's Bond have thrown away his cyanide pill? Well if he had taken it we woudn't have had any more stories would we ;)
Agree (kind of)
Now then, do you both agree with the thesis or not? :)
1. In Live and Let Die while being carried by Mr Big in the boat he thought of drowning Solitaire and then killing himself in order to escape the painfull death of being eated by the baracuradas and the sharks.
2. In Golfinger, when he was about to be cut in half, he remember of people holding their breath until dying as a solution to his "partition" problem.
So I'm gonna be controversial and say no, I desagree with the thesis. I think Fleming's Bond would keep the cyanide pill "just in case".