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Personally I've been most interested in real spy-work vs. fiction, and the origins of Fleming's ideas. But then again, as a historian that's what you'd expect from me.
The "Operation Mincemeat" and "Agent ZigZag" books you mentioned did intrigue me, as I like more contemporary history with an espionage overtone. @CommanderRoss, do you think they would be in my ballpark as to interest/fascination?
Duns on Bond is also terrific. Very well-written and full of fascinating info about the Ben Hecht drafts of Casino Royale, Per Fine Ounce, and real-life incidents that inspired scenes in Fleming's works and even the movies (for example, Paul Dehn's opening scene of Goldfinger).
The Battle for Bond is an exhaustively researched history of the various story outlines and scripts for Thunderball and Warhead, and highly recommended.
I'm also fond of Andrew McNess's A Close Look at A View to a Kill, an unusual critical examination of one of the least admired Bond films.
Yes, absolutely -- particularly on the development of the screenplays, which is what interests me most.
That's great. Watching the movies I always want to know which writers were responsible for what, especially on some Bond films where there was a team of minds on board and many drafts.
I think I'm going to order it, but I'll see if people have any other thoughts on my dilemma. I appreciate the feedback from a couple of you so far.
If I don't order those this go around they will definitely be on my list for future purchases. Thanks, @CommanderRoss!
For just two examples, it's the first book (as far as I know) to describe the involvement of Nicholas Meyer and the "writer's roundtable" on TND, and it also gets into Johanna Harwood's frustrating experiences writing DR. NO.
There are quite a few bitchy comments from the major players and lots of funny stories.
Fascinating. I hope to learn a bit more about Maibaum as well reading it.
I saw that the index of the book is well over a hundred pages, so the writers clearly did their research and had access to a lot of materials!
Yes, by all mean let's have a new discussion on that, @BeatlesSansEarmuffs and @Birdleson. What would you like to call the topic, specifically? And what are you looking for exactly? Then we can get the topic changed in the thread's title. Thanks! :-bd
This one is dedicated to the fans on this Forum who saw their first Bond movie starring Sean Connery in the theater. Fans who saw OHMSS as their first Bond movie in the theater can also join in, as you no doubt saw the Connery films as well during that time. The point of the thread is that it is geared largely to those of us around 50 and older who were the original fans of Bond and have witnessed the changes of lead actor and general direction over the years.
Do keep in mind we want all fans to participate, and the key to this thread being the "home away from home" for Originals really encompasses all older Bond fans, even if you don't make the strict criteria above. So yes, please join us. :) For discussion topics we welcome younger members commenting, as long as comments are respectful, mature, and in line with the whole tone of this thread as it has been all along.
OK, I'll change the title. And off we go ~ yay!
So we went. And from the dots crawling across the screen to the closing credits I was hooked. And so every summer we caught another Bond (plus other films, there was usually a disaster movie, a Carry On and some Brit sit-com that had just had a very poor film version made - usually released by EMI), next was DAF, then I think Goldfinger again and then LALD, and by this time I had noticed that the films were based on books by one Ian Fleming, so I sought those out…and so began my Bond addiction. Never in those heady days did I think that one day I would be able to actually own the films, or that a school friend would actually appear in one!
He's listed as Inquiry Member by IMDb.
My first introduction to the character of James Bond came in a rather unusual form: a toy commercial on Saturday morning TV, interspersed with ads for breakfast cereal and dolls that could talk or wet themselves. At the advanced age of 9 I had already learned to generally ignore commercials for the most part. I was there to watch the cartoons -- Mighty Mouse perhaps, or maybe even Popeye. But here, in the middle of an advertisement for (of all the outlandish things!) a briefcase with a sniper rifle hidden inside it, a case that spouted gas into your face if you didn’t open it just so…here was a brief snippet from a current movie, featuring a hero that had Mighty Mouse beat all hollow! The lead character was named James Bond, the movie that I was glimpsing ever-so-tantalizingly was From Russia With Love, and to say that I was fascinated by the dramatically more sophisticated world I had just caught a glimpse of would be to significantly understate the case. Who was this Bond fellow and how was I to find out more about him?
Before long, transistor radios throughout the neighborhood provided my next clue, as Shirley Bassey’s bombastic rendition of the title song to Goldfinger poured through the airwaves. James Bond was suddenly huge news, as seemingly EVERYBODY thronged to the theatres to catch his latest adventure. Everybody except my parents, that is. True homebodies they were, satisfied to watch whatever showed up on their black & white TV screen, as one network or another provided unchallenging filmic fare with Saturday Night at the Movies. Following their lead, I had to learn to be satisfied with whatever showed up on the Sunday night Disney TV show. It seemed as if I was going to have to wait a long, long time for James Bond to make the leap onto the small screen.
Finally, late in the first-run release of Thunderball, an opportunity arose that was just too tempting to resist. Understand: I had been gorging myself on every magazine article, newspaper review, and bubble-gum card I could find that revealed information on the Bond phenomenon. I was already hooked without having seen a single Bond movie. And then, a local theatre ran a newspaper advertisement offering a one-day-only special triple-bill: Thunderball, Goldfinger, and Dr. No. Back-to-back, for the price of a single admission, an entire afternoon’s worth of immersion into the spectacular world of James Bond. I begged, I pleaded, I cajoled; and finally my parents capitulated. “What the heck,” I suppose they figured, “it’s a cheap way to get him out of our hair on the weekend.”
So I went, I saw, and I emerged a full-fledged James Bond fan. Even at the tender age of 12 I was beginning to form some critical sensibilities. I decided that Goldfinger was the best of the bunch; that some of the editing on Thunderball had been a bit jumpy, especially in the bit with the jet-pack in the PTS, and that the ending of Dr. No seemed terribly rushed, as if the film-makers had decided once Bond escaped from his cell, “Hey, we’re almost out of money and we’ve still got this island to blow up -- let’s hurry up & get this sucker in the can!” But these minor imperfections in no way marred my appreciation of the series as a whole. Bond fans are Forever Looking to Nit-Pick the Franchise.
My introduction to Bond was plundering my dad s comic book chest in the early 70s, where I found a Scandinavian issue of RIVER OF DEATH by Jim Lawrence and Yaroslav Horak. I was three years old and had just learned to read by our old landlord on the second floor.
On page two there was a picture of Bond and Che Che drawing a knife on him in black and white in the car on their way to Draco s office (which I learned a decade later) and that is when I first wanted to know more about this exciting character.
The other borderline incident I can think of is hearing Geoff Love s Diamonds Are Forever instrumental rendition on an LP at the same time. That killer bassline at the start still gives me goosebumps.
Later, another friend-of-mine's older brother had cinema posters of "Liebesgrüße aus Moskau" (literally, Loving Regards from Moscow = "From Russia With Love") and "Goldfinger" in their shared room. Never saw the movies then, but was fascinated once more.
It really was those matinee re-runs of the early films that got me started before or around 1970.
Although I have read most of the stories, possibly all, I have not seen those particular books. But I know of them, through this site.
I too actually had the Corgi DB5 a good few years before I really knew who Bond was or even saw a film. Do remember losing the little man on the first day of having it. He boinged out of the ejector seat never to be seen again!
~X(
*Knowing what you know now about the trajectory of the James Bond film series, what wise words of advice would you pass on to your younger selves around the 60s? Tell them to prepare for Sean's exit, Roger's long stay, George and Tim's abrupt or early ends (?), etc.
*What change/s in opinion have you had about the James Bond films or books as adults that you never would've thought you'd have at the start?
*As kids and growing teens, did you believe that even past middle age you would still have Bond as such a heavy presence in your lives? Or was it already clear that it would go beyond a passing fad of interest for you?
*For the boys: What Bond did you think you were most like in younger days when it comes to overall temperament, attitude and outlook on life, and which do you think you're most like now?
*For the lady: What Bond girl did you think you were most like in younger days when it comes to overall temperament, attitude and outlook on life, and which do you think you're most like now?
*What is your biggest what-if moment of the James Bond series? Sean in OHMSS? Lazenby in the 70s? An early 80s start for Dalton? Wish an era had a different tone than it ended up having? Or, anything in between.
*Have you had a lot of people in your life past or present who loved Bond similarly to you, or have you sometimes or always stuck out as the overly-obsessed guy or gal that couldn't kick the addiction? I ask this because I'm the latter, and people are probably terrified by my excitable and downright jumped up reactions when they so much as tell me they thought one Bond film was "good." Am I the only one that goes on long-winded history lessons on the Bond films when I find out someone I know has even a mild like of the films, subjecting them to a bunch of trivia and in-depth analysis they didn't ask for?
I'll hold all further inquiries for now to see if the vets here think these questions are worthy of them answering in some way, shape or form. I would be very interested to hear the responses.