It was a meeting of the two most famous British people on the planet: Queen Elizabeth II turned to her tuxedo-wearing guest and said, “Good evening, Mr. Bond.”
The pairing of these icons, the English monarch and the king of spies – in a film for the opening ceremony of the London Olympics – was a thrilling moment. It scarcely mattered that one of them was fictional. Agent 007 is real to millions of moviegoers, and once again they will flock to see Bond battle for queen and country when his 23rd official screen adventure, “Skyfall,” opens this fall.
He’s come a long way in the 50 years since the release – on Oct. 5, 1962 – of a modestly budgeted spy movie called “Dr. No.” It introduced a dapper but deadly secret agent who wore Savile Row suits, drove an Aston Martin, liked his martinis shaken, not stirred, and announced himself as “Bond, James Bond.”
What’s the secret of his survival? Familiarity, says Roger Moore, who played Bond in seven films, more than any other actor.
“It’s sort of like a bedtime story: As long as you don’t go too far away from the original, the child is happy,” Moore said. “The audience gets what it’s expecting: beautiful girls, actions, gadgets – there’s a formula.”
That fiendishly successful formula had modest beginnings. Two upstart producers, Canadian Harry Saltzman and American Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, acquired the rights to a series of novels by Ian Fleming, a former World War II intelligence officer who had created 007 as sort of a fantasy alter-ego.
Saltzman and Broccoli had a budget of just $1 million, but through a blend of luck and design assembled an amazing team of on- and off-screen talent.
Sean Connery, a relatively unknown Scottish actor and former bodybuilder, was cast as Bond against the wishes of studio United Artists, which wanted an established star such as Cary Grant for the role.
“Everything or Nothing,” a new documentary about the Bond films, says the final seal of approval came from Cubby Broccoli’s wife. “Is he sexy?” Broccoli asked her.
Connery got the part.
Behind the scenes were artists like John Barry, composer of Bond’s pulse-quickening theme music; Maurice Binder, who created the famous gun-barrel title sequence; and designer Ken Adam, a German-born former RAF fighter pilot whose futuristic sets gave the films their look of modernist cool.
In the documentary, directed by Steven Ridley, which premieres Friday, October 5th at 8:00pm ET on EPIX, Adam recalls feeling “crazy with courage” in those early days. Others remember the same devil-may-care atmosphere.
“It was barnstorming days,” said David M. Kay, whose company provided aircraft for filming and stunts on the early Bond films, including the helicopter-volcano sequence in “You Only Live Twice.”
“We didn’t have health and safety as we have now. Broccoli was an absolute cavalier and demanded things that were well-nigh impossible,” Kay recalled.
It was also enormous fun, he said – “Men playing with boys’ toys.”
That sense of playfulness spilled over to the screen. “Dr. No” arrived in movie theaters with perfect timing, as Britain swapped postwar austerity for growing prosperity.
Bond’s world of cars, casinos and caviar was sexy, luxurious and colorful. Instead of a gray, shadowy figure, here was spy as glamorous jet-setter. The films turned Cold War anxiety into a thrill-ride from which the good guy always emerged triumphant.
“There had been nothing like it before,” said Graham Rye, editor of 007 magazine, who remembers being blown away by the film as an 11-year-old. “A lot of British films at the time were austere, black-and-white, kitchen-sink dramas. When ‘Dr. No’ exploded onto the screen, it had a pretty visceral effect on everybody.”
Since then, Bond has survived showdowns with enemies from uber-villain Ernst Blofeld to steel-toothed assassin Jaws. Even more impressively, he has weathered the social revolution of the 1960s, financial woes and lawsuits, multiple changes of lead actor, the end of the Cold War and the dawn of the War on Terror.
His survival is the result of chemistry, tenacity and luck.
“Dr. No” received mixed reviews – some positive, others dismissive. “Pure, escapist bunk,” sniffed Bosley Crowther of the New York Times. But audiences responded, and “From Russia With Love,” released the next year, was also a hit. By 1964’s “Goldfinger,” Bond was a phenomenon.
From the start, success was enhanced by clever marketing. We may think of product placement and merchandising as recent strategies – Daniel Craig’s Bond diverges from his martini habit to drink Heineken – but it was part of the package starting with the books, in which Bond’s watch is a Rolex, his shampoo Pinaud Elixir.
What began as Fleming’s way of demonstrating his character’s expensive tastes quickly became a commercial arrangement, now worth millions to the films’ producers.
In the ’60s, Bond fans could wear 007 deodorant and aftershave or sport James Bond swimming trunks, complete with logo. Connery’s Bond drank Smirnoff vodka, while the villain in “Goldfinger” played golf with Slazenger balls.
More than movies, these were experiences in which key elements were established, expected and anticipated. The locations that spanned the globe and headed into outer space; the gravity-defying stunt sequences; the rocket belts, car-submarines and other gadgets; the megalomaniacal villains and their sadistic henchmen – all quickly became part of the Bond brand.
So did the theme songs, many of them performed by the biggest artists of the day, from Paul McCartney (“Live and Let Die”) to Madonna (“Die Another Day”).
And, of course, there were the “Bond girls,” characters who are victims or villains but always fatefully – and often fatally – attracted to 007.
Bond’s scantily clad female companions have long provided ammunition for critics, who accuse the films of sexism, though others argue that the films offer eye-candy for everyone: Ursula Andress in a bikini, but also Daniel Craig in his tight blue swim trunks.
Anticipating new tweaks on the familiar elements became part of the films’ appeal, rendering them both instantly recognizable and eminently spoofable, as Mike Myers’ pitch-perfect Austin Powers movies proved.
The films’ producers at EON Productions – today run by Cubby Broccoli’s daughter and stepson, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson – have become expert at honing the formula. They are masters of suspense, drip-feeding details about each new film – title, locations, guest stars – to eager fans.
Like its hero, the series has had many near-death experiences. Connery quit acrimoniously after six films. There was a long-running legal battle with screenwriter Kevin McClory over rights to the “Thunderball” script. The result was the unofficial Bond film “Never Say Never Again,” which saw 52-year-old Connery return after a decade away from the role.
Former model George Lazenby lasted just a single film – “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” from 1969, a dark-hued tale that ranks among many fans’ favorites. Moore took Bond in a lighter direction during the 1970s.
Audiences didn’t warm to Timothy Dalton’s tougher, meaner 1980s Bond, but Pierce Brosnan’s suave superagent – circling the globe in ever more futuristic vehicles, including an invisible car- fit with the optimistic post-Cold War era.
Just as 007’s clothes have evolved with changing fashions – from Connery’s lean ’60s suits to Moore’s flares to Craig’s Tom Ford formalwear – producers have tried to find Bonds to mirror the mood of the times.
The aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks brought a change of tone. Craig’s Bond, who made his debut in “Casino Royale” in 2006, is a darker, tougher spy who harkens back to Fleming’s original, restoring sadism and self-loathing to Bond’s emotional arsenal.
Although the Broccoli family won’t comment, media reports say Craig has committed to two more films after “Skyfall,” with Bond 24 due for release in 2014 or 2015 – that is, if 007 continues to cheat death.
The most recent threat to Bond was a production delay on “Skyfall” when studio MGM filed for bankruptcy in 2010.
But Agent 007 is in pretty good shape for 50. Will he last another half century?
Rye, the magazine editor, thinks so.
“Bond, like diamonds, is forever,” he said.
Fashion Writer Samantha Critchell contributed to this report from New York.
Review: “Novocaine,” A Bloody Action-Comedy From Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen
Nathan Caine may not be able to feel pain, as the tagline for the new action-comedy "Novocaine" reads, but the same does not apply to audiences.
Although he doesn't scream when his leg is impaled with an arrow or when he sticks his hand in a vat of frying oil, you might. I certainly did. Out loud. In a theater. With other people. There may have been some phrases uttered entirely involuntarily too. Were other people reacting in the same way, I wonder? I couldn't hear them over my own groans. Hooray for the communal experience, I guess?
This is, in some ways, a film for people who thought John Wick wasn't stabby enough. It delights in the relentless mutilation of its hero, a regular guy (played by Jack Quaid ) with a rare condition that has rendered him immune from feeling any sort of discomfort to bodily harm. Unlike such high concept premises as "Crank," congenital insensitivity to pain analgesia (or CIPA) is actually real. But it's not exactly a superpower, Nate explains. He can still die; it just might be because he hasn't emptied his bladder in many hours. Or because he's accidentally bitten his tongue off eating a sandwich. These are real concerns of his.
His entire existence is devoted to preventing these kinds of crises, mostly through tried-and-true baby proofing techniques like using tennis balls on sharp corners. Like Kelly Ripa before a show, he only consumes "non-chewing food."
Work is stable and dull as an assistant manager at a bank. And dating is out of the question; He spends most of his free time playing online video games. Quaid, even with his two movie star parents, is somehow believable as this cautious introvert, though everything is played with a light touch and a wink. The movie, written by Lars Jacobson and... Read More