James Bond
Bond Legacy: From Russia With Love
Welcome back, dear reader. You join us for the second in this monthly series, where I will be increasingly tested in my attempt to prove the theory that every single James Bond film has had a lasting legacy, having a profound effect on both the rest of the series and cinema in general. This means, of course, that while others are keenly studying recurring motifs and themes, I’m only interested in the origins. At this point, we’re still in early Connery, so there’s plenty of meat on these bones yet – it’s when we get to later Moore that I’ll be completely bricking it.
From Russia With Love is a key film in many ways – a chance to improve on the formula, to refine what was good about the original but to take it to a new level. It got the chance to make it to the screen after JFK named it in his list of his ten favourite novels – one can only imagine that George W. Bush played with a lot of Transformers while at college if the modern standard of sequels is still based on presidential preference.
Dr. No had established many of the key Bond standards, but there was only part of a template in place at this point. Oddly, a few of the things that it had established go by the wayside here, including “Bond, James Bond,” which was actually in the book on which this was based. But this, almost more than any other Bond film, establishes the template by which the others work, and has earned its place as one of the most highly regarded films in the wholes series. I said last month that I would look for at least one legacy per film, but that I’d go a bit further for the first film and came up with five. This month I’ve skimped a little due to time pressures, and only came up with… ten.
Bond Legacy: Dr. No
Welcome, Mr. Reader, to the first in my series of contributions to the Blogalongabond initiative, which is re-examining James’s Bond’s back catalogue at the rate of one film per month until the release of the next Bond film in cinemas near you in November 2012.
I firmly believe that the Bond films represent our greatest British cinematic legacy, and over the course of the next 23 months I will attempt to find something in each film which has not only influenced the rest of the series, but also cinema itself. You may wish me luck in advance for when we get to the likes of Octopussy and Tomorrow Never Dies, because I’m definitely going to need it.
So, thirty-nine years on from the original Bond film, what most resonates from Dr. No to this day? It’s not quite the template for every film that followed; somewhere, in a parallel universe, there have been twenty-two Bond films that all started with a series of flashing dots, rather than scantily clad women silhouetted against giant guns, and in that universe there’s probably a much higher epilepsy rate. But thankfully we live in this universe, where Bond has updated and tweaked the template, but the core values have remained the same, and the dots didn’t last. There’s a few things that did, so at the risk of making things even more difficult for myself in the coming months, here’s my top 5 legacies from Dr No. You’ll only get one next month, so make the most of it.
And in case you’re wondering about the selections in my list, there are plenty of iconic repeated moments (such as the opening tracking gun barrel shot and the dripping blood) which are maybe a little too specific to this series, and quite a few standout moments (Bond’s first introduction, Honey Rider emerging from the sea in a bikini) which are fantastic in isolation, but maybe don’t have a lasting impact in the grander scheme.
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