I. Literary Origins
The roots of James Bond are found in the real life adventures of Ian Fleming. Fleming had worked for the British Intelligence Service during World War II and drew on his experiences to create the James Bond character. Demonstrating how a character can begin in one place and end up in quite another, Fleming originally envisioned James Bond as a bland and uninteresting character to whom interesting things happen. The name “James Bond” was actually taken from the author of the bird watching field guide Birds of the West Indies, since Fleming concluded that “James Bond” was the dullest name he had ever heard.
Fleming’s first James Bond novel was Casino Royale, which was published in 1953. After Casino Royale, Fleming continued to produce one Bond book per year until his death in 1964. Additional books were published posthumously in the two years following his passing, resulting in a total of fourteen James Bond books authored by Fleming. Starting in 1968 other writers were authorized to continue the stories of James Bond in original books and tie-in novels to Bond films. Between 1981 and 2011, thirty-three James Bond novels were published, with multiple books sometimes coming out in the same year. Other spin off books were written as well including the Young Bond series and The Moneypenny Diaries.
II. Dr. No
In 1959, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman purchased the film rights to all the James Bond novels except Casino Royale, whose film rights had already been sold to another party. Producers Broccoli and Saltzman established Eon Productions and set about making the first James Bond feature: Dr. No. Sean Connery was cast in the Bond role, and although Connery was not the filmmaker’s first choice, his casting is now considered one of the great assignments of an actor with a character. Far from the boring, blunt instrument of Fleming’s novel, Sean Connery’s James Bond was the epitome of cool, a mix of rapier wit, masculine violence, and suave sexuality.
The music score from Dr. No is primarily credited to John Barry but the iconic James Bond theme was written by Monty Norman. Norman was let go during the post-production process when the filmmakers were unhappy with the body of his score but liked his James Bond theme. Retaining Norman’s theme was a wise decision as it is now one of the most widely recognized pieces of music in the world. The music suggests danger, mystery, and sexuality and the trifecta of Ian Fleming’s literary creation with Sean Connery’s performance and Monty Norman’s theme conspired to create one of the most memorable and iconic characters in this history of the movies.
III. From Russia With Love
Dr. No was released in 1962 to a mixed critical reaction, including negative reaction from novelist Ian Fleming, but the film did well enough to warrant a sequel: From Russia with Love. It was a bigger success than Dr. No both critically and commercially. Very importantly, From Russia with Love began the tradition of devising a radio-friendly pop song associated with the title. These songs became a key element of the James Bond brand and a cornerstone of the marketing of the films.
IV. You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice was the fifth James Bond film and upon its release Sean Connery announced his intention to abandon the character. This installment was notable in that it used the title of the Ian Fleming novel but not the plot, a trend that would continue throughout the series as the character drifted further and further from the scope and tenor of the novels. You Only Live Twice also included Bond villain Blofeld, played by Donald Pleasence, a much imitated character who was the inspiration for Dr. Evil in Mike Meyers’ Austin Powers films.
V. Casino Royale (1967)
In 1967, the same year that Sean Connery left Eon Productions’ James Bond series, the franchise had one of its most unusual installments. The rights for the original Bond novel, Casino Royale, had initially been sold to producer Gregory Ratoff in 1955. After Ratoff’s death, the rights transferred to producer Charles K. Feldman. Feldman initially attempted to mount a joint venture with Eon Productions but was never able to come to an agreement with Eon producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Instead of making a straight adaptation of the source novel, Feldman decided to make a James Bond parody that incorporated the psychedelic styles popular in the late 1960s.
Casino Royale was a calamitous production. The very design of the movie invited a degree of chaos, since it is divided into chapters each directed by a different filmmaker. But the production was severely impaired by drama between cast and crew. Casino Royale included a number of heavyweight talents from that time including Peter Sellers and Orson Wells and the two men did not get along. Sellers was particularly difficult to work with and parted ways with the production before all of his scenes were shot. This, combined with script rewrites and other delays, resulted in cost overruns that doubled the budget and the film’s debut was postponed.
Casino Royale was released in 1967 and it was a commercial success although not a critical one. Orson Wells suggested that the box office success of Casino Royale may have had more to do with an effective marketing strategy and a poster that featured a naked, tattooed lady, rather than anything in the film. Looking at Casino Royale decades later it is absurd, erratic, and often incoherent. But at the same time it also an interesting souvenir of the psychedelic era.
VI. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Despite the departure of Sean Connery after 1967’s You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions moved ahead with the James Bond series with On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. George Lazenby stepped into the lead role but he would only star as Bond for this film.
Aside from featuring Lazenby’s single Bond performance, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was also distinguished by its music. The James Bond films typically included a song that lyricized the film’s title. Composer John Barry realized that On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was quite a mouthful and didn’t lend itself to a title song, so the film primarily featured score although songs were written for the film including “We Have All The Time in the World,” performed by Louis Armstrong.
VII. Diamonds Are Forever
After George Lazenby’s single performance as James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Sean Connery returned to the role for Eon Productions with Diamonds are Forever. Connery has made no secret that he was essentially bribed back to the role with a very significant paycheck.
Also returning to the Bond series was singer Shirley Bassey performing the title song. Bassey had previously recorded the track for Goldfinger and would later participate on Moonraker. She remains the only singer to provide multiple songs for the James Bond series.
VIII. Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die was the first Bond film to star Roger Moore. Although Sean Connery is popularly regarded as the best Bond and he certainly set the tone for the series, it’s the Roger Moore films that really sealed the popular image of the character. During Connery’s tenure, the James Bond stories were a mix of detective work with occasional action. The Moore films took the series is a fantastic direction with elaborate gadgets and a much more campy tone.
One of the interesting elements of the James Bond series is the way in which the character has proven pliable to the times. Although the basic elements of the character remain the same, the stories and situations have changed to reflect other cinematic trends. The villains of early Bond films directly and indirectly embodied the fears of Communism. Live and Let Die was made amidst the blaxploitation trend of the early 1970s and it incorporated urban settings and African American characters, including the first black Bond girl, played by Gloria Hendry.
IX. The Man with the Golden Gun
The next film in the series, The Man with the Golden Gun, was the last picture to be co-produced jointly by Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. After The Man with the Golden Gun, Saltzman sold his stake in the Bond franchise to United Artists. This began the gradual corporatization of the character which would lead to legal complications in later years.
X. For Your Eyes Only
As the James Bond series entered the 1980s, a decision was made to pull back from the fantastical direction that the series had drifted toward, seen most obviously in 1979’s Moonraker, in which 007 was sent on a mission in space. For Your Eyes Only returned to the source material by combining plot elements from Ian Fleming’s novels Live and Let Die, Goldfinger and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Notably, For Your Eyes Only was the last Bond film to be distributed solely by United Artists, which merged with MGM soon after the movie’s release.
XI. Never Say Never Again
In the early 1960s, James Bond novelist Ian Fleming developed a script for a potential Bond film with producer Kevin McClory and screenwriter Jack Whittingham. This script, to be called Longitude 78 West, was never made. Fleming then took the idea and turned it into the novel Thunderball, which was subsequently adapted into a film by Eon Productions. McClory filed a lawsuit against Fleming but resolved the issue through a deal with Eon in which McClory would be able to adapt the Thunderball novel ten years after the Eon film was released. When the decade had passed McClory pursued his adaptation of Thunderball but was stonewalled by legal injunctions. Eon Productions claimed that McClory has the right to the story of Thunderball but not to the James Bond character. After several more years of legal wrangling, McClory not only produced his version of the film but was also able to enlist Sean Connery to return for his final performance as 007. The Thunderball-remake was titled Never Say Never Again, a title suggested by Connery’s wife as an in-joke regarding the actor’s previous declaration that he would never play Bond ever again.
As a result, the year 1983 saw the release of two James Bond films: Eon Production’s Octopussy starring Roger Moore and Never Say Never Again starring Sean Connery. The filmmakers of Never Say Never Again took note of Eon’s marketing strategy and included a title song for their picture performed by Lani Hall.
XII. The Living Daylights and License to Kill
Roger Moore completed his time as James Bond with 1985’s A View to a Kill. But Bond was back two years later with The Living Daylights staring Timothy Dalton. Dalton had originally been considered to replace Sean Connery in the late 1960s and again the early 1980s to replace Roger Moore, but in both instances Dalton walked away from the offers. When Dalton did finally accept the role, his films were a departure from the lighter and campier pictures that had distinguished Moore’s films. The Living Daylights and License to Kill took a harder edge and at the time of their release they were criticized for their violence. A third film with Dalton was planned but a legal dispute between Eon Productions and MGM stalled the production and Dalton resigned from the role.
XIII. Goldeneye
Once the legal disputes between Eon Productions and MGM were settled, the Bond series continued with actor Pierce Brosnan taking over the role in Goldeneye, released in 1995.
When production of the James Bond series resumed in the mid-1990s the filmmakers found themselves confronted by a new challenge. The original James Bond source novels had been Cold War-era spy fiction and the films to this point had directly or indirectly been about the Communist threat. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War it was unclear if James Bond still had any cultural currency. Fortunately action pictures of the 1990s had a decidedly apolitical tone as compared with the post-Vietnam action films of the Reagan-era like Rambo or the post 9/11 films of the next decade such as The Bourne Identity. During the 1990s, the ideology of the action film took a backseat to rollercoaster thrills and that is exactly what the Bond films of the Pierce Brosnan era delivered. In a way it was a return to the campier style of the Roger Moore Bond films but executed in a way that would appeal to an audience raised on videogames.
XIV. Die Another Day
The last Bond film of the Pierce Brosnan era was Die Another Day, released in 2002. Although it had a successful box office run, the film was very much an encapsulation of everything wrong with the action genre in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The picture had rampant product placement and it used action scenes as a distraction from the absence of a plot instead of the payoff to a carefully told story.
The James Bond films have on occasion rankled governments and religious organizations. Notably, the early James Bond films were criticized by the Vatican for their violence and sexuality while the Kremlin labeled them capitalist propaganda. Die Another Day received criticism from Asian countries. The North Korean government disliked the portrayal of their state and South Korean Buddhists boycotted theatres over a lovemaking scene near a statue of the Buddha.
XV. Casino Royale (2006)
After Die Another Day, the James Bond series required another reinvention. Taking a cue from the style of The Bourne Identity and following the trend of prequel and origin stories like Batman Begins, the James Bond series returned to the beginning with an adaptation of Ian Fleming’s original novel Casino Royale. Casting Daniel Craig in the lead role, the 2006 version of Casino Royale injected the Bond series with a fresh approach while maintaining the basic appeals of the character. The films of the Daniel Craig era are distinguished most by a palatable sense of both mortality and morality. Daniel Craig’s 007 was by far the most human James Bond of the film series but other characters, including the villains and the women, are also complex and compromised players in the action.
XIV. Skyfall
After the disappointing Quantam of Solace, the Daniel Craig era continued with Skyfall, which was unique both within the James Bond series and among contemporary action cinema in general. The James Bond films have generally avoided depth or emotional resonance. Bond has consistently been a flat character; he does not change much within or between films and he is typically unflappable and without weakness of character or fortitude. The James Bond of Skyfall is a complex and damaged character who must overcome personal demons and other challenges. The emphasis on character is part of a larger project of making Bond relevant for a post-9/11 audience that was begun in 2006’s Casino Royale. Skyfall continues that very aggressively and the film shows a self-awareness and intelligence about life in the age of international terrorism.
References and Further Reading
Those interested in further information about James Bond should check out the following:
- James Bond and Philosophy edited by James B. South and Jacob M. Held
- The James Bond Bedside Companion by Raymond Benson
- License To Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films by James Chapman
- The Politics of James Bond: from Fleming's Novels to the Big Screen by Jeremy Black
- Wikipedia: List of James Bond Films
- Wikipedia: List of James Bond Novels and Stories
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