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The Most Influential People in Getting Bond to 50
TheWizardOfIce
'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
OK bored on the night shift so I thought I’d set myself (and anyone else who wants to join in) the task of compiling a list of the 10 people who are the most responsible for the success of the series and getting us to the 50 year mark.
(By the way I’m not counting Fleming in this as he just set the template.)
1. Cubby – Started it all and kept it alive through some big wobbles (Sean leaving, Harry leaving, Roger leaving, heavy competition and poor box office in the late 80s, the transition to Babs and MGW to keep it going when he knew his health was failing. If it wasn’t for his drive then Bond would have died out after TMWTGG or LTK.
2. Harry – Responsible for a lot in the early days and his work in the 60s and laid many of the foundations that the next 40 years was built on.
3. Sean – If he hadn’t been able to step up from being a nobody to a superstar then the series might well have been still born. It was his star power that gave us Bondmania and paved the way for a series rather than a one off spy thriller.
4. Terence Young – Turned Flemings rather serious novels into sparkling entertainment and turned a Scottish lorry driver into a suave killer.
5. MGW – Apart from his fine work producing and writing in the 70s and 80s, he also did most of the donkey work in the 80s as Cubbys health went and oversaw the transition to Brozza which, say what you like about it, saved the series after the moribund box office of Dalton. In addition despite DAD occurring on his watch he was savvy enough to realise that the series would be doomed if they continued down that route and saved Bond by going back to Fleming.
6. Rog – Love him or loathe him without Rog the series would have died in the 70s. His solid reliability kept people coming back and he should get a lot of credit for stepping into Seans shoes. Had Rog walked and the likes of James Brolin or Sam Neil replaced him (as they came scarily close to doing) it would have been a shot to the temple of the series.
7. John Barry – Gave the Bond series a fresh and distinctive sound that was unlike anything anyone had ever heard in the cinema and was an integral part of the Bond experience.
8. Ken Adam – Like Barry gave the Bond films a distinctive look that was fresh and exciting. One of my favourite scenes is when Bond is on the monorail to board the SPECTRE rocket in YOLT and the camera pans around this monstrous set with John Barrys music looming ominously in the background.
9. Peter Hunt – Pioneering editing which invented the modern action movie. Also delivered in spades when the pressure was on post Connery.
10. Brozza – Controversial I know and I can hardly believe I’m writing this (I must be tired - it is 3 in the morning!) but after a poor reception for Dalton and worse box office and a 6 year hiatus during which time stuff like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and Terminator had established themselves as the action films to beat GE simply had to succeed or it was game over. There was infinitely more pressure on Pierce than any other actor who has taken over (except perhaps Laz) to step into Sean and Rogers shoes and deliver a Bond that was popular with the public and would get bums on seats. Poor scripts and dubious directorial appointments during his tenure were not his fault and he did all he could with what he was given and managed not only to bring the series out of the Dalton doldrums but to hit the biggest heights of Bondmania since the 60s.
Near misses - Maurice Binder, Bob Simmons, John Glen, Martin Campbell, Derek Meddings.
(By the way I’m not counting Fleming in this as he just set the template.)
1. Cubby – Started it all and kept it alive through some big wobbles (Sean leaving, Harry leaving, Roger leaving, heavy competition and poor box office in the late 80s, the transition to Babs and MGW to keep it going when he knew his health was failing. If it wasn’t for his drive then Bond would have died out after TMWTGG or LTK.
2. Harry – Responsible for a lot in the early days and his work in the 60s and laid many of the foundations that the next 40 years was built on.
3. Sean – If he hadn’t been able to step up from being a nobody to a superstar then the series might well have been still born. It was his star power that gave us Bondmania and paved the way for a series rather than a one off spy thriller.
4. Terence Young – Turned Flemings rather serious novels into sparkling entertainment and turned a Scottish lorry driver into a suave killer.
5. MGW – Apart from his fine work producing and writing in the 70s and 80s, he also did most of the donkey work in the 80s as Cubbys health went and oversaw the transition to Brozza which, say what you like about it, saved the series after the moribund box office of Dalton. In addition despite DAD occurring on his watch he was savvy enough to realise that the series would be doomed if they continued down that route and saved Bond by going back to Fleming.
6. Rog – Love him or loathe him without Rog the series would have died in the 70s. His solid reliability kept people coming back and he should get a lot of credit for stepping into Seans shoes. Had Rog walked and the likes of James Brolin or Sam Neil replaced him (as they came scarily close to doing) it would have been a shot to the temple of the series.
7. John Barry – Gave the Bond series a fresh and distinctive sound that was unlike anything anyone had ever heard in the cinema and was an integral part of the Bond experience.
8. Ken Adam – Like Barry gave the Bond films a distinctive look that was fresh and exciting. One of my favourite scenes is when Bond is on the monorail to board the SPECTRE rocket in YOLT and the camera pans around this monstrous set with John Barrys music looming ominously in the background.
9. Peter Hunt – Pioneering editing which invented the modern action movie. Also delivered in spades when the pressure was on post Connery.
10. Brozza – Controversial I know and I can hardly believe I’m writing this (I must be tired - it is 3 in the morning!) but after a poor reception for Dalton and worse box office and a 6 year hiatus during which time stuff like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and Terminator had established themselves as the action films to beat GE simply had to succeed or it was game over. There was infinitely more pressure on Pierce than any other actor who has taken over (except perhaps Laz) to step into Sean and Rogers shoes and deliver a Bond that was popular with the public and would get bums on seats. Poor scripts and dubious directorial appointments during his tenure were not his fault and he did all he could with what he was given and managed not only to bring the series out of the Dalton doldrums but to hit the biggest heights of Bondmania since the 60s.
Near misses - Maurice Binder, Bob Simmons, John Glen, Martin Campbell, Derek Meddings.
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Comments
Other than Brosnan, I more or less agree with your list (not counting Fleming). Would probably place Lee, Llewlyn or Maxwell at #10.
and Yes Brosnan was a very good Bond for Goldeneye, he seems almost tailor made for the part at times when you watch his debut performance. It wasn't all one way traffic for the Irishman though and he did provide one or two letdowns but for his initial appearance, it was a very good watch for the most part
Didnt Babs also insist on Tamahori? I would certainly have Babs in the top 20 as shes been integral to keeping things going for the past 20 years but shes made way too many poor calls that could easily have ended the series - Tamahori, consistently retaining P & W, insistence on trying to elevate Bond to art by hiring big names (Apted, Haggis, Forster, Mendes) who have no experience of action films which has had decidedly mixed results so far rather than concentrating on getting the basics right.
This is not a popularity contest its about who ensured the survival of the series. I love Dalton in TLD and as you say at the time he felt like a breath of fresh air after the Rog era grew stale. But the fact is that anyone would have been a welcome change in 87. It is also a fact that the public didnt particularly take to Dalton and that although there were a lot of other contributing factors LTKs box office (stateside especially) wasnt up to scratch. Not saying he would have sunk the series if he had continued, but I cant imagine he would have made more than one more after LTK before the studio demanded a change. Brozza had to resurrect the series after dissappointing apathy with the public over LTK and a 6 year gap which makes his contribution in securing the longevity of the series a lot bigger than Daltons IMO.
Prior mistakes don't change the fact that her casting of Craig pushed the series into an era of commercial and critical acclaim that it hadn't seen since the early '60s, if ever.
After the remarkable run of DN-FRWL-GF-TB, there were several points at which the series was revived: DAF, TSWLM, GE, and CR.
Cubby, Saltz, Sean and Young though get the credit for establishing the series and building to Bondmania, so that the series might continue forever.
Great top 10 in opening post btw. Can't dispute any of it. Well put!
Still cant forgive her for DAD though. She had only been in charge for 2 films before she allowed that to happen. MGW had built up a lot more credit in the bank to allow him a bit more goodwill. And bare in mind she was handed the job in the family business on a plate. I wont say she does a bad job and she certainly learnt from her mistakes on DAD but I reckon theres quite a few of us here who could make as good a fist of it if our Dad left is in charge.
Its seems these days that MGW takes a back seat and is slowing down. Shame as I wish he would still write. He turned out some cracking scripts in the 80s. OP and TLD are both in my top 5 Bonds. Even MGW on autopilot has to better than P&W?
JAMES BOND WOULDN'T EXIST!!
Obviously Fleming goes without saying and would be number 1. If you want instead we can call it a top 11 then with Ian sitting on top.
Not as deserving as him or those already mentioned perhaps, but worthy of note too are the likes of Ted Moore, Peter Lamont, Syd Cain, Tom Mankiewicz, Don Black, Stanley Sopel, Martin Grace, Richard Grayson, Christopher Wood, Remy Julienne, Vic Armstrong, Arthur Wooster, Debbie McWilliams, Tom Pevsner, Lindy Hemming, Daniel Kleinman and, yes, like 'em or loathe 'em, Purvis and Wade...
Shit. I knew I'd forget someone important. Yes Maibaum easily deserving of a place in the top 10. Although he had all of Flemings material to work with so I wouldnt have him above Barry and Adam who created something entirely new. He probably slips inbetween (ooer Matron!) Ken Adam and Peter Hunt and tragically bumps Brozza out of the top 10.
Some great contributors in your list but no way I'm having P & W. Hacks who have won the lottery by somehow convincing Babs they are indispensible. Can excuse them having a crack at one, maybe two films but to still be kept on time and time again is preposterous. No better than your average Coronation St writer. Certainly not a patch on Stephen Moffat and Mark Gattis who would I'm 100% sure do a better job.
What did P&W ever do that got them the Bond gig in the first place anyway? Their CV is an absolute joke:
Let Him Have It - It was alright but nothing special. Felt like a made for TV film.
Plunkett & Maclean - Extremely average and hardly set the box office alight.
AND THATS LITERALLY IT!!!
To be asked to write a Bond film on the strength of that is an absolute insult to every writer out there who has a body of work behind them.
The fact that they also wrote both Johnny English films speaks volumes. So for whoever it was who earlier convinced me that Babs was underrated I retract whatever I said about her. DAD happened on her watch and these clowns continue to be employed on her watch so the fact that we've made it to 50 seems to be despite her rather than because of her. God preserve us when MGW retires and shes on her own.
They only wrote the first one.
That would explain why the 2nd one was much better.
I stand corrected - said the man in the orthopaedic shoe. (Classic Partridge!)
Thats what happens when you dont read IMDB carefully. So their immense CV is now even more sparsely populated.
Hahaha! I've got ya kids dan, I've got ya kids
A love of Bond, Partridge and Liverpool. DCisared you will be telling me next you drive a Lexus, use Lynx and have Directors bitter coming out of your taps.
Off topic I know old man but I've got another 6 hours of night shift to get through: where do you stand on Kenny after last nights debacle? The crown is certainly slipping. Would you give him another 100m to spunk on pub players?
PM me if you fancy discussing just how shite Henderson is.
It's like an episode of take me out I smell romance!
:x @};- :))
For me , he will always be the king And I never even saw him play live!
It's a tricky one the question about giving him stupid amounts of money again and it's probably a fair point the pub players comment. Out of the players brought in in the summer probably only Bellamy ( free transfer) and Jose Enrique ( about 8 mill I think) have done enough to warrant being in the team. I should add thou that I think the pair of them have been sensational bits of business , performing exceptionally and really adding to the team . Charlie Adam excited me the most actually and I dreamed of a player who would better xabi alonso but unfortunately I don't feel he is a player capable of playing for a top four club, I think he is a good premier league player but not of the standard where we want and need to be at. Then there's Stewie downing who I really want to do well because I can see he tries hard to make an impact and has been a bit unfortunate with brilliant crosses /passes that haven't been converted by lacklustre finishing at times. I think he's a 'confidence player and over the past couple of months he's certainly got a little mojo in his play which was maybe lacking at the start of his lfc career. Jordan Henderson excites me, I don't at all understand the hate for the lad considering he's 21 and showed some real promising moments at times even thou he's by far from the finished article. I look back at how bad I and the majority of world football felt (apart from rafa) about Lucas leiva . I just didn't see at all what he brought to the team but how times change and I now beleive Lucas is almost world class at the defensive midfielder role. Jordan Henderson aged 21 is a much better footballer than the Lucas leiva aged 21. Its of course the andy Carroll one which gets me down a little (although not singed in the summer). It was a panick buy at a time when we knew Torres wanted to leave and we felt we needed someone in to replace him, to try and make a statement to say we had moved on allready to better things. It's all hindsight but I do wonder if maybe we would of been better off keeping the 35 million(gulp) and using it elsewhere. I would also have Torres back as I know the lad would still be banging them in for us and he and Suarez would be devasting together.
I think kenny has us playing some fabulous football at times and what should be considered is that all those new players are in there first season having to adapt to new teammates, new systems , new cultures and a new 'this is Anfield' ethos. I think we have been terribly unlucky a great deal of the time this season . There are only two matches in the league ( spurs and united both away) were I feel we haven't dominated the game, creating Hatfulls of chances , playing wonderful intricate football and dominating possession. And at times due to our woeful finishing the season has felt a bit disappointing because results should really have been so much better considering our dominance in games.
So it begs the question is it better to be a good manager and unlucky, or just lucky?
Well probably lucky , but after clinching the league cup after some poor penalties , whose to say daglish dosent have it all bad when it comes to luck, and with us being close to the FA cup Aswell then it's most defiantly progress and winning trophies makes winners , and the hunger and mentality will I'm sure spur us on to greater things :)
And it was all going so well. I think our romance is dead in the water after that comment mate.
I just dont see what he does apart from give the ball away. Half an hour can go by without me realising hes even on the pitch. He cant unlock defences, he doesnt score, hes not exactly Roy Keane in the tackle. Hes a poor mans Carrick - well he would if we hadnt pissed 20m million away on him. I dont see any real difference between him and Shelvey to be honest.
Downing - I feel sorry for the lad - up to a point. Hes an honest pro and he tries hard but hes simply not very good. Villa was as good as it shouldve got for him. Cant believe that England have fallen so far that hes a guaranteed to go to the Euros.
Charlie Adam - In his head hes Steven Gerrard. In reality hes nearer Steven Hawking. Hollywood ball after Hollywood ball when he hasnt got the ability to back up his ideas.
Carroll - Hes the only one I still hold out any hope for as he has shown he does have the ability. He was monstrous for the Toon in their first season back up but is being weighed down by the fee and the wrong service. The real worry is that spell at Newcastle was just a good run of form and we've got a 35m Michael Ricketts on our hands.
I agree with a fair bit of what you said . We have been exceptionally unlucky. If we had the jam of the scum and half of the 20 times had hit the woodwork had gone in we’d be comfortably in the CL spots. But at the same time you make your own luck and our finishing has been woeful.
When we have been good we’ve been very good (shouldve beat City and the scum at home) but when we’ve been bad we’ve been appalling (Spurs away the first time I’ve ever walked out of a Liverpool match early – to be fair I was going to at half time v Milan in 2005 but the missus made me stay!!)
Bottom line is this has been a very poor league and 4th place was there for anyone who wanted it. The fact that Arsenal after the disgrace of a season they’ve had are cruising to a CL place is a joke. And the fact that we’re 10 points adrift of them is an embarrassment. You look at what Wengers spent and what Kenny had to spend and theres simply no way we should be below them.
If you were John Henry would you give Kenny any more money? Honestly? Comolli is also a big part of the problem. That twat is an absolute parasite on the game. No tangible credentials to speak of. Probably just has a large network of players agents who slip him 10% on every transfer. That’s the only possible way you can explain our shocking deals. Do we even haggle at all? Seems like we just went to Villa, Sunderland and Newcastle and said ‘how much?’ They thought it was a bargaining situation so went in with high starting price expecting to settle on somewhere near half. Instead we’ve just got the cheque book out on their opening figure. We’d do better with Ridsdale holding the pursestrings.
Not sure where we go from here – but I’ll tell you one thing. Saturday v Wigan might seem like a nothing game for us but if you ask me its massive. Lose that and I think Kenny has to go. 8 points in 2012 is bad enough but back to back defeats against two sides nailed on to go down would make his position untenable. You can shove your Carling cup up your arse we are LFC and picking up a tin pot trophy isn’t acceptable. We’re almost 30 points off the top FFS. A year on since the misery of Roy and I can barely detect any improvement at all. And we’ve got a 100m hole in our bank account into the bargain.
As Truman Lodge might have put it ‘Henderson, Downing, Carrol, Adam? Brilliant Kenny – another 100m pound write off!’
No, no, seriously football has its own thread... ;)
Yes, I agree that Moore kept the franchise going strong; and it could have tanked you know and Bond not continued. Perish the thought!
2. Harry Saltzman
3. Albert R Broccoli
4. Maurice Binder (Gunbarrel)
5. Monty Norman (Bond theme)
6. Richard Maibaum (Writer/film friend of producers)
7. Ken Adam (Production Designer)
8. John Glenn (Editor/Directer)
9. Lewis Gilbert (Directer/film friend of producers)
10. Peter Lamont (Production Designer/Art directer)
11. Michael G Wilson
12. Desmond LLwelyn (17 times in a Bond movie !!)
13. John Barry (Bond theme/composer)
14. Roger Moore. 7 Times in a Bond movie, his influense on Bond is big. Mixed fanbase.
15. Sean Connery. The first Bond, for the older fanbase in general. I think we can say that after The Rock Connery slyde in to the unknown. The only reasen to remember the older movies. In a litler discussion about Hitch Cock i said i not known/seen/remember any actor, atleast Sean always wil be rememberd for the next 10-20 years.
16. Lois Maxwell. 14 Times in a Bond movie.
17. Ursula Andress. The first Bond girl.
18. Bernard Lee
19. George Lazenby
20. Peter R Hunt
21. Shirley Bassey
22. Pierce Brosnan
23. Barbara Broccoli
24. Pervis & Wade
25. Judi Dench. 7th times in a Bond movie, but she at it to another level and be nice to have some older influense.
26. David Arnold
27. Terence Young
28. Timothy Dalton
29. Debbie McWilliams (Casting since Goldeneye)
30. Guy Hamilton
31. Jeroen Krabbé
32. Dana Broccoli