Common misconceptions about Bond movies

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  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    Some people give me strange looks when I say I'm Bond fan because "Bond is for boys".

    Also several people tried to convince me that the books are adaptations of the films, but more often I meet people who have no idea that there are books at all.
  • Posts: 15,117
    Many people have a misconception of Bond as a character. That he should always have a tux, never fall in love, be light hearted, etc.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    Ludovico wrote:
    Many people have a misconception of Bond as a character. That he should always have a tux, never fall in love, be light hearted, etc.

    ...invincible, always uses gadgets, always fights OTT megalomaniac villains who live inside a vulcano, etc.
  • Posts: 15,117
    That Bond should always have gadgets is maybe the biggest misconception of all.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,571
    The two 'Dobermans' hunting down Corinne in Moonraker (as @timmer has pointed out in this thread <a href="http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6402/bond-movies-love-their-animals-2nd-edit/p1">here</a>;), are actually a near identical looking breed called the 'Beauceron'.
  • QsAssistantQsAssistant All those moments lost in time... like tears in rain
    Posts: 1,812
    One that I find fascinating is that the different actors to play Bond are actually playing different men but are using an MI6 cover name, "James Bond". After an actor is done playing Bond his Bond dies, and when the next actor takes over his Bond is a new man that takes the name James Bond.
    That's interesting but completely wrong and doesn't make any sense. Lazenby gets married in OHMSS, Connery is out for revenge for his dead wife in DAF, Moore finally gets that revenge in FYEO, and Felix mentions Dalton "was married once" in LTK. It also doesn't make any sense because all the Bonds, more or less, have the same personality.
  • Posts: 29
    "Didn't you hear? The Bond films are actually good now."
  • Posts: 12,526
    That they won't make anymore surely? =))
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited March 2014 Posts: 13,355
    That may be funny but I have had mentioned to me when the topic of me being a Bond fan arises, people ask the question "Are they making/will they make another one?", appearing as though that have no idea about how to make conversation or what question to first ask!
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,795
    'Bond got married? Really? I had no idea.'
    b-(
  • edited March 2014 Posts: 414
    - Shirley Eaton actually died filming "Goldfinger."

    Bugs me on so many levels. First of all, the "golden girl" method of murder was based on an outdated superstition. People don't breath through a bare patch of skin at the base of the spine. They breath through their mouth, nose, lungs. Secondly, even if people could actually die that way, this was a big budget movie, not some snuff film where an actress would be killed dying in the exact way that's being portrayed on screen. Thirdly, even if it did work, and they did accidentally kill her trying to portray the cause of death fictionally, they wouldn't be morbid enough to have Connery touching a corpse just to make sure they still got their shot.

    - Vesper Lynd in "Casino Royale" is actually Miss Moneypenny.

    Yeah. There's that "I'm the money", "every penny" exchange of dialogue. It's called a "mythology gag." Immediately afterwards, Vesper pushes Bond the card with "Vesper Lynd" in big letters.

    As many liberties as "Skyfall" took with the characters, they wouldn't make one of the classic reoccurring characters into the love interest Bond develops during his first major mission, who he then sleeps with, who is then promptly killed off. Especially since, for anyone who's ever read Fleming's original novel, Moneypenny and Vesper are two separate, distinct characters. And yet I still have friends and family, after watching QoS or Skyfall, have asked me if it was Miss Moneypenny who betrayed Bond and then got killed in "Casino Royale."

    - The title "The Man With The Golden Gun" refers to Bond.

    This one doesn't bug me so much, because before I really dived into the Bond movies, I shared this misconception. I was familiar with most of the titles from frequent visits to the video place, but hadn't seen many of the movies, so it took me a while to realize that Bond wasn't going to get his Walther PPK gold-plated but, rather, that it was a one-shot (pun intended) villain, Francisco Scaramanga, who preferred his gun gaudy.

    To this day, I'm disappointed that the plot of OHMSS doesn't involve Bond playing personal bodyguard to the queen.

    -Along similar lines, the title "The Spy Who Loved Me" refers to the Bond girl, rather than Bond himself.

    Although that's only really defined in the novel, and the movie's so divorced from the source material that that's debatable.

    I got into Bond when the Brosnan era was in full-swing, so at the time I was hearing plenty of people thinking that "GoldenEye" was the first Bond movie, or that if there were previous movies 006 was Bond's sidekick in all of them, or that classic elements like the gun barrel and the theme tune came "from" the Nintendo 64 game.

    And I'm going to give people the benefit of a doubt that it's a common joke, rather than misconception, that the Bond girl of "Octopussy" has eight . . . ahem.
  • Posts: 12,466
    SlyFox007 wrote:
    - Shirley Eaton actually died filming "Goldfinger."

    Bugs me on so many levels. First of all, the "golden girl" method of murder was based on an outdated superstition. People don't breath through a bare patch of skin at the base of the spine. They breath through their mouth, nose, lungs. Secondly, even if people could actually die that way, this was a big budget movie, not some snuff film where an actress would be killed dying in the exact way that's being portrayed on screen. Thirdly, even if it did work, and they did accidentally kill her trying to portray the cause of death fictionally, they wouldn't be morbid enough to have Connery touching a corpse just to make sure they still got their shot.

    - Vesper Lynd in "Casino Royale" is actually Miss Moneypenny.

    Yeah. There's that "I'm the money", "every penny" exchange of dialogue. It's called a "mythology gag." Immediately afterwards, Vesper pushes Bond the card with "Vesper Lynd" in big letters.

    As many liberties as "Skyfall" took with the characters, they wouldn't make one of the classic reoccurring characters into the love interest Bond develops during his first major mission, who he then sleeps with, who is then promptly killed off. Especially since, for anyone who's ever read Fleming's original novel, Moneypenny and Vesper are two separate, distinct characters. And yet I still have friends and family, after watching QoS or Skyfall, have asked me if it was Miss Moneypenny who betrayed Bond and then got killed in "Casino Royale."

    - The title "The Man With The Golden Gun" refers to Bond.

    This one doesn't bug me so much, because before I really dived into the Bond movies, I shared this misconception. I was familiar with most of the titles from frequent visits to the video place, but hadn't seen many of the movies, so it took me a while to realize that Bond wasn't going to get his Walther PPK gold-plated but, rather, that it was a one-shot (pun intended) villain, Francisco Scaramanga, who preferred his gun gaudy.

    To this day, I'm disappointed that the plot of OHMSS doesn't involve Bond playing personal bodyguard to the queen.

    -Along similar lines, the title "The Spy Who Loved Me" refers to the Bond girl, rather than Bond himself.

    Although that's only really defined in the novel, and the movie's so divorced from the source material that that's debatable.

    I got into Bond when the Brosnan era was in full-swing, so at the time I was hearing plenty of people thinking that "GoldenEye" was the first Bond movie, or that if there were previous movies 006 was Bond's sidekick in all of them, or that classic elements like the gun barrel and the theme tune came "from" the Nintendo 64 game.

    And I'm going to give people the benefit of a doubt that it's a common joke, rather than misconception, that the Bond girl of "Octopussy" has eight . . . ahem.

    Those are some big, bizarre misconceptions if you ask me. Especially the Eaton one; wrong on so many levels. Good contribution.
  • edited March 2014 Posts: 5,993
    SlyFox007 wrote:
    - Shirley Eaton actually died filming "Goldfinger."

    Bugs me on so many levels. First of all, the "golden girl" method of murder was based on an outdated superstition. People don't breath through a bare patch of skin at the base of the spine. They breath through their mouth, nose, lungs. Secondly, even if people could actually die that way, this was a big budget movie, not some snuff film where an actress would be killed dying in the exact way that's being portrayed on screen. Thirdly, even if it did work, and they did accidentally kill her trying to portray the cause of death fictionally, they wouldn't be morbid enough to have Connery touching a corpse just to make sure they still got their shot.

    Not to mention the fact that IMDB lists a few movies she did after GF. And that she appeared in Mythbusters to disprove that misconception. Although, given the turn her career took (Jess Franco ? Phew !) she might have wished she had died in GF.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited March 2014 Posts: 24,179
    Understandably, many misconceptions exist concerning NSNA, ranging from it being a direct remake of TB by the EON folks themselves to all Bond films being about a plot by SPECTRE to steal nuclear bombs and hold the world ransom.

    Then there's the absolutely painful misconception that the Lazenby / Dalton films were BO bombs and that their financial failure was a direct cause for recasting. We know that Picker at UA likes to cough up a gazillion reasons why Lazenby had to go, financial underperformance being one of those, but I really think that while OHMSS may have struggled at first, it did win its money back (and a lot more) soon enough. As for the Daltons, even LTK made good money. But Wall Street and Kevin McClory decided by the end of the 90s to develop bowel obstruction for which EON somehow had to pay.

    Speaking of McClory, another widely held misconception is that Kevin McClory was a sane man, simply looking for a means to get what he was entitled to. This is, of course, wrong. McClory was an obsessed crazy. Fleming took away some lunch money on the playground and McClory consequently spent the rest of his life trying to shake empty a film series based on Fleming's books, even long after Fleming's demise. It's like going after Kenneth Brannah when in fact you have a quarrel with William Shakespeare himself. Let it go, man! Now, unfortunately for him, he died unsuccessful in his pursuit and a little after that, a few signatures from the McClory estate effectively annihilated all his efforts. Bond is now entirely home again and so is Blofeld and Thunderball. He got to be producer on one of the biggest Bond hits ever, but that wasn't enough. He got to make his own Bond film and did a mediocre job at best, but that wasn't enough. He kept going, building ridiculous court cases each time EON went underwater with the films. McClory lived off the irrational hatred towards Fleming, towards EON and almost de facto towards Bond.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    Someone who gains the right of the movie and remakes it, and a few years later wants to remake it again is not sane at all!
  • Posts: 15,117
    chrisisall wrote:
    'Bond got married? Really? I had no idea.'
    b-(

    I have heard something similar form a friend after CR: "Bond falling in love? Who had that lousy idea?"
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Ludovico wrote:
    chrisisall wrote:
    'Bond got married? Really? I had no idea.'
    b-(

    I have heard something similar form a friend after CR: "Bond falling in love? Who had that lousy idea?"

    Since the world outside of the Bond fandom does seem to have 007 pegged as the quintessential man who "loves 'em then leaves 'em," I'm sure you would get a vast majority of people who are completely unaware that he tied the knot.
  • Posts: 15,117
    Birdleson wrote:
    Walecs wrote:
    Someone who gains the right of the movie and remakes it, and a few years later wants to remake it again is not sane at all!

    He wanted to control Bond in some way. And that was the only avenue available to him. And if your goal is to make money it's sane. I contend It was greed and hubris, not insanity.

    Hubris and madness are not mutually exclusive, in fact hubris can be madness. In that case, it was.

    And I do not buy McClory's claims over Blofeld's paternity. Blofeld as described was 100% pure Fleming villain. And in NSNA, did EON sue him for using the cat, something we know for a fact was not in the novels and was something added by EON during FRWL?
  • Posts: 15,117
    Ludovico wrote:
    chrisisall wrote:
    'Bond got married? Really? I had no idea.'
    b-(

    I have heard something similar form a friend after CR: "Bond falling in love? Who had that lousy idea?"

    Since the world outside of the Bond fandom does seem to have 007 pegged as the quintessential man who "loves 'em then leaves 'em," I'm sure you would get a vast majority of people who are completely unaware that he tied the knot.

    What irked me is this idea that Bond should not, under any circumstances, fall in love, because the original character was not conceived as such. It is factually incorrect, and that is what I tried to explain to my friend: Bond can fall and love and did, under the right circumstances and the right person.
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    Ludovico wrote:
    And in NSNA, did EON sue him for using the cat, something we know for a fact was not in the novels and was something added by EON during FRWL?
    Good point. I wish they would have but it was probably not worth the time and money that it would have taken to make it happen. I'm (obviously) not an expert on legal matters so I have no idea if it would have held up in court or not.
  • edited March 2014 Posts: 15,117
    pachazo wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    And in NSNA, did EON sue him for using the cat, something we know for a fact was not in the novels and was something added by EON during FRWL?
    Good point. I wish they would have but it was probably not worth the time and money that it would have taken to make it happen. I'm (obviously) not an expert on legal matters so I have no idea if it would have held up in court or not.

    I guess they wanted to put this behind them. Still, that kitty was the living proof of who was the true thief. If I had been the true, rightful creator of Blofeld, the first thing that would have had to go would have been the cat.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
  • Posts: 1,405
    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.

    Reporters are not born to report facts, they are bred to influence public opinion, BIG difference.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I heard GF was the first film, but GE? Wow!
  • Posts: 11,189
    No one cares about the crappy old-fart films before GE ;)
  • Posts: 15,117
    I heard GF was the first film, but GE? Wow!

    I have heard when it was released that it was going to be the very last.
  • Posts: 15,117
    Walecs wrote:

    McClory did damage the Bond series, but there is one thing listed there I have no idea why: the Bond film that was never made, with robotic shark in New York's sewer. I mean, really, that is sad that it never got made?
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I heard GF was the first film, but GE? Wow!

    Well to be fair, when I first saw GoldenEye, I thought it was the first Bond film. :))
  • Posts: 4,762
    I had a friend who thought that all Bond films were boring, and his justification for that statement was that they all spend too much time with government stuff and not enough action. That was certainly a misconception!
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,135
    Here's a common misconception, and judging from recent postings on this forum.
    Goldfinger is the most popular film amongst fans and general public alike.
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