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A '69 & '71 question for the 'Originals'
chrisisall
Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
In the OHMSS & DAF years we were landing on & driving on the Moon.
My question here is, which was more fascinating at the time, Bond or Moon Rovers?
For myself, I wasn't old enough to see OHMSS in the theatre, so I can only compare DAF to the later Apollo missions, but I have to say that going to the Moon definitely trumped Bond for me as a kid. DAF began my fascination with Bond, but space, the final frontier, was gripping. Yeah, I had the DAF Corgi Moon-buggy (what a tie-in to cool stuff, eh?), however the LM & Apollo models were what I really concentrated on.
When Moon missions ended, and LALD came out, all that changed... ;)
Thoughts/memories?
My question here is, which was more fascinating at the time, Bond or Moon Rovers?
For myself, I wasn't old enough to see OHMSS in the theatre, so I can only compare DAF to the later Apollo missions, but I have to say that going to the Moon definitely trumped Bond for me as a kid. DAF began my fascination with Bond, but space, the final frontier, was gripping. Yeah, I had the DAF Corgi Moon-buggy (what a tie-in to cool stuff, eh?), however the LM & Apollo models were what I really concentrated on.
When Moon missions ended, and LALD came out, all that changed... ;)
Thoughts/memories?
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Comments
I watched the moon landing on TV. I was 13.
I saw DAF in the theatres - it was my first Bond film. I was 15.
I was pretty young, though. Funny, I keep thinking DAF was earlier than 1971.
My remembered impression is that the moon landing was awesome yet really surreal, hard for me to grasp. Our whole family watched it on tv. Probably my cousins were over at the time, not sure. Hard to grasp the reality of it. I was proud of our country and knew I was seeing history. But if I had been a bit more mature, or world savvy, it would have carried a heavier impact on me. I thought all the space missions were very cool but ...
DAF blew my mind - yeah, baby! It was the biggest spectacle - so fun, so sexy ... and all my teenage hormones locked onto Sean like a laser beam (yes, even if it was the DAF Sean! Not in his prime but still Sean!) and I wanted to live like that, I wanted to look like; no heck, I wanted to be Jill St. John in that movie with that James Bond. I wanted to experience another Bond film immediately. I was utterly hooked, compelled, and driven. A rush and an immediate habit. I discovered the novels about the same time and read them all as quickly as I could, like devouring a banquet. I couldn't wait for the next Bond movie. So it actually had a bigger and more exciting impact on me at that time in my life than the moon landing had.
Note: I was not at Woodstock (I got asked that all the time later, especially when people saw photos of me back then; still get asked that by young folks)
I never indulged in magic mushrooms or other hallucinagenics/psychedelics
I did, however, look rather like a flower child for the end of the 60's right through the 70's. It suited me. :)>-
I wore halter tops nearly every day weather permitting and hot pants so short in high school it looked like I didn't have anything on under my shirt. Grew my blonde hair past my waist and had 2 signature tiny, slender braids framing my face.
Got rid of the bell bottom jeans mid-70&s though. Lots of good memories.
So ... I do appreciate our NASA accomplishments now more than ever.
James Bond has been a good, and rather large, part of my life ever since DAF.
And yes, Clapton is God. ;)
@4EverBonded, I totally see your point about Jill St. John. I feel that even now when I see that movie. At the start of the movie. Her move into helplessness sort of ticks me.
Now, I didn't see OHMSS until later in my teens, but I'd imagine what with the war, the assassinations, Kent State and all, seeing Tracy killed was one of the LAST things people wanted out of a Double-O 7 movie at the time.
Yes, I think that you are spot on. I think people DID want escapist fare in the 1970s. OPerhaps it was one of the reason why OMHSS failed at the box office just two years before in 1969?
As I said, I have quite a few things to say about DAF and will do so in time in the course of a four article mini-series on my blog.
Viet Nam - it was for sure part of my life, it was everywhere. We sat down to dinner often while watching the nightly news on a nearby TV (I think it was still Huntley/Brinkley report). Not exactly appetite producing fare. It was the all pervading war that hovered over everything like a blanket, or a poisonous cloud. I was happy to be a tomboy, escaping into the fields, reading lots of books, and getting to movies when I could. If you ever saw the U.S. tv show, The Wonder Years - my neighborhood and society growing up was very close to that.
Late 60's and the 70's had plenty of escapist fare - but also excellent, far reaching, and top notch drama, too. The Godfather, The Exorcist, Dirty Harry, The French Connection, Straw Dogs, Klute, and I'm just scratching the surface here - there were many fine films produced then; ones that were original enough, and dour enough that they probably would not get greenlit in Hollywood these days.
I disagree completely. Even a serious Bond, as OHMSS was, was still escapism. The failure of the film had to do with the lukewarm reception by the critics and the public of Lazenby taking over the role. He was the first Bond replacement; subsequent replacements have not been as traumatic. But many of us knew, despite the new Bond, this was a damn fine film.
DAF was stupid and disappointing then as now. Unfortunately many of us who were original fans expected far more from the film and Connery than we got. It has its moments, but not many. Bad editing, poor continuity, and the combined crap performances of Charles Gray and Jimmy Dean signified the end of the Connery series. Like most later efforts, no attempt was really made to turn the novel into a film.
As regards my own desires for escapist entertainment at that time, I was reading lots of lots of COMIC BOOKS! The work of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, of Julius Schwartz and his talented crew (Fox & Broome; Infantino & Anderson, Kane & Greene et al,) of Wally Wood & Steve Ditko, of the inheritors to the mantles of Siegel & Shuster or Kane & Finger...and then on to the works of the ne'er do wells in the Underground -- Crumb, Shelton, Wilson and so on into the ruin of society, or at least YOU if you don't stop reading that garbage, young man! Sorry -- just channeling the times as they were for me... But at any rate, the sixties were a great time to be reading comics, and around these few particular years you get could Jim Steranko writing AND drawing "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." (precursor to the current weekly TV show) for 12 cents. Check the prices for those in Overstreet's Guide and you'll see why my parents stopped giving me grief about my comics habit by sometime in the mid-70s.
Which reminds me, hey: @retrokitty -- I remember the '60s just fine, man -- it's the '70s I have problems with!
Then a series called Shang Chi: Master Of Kung Fu garnered my attention, being a wild mix of the Kung-Fu & Bond genres. To this day it's my favourite series.
BOND- I remember a lot of this stuff. Hated Lazenby except for when he was in action. I've learned over the years to less hate and more tolerate him because I enjoy the entire rest of the film immensely and consider it a top 10 classic. It's funny, at the time I thought DAF a much better film for nothing else than my hero Sean back in the role. Even though he was adamant that it was just for this film, I hoped he would change his mind and thought in my young mind that it was awful admirable that he would come back to save the franchise. Now that I know what really went on internally between 1967-1971, it's very clear that while YOLT was revolutionary in it's own way, OHMSS was the best film and DAF the worst. All three however still entertain me on one level or another, so it's all good and reconciled nowadays.
MOVIES- Many classic releases during these times that stand the test of time.
THE MOON LANDING- Vividly remember this. My Dad was back home but on probation with Mom, and we all watched it happen. They remarked how different things were since they were young and how they never thought it possible in their lifetimes.
VIETNAM AND THE DRAFT- It was terrible to see the nightly images on the news. Thankfully, no one in the family that I could remember was eligible to go so we never lost a family member. Dad used to joke with us that if there was still a mandatory draft when we were old enough, he could shoot us in a kneecap and then we could stay home. Both he and Pop-Pop volunteered for Naval service during wartime, and never cared for the draft.
HIPPIES AND YIPPIES- I don't know if we ever had local yippies, but Mom used to try to scare us that they would get us in an effort to stop our roaming throughout our hometown. Things were so much different then as far as dangers to children, there seems to be so many more sick bastards nowadays than then. We had a local hippie commune and they had a health foods store in town- it was a groovy scene when you went in with the clothing and the incense, which I liked. I had little hippie friends and used to go to the park with them. I'll never forget watching some of the town hippies shooting up, vomiting all over themselves and passing out, and remember hearing of a few overdose deaths. I've done plenty of drugs in my life, no doubt, but heroin and shooting up anything was something I stayed far away from- road to doom. I was actually offered and could have gone to Woodstock as my one young friend and his parents were going and sometimes I was allowed to spend the night there. But a few days far away was too much and to that idea my Mom said, quite loudly, NO WAY JOSE!
GUITAR GOD- Clapton??? No f'n way as far as I'm concerned. For that style, I liked Alvin Lee better and thought his chops were equally good from a musical standpoint. Jimi Hendrix was a true innovator and game changer, truly the very first guitar god and the very best of all of them back then, how anyone could dispute that is beyond my personal comprehension of style and musical training.
As an aside, my favorite group ever: The Beatles
My all time favorite and the guy I consider to be the greatest in every aspect as far as sheer ability and taste is the late Gary Moore of Thin Lizzy and solo fame. Late in his career he was a consummate blues man, but before that he was a rock guitarist that influenced virtually every hard rock/heavy metal player you can name. He was considered a virtual god in the UK.
Love Deep Purple except for their debut, which wasn't who they really were and would later be. Black Sabbath of course, Alice Cooper, Mountain, MC5, these were the earliest metal acts.
It's all good!
"No stairway. Denied!" -Wayne
Wish I could've seen Easy Rider , Midnight Cowboy , Kellys Heroes & Jaws among other films in the cinema (most likely I'd crap my pants seeing Jaws , lol) ;)
I did see The Godfather with my folks, though - and spent much time in the lobby, embarrassed to be sitting with them during any hint of sex in the film. Ha! Plus the horse's head - ugh! Honestly, it was years before I could enjoy that film.
And there is a Bond connection there too as Eric Clapton was asked by I think Cubby Broccoli to write a new take on the Bond theme for Licence to Kill in 1989 but for whatever reason this never came to pass.
Another point I'd like to raise regarding the space elements of DAF - do the astronauts on the moon landing set-up refer to the fact that the Bond film writers/director/producers felt that the 1969 Moon Landing was faked, otherwise what was the purpose of this rather surreal scene?
Yes, I know, but some of the Bond film books have referred to this scene as reflecting the fact that the 1969 Moon Landing was faked and I merely thought this was an interesting topic for discussion.
I didn't know that members of the DAF production team believed that the Moon landing was staged...it does provide an interesting context for the scene in question...but @Dragonpol, when you state "the fact" that the Moon landing was faked, this becomes a somewhat different matter. You are stating opinion (a rather controversial one, at that) as fact. Not exactly what you intended, I expect?
And yes, @SirHenry, Hendrix was indeed a game-changer in terms of guitar playing. Some of the musicians we get to listing elsewhere in this thread are a bit beyond the time-frame specified in the topic title, but then, those times were a little elastic, weren't they!
Yes, you're quite right there to pull me up on my use of word "fact", @BeatlesSansEarmuffs. Let me just state I don't myself suscribe to the view that the moon lsnding was faked. I was just making the point that some Bond film commentators thought this, that's all.
I agree. In fact I'm always amused when people say it was faked. I think the logistics involved in faking something on that level and keeping it a secret for nearly half a century is more far fetched and complicated than dong it for real!