Bond, James Bond has survived knife fights, armored assaults … even the casting of George Lazenby.
But the venerable franchise has taken some pretty heavy hits from this five calamities:
- The invisible car: The Bond Gadget era hit its nadir with “Die Another Day.”
- Bond in space: Yes, the Bond folks were trying to capitalize off of “Star Wars” with “Moonraker,” but did they have to stuff an aging Roger Moore into a rocket ship?
- Jaws’ galpal: The moment Bond baddie Jaws picks up a girlfriend, you know the killer with the metal chompers has gone soft … and so has the franchise. Thanks “Moonraker.” Again.
- A-ha: We’ve suffered through many a forgettable Bond song (quick, what was the last really good one??) but hiring band of the moment a-ha to warble “The Living Daylights” proved calamitous.
- “Quantum of Solace:” Really? After all those great Bond titles – “You Only Live Twice,” “For Your Eyes Only” and “From Russia with Love” we get “QofS??”
(Photo: Daniel Craig reprises his role as James Bond in “Quantum of Solace.”)
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I would add Bond using a cello case as a sled in The Living Daylights.
You should do a piece or two about the Dean Martin “Matt Helm” films.
You may be right about the cello incident … but I have a soft spot for the Dalton films. Sometimes I root for the underdog, and he became a Bond whipping boy after his two-movie stint.
I’ve never seen the Matt Helm flicks … although I’ve read a bunch about them.
Hey, I remember liking Moonraker … although truth be told, you’ve seen one Bond, you’ve seen ‘em all … Evil-doer wants to do evil, Bond gets summond to see the boss, gets his marching orders (“kill”) and a new gadget, meets a hot woman, chases the baddie, beds the hottie, chases the baddie some more, long car/ski/boat/plane/spaceship chase scene, some explosions, a wise crack and … credits.
The Dalton films are pretty terrible, although not entirely his fault – he was just the easy and visible target. My husband and I stumbled across one on cable the other night. It took us about 10 minutes of watching to discover we were on one of the Spanish channels. I think that says everything about those movies right there.
Chase – I think Bond films are like movie comfort food – you always know what you are going to get, you just don’t know exactly how you are going to get there. My kids love them and it makes for a fun family night to watch them when Spike TV or AMC has the marathon. They may not be high cinematic art, but I wouldn’t like to contemplate the movies without them either.
not to defend the title. but ‘Quantum of Solace’ was the title of one of the early fleming bond novels so they just didn’t pull it out of their you know what. that being said it still isn’t a great title
Ronn: Apparently it wasn’t a novel, it was a short story about a housewife having an affair, and by all accounts Bond’s only role in it is to have the details of the affair told to him at a party by another guest. I don’t think it was written particularly early in the series either. I haven’t seen the movie or read the story, but I doubt that they have much to do with each other.
I’m tempted to say that one of Bond’s greatest missteps was Roger Moore, but that’s kinda snarky and should be reserved for Pierce Broslin. Sean Bean, the villain in Goldeneye, would have been an awesome Bond.
As for Timothy Dalton, he was the only Bond other than Connery that actually looked like a trained agent, a trained assassin. Very casual, very bon vivant, immediately lethal. No one matched that until Craig Daniel.
And frankly I love the title Quantum of Solace. Some rumors say that “quantum” refers to something in the plot, but given that this is a direct sequel to Casino Royale, and is in large part a revenge film, then I’ll go with the straight translation, that by the end Bond has found some measure (quantum) of peace (solace).
Brosnan was a great Bond. He wasn’t in the best movies, but that wasn’t his fault. I think Roger Moore was good too, but I can see why he annoys some people.
Some Measure of Peace would have been a much better title, although it’s more Jack Ryan than James Bond.
If I remember correctly Brosnan was originally offered the role after Roger Moore retired but couldn’t take the role because the tv show he was doing at the time wouldn’t let him out of his contract. A younger Brosnan doing a Casino Royale style Bond would have been great, instead he ended up with the most cartoonish films of the franchise.
For those of us old enough to remember sneaking a few paragraphs of a Bond book in Latin class, the title does come from one of the five short stories in Fleming’s “For Your Eyes Only.” Along with : “The Hildebrand Rarity,” “Riscio,” and “From a View to Kill” (NOT “To a Kill”). I think it would be wise for the producers to get back to the original idea of James Bond: a killer employed by His Majesty’s Secret Service. Leave the gadgets in Q’s basement.
As far as the actor closest in resembling the “true” Bond, my vote would have to be Timothy Dalton. At least he read all the books prior to doing the role. Even Ian Fleming himself said that Connery was not Bond.
I did read where “Quantum” title originated, but it’s still a lousy name for a Bond movie.
I actually dug Dalton as Bond … but I’m in the very tiny minority here.