by 007hertzrumble | Aug 14, 2013 | My Favorite #Bond_age_
Diamonds Are Forever: “Welcome to hell…” or Is It Just Las Vegas?
by Tom Wilcox
Diamonds Are Forever is by no means the best James Bond film, but it is certainly an idiosyncratic one. Blofeld clones? A moon buggy chase? Gay hitmen? Blofeld in drag? Country singer/future sausage king Jimmy Dean as a reclusive billionaire? Fitness-obsessed lesbians giving Bond an ass-kicking? You can only say you saw these in one movie. Diamonds Are Forever is nothing if not memorably off-the-wall.
When reviewing the strange case of Diamonds Are Forever, it’s important to consider a little historical context. 1971 was not exactly overflowing with movies you’d call “fun”. More like overflowing with “portraits of existential despair.” Bond shared the box office with films like The Last Picture Show and The French Connection. These are excellent films, but bleak, and lacking in that all important movie element – lasers. The return of Sean Connery and the promise of some honest-to-god entertainment (and lasers!) was enough for audiences to make the movie the third-highest grosser of 1971. (more…)
by 007hertzrumble | Aug 13, 2013 | #Bond_age_ Project
This is the seventh essay in a 23-part series about the James Bond cinemas. I encourage everyone to comment on Diamonds Are Forever and join in on an extended conversation about not only the films themselves, but cinematic trends, political and other external influences on the series’ tone and direction.
Of [In]human #Bond_age_ #7: Remaking Diamonds Are Forever
by James David Patrick
With the power of distance and hindsight, how easy is it to criticize George Lazenby for breaking his seven-picture James Bond contract because he didn’t believe 007 would translate to the progressive 1970s? Roger Moore needed a little snark and a hinged eyebrow to revitalize Bond in the 70s and stabilize the franchise going forward through 1989. Four actors and 17 films later, the James Bond brand is as strong as it’s been since Connery’s prime (and arguably stronger – Skyfall supplanted Thunderball as the highest grossing film in the series, including adjustment for inflation). (more…)
by 007hertzrumble | Aug 7, 2013 | My Favorite #Bond_age_
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: This Never Happened To The Other Fellow
by Kerry Fristoe (@echidnabot)
So here’s the thing, I love Sean. Sean is Bond. I didn’t grow up in the 80’s or 90’s with Dalton, Brosnan, Craig, and Dench. Moore is a poor man’s excuse for Bond. All ruffled tuxedo and demeanor. Moore is to Connery what New Coke is to Coke; sweeter and more generic. He’s the supermarket Kola you find when you’re looking for the real thing. Naturally I thought I’d write about Sean for this favorite Bond series. I thought about Goldfinger, From Russia With Love, and Dr. No immediately. Then I realized something. I didn’t own a single Bond film. Why was that? I thought about it and realized that for me, the entire series lacked depth. Bond played baccarat, cracked wise with arch-villains, bedded a bevy of beauties, and foiled the world domination plots of many while maintaining his poise and retaining his boutonniere. He never lost his cool because he wasn’t a real guy. Let’s face it – it’s hard to get excited about a cardboard cutout, even a really attractive one. Without depth and some vulnerability, all the ski chases and 11th hour bomb defusing came to naught. Bond seemed less superhuman and more subhuman. Then it hit me. Lazenby. The odd man out. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The answer to many a Bond trivia question. Lazenby fit the bill. George Lazenby was tall, dashing, an Australian male model with a smartass demeanor. This made him made him the perfect…er, replacement… for Connery back in 1969 and his film, the perfect vehicle. In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service we see Bond fight, ski, seduce, crack wise and even fall in love all set to a gorgeous John Barry score. (more…)
by 007hertzrumble | Aug 6, 2013 | #Bond_age_ Project, OHMSS
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service represents the sixth essay in a 23-part series about the James Bond cinemas. I encourage everyone to comment and join in on an extended conversation about not only the films themselves, but cinematic trends, political and other external influences on the series’ tone and direction.
Of [In]human #Bond_age_ #6: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Pleads the 4th
by James David Patrick
I originally embarked on this voyage to watch and discuss all 23 James Bond movies because I wanted to look more closely at the temporality of the Bond adventures. A theme inspired by a moment in Skyfall when Daniel Craig retrieves the Aston Martin DB5 from storage, a car with which his Bond has had no prior relationship. Having had six different actors play the role with eleven different directors behind the camera, how did the series adjust from one actor to the next? Natural shifts in style and substance brought upon by external market influences and cinematic trends? How did filmmaking decisions attempt to explain the continuity from film to film? Or, conversely, did the filmmakers try to explain it at all?
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by 007hertzrumble | Aug 5, 2013 | My Favorite #Bond_age_
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: All the Time in the World
by Patrick Goff (@p2wy)
I saw my first Bond films in the early 1980s. My first was Octopussy, watched on ABC (edited for television) with my family. Then I saw A View to a Kill in the theater as a 13 year old. I didn’t realize at the time that these were James Bond at his most elderly, and that the series had reached it’s apex of silly. Regardless, I was enchanted by the exotic locations, the woman, the fast cars. I had a thirst for more. At the time, we didn’t have a VCR so my only recourse was to visit my local library and check out Ian Fleming’s novels. This written Bond was something completely different, a more shadowy character with real flaws and a streak of darkness…. something that was completely absent from the later Roger Moore portrayals.
Over the years, the Fleming character stayed with me as I eventually came to watch most of the series. You would see small snippets of the Fleming Bond in Dr. No or Goldfinger…a taste of him here or there, but it was still the “movie” Bond…. as was the case in just about every Bond film I’d seen. (more…)
by 007hertzrumble | Jul 30, 2013 | My Favorite #Bond_age_
You Only Live Twice: Teetering on the Precipice
by Tom Wilcox (@TRWilcox)
“They killed James Bond. They KILLED JAMES BOND! And I just found out who he was!”
I don’t remember how old I was when I first watched You Only Live Twice. Somewhere in the single-digits, seven or eight? We’ll say eight.
The iconic gun barrel opening set the tone. Action! Excitement! Take-no-prisoners surf guitar!
It opens in outer space. Two astronauts maneuvering a capsule, the Jupiter 16. (I could have pulled that out of my memory even if I hadn’t just rewatched the movie. “Jupiter 16” is just one of those things you remember.) Another larger, more menacing ship approaches. It swallows them whole, like a shark, leaving one astronaut to float off to his death. They certainly had my attention. This movie meant business. (more…)
