Chest Hair Never Dies: Brosnan Borrows the Best of Bonds
by Keith Bodayla (@theactualkeith)
I may be biased since Tomorrow Never Dies was my first Bond film in the theaters, but Pierce Brosnan is the “Perfect Bond” in Tomorrow Never Dies. For the purposes of this writing, “perfect” does not mean “without flaws.” It means: “the right combination of his previous incarnations.” Through #Bond_age_, I have learned that everyone has a favorite Bond and everyone has reasons for disliking – even hating – the rest. Tomorrow Never Dies is the best combination of all the previous Bonds. It’s the Perfect Bond movie because there is something for every fan.
Action from the opening moments in the arms bazaar. The scene was originally meant for Timothy Dalton’s The Living Daylights, but was scrubbed from that movie. Dalton was a younger Bond that enhanced the action with bigger and better stunts. It was mostly a byproduct of 1980’s moviemaking, but that’s what differentiated Dalton’s Bond from what had come before. Up until him, the most noteworthy stunt was the javelin jump in The Man With The Golden Gun. With Brosnan they maintained that Dalton-level action, and Tomorrow Never Dies is the perfect balance of improbability and realism without being too outlandish (see Die Another Day).
The only part of Tomorrow Never Dies that borders on the outlandish is the villain. Jonathan Pryce is a bit over the top in his performance as Elliot Carver, but for most of the movie it works. Carver continues the tradition of eccentric Bond villains/profiteers – a staple of the Roger Moore films (see Kananga in Live and Let Die, Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun, Max Zorin in A View to a Kill etc.). Thankfully, they don’t give Carver a specific, defining quirk like the fact that he just really likes gold. He is simply a greedy man with a Blofeld-ian level of control (via the worldwide media) over world leaders and events. Carver is seen talking to members of his inner-circle via video phone, a scene reminiscent of the SPECTRE meetings only with far fewer spontaneous executions. Carver’s most over-the-top scene takes place when he mocks Wai Lin’s martial arts techniques, but somehow the talented actor Pryce manages to preserve the moment with his following line: “Pathetic.”
The villain proves not to be the only thing here for the Moore fan (and I hear there are many of you among us). Brosnan pulls off, quite spectacularly, the humor that was missing in the Dalton films. Sure the one-liners had always remained, but with Moore it was different. He was funny. He knew he was part comedian and not just a grim wiseacre. The defining moment of Moore’s brand of Bond comedy has to be when he drives the car out of the water, rolls down the window of the Lotus submarine and drops a fish out onto the beach. Brosnan is the only other guy I could see making that work. Moore and Brosnan’s Bonds are the only ones that seem to be having fun on the job. Sure it’s a mission and a paycheck, but they enjoy the day-to-day grind, too. If you doubt this, just watch Brosnan’s face as he drives the remote-controlled BMW through the parking garage. Despite the gunfire and danger, he’s having a blast.
Brosnan even borrows from Connery’s Bond. Connery played 007 as a real man’s man who objectified women on an hourly basis – certainly the “misogynist dinosaur” referenced by M in GoldenEye. In Tomorrow Never Dies though, we do get a bit of Connery’s swagger from Brosnan when he doesn’t hesitate to use Paris Carver to get to her husband. Brosnan, like Connery, also undermines the abilities of the women he runs into on his mission. He spends a good portion of the movie doubting Wai Lin’s utility only eventually acquiescing when he witnesses her physical prowess and acuity under pressure. You know this is still the 1990’s, however, because Brosnan does eventually catch on, whereas Connery would belittle her (probably on a seafaring vessel) well into the credits.
Also, on the topic of Connery, shortly after a glimpse of the Aston Martin DB5, Tomorrow Never Dies gives us a view of the only other chest hair in the series that could hold a candle to Connery’s. Sure, no one’s a Connery fan because of the chest hair, but someone’s got to tackle that hard-hitting journalism.
Tomorrow Never Dies also offers us something we haven’t seen in a while: a Bond with emotion. After his one-nighter with Paris Carver, she winds up dead. When Bond finds the body, he appears genuinely heartbroken. He doesn’t quite show some Lazenbies from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but, if only for a brief moment, Bond has a heart. He might not care about every notch on his bedpost, but occasionally he admits, through a look or a glance, that this one meant something. Paris Carver was that woman at some point in his past. Her death affected him. That emotion quickly gives way to anger and a need for revenge, a driving force for many other Bonds, especially Dalton.
There’s one Bond that hasn’t been mentioned yet, and he is the Bond that proves the theory. Daniel Craig’s Bond is very different from all the Bonds before him. Whether you consider Casino Royale an actual reboot of the franchise, it stands out as a change in direction and tone for the films. Realism and grittiness took over, largely inspired from the success of the Bourne franchise. We don’t see these trademarks in Tomorrow Never Dies, because it was still part of the old school, when women were easier, things were a little more outrageous, villains a little more over-the-top, and Bond was a little more lighthearted. Tomorrow Never Dies encapsulates everything we loved and still love about Bond, before the world made it necessary for Bond to get a little more intense and a little more real. And, of course, before Bond jumped the shark (probably while windsurfing) in Die Another Day.
My Recent Date with Cary Grant: Was it all a Charade?
by Array Jackson (@ArrayJackson)
First dates are their own creature, each one a unique experience. You bravely take the hand of another person and step up to spin the wheel. Will this encounter you’re embarking on together entail adventure? Suspense? Comedy? Action? Romance? What you ultimately want on this date is often a reflection of your own individual character, and if you’re lucky, you and your partner’s two personalities will align in harmony, crafting a date that is a smashing success. But if you don’t really know that other person, the unveiling of their persona could be a ruse, and you might find yourself caught up in a Charade.
I recently had the good fortune to spend an evening with Mr. Cary Grant. I don’t know if this is every girl’s dream, but it’s definitely mine. He took me on a hell of a ride. For me, all the elements that make up a fabulous date were present: suspense, comedy, action and romance. Lots of romance. In fact, our date ended with a marriage proposal. And there’s only one reason I didn’t fall into his arms and cry, “yes, yes, yes!” You see, there’s another man that occupies my heart. His name is Bond, James Bond. And by James Bond, I mean Sean Connery. (more…)
The lawsuit that began in 1961 regarding the rights and ownership to parts of the James Bond franchise has finally ended. The legal battle began when Ian Fleming used part of a screenplay he’d co-authored with Kevin McClory to write the novel Thunderball. In 1961, McClory sued over ownership rights, rights that Fleming had sold to EON/MGM to produce the James Bond films based on his novels. In 1983, a London court permitted McClory the rights to produce his own James Bond novel based on the screenplay he and Fleming and written (before any of the actual James Bond movies had been produced). That movie became Never Say Never Again. In 2001, a California court dismissed McClory’s claim to royalties because he’d waited too long to make his case. After more than 50 years, MGM/Danjaq, LLC has finally ended the dispute by making an undisclosed settlement to acquire all outstanding rights from McClory’s holding company, a company now run by his heirs (McClory passed in 2006). Friends and family attributed Fleming’s rapid decline in health to the stress brought about by the McClory lawsuit. As a result, Bond fans have long demonized McClory (and probably with good reason), but the most apparent outcome of the whole disagreement was that EON’s James Bond series lost the use of SPECTRE organization and the Blofeld character, who was unceremoniously executed in For Your Eyes Only as a parting gesture (a middle finger?) to McClory.
Now, with the rights to Blofeld and SPECTRE restored, fans are suggesting (some demanding!) that Blofeld and SPECTRE might return in Bond 24 and/or beyond.
If you’ve hung on my every tweet regarding the future of the Bond franchise, you’ve probably read my pleas for Bond 24 to regain some of the “smug” and humor that graced the series throughout its history. Craig’s Bond has been put through the ringer. He’s been tortured. He’s watched loved ones die — his lover and his mother figure. He’s gone off the reservation in the name of revenge and lived to tell about it. He’s starred in three relatively bleak movies and done his share of T-Dalt-inspired smoldering. Craig hasn’t had the change to have some good, old fashioned Bond fun. Skis. Winter sports. Puns and wit worthy of a Roger Moore eyebrow raise. Serial womanizing and gawking of which Connery would be proud. Even Dalton got to go sledding in a cello case. But in addition to all of this, I desperately want EON to capitalize on the build-up of the QUANTUM shadow organization as established in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace but abandoned in Skyfall.
What this means, more acutely, is this: Just Say No to the Return of Blofeld.
Book Blofeld frightened through unlimited power and connections. He was an imposing, mysterious figure of menace. Movie Blofeld became a joke. The only Blofeld that was worth anything was Telly Savalas in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service but even he didn’t really capture the menace. EON executed Blofeld in For Your Eyes Only with good reason. Even though they couldn’t legally use him anymore, Blofeld had overstayed his welcome. Two of my least favorite Bond movies showcased Blofeld as the primary villain: You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever. In one Donald Pleasance played him as a cartoon and in the other Charles Gray dressed in drag and couldn’t have frightened a jittery chihuahua. Blofeld should have been dismissed in the post-OHMSS revenge plot that never happened. But we’re beyond that. We’re beyond Blofeld and SPECTRE, and Craigers’ Bond still has unsettled debts with QUANTUM.
QUANTUM was responsible for the death of Vesper Lynd. A new villain behind that organization should emerge. A new villain would finally put the rumors of Neo-Blofeld to bed (as if dropping him down a smokestack wasn’t enough). It would not be impossible for QUANTUM to turn out to be SPECTRE with Blofeld at the helm, but this twist would be a disingenuous, forced narrative twist that would only pander to nostalgic fans. QUANTUM has been established as a new shadow organization for a new Bond era. They know that we know that QUANTUM was never set up to be SPECTRE. Let’s not turn back the clock to relive the embarrassing missteps of Bond movies past.
One final, selfish note:
I’m on the verge of being able to order the entire Bond franchise into a reasonable timeline that considers the major plot points, actors playing Bond in different stages of his career. Reintroducing Blofeld/SPECTRE in the Craig era (post-Skyfall, anyway) means major snafus. We already have the “Blofeld doesn’t recognize Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” situation to deal with.
This essay inspired by The Spy Who Loved Me is the tenth in a 24-part series about the James Bond cinemas co-created by Sundog Lit. I encourage everyone to comment and join in what we hope to be 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_ #10: How The Spy Who Loved Me Can Help You Avoid the Lobster Trap
by James David Patrick
Everyone has a favorite James Bond actor. Typically, the Bond that ushers us through childhood earns a special place in our hearts and minds. If you didn’t grow up with Bond or came to the movies later in life, sentimentality might play a smaller role. And with or without sentimentality, there’s still the risk of falling into the Connery lobster trap whereby one blindly argues that Bond is Connery and Connery is Bond and thus the conversation is done.
Did he just smack-talk Sean Connery’s Bond a little bit?
Yes, but don’t read too much into that. Sean Connery defined the role, a Cro-Magnon womanizer with a million-dollar smile. His portrayal of the character has influenced every other actor that has donned the tuxedo. But we’ve got to be honest with Connery’s legacy as 007. Terence Young, the director of Dr. No had as much to do with the creation of cinematic James Bond as Sean Connery. The late Lois Maxwell (Moneypenny) said, “Terence took Sean under his wing. He took him to dinner, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat.” Young even outfitted Connery in his Saville Row suits. He taught him how to talk without gesturing with his hands. Other members of the production team have remarked that Connery was just doing a Terence Young impersonation. It is also said that Young likely modeled Bond on the lifestyle of Eddie Chapman, a wartime double agent (codenamed “Zigzag”) who had been a friend of Young’s before the war. Young molded Connery into James Bond, like a piece of unformed clay.
The Spy Who Loved Me: Reflections on the White Lotus
by Krissy Myers (@krissy_myers)
My first true experience with Agent 007 occurred at some point during the late 90’s. I was young and only vaguely familiar with the name James Bond, thanks to my mother cooing over Pierce Brosnan when he took over the role in GoldenEye. Approaching double digits in age and with TBS’s “15 Days of 007” marathon looming, my mother finally proclaimed:
“You’re old enough now. I saw my first James Bond film [Thunderball] in the theatre when I was your age. Watch some films with me.”
I trusted her completely, as by that point, she had yet to steer me wrong. After all, she was the one who introduced me to Star Wars and the Godzilla movies. By my logic at the time, if she had been treating the Bond films, for all intents and purposes, as a rite of passage, surely this English spy chap had something at least as thrilling in store for me.
I soon became engrossed in the James Bond universe. I watched as many of the films as I possibly could with school and bedtime as my only obstacles. I paid close attention to the commercials made just for the occasion featuring Bond girl Grace Jones as a flight attendant aboard a Moonraker-esque airplane. I remember making a special scheduling chart with the following sections: the name of the Bond film, the time it aired and the actor who played him. After seeing most of the films two weeks later, the inevitable question finally came up.
“You like these James Bond movies, huh, Krissy? Who’s your favourite?”
There was absolutely no question in my mind which Bond actor was my favourite. On my chart, his films would have little stars and hearts around his name to highlight his great importance. I couldn’t at the time put into words the reasons why he was my favourite, only that it was the imagery in his films that replayed the most vividly in my mind. While all of the Bond actors were undoubtedly attractive in their own ways, whenever I watched one of his films, I could physically feel the blood rush to my little schoolgirl cheeks. It was a quiet yet intense crush. (more…)
