Martinis Girls and Guns
The World Of James Bond In Film And Print
By
Cristopher Henessey-DeRose
Cover Art by Nick Concannon
If you prefer black print with a sandy background, click here
Who was the first to play James Bond? The answer is not
Sean Connery in Dr. No as you’d think. Who were the others in the Double
O section and what happened to them?
The answer to these and many other questions is to be found in Martinis
Girls and Guns -- The World Of James Bond In Film And Print. In this first-ever
definitive guide to the books and films, author Cristopher Henessey-DeRose
gathers in one place everything you ever wanted to know about that 20th-century
icon, James Bond. It includes a Bond biography, as well as that notorious
martini recipe.
Far more than a trivia book, MM&G delves deep into the books and
movies themselves to find the backstories and Hollywood politics that created
the mythology of the spy—and the genre—we know today. The reader discovers
why some movies are similar to the books and some aren’t, and what little-known
short stories by Ian Fleming found their way to the screen. You learn how
it all came together, and watch James Bond evolve while feeling like you’ve
got an Eyes Only security authorization.
The detailed filmography is a topnotch reference (including "Die Anbother
Day"). It’s
got the names of all the good guys, the bad guys, and the actors who played
them.
It’s
got all the songs and performers listed, not just the theme music. This
is a book not to be missed by Bond fans, or anyone who knows the meaning
of the number 007.
Here is the introduction, three extracts...
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (Book by Ian Fleming, 1962)
ROLE OF HONOR (Book by John Gardner, 1984)
GOLDENEYE (Film, 1995)
and the table of contents...
Introduction
I’m not much for the works of Sigmund Freud, but this is my mother’s
fault.
I cannot remember a time during my formative years that her love
of the spy genre was not busy rubbing off on me.
Everything spy and espionage related flickered before my eyes:
The Avengers, The Man from UNCLE, Mission: Impossible, The Saint.
And then there was the day I sat in a darkened theatre and watched
as a man dressed in a tuxedo enters stage left seen by the audience via
the iris of a gun barrel. The seemingly unsuspecting man then turns with
blinding speed, firing a single shot from the gun we never see him draw.
The gun barrel wavers, a curtain of blood seeps down from the top
of the screen. The hair on my arms stands up as the trademark guitar riff
sounds off…
And we are swept into the latest adventure of Ian Fleming’s master spy,
one with the name of Bond. James Bond.
Thankfully, I was also encouraged to read. Along with names like
Le Carre and Ludlum fell Ian Fleming. Whether they can all be considered
contemporaries is irrelevant. The genre was in my blood by genetics, where
it remains to this day. But Bond.
I find it difficult now to explain exactly why this man who can
exhibit some downright distasteful mannerisms caught and held my attention,
much less that of any other Bond fan. Years of writing critiques of movies
and books have only led back to a single answer: The world needs heroes.
It’s sort of like Jack Nicholson’s classic Aaron Sorkin-penned monologue
in A Few Good Men. There are men on the wall between us and the bad guys.
We need them. We may not be like them or be able to always like them,
but we need them and we’re glad they’re there to get the job done. Because
it needs to be done. It isn’t always pretty or glamorous, but it’s necessary.
The world needs heroes; now more than ever, it would seem.
And so through the good books and the bad, and the same goes for
the movies, James Bond has been a staple in my entertainment diet. So, why
another Bond book, you ask. Aren’t there enough already out there? This
were things I asked myself many times. The answers I came to time and time
again were such: Most Bond books (the non-fiction ones, anyway) are usually
of the coffee table variety, focusing on one thing, whether that be the Bond
Girls, the cars, the gadgets, or the merchandising of and the collectability
of 007. Either that, or they get so tied up in so much trivia that, while
interesting in and of itself, seems to keep them from discussing whether the
work in question is any good or not.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with those books, but many don’t
really offer much opinion on the movies, novels, or the individual performances
the various Bond actors have given us and how they affected the movies and
people’s perception of 007. Those books that have critiqued have either
been ‘official’ and toothless or unauthorized and tending to be unfocused.
Now, with Bond’s 40th Anniversary in film coming up in 2002, I wanted
to put my passion for the movies of 007 and books to good use by combining
that considerable passion with my experience in reviewing books and film.
I wanted this book to be honest while also retaining a fondness for the
character. The Bond franchise has been very entertaining as well as less
than stellar in some cases. It may seem to the reader at times that since
I’m as critical of certain things why I even bothered to broach the subject
at all.
I feel it’s only fair to warn the reader before they dive into the
reviews herein that when prefacing the critique with a synopsis of the
storyline, I reveal everything. These things are called ‘spoilers’ in
some circles as they could well serve to spoil the story for those not
familiar with it already. The reason I’m doing it this way is to provide
as rich a view of the movie as possible, and an attempt to avoid mysterious
passages that would read like: “I can’t tell you what happens, but when
you see this film, about an hour and a half into it, there’s a really important
revelation.”
Because it was the Bond dynamic that kept me watching and reading
and trying to explain the dynamic itself is like trying to describe what
a given color looks like. It’s something that remains intangible yet forever
embedded under my skin.
But now the theatre is darkening and the guitar riff is about to
start. I’m going to get a good seat.
You coming?
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (Book by Ian Fleming, 1962)
Written in the first person, we learn of the woman named Vivienne Michel,
who is minding a hotel in the Canadian mountains during a terrible storm.
A pair of gangsters, Sol Horror and Sluggsy Morant show up. Morant makes
a play for her, she slaps him, and the pair beat her into submission, whereupon
they order her to get them food.
She tries to escape, and they catch her. She tries defending herself
with an ice pick, but they beat her more soundly than before. Again, Morant
makes a less than subtle pass at the woman, whereupon she goes after him
with a knife. Morant loses whatever temper he might have thought he had,
and as he begins his attempt to rape her, a mysterious Englishman named
Bond shows up. His car has blown a tire and he’s looking for shelter.
Taking her into his confidence, he lets her know he is an agent
of the SIS and is currently on assignment, assuming the identity of a Russian
defector marked for death by SPECTRE. He understands her hints that she’s
in trouble and he will help her.
Bond manages to slip her a gun and she goes to sleep in her room,
only to be knocked out by Morant the following morning. She awakes outside,
watching the hotel go up in flames that now engulf it. The gangsters are
convinced they’ve killed Bond and Vivienne realizes that the fire is part
of an insurance fraud scheme.
But Bond is very much alive, and there soon breaks out a gun battle
between the four. Horror tries to flee in his car, but Bond kills him,
causing the car to veer out of control and crash into a nearby lake.
Vivienne awakes the next morning after a night of passion with Bond
with only a note left behind by Bond for the police.
The Spy Who Loved Me has been called an anomaly in the Bond canon
by more than one writer, and I wish I could come up with a different word
for it, but it’s really the most fitting.
For whatever reason, Fleming threw all caution to the wind and dove
headfirst into the first-person perspective of a woman, the results of
which can be…interesting.
At best, Fleming is confused from the get-go. He names John Kennedy
as US President during the story, but the novel takes place shortly after
the Thunderball mission, making this 1959. Bond says he’s undertaken a
mission in Canada, something he seems to have forgotten to tell Fleming
about. Also, Bond again declares he has never been able to play the role
of cold-blooded killer. Maybe Bond is lying, or simply believes this himself.
The strong points are just as easy to point out: This book features
what are amongst the most terrible villains Fleming (or anybody who has
followed him in the Bond legacy) has come up with. The reader knows Bond
will show up to save the day, but that’s not enough. One wants 007’s dark
side to slam into these two with a vengeance. It goes to show that evildoers
are not all mad scientists or megalomaniacs. There are those in the world
whose evil is simple if not easy to comprehend, and more pedestrian among
us than we’d care to think.
Fleming himself seemed to realize his misstep. When film rights
were being discussed by Fleming and Eon, Fleming specified that the only
thing regarding this book to be adapted to the screen was to be its title.
This directive was followed, but there is no denying the character of Jaws
who made his first appearance in that film, was inspired by Sol Horror.
Fleming also refused to grant paperback rights to this book during
his life. Only posthumously was it issued in paperback.
ROLE OF HONOR (Book by John Gardner, 1984)
An uncle of James Bond, Bruce, dies, leaving him a considerable inheritance.
This gives Bond the chance to investigate computer expert Dr. Jay Autem
Holy’s suspicious death in a plane crash that also claimed the life of mercenary
Joe Zwingli under independent airs after being assigned to the case by M.
The widow of Holy, Persephone ‘Percy’ Proud is convinced that a professor
named Jason St. John-Finnes is not only actually her still-alive husband,
but that he is at the bottom of several computer crimes.
Following a briefing regarding the programming of computers, Bond meets
with St. John-Finnes, wife Dazzle, and a pair of undercover CIA agents, Cindy
Chalmers and Peter Amadeus. Cindy passes on proof of St. John-Finnes’ involvement
in the crimes he is suspected of as well as details to ‘the Balloon Game,’
the next crime he plans to pull off.
Bond sends the disks Cindy has passed to him to MI6, and is nearly killed
when he returns to London and his car is run off the road. He is captured
and awakes on the Mediterranean in a terrorist training camp run by a man
called Simon. He meets with Tamil Rahani, a computer technology mogul who
has been seen with Zwingli after the General’s supposed death. Bond convinces
him that he is on Rahani’s side, and after a test involving 007 having to
kill several terrorists to prove his value and loyalty, he is allowed to return
to London.
St. John-Finnes also lets Bond in on his operation details: SPECTRE
needed financing, so he managed to commit the crimes he’s suspected of, and
now what they need is for 007 to get the radio frequency used to send emergency
signals by the President of the United States. It already holds the Russian
frequency. With the two, they can render the system useless.
When in London, Bond meets with M who gives him the frequency when he
learns that a summit has been called in Geneva. In a goodwill gesture, the
Goodyear blimp Europa is to fly overhead during the meeting. The signal to
disarm the emergency system could come from the blimp, giving the appearance
it came from the conference.
After the aircraft Bond is on is hijacked by SPECTRE forces, he arrives
at Berne to learn he is to be the co-pilot of the Europa along with Zwingli,
Rahani, Simon, and Holy. Together, they will use the command frequency and
destroy the nuclear weapons held by America and Russia.
The American frequency is sent, by Rahani takes the time to not send
the Russian signal and announce he is now head of SPECTRE. Zwingli attacks
him, but is shot. Holy takes a bullet in the fray as well. Rahani flees via
parachute, but Bond and Persephone know full well the frequencies have been
voided and new ones in use well in advance of the transmission sent from
the blimp.
A blossoming romance between 007 and Persephone is put on hold as they
understand that they will be tracked by SPECTRE until Rahani is stopped.
Gardner’s retrofitting of Bond’s world continues (007 has an uncle?
He had no living relatives at the end of You Only Live Twice. Hmm. Wonder
if Blofeld’s illegitimate daughter knew about this. What’s next, Felix Leiter’s
evil twin? If Felix is indeed his real name…) This is a big sticking point
with hardcore fans, and causes a huge leap of faith on the part of the reader
to continue in the rest of the novel, something one would think Gardner would
know better than to make the more serious part of Bond fandom to go, ‘Oh,
yeah?’
But if one pushes on past that major retelling of Bond’s background,
and is able to keep a clear eye on the plot, it works well. Gardner keeps
it simple and to the point without throwing in action for action’s sake, something
he had been known to do in his own novels, let alone the Bond continuation
books.
Melding his strengths as a writer with that of someone with a fondness
for the character he’s writing, Gardner delivers a stronger novel than Icebreaker
and one that gave some glimmer of hope for a decent set by the more staunch
of critics, many of which didn’t seem to have much time for Bond, anyway.
The action sequences are trimmed down, and therefore the book is considerably
less padded. Gardner seemed to have found how to speed things up without
sacrificing detail. He also has gotten a bit better in getting into Bond’s
head and psyche. Not a frequent thing for Gardner’s run, but nice to see
rather than just a rote telling of memories regarding past missions (specifically
those written by Fleming) which provide the occasional stumbling point when
taken in the light of Gardner’s bringing Bond into a new era and establishing
it so quickly that references to Goldfinger seem manipulative.
As long as one is able to get over the bit about Bond’s relation (someone
somewhere along the publishing line should’ve warned Gardner about inventing
relatives for Bond, or at least explained why Bond didn’t have any living
relations in You Only Live Twice), it is not only enjoyable as a book about
intrigue, but one taking place in the Bond universe. Bond and the other characters
are wholly believable and the author keeps things moving and throws in a
nice twist at the end, a welcome shift. On the whole, Role of Honor is Gardner’s
best Bond novel.
Director - Martin Campbell
Writers - Jeffrey Caine, Michael France
James Bond -- Pierce Brosnan
Alec Trevalyan -- Sean Bean
Natalya Simonova -- Izabella Scorupco
Xenia Onatopp -- Famke Janssen
Jack Wade -- Joe Don Baker
"M" -- Judi Dench
Valentin Dimitrivitch Zukovsky -- Robbie Coltrane
Dimitri Mishkin -- Tcheky Karyo
Colonel Ourumov -- Gottfried John
Boris Grishenko -- Alan Cumming
"Q" -- Desmond Llewelyn
Moneypenny -- Samantha Bond
Bill Tanner -- Michael Kitchen
THE SONGS: ‘Goldeneye’ (Intro) performed by Tina Turner
Turner’s voice is ready-made for this dark tune written by U2’s creative
force, Bono and the Edge. After too long in waiting for another Bond film,
everything, including the title song, was looked forward to, and Turner’s
sultry reading does not disappoint and stands as one of the strongest Bond
tunes to date.
‘The Experience of Love’ (End credits) performed by Eric Serra
Not much substance here and overall doesn’t fit into a Bond movie at all,
whether in the end credits or not. It’s not necessarily a reflection on Mr.
Serra, but trying to follow Tina Turner and James Bond is no easy feat.
Bond and 006, Alec Trevalyan are part of a covert mission to infiltrate
a Soviet weapons facility. Things go bad when the Soviets get the drop on
them, eventually capturing and using Trevalyan as a hostage. Bond is able
to destroy at least the targeted portion of the plant and make good his escape
only after Trevalyan is executed offscreen, which works to be more chilling
than actually seeing the killshot (and of course, sets up a twist towards
the end of the film.)
Nine years go by, and while gambling in Monte Carlo, Bond discovers
that the mysterious Georgian Xenia Onatopp may well be a part of the Janus
syndicate run out of St. Petersburg. Later, as his suspicious become confirmed,
he fails to stop Xenia and her boss, Col. Ourumov from stealing an experimental
Tiger helicopter that is shielded against electromagnetic interference.
Ouromov and Xenia take the craft to a Severnaya satellite communication
station where they test fire two Goldeneye weapon satellites in orbit over
the Earth, using the Severnaya facility itself as a target while they escape,
secure in the knowledge that no one survives. But one does, Natalya Simonova.
Bond is dispatched with finding the responsible parties with the help
of CIA agent Jack Wade, and eventually, Natalya herself. Predictably, he
gets the attention of the Janus syndicate, who have the upper hand in both
numbers against him but the shock that none other than Alec Trevalyan is at
the head of the organization.
Trevalyan reveals his plot to steal via electronic communications billions
of pounds and send the UK into a financial tailspin and use the Goldeneye
weapons to destroy the installations that would record the theft. The climax
is in Cuba, where Trevalyan will give the command to fire from his own transmitter.
Following a brutal fight with Bond, Trevalyan is killed and the transmission
is stopped.
Goldeneye, named for Fleming’s Jamaican home where he wrote most of
the James Bond novels, is a movie of firsts and (of course) new faces, thanks
to some of the best casting in a Bond film in a good while. Not only that
of the most anticipated actor to play 007 himself, but Bond also faces his
first female boss, M, played to perfection by Dame Judi Dench. Her dressing-down
of Bond and his questionable behavior in the past sets the stage not only
for the relationship they have, but it also lets Bond know in the most public
of forums that time has indeed marched on and that while continuity in the
Bond Universe may become fogged at certain points along the winding road,
he is not able to practice his old ways with quite the cavalier attitude he
has displayed in the past.
One could not ask for better than Samantha Bond as Moneypenny. The
lines she delivers to her dear James are delivered with a new attitude.
She is more than willing to go toe-to-toe with Bond in verbal uh, intercourse
and equally able to coming out on top, pun sort-of intended.
Casting two relative unknowns as Bond girls (Janssen had the sole domestic
release of the two, most notably Lord of Illusions) works wonders as both
are perfect for the parts they play as well as being capable of moving themselves
out from the shadows of the ghosts of Bond girls past.
Sean Bean as Trevalyan, best known from the Sharpe’s UK TV series, is
another welcome addition and the dynamic between he and Brosnan is considerable.
When they are allies, we believe them, but when they are enemies, we feel
it. The banter they exhibit is realistic and had it been done by other actors,
would have seemed so much over-the-top action cliché.
Joe Don Baker plays Jack Wade, a character who seems designed to replace
Felix Leiter. It’s a shame Felix couldn’t make it to Goldeneye, as Wade is
less an ally of Bond as he is a stereotypical ‘Ugly American.’
It’s good to see the Aston Martin DB5 back. A nice nod to the past,
to which this film definitely gives a ‘Nice knowing you’ wave rather than
the more final, ‘Goodbye.’
In terms of plotting, any possible weakness to fall on the evil villain
seeking riches routine is averted by the complete acidity of Trevalyan and
Bond’s trademark tenacity. The fact that Trevalyan is a Cossack and that
his parents were among those returned to Stalin following WWII is an inventive
twist, especially when considering that such plot devices went the way of
the dodo in Bond films circa late Moore-era.
While the film is far and away the best Bond installment since The
Spy Who Loved Me, its biggest liabilities come from the prerequisite opening
sequence, which is otherwise flawless, and the ending scenes detailing the
wholesale destruction of Trevalyan’s transmitter and the predictable death
of the completely unlikable Boris Greshenko. Goldeneye also marks the point
where it became painfully obvious that many drafts of the script were written
as well as an eye cast towards even more obvious product placement.
In the intro, while escaping Mishkin’s forces after 006 has been killed,
Bond leaps upon a motorcycle and trails a single-engine plane taxiing down
the tarmac. When the plane goes over the edge of the cliff, so goes Bond,
motorcycle and all. Separating from the bike, Bond soars down to the cockpit,
struggles inside and proceeds to pull the surely-doomed aircraft out of the
extreme power-dive in has been in and lives to fight another day.
In short, the criticism is this: We know that James Bond can do anything
he sets his mind to, but the lack of believability revokes the suspension
of disbelief in any viewer. By the way… Bond books his flight to Russia under
his real name… wouldn’t the KGB have had even the slightest interest in his
activities?
One would think the terrifying fall Trevalyan takes from the antenna’s
catwalk would surely do him in with quite colorful results which we are spared,
but when the superstructure collapses, the camera zooms in on him, laying
on his back, still very much alive, screaming. The colossal fall wasn’t
enough to do him in? His earlier request of James, ‘Why can’t you just be
a good boy and die?’ seems to apply here more as a request from the audience
rather than his ex-partner.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Who is Bond?
The Double O Section
A Brief Biography of Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming and his Building of Bond
A James Bond Chronology
THE NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
Works by Ian Fleming
Robert Markham (Kingsley Amis) And The Continuance Of The Bond Canon
John Gardner
Raymond Benson
FILMS
The Anatomy Of A Bond Girl
The Books Vs. The Movies
The Men Who Would Be Bond
The Films In Chronological Order
The Unofficial Films
THE PAST, PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE
Can/Should James Bond Survive Outside The Cold War?
The Influence Of Bond In Film
THE MARTINIS AND CHAMPAGNES
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