So, as promised, after a slight delay, the Bond films. I make no apologies whatsoever for discounting huge chunks of them, as by the time we got to invisible cars they had given up any right to be taken seriously, which is a shame as Pierce Brosnan had the potential to have been a better Bond than he turned out to be. The 'only doing my job' exchange in 'Tomorrow Never Dies' recaptured the cold ruthlessness of Connery shooting Professor Dent, which was a far cry from the tongue in cheek Roger Moore, or the earnest Timothy Dalton. I also have not yet seen the Daniel Craig films, so I am witholding judgement on them for the moment.
The first film, 'Dr. No' sticks pretty closely to the book, apart from the substitution of death by radioactivity for death by suffocation in guano, and aside from a certain tentativeness makes a good solid start to the series. It is then followed by possibly the best of the films, 'From Russia, With Love', with its shocking pre-credit sequence, its brilliant set pieces, such as the fight at the gypsy camp and the powerboat chase, a fantastic villainess in Rosa Kleb and the great bit of snobbery that gives today's post its title, but which is less snobby than the book, where it is how Grant holds his knife like a pen that gives him away.
The next two are Connery at the peak of his form, relaxed and living the character, but they are also have the first seeds of the over the top gadget fests of the later films, especially the jet pack. 'Thunderball' also marks the first climactic battle between two teams of minions, this time underwater.
'You Only Live Twice' is the first that veers away completely from the book, taking only the title, the setting and the names of a couple of characters. It is also one of my favourites, despite it being the first of the real over the top, ludicrously unbelievable Bonds, partly for its Japanese setting, but also for the appearance of the wonderful Little Nelly. In retrospect it could be seen though as the beginning of the end.
Luckily the next film sees the first of the back to basics Bonds, a recurring theme throughout the series whereby a particularly rich dish is followed by a simpler one and in this case it is a particularly tasty one. George Lazenby has been unfairly panned for his portrayal of Bond, but watching impartially puts him up there in the top half of the table. The film has some spectacular action sequences and one of the most stunning endings of any of the films. This is the bond film beloved of the true Bond fan.
The return of Sean Connery in 'Diamonds are Forever' is a huge disappointment. He is pretty much 'phoning in the performance and it is hard for an audience to give a shit when the main actor so obviously doesn't. It is the first film where the humour is more than just a casual throwaway to accompany the action and the climactic battle in the villain's lair is the first of the silly ones, lacking the charm of the volcano in 'You Only Live Twice'. The first disappointment, and the first proof that Lazenby was not the worst Bond ever.
Roger Moore got off to a reasonably fun start with the voodoo themed 'Live and Let Die', although because of the resequencing of the books Quarrel has to have become his own son, having (spoiler alert!) died in 'Dr. No'. By the second Roger Moore movie it has become obvious that the Bond films have become parodies of other genres - 'Live and Let Die' is a riff on the blaxploitation boom in the seventies and the follow up 'The Man With The Golden Gun' is a parody of martial arts movies, ironically given that 'Enter The Dragon' is in many ways a parody of the western spy genre. It is also a disappointment, compared to 'Live and Let Die'.
Moore regains his mojo with 'The Spy Who Loved Me', which actually remakes 'You Only Live Twice' only with submarines replacing spaceships and is arguably the peak of the Roger Moore era, and the SF cash in 'Moonraker' is much weaker, despite being one of the most overblown movies. It is the sort of Bond film beloved of people who talk about the gadgets being the most important aspects of the films, as opposed to such things as plot and characters.
There was another palate cleanser next in the form of 'For Your Eyes Only', which I would probably pick as my favourite of Roger Moore's films, although the pre-credit sequence involving dropping Blofeld down a chimney in a wheelchair is rather embarrassing and a little insulting - the man killed your wife for God's sake. In the books he strangles him, which is far more satisfying plotwise than the comedy killing in this film. However, after this it settles down into a gadget lite Bond film - the Bond car is a deux chevaux - which is a return to the earlier Bond and reminds me at times of 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'.
The next two films are pretty forgettable and Roger Moore has crossed the line from being a bit too old to play Bond to being a bit too old to play M and any final semblance of believability is thrown out of the window.
The whole Dalton era was a misjudged attempt to return Bond to his roots and I sometimes wonder how Dalton would have fared if he had taken over sooner as it was an uphill struggle to stop the series being considered a laughing stock. The Brosnan era started well, but if Dalton was an attempt to remake Connery, Brosnan soon became an attempt to remake Moore, although the Chop Socky parody of 'Tomorrow Never Dies' was more successful than 'The Man With The Golden Gun', but eventually the Brosnan era runs into the same problem of gadgets and over the top villains becoming more important than characters and plots and so this has necessitated yet another return to basics with Daniel Craig.
As I said, I haven't seen 'Casino Royale' and 'Quantum of Solace', but when I have I shall report back on them and whether I was shaken or stirred, or indeed whether I gave a damn.
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