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Common misconceptions about Bond movies

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  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,662
    Not a common misconception, but a family member of mine once believed Roger Moore played Bond before Connery.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited March 2014 Posts: 18,338
    "There are James Bond books?!" is (sadly) an all too common misconception that I hear.
  • FoxRoxFoxRox
    Posts: 12,514
    Actually yeah it's a misconception that there aren't Bond books; messed up, but true.
  • JohnBarryFanJohnBarryFan
    Posts: 1,405
    "Bond always resolves his problems with a gunshot."

    That one I can't stomach.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,338
    JohnBarryFan wrote:
    "Bond always resolves his problems with a gunshot."

    That one I can't stomach.

    They've clearly never seen the end of QoS then...
    :(
  • TubesTubes The Hebrew Hammer
    Posts: 158
    The schoolyard misconception that stuck with me the most was that they're going to remake all the old Bonds with the current actor (then Brosnan).

    Seeig how Craig's video games have shaped up, they might not be far off.
  • hildebrand_rarityhildebrand_rarity
    Posts: 316
    A few years back I ran into someone who thought they were all 60s period pieces
  • SoundofthesinnersSoundofthesinners
    Posts: 3,236
    Walecs wrote:
    - Skyfall is the last James Bond movie. There won't be any after that.


    I find this so ridicolous, because the movie gives me quite the opposite feeling.

    What?! Did they not see the end and notice the $1 billion in revenue? That kind of reception makes people reconsider even when they actually want to end a project.
  • StirredNotShakenStirredNotShaken Toronto
    Posts: 2,402
    Oh, this is a BIG one that bugs the hell out of me:

    "WHATTITW" is the theme song for OHMSS; also "WHATTITW" is called "OHMSS".
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,218
    Wow! I never thought it would get so popular a thread so quickly.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    The one that maybe bugs me the most is when journalist dimwits and TV hosts poke fun at Lazenby and Dalton for being utter failures, and insinuating that they were both sacked due to a public uproar against their terrible films and performances.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,218
    One that comes to my mind, although not strictly a misconception about Bond movies: Blofeld is a bald man stroking a cat. Of course he wasn't in the novels and in the movie he is depicted as bald only from YOLT.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,823
    Perilagu_Khan wrote:
    I didn't become a serious Bond fan until I was 37

    It took that long for you to get rescued off that island?
  • Perilagu_KhanPerilagu_Khan
    Posts: 2,483
    chrisisall wrote:
    Perilagu_Khan wrote:
    I didn't become a serious Bond fan until I was 37

    It took that long for you to get rescued off that island?

    Yes, I became a real Bondhead long after most people have given him up. But it's not like I was unaware of Bond or anything. Quite the reverse, actually. I saw GF and LALD on the telly in the early- and mid-70s, saw MR, FYEO, GE and possibly TND in the theater when they came out, so I had some Bond history, it's just that Bond wasn't a chief concern of mine until the aforementioned age.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,823
    I saw my first Bond at 11, but it would be at about 13 when I saw YOLT in a theatrical re-release that I became the hardened Bond fan I am today.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,218
    Soundofthesinners wrote:
    Apart from the ones that have already been mentioned, that we never see exactly what happens to Bond's wife, that Trevelyan actually had a golden eye (along the lines of Goldfinger described earlier), and that Bond is always silly, as in YOLT and TSWLM.

    I would have loved it to be true actually. So Goldeneye would have been Trevelyan instead of the satellite.

    And to think that a golden eye is a duck.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,662
    Ludovico wrote:
    And to think that a golden eye is a duck.
    For Fleming to name his house after it, he must have thought it was very best duck.
  • StirredNotShakenStirredNotShaken Toronto
    Posts: 2,402
    QBranch wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    And to think that a golden eye is a duck.
    For Fleming to name his house after it, he must have thought it was very best duck.

    Phuyuck!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Some people actually think the books are based on the films. Not sure how common it is, but I have heard/read it a couple times.
  • StirredNotShakenStirredNotShaken Toronto
    Posts: 2,402
    Here's a fan misconception:

    John Glen was a workman/pedestrian director. Bollocks. He delivered five incredibly unique Bond films, among which are some of the most groundbreaking in the series: FYEO, which arguably was the most against-the-grain film in the series at the time of its' release; OP, which was able to have fun all the way through and yet stay serious and give a lot of tension; AVTAK, which must be the weirdest film in the series; TLD, a down to Earth, straight-from-Fleming adventure; and LTK, a gritty 80's revenge thriller, and I'd say the darkest Bond film ever. He relied on a couple gimmicks too often (the animal scare and death of Bond's main ally, both of which happen in all five Glen films), but the man knew how to shoot action and I highly doubt we'll get something as good as the ice chase or cargo net fight ever again. I also think Glen's blocking with dialogue was top notch.
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    StirredNotShaken wrote:
    Here's a fan misconception:

    John Glen was a workman/pedestrian director. Bollocks. He delivered five incredibly unique Bond films, among which are some of the most groundbreaking in the series
    I don't quite share the same passion for Glen that you do but I have to agree with this. All of his films have a very distinct quality about them. As others have stated, he really understood Bond as a character. I think that it is probably understated how well he was able to direct two Bond actors that were the polar opposites of each other. You might be able to make a similar case for Campbell but I don't think that any two actors were as different as Moore and Dalton. And yet Glen understood their respective strengths and what each was trying to accomplish. He broke new ground while still giving audiences what they wanted and expected out of a Bond film.
  • StirredNotShakenStirredNotShaken Toronto
    Posts: 2,402
    pachazo wrote:
    StirredNotShaken wrote:
    Here's a fan misconception:

    John Glen was a workman/pedestrian director. Bollocks. He delivered five incredibly unique Bond films, among which are some of the most groundbreaking in the series
    I don't quite share the same passion for Glen that you do but I have to agree with this. All of his films have a very distinct quality about them. As others have stated, he really understood Bond as a character. I think that it is probably understated how well he was able to direct two Bond actors that were the polar opposites of each other. You might be able to make a similar case for Campbell but I don't think that any two actors were as different as Moore and Dalton. And yet Glen understood their respective strengths and what each was trying to accomplish. He broke new ground while still giving audiences what they wanted and expected out of a Bond film.

    This is the point I forgot to raise. He got Moore's best performance out of him (OP) and then did Dalton's two films, and though their personal and professional relationship on set was tense, I think Dalton/Glen is the best Bond/director pairing ever. I just don't understand how the director who shot the tanker chase can be called "workman" by anyone. No two of Glen's Bond films are at all alike; OP and AVTAK are the two closest but even then there's a country mile separating their plots and plot structures.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,823
    StirredNotShaken wrote:
    I just don't understand how the director who shot the tanker chase can be called "workman" by anyone. No two of Glen's Bond films are at all alike
    Totally agree here. Glen was the last of the great innovative Bond directors IMO. Those who've followed may have been more technically proficient, but not as organically grounded.
  • XXXXXX Banned
    edited March 2014 Posts: 132
    StirredNotShaken wrote:
    pachazo wrote:
    StirredNotShaken wrote:
    Here's a fan misconception:

    John Glen was a workman/pedestrian director. Bollocks. He delivered five incredibly unique Bond films, among which are some of the most groundbreaking in the series
    I don't quite share the same passion for Glen that you do but I have to agree with this. All of his films have a very distinct quality about them. As others have stated, he really understood Bond as a character. I think that it is probably understated how well he was able to direct two Bond actors that were the polar opposites of each other. You might be able to make a similar case for Campbell but I don't think that any two actors were as different as Moore and Dalton. And yet Glen understood their respective strengths and what each was trying to accomplish. He broke new ground while still giving audiences what they wanted and expected out of a Bond film.

    This is the point I forgot to raise. He got Moore's best performance out of him (OP) and then did Dalton's two films, and though their personal and professional relationship on set was tense, I think Dalton/Glen is the best Bond/director pairing ever. I just don't understand how the director who shot the tanker chase can be called "workman" by anyone. No two of Glen's Bond films are at all alike; OP and AVTAK are the two closest but even then there's a country mile separating their plots and plot structures.
    John Glen is absolute magic in a hat, he really understood the camera. Agreed.
  • dramaticscenesofQOSdramaticscenesofQOS
    Posts: 1,282
    As far as scoring the movies, I never heard anyone complain about Glen's use of music in his films.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    dramaticscenesofQOS wrote:
    As far as scoring the movies, I never heard anyone complain about Glen's use of music in his films.

    Some complain about Conti and Kamen. I think they did well personally. But how about that Beach Boys cover in AVTAK?
  • GerardGerard
    Posts: 6,014
    All right, I will repeat the most common misconception: "The pre-title sequences have nothing to do with the rest of the movie". in fact, those that don't have any relation to the main plot of the movie are in a very small minority (five, by my count, but, as I've seen before, YMMV), while those that do are a very strong majority.
  • dramaticscenesofQOSdramaticscenesofQOS
    Posts: 1,282
    Pre-title sequences are mostly OTT with action. The main physics-defying one is GE which may offend some folks. CR was refreshing when incorporating the gun barrel into the action. Most PTS's involve a flying object such as a planes. OHMSS, DAF, and CR are the main three which didn't require as much stunt work as others. Sorry for putting DAF sandwiched between two of the best films in the series.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,823
    To paraquote Malcolm McDowall's character in Blue Thunder, "The Best Bond PTS is TLD. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a damn liar. "
    ;)
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    chrisisall wrote:
    To paraquote Malcolm McDowall's character in Blue Thunder, "The Best Bond PTS is TLD. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a damn liar. "
    ;)

    Could well be. What an introduction he had.
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