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The first Bond movie was shown on US television 40 years ago today

JamesPageJamesPage Administrator, Moderator, Director
edited September 2012 in News Posts: 1,380
Forty years ago on this day, 17th September 1972, the James Bond film franchise made its debut on the small screen in the USA.

Following the one-off television production of "Casino Royale" in 1954 on CBS, and ten years after Sean Connery made his big screen debut as James Bond in 1962's "Dr No", 007 hit television screens in the USA in a rather peculiar way.

Unlike the UK where the films were broadcast in the order shown in theatres, American fans introduced to the legendary spy via the small screen in the early 1970's may have been slightly confused.

The first film shown on network television in the USA was the third film, "Goldfinger", on 17th September 1972 as ABC's "Sunday Night Movie".

Two years later, television viewers caught up with the rest of the early Connery outings out of order with "From Russia With Love" up next, followed by "Thunderball", and finally "Dr No" in 1974.

Fans in the UK would have to wait until 1975 to see the first Bond movie on television.

<i>Thanks to `<a href="http://hmssweblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/1972-007s-tv-debut-on-the-abc-sunday-night-movie/"; target="_blank">HMSSS</a>` for the alert.</i>

Comments

  • OddJawsOddJaws
    Posts: 144
    Great info JP.
    How spoiled are we to have them all in our collection to watch when we please. Easy to forget there was a time when they were only available via the Cinema or the lottery of T.V scheduling!!
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited September 2012 Posts: 12,480
    Just reading the thread title made me feel ... old.
    Sigh. I remember clearly getting so excited about a Bond film being on tv.
    Yep, I am now officially ancient.
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    OddJaws wrote:
    Great info JP.
    How spoiled are we to have them all in our collection to watch when we please. Easy to forget there was a time when they were only available via the Cinema or the lottery of T.V scheduling!!

    So true...of course, films were much more special back then because of your limited access to them.

    Popular films would play in theatres for almost a year (!) and then there was a long wait until you saw them on TV. It seems so ridiculous now but I well remember the trauma of not seeing a film in the theatre and then my chance to see it on TV was lost because the family was going somewhere. Sometimes you had to wait a couple of years to see a film that you wanted to see when I was a kid.

    VCRs were such an incredible invention to me and people my age. But even in the beginning it was difficult to see a specific film, many rental shops didn't stock "older" films and the most popular ones were reserved sometimes for weeks at a time - because of the expense of buying films on videotape ($80 for the shop to buy, rented for $2) they would only have 3 copies of the most popular films! Now I can download off of iTunes instantly...

  • hoagyhoagy
    Posts: 2
    The oddest thing was not the presentation of the films out of order -- awful as that was -- but the presentation of On Her Majesty's Secret Service as a two-parter, starting in the middle, with a first person narration by Bond. They simply re-edited and supplemented the movie ! How on earth the producers ever went for that is a complete mystery. When Goldfinger was aired, we were between films and between Bonds. There was a fair amount of uncertainty. Connery had returned for Diamonds Are Forever -- which was quite a popular and was great fun -- but everyone knew it was one-and-done. Looking back, it was strange that the producers allowed broadcasts of the iconic Connery Bonds right when they were presenting a new Bond in the theaters. Perhaps they figured, on balance, it would keep the fires of movie-goers' interest stoked.
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    Posts: 12,837
    Your welcome America ;)
  • SirHenryLeeChaChingSirHenryLeeChaChing
    Posts: 3,494
    4EverBonded wrote:
    Just reading the thread title made me feel ... old.
    Sigh. I remember clearly getting so excited about a Bond film being on tv.
    Yep, I am now officially ancient.

    Really? Ha, speak for yourself, I am ageless and cannot be killed :P
    OddJaws wrote:
    Great info JP.
    How spoiled are we to have them all in our collection to watch when we please. Easy to forget there was a time when they were only available via the Cinema or the lottery of T.V scheduling!!

    We "ancient" original fans know this all too well. Feel free to join our original fans thread for great, in depth discussions from those who lived and remember those days like they were the other day!
  • TracyTracy
    Posts: 1,713
    Took a long time in those days , example :

    "For a few $ more" cinema 1965 but not shown in Hong Kong cinemas until 1970 !
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