So there has been 20 Bond Films, Yes 20! There are at the moment 2 Bond films in the pipeline. Is the Bond film the greatest cinema success ever? What is it about the Bond film that means that after 20 films they can still have the confidence to plan 2 films ahead? Personally I think it's a boring cheesy format that should have died long ago, but I would still watch another one Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I don't quite get why these films are still popular - except perhaps the appetite for action flicks in general. A certain number of people seem to flock to anything which involves explosions, "cool" gizmos, car/boat/plane/etc crashes/chases/etc. I thought the "series" or "franchise" or whatever had pretty much shot its bolt once Roger Moore was old enough to look like the dad of the 20-something evil henchmen he was pummeling, and the babes he was bedding during the latter days of his run playing Bond. Liked The Man With The Golden Gun and Live and Let Die, but by the time the dude with the steel teeth showed up... twice... ugh. Plus, by then the randy inuendo jokes were sounding so lame it was downright pathetic. Connery's films were the best of the lot, of course ! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
To each his own. I loved the Roger Moore movies. However they were the product of a later time and had a different ambience. The humor wasn't so dry and the special effects were more elaborate. James Bond has become a mythology. The stories are full of archetypes and we all relate to them unconsciously. Nonetheless both the character and the milieu are artifacts--now relics--of the Cold War. I'm not convinced that they will continue to survive the transition to the post-Perestroika world. The later films may be better, but the first one was an experience I will never forget because there had never really been a movie like that before. It was the cinematic analog of the first Beatles' song.
James Bond is popular because men want to be like him and girls are attracted to the Bond archetype. Seriously, which man wouldn't want to speak a whole bunch of languages, be a spy with the license to kill and fuck around with lots of gorgeous women? And which women wouldn't be attracted to that? The success is pretty obvious... Sorry, this is blatantly honest. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I tend to avoid experiencing both the film and print version of the same story. Whichever comes first spoils me for the other. So I haven't tracked down any of the books, sorry.
