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Examples of Amateurism in James Bond Villainy (Novels and Films)?

DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
edited November 2015 in Bond Movies Posts: 18,351
Let me just say first of all that I have my friend @Ludovico (see this thread: http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6718/the-profession-of-the-villain/p6) to thank for the idea behind this thread and we did discuss it a bit on one of his threads. I'd like to develop that discussion further in this designated thread. I'd be very interested to know members' thoughts on this topic as it's never been fully discussed here before on MI6 Community. :)

Basically, I want members here to think back over the James Bond films (or even the Bond novels if you wish, though I personally think that there are less examples of amateurism there) and see if you can uncover any examples of amateurism from the part of the main villains, their henchmen and associates.

Here are a few that occur to me in the James Bond films at least:

Professor Dent (DN)- an amateur assassin with tarantula and gun.
Quist (TB) - being found by Bond hiding in the shower by Bond - he is killed by being thrown to the sharks by villain Emilio Largo.
Wint and Kidd (DAF) - leaving Bond to rot in the piece of pipe.
Rosie Carver (LALD) - very amateurish as a CIA and villainess; a badly written character too.
Max Largo (NSNA) - failing to take Bond's laser watch off when he leaves him to rot away in the tower with the vultures.
Dr Carl Mortner and Scarpine (AVTAK) on the airship - laughable amateurism in disposing of the dynamite - squabbling among themselves ("Give it to me"/especially Mortner lighting the dynamite stick the first place, given the armory of sub-machine guns he could have used on Bond and Stacey Sutton first!
Elliot Carver (TND)- not a very good fighter, see his laughable attempt at martial arts! that was intentional, though.
Dominic Greene (QoS)- amateurism in fighting Bond - puts the axe through his own foot and flails about with it wildly. Compare with Max Zorin's proficiency with the fire axe on the Golden Gate Bridge for instance.
Elvis (QoS) - doesn't do very much as Greene's bodyguard/Head of Security and even needs Greene to point him gun in the right direction for him!

Obviously the Dalton Bond was aware of the blatant amateurism of the "KGB assassin" Kara Milovy in TLD too and he refused to kill her, citing the fact that "I only kill professionals."

I'm pretty sure that there are others that I have missed.

If you can add to my list, with your reasons for citing a character as displaying amateurism, please let me know in this dedicated thread. :)

Comments

  • Problem_EliminatorProblem_Eliminator Ojai, CA
    Posts: 613
    Whoever thought the snake in LALD was a good idea
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited November 2015 Posts: 18,351
    Problem_Eliminator wrote: »
    Whoever thought the snake in LALD was a good idea

    Just to clarify, do you mean the snake in Bond's hotel room or the snake in both voodoo ceremony scenes?

  • Problem_EliminatorProblem_Eliminator Ojai, CA
    Posts: 613
    The one in the hotel always thought that was a little goofy why send a snake to do aans job
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Dr Kaulfman in TND, taking Bond's phone and believing the numbers Bond tells him to dial.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,351
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Dr Kaulfman in TND, taking Bond's phone and believing the numbers Bond tells him to dial.

    Another great one, yes. That kind of spoils that scene for me a tad.

  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Alec Trevelyan in GE, failing to disable the eject button right beside Bond's head.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,351
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Alec Trevelyan in GE, failing to disable the eject button right beside Bond's head.

    Yes, that's a painfully obvious one he missed otherwise it would curtains have been curtains for Bond! :))
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    Anytime Wint and Kidd fail to kill Bond.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,351
    royale65 wrote: »
    Anytime Wint and Kidd fail to kill Bond.

    Especially the one where they put him unconscious inside that piece of pipe! Laughable! That was probably the intention in DAF, mind!
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    There are several instance where a goon has the option to put a bullet in Bond, but DAF takes it to another level.

    Another one is where Helga leaves Bond inside a burning plane.

    In the novel DAF Bond isn't terribly impressed with the American gangsters - teenage pillow fancies!- yet they did try to kill him, and Bond dryly remarks.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited November 2015 Posts: 18,351
    royale65 wrote: »
    There are several instance where a goon has the option to put a bullet in Bond, but DAF takes it to another level.

    Another one is where Helga leaves Bond inside a burning plane.

    In the novel DAF Bond isn't terribly impressed with the American gangsters - teenage pillow fancies!- yet they did try to kill him, and Bond dryly remarks.

    Yes, Fleming rather sets Bond up for a fall regarding American gangsterism, although perhaps he never really follows through in the DAF novel?
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    There is some truth in that Draggers. All the characters, M, Leiter, Tiffany etc are telling Bond American gangsters are bad, but Bond, maybe Fleming as well, does not take them seriously, thus the reader never does.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,351
    royale65 wrote: »
    There is some truth in that Draggers. All the characters, M, Leiter, Tiffany etc are telling Bond American gangsters are bad, but Bond, maybe Fleming as well, does not take them seriously, thus the reader never does.

    Yes, and that is a failing. I think it was O.F. Snelling who noted first what I said in my post above.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    Is there an article dealing with Fleming and American gangster in your safehouse?
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,351
    royale65 wrote: »
    Is there an article dealing with Fleming and American gangster in your safehouse?

    Not yet but I certainly will write something on all of this at some point. I have articles that mention the gangsterism in the DAF novel on my blog but that is about it.

  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    Then I shall look forward to reading about it :-)
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited November 2015 Posts: 18,351
    royale65 wrote: »
    Then I shall look forward to reading about it :-)

    Thank you - there's a new Guest Article by Pete Swan up on the blog as of Monday last.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,240
    Thank you for mentioning me! For me, the perfect amateur villain in the movies is Professor Dent, but unlike many pros, he is actually quite good. But in some ways, a good number of Bond villains, while competent men and women in their own professions, are actually amateur criminals: Goldfinger (in the novel maybe not so much), Elliot Carver, Elektra, etc. Dominic Greene, by contrast, actually has his philanthropist business as a cover.

    Another one that comes to my mind: Dr No is a first rate scientist, yet as a fighter he is an amateur. Still, his metallic hands give Bond a run for his money.
  • RevelatorRevelator
    edited November 2015 Posts: 2,922
    There's a pretty amateurish move in Spectre:
    Blofeld/Oberhauser--despite being very well acquainted with Bond, the Secret Service, and presumably Q branch--doesn't bother searching Bond for gadgets and thus allows Bond to escape from torture and wreck his evil plans with a wristwatch.
    That compares poorly with the Blofeld of Diamonds Are Forever, who wisely had Bond searched from head to toe (no word on whether it was a full body cavity search).
  • Problem_EliminatorProblem_Eliminator Ojai, CA
    Posts: 613
    Or when thy throw the watch under his computer and he is like deep what could that b instead of just diving away
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,351
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Thank you for mentioning me! For me, the perfect amateur villain in the movies is Professor Dent, but unlike many pros, he is actually quite good. But in some ways, a good number of Bond villains, while competent men and women in their own professions, are actually amateur criminals: Goldfinger (in the novel maybe not so much), Elliot Carver, Elektra, etc. Dominic Greene, by contrast, actually has his philanthropist business as a cover.

    Another one that comes to my mind: Dr No is a first rate scientist, yet as a fighter he is an amateur. Still, his metallic hands give Bond a run for his money.

    My pleasure! Your posts inspired me to start writing an article on this as I find it rather fascinating (and overlooked) so perfect for my blog. I'll dedicate the article to you once I get it finished also. :)

    Thanks for these interesting suggestions also: this is certainly an overlooked topic.
  • Aziz_FekkeshAziz_Fekkesh Royale-les-Eaux
    edited November 2015 Posts: 403
    Zorin has Bond at gunpoint like 4 times in AVTAK and still tries to kill him in needlessly convoluted ways.

    I actually liked how Greene was out of his depth with Bond. The axe fight is hilarious as Green is wildly swinging just trying not to kill himself. Pure desperation. Excellent scene with Bond trying to balance a madman coming at him, not dying in an exploding building, etc.
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    edited December 2015 Posts: 4,399
    .
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    edited November 2015 Posts: 4,399
    ((double post))
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,351
    Thank you for those interesting thoughts on Hugo Drax and Moonraker, @haserot. Such amateurism had not come to mind!
  • Thunderball007Thunderball007 United States
    Posts: 306
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Dr Kaulfman in TND, taking Bond's phone and believing the numbers Bond tells him to dial.

    Yeah! This one!

    =))
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    The one in the hotel always thought that was a little goofy why send a snake to do aans job

    because with a snake it looks like an accident.
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