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The James Bond films are adaptations of most of Ian Fleming's novels based on the fictional British Secret Service Agent Commander James Bond. Twenty-one films have been made by EON Productions as of 2007. In addition, there are two independent productions and a American television adaptation of the first novel. Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman co-produced the EON films until 1975, when Broccoli remained the sole producer. Since 1995, Broccoli's daughter Barbara and stepson Michael G. Wilson have co-produced them. Six actors have portrayed 007 so far. The most recent EON film is Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig as James Bond, which premiered on 14 November 2006,, going on general release in Asia the following day.

Broccoli's and Saltzman's family company, Danjaq, has held ownership of the James Bond film series through Eon, and maintained co-ownership with United Artists Corporation since the mid-1970s. From the release of Dr. No (1962) up to For Your Eyes Only (1981), the films were distributed solely by United Artists. When MGM bought UA in 1981, MGM/UA Entertainment Co. was formed and distributed the films till 1995. MGM solely distributed three films from 1997 to 2002 after the United Artists brand retired as a mainstream studio. Beginning in 2006 with Casino Royale, MGM and Columbia Pictures co-distribute the franchise, due to a partnership led by Columbia's parent company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, acquiring MGM in 2005.

Actors

The first actor to portray James Bond was Sean Connery in Dr. No, released in 1962. Connery played the role for five films, and after Welsh actor Timothy Dalton turned down the role, feeling he was too young for it, Australian actor George Lazenby was cast in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1967. However, Connery returned for the next movie, Diamonds Are Forever in 1971. 1973's Live and Let Die featured Roger Moore's debut as Bond. Moore would have the longest run, appearing in seven films.

The role subsequently went to Timothy Dalton, who was contracted in 1986 for three films as James Bond. Dalton starred in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989), with the third film planned for 1991. However, legal ownership problems of the James Bond franchise delayed release until 1995, by which time the decision had been taken to cast a new actor. Persistent rumours state that Dalton's third film was going to be The Property of a Lady, but the story, treatment, and draft screenplays were called GoldenEye. In 1994, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan was hired as James Bond (Brosnan was initially approached after Moore relinquished the role, but his contract with the TV show Remington Steele made him unavailable). Brosnan's debut, GoldenEye (1995), was the franchise's highest grossing film at that date, and he starred in three more films. Brosnan is the only actor who did not star in a James Bond film titled after an Ian Fleming novel and is the second actor not to have been from the United Kingdom.

The latest actor to play the role is Daniel Craig, hired in 2005. Craig's debut in Casino Royale was successful both critically and commercially. Craig's performance was also the first in the series to earn a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. The 22nd Bond film is scheduled for a 2008 release, and the 23rd, for 2010.

In the course of the official series, American actors have been engaged to play James Bond on two occasions — and have been approached at other times as well. John Gavin was contracted in 1970 to replace George Lazenby, but Connery was well-paid to re-appear in Diamonds Are Forever. James Brolin was contracted in 1983, to replace Roger Moore, and prepared to shoot Octopussy when the producers paid Moore to return. To date, the only American to play James Bond is Barry Nelson, in the 1954 American television adaptation of Casino Royale, though Brolin's three screen tests were publicly released for the first time as a special feature named James Brolin: The Man Who Would Be Bond in the Octopussy: Ultimate Edition DVD.

Films

Five Ian Fleming titles have thus far never been used as film titles: The Property of a Lady, Quantum of Solace, Risico, The Hildebrand Rarity, and 007 in New York.

Film traditions

The series has its cinematic traditions which date from the first film.

Gun barrel sequence

Since Dr. No each film has begun with the gun barrel sequence, which was created by the title sequence director Maurice Binder. Filmed through a rifled gun barrel's perspective, the view is of James Bond walking from right to left, then quickly turning to his left and shooting. The gun barrel reddens with his enemy's spilling blood, and then lightens to a white circle. Casino Royale was the first Bond film without the gun barrel sequence opening the film; it occurs after the pre-title sequence instead. There was a minor difference in the Die Another Day sequence: the bullet flies towards the viewer, which did not happen before. George Lazenby was covered by the opaque red colour in the gun barrel sequences of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, whereas all other films have simply had Bond tinted red . A new rendering of the gunbarrel and the blood was introduced in Casino Royale. It is the first to show Bond in a "real world" situation (rather than walking across a white void) and the first sequence to begin with Bond facing away from the camera. According to liner notes on the CD release of the soundtrack album for the non-EON film Never Say Never Again, a version of the gunbarrel sequence was planned for that film and a musical score composed, but was not filmed.

Pre-title sequence

After the gunbarrel sequence, every film excepting Dr. No begins with a pre-title sequence teaser. Some of them (like those in Live and Let Die and Moonraker) pertain to the film's plot, but most others (like Goldfinger and Octopussy) feature Bond completing a separate mission. The World Is Not Enough (1999) contains the longest at more than fifteen minutes, as compared to the six- to eight-minute sequences in the other films.

Opening credits

The title sequence is both a trademark and a visual staple of the James Bond film series. The visual elements in the sequence often reflect themes and elements of the film's plot, such as a golden gun in The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond cavorting with female Russian spies in The Spy Who Loved Me, girls demolishing Communist statues and symbols with sledgehammers and the two-faced girl reminiscent of the Janus syndicate in GoldenEye, oil in The World Is Not Enough, rouennais playing card motifs, with duochrome silhouettes of men fighting in Casino Royale, as well as a computer screen registering Bond as 007, since the film depicts his first mission.

The opening title sequences of From Russia with Love and Goldfinger were designed by Robert Brownjohn; they feature credits and footage projected on models. Maurice Binder was the creator and designer of the credits for fourteen of the films from 1962 until 1989. Since 1991, Daniel Kleinman has designed the credits and added computer-generated images to them. During the sequence, the film's title song is sung by a contemporary artist, although instrumental opening credits were used in From Russia with Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, while Dr. No opens with a medley of instrumental and vocal music. The titles of all films except Dr. No, From Russia with Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Octopussy and Casino Royale are stated in the lyrics of the respective opening themes.

In Die Another Day, Bond is tortured in a North Korean prison during the opening credits making it the only time the credits have contributed to the film's plot.

"Bond, James Bond"

Bond's famous introduction, "Bond, James Bond", became a catchphrase after it was first uttered by Sean Connery in Dr. No. On June 21, 2005 it was honoured as the 22nd historically-greatest cinema quotation, by the American Film Institute in their 100 Years Series. In promoting the release of Tomorrow Never Dies, preview trailers featured James Bond Pierce Brosnan saying, "Bond. You know the rest." GoldenEye, in 1995, similarly drew on the public's familiarity with James Bond; its promotional teaser poster reads: "You know the name. You know the number." The theme song of Casino Royale is "You Know My Name". CIA agent Felix Leiter is the first man to whom James Bond so identifies himself in the novels. From Russia with Love , Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice are the only films in which Bond does not give his trademark introduction.

Bond girls

A Bond girl is a character portraying Bond's love interest or sex object. In most films, Bond girls are victims rescued by Bond, ally agents, villainesses or henchwomen; some, such as Honey Ryder, solely seduce the secret agent and have no direct involvement in his mission. Two of them - Gala Brand and Vivienne Michel - appear only in the novels and have been excluded from the films.

Sylvia Trench is the only recurring Bond girl, while Swedish actress Maud Adams has played two different Bond girls in two films, The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy. Bond has fallen in love with only Tracy di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, but both of them die at the end of the respective films.

Vehicles and gadgets

In most films, Q designs a variety of automobiles that are useful in Bond's missions, with the models of Bentley, Aston Martin, Lotus, BMW and Ford being driven frequently. Bond also shows his taste for aircraft, like a gyrocopter in You Only Live Twice and an Acrostar Jet in Octopussy, as well as marine vehicles such as a Lotus Esprit that could convert into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me and other submarines resembling an iceberg (A View to a Kill) or an alligator (Octopussy).

Originally, in the novels, gadgets were relatively unimportant. However, they took on a higher profile in the film version of From Russia with Love, and their use has continued ever since. In each film, Q would present and demonstrate Bond several tools assigned for the mission, and every device would be indispensable to Bond's success.

Drinks

In many novels and films, Bond displays a connoisseur's knowledge of various drinks including champagnes and brandies, understanding both their manufacture and the correct way to serve and enjoy them. He is most well known for his preference for the "vodka martini, Shaken, not stirred", which was first stated in chapter 14 of Dr. No. The cocktail's style of preparation is first recited on screen by Bond's room service waiter in Jamaica in Dr. No. Later, Dr. No himself recites it in persuading Bond to accept the proffered drink. This catchphrase is honoured by the AFI as the 90th most-memorable cinema quotation. The film and the book Casino Royale feature a cocktail recipe of Bond's own creation, named "Vesper" after Vesper Lynd, the main Bond girl. In You Only Live Twice and Licence to Kill, Bond drinks a "stirred, not shaken" martini. In Casino Royale the in-joke is James Bond's "Do I look like I give a damn?" reply to a bartender's query of "shaken or stirred?"

Endings

So far only two Bond films, Casino Royale and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, do not end with Bond kissing the main Bond girl, making love to her, or implying that he will do so. A recurring incident is Bond being either disturbed or noticed by his superiors.

Every film except Dr. No (1962) and Thunderball (1965) has either the line "James Bond will return..." or "James Bond will be back" in the ending credits. Until Octopussy (1983), the next film to be produced also used to be named. Over the years, the sequel has been incorrectly stated three times. Firstly, the 1964 film Goldfinger announced in early prints that Bond would return in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. However, Thunderball was released next, and the credits were corrected accordingly. In 1977, the credits for The Spy Who Loved Me stated that For Your Eyes Only would follow, but it is widely believed that Albert Broccoli decided to take advantage of the success of the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and release Moonraker, whose plot was changed to involve outer space. However, unlike Goldfinger, the credits of The Spy Who Loved Me were not corrected. Thirdly, Octopussy incorrectly declared the next film as being From a View to a Kill, the original literary title of A View to a Kill.

Film title references

In most movies, the name of the movie is mentioned in the movie such as name of the main villain (Dr. No, Goldfinger) or his plans (GoldenEye, Moonraker), dialogues (You Only Live Twice, The World is Not Enough), or songs (The Spy Who Loved Me). Dr. No and The World Is Not Enough were the titles mentioned in two films, while the title Licence to Kill is recurs in many films.

Cast changes

The Bond films rarely explicitly acknowledge the changes in cast members that have affected several of the recurring characters including Blofeld, Felix Leiter, M, Miss Moneypenny and Q. However, there are a few instances, including:

• In the early scenes of the 1967 Casino Royale, David Niven's retired Bond berates M for giving his number and his name to a brash new agent; the description he gives fits Sean Connery's Bond.
• In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, when Tracy leaves George Lazenby's Bond alone on the beach, he complains, "This never happened to the other fellow." Similarly, a reference to Bond's return from holiday is included in the following film, Diamonds Are Forever, which featured Sean Connery's return to the role.
• In the non-EON film Never Say Never Again, M states that he has taken over the post from another individual.
• In GoldenEye, Valentin Zukovsky comments on how "the new M is a lady" while Bond himself states to the current M that her predecessor kept cognac in his office, while the current M prefers bourbon.
• In The World Is Not Enough (1999), Major Boothroyd's Q (played by Desmond Llewelyn) is preparing to retire, and introduces his successor (jokingly referred to by Bond as "R"), played by John Cleese. Boothroyd has presumably retired by the time of Die Another Day (2002) as the character does not appear. In fact, Desmond Llewelyn had been killed in a car accident shortly after finishing the filming of The World Is Not Enough. Bond refers to Cleese's character first as Quartermaster, then as Q. He was absent from Casino Royale, and it is unknown if he will appear in Bond 22.

Radio and television

In 1954, CBS paid Ian Fleming US$1,000 for the rights to adapt Casino Royale into a one-hour television adventure as part of their Climax! series. The episode featured American Barry Nelson in the role of "Jimmy Bond", an agent for the fictional "Combined Intelligence" agency. The rights to Casino Royale were subsequently sold to producer Charles K. Feldman who turned Fleming's first novel into a spoof in 1967 featuring David Niven as Bond and five other actors (including Peter Sellers) as fake "James Bond"s. The instrumental theme music was a hit for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Bob Holness portrayed James Bond in a South African radio adaptation of Moonraker in 1956, which is the only known radio adaptation.

Before his first appearance in the EON Bond film Live and Let Die in 1973, Roger Moore played the role in an episode of a TV comedy show called Mainly Millicent (starring Millicent Martin and guest stars) in the summer of 1964. This episode is included as a special feature (named "Roger Moore as James Bond, Circa 1964") in the newly published Live and Let Die: Ultimate Edition DVD. The performance was broadcast live and the scene contains several errors: Martin has a drink spilled over her and at one point trips and falls, though both actors stay in character.

When plans for a James Bond film were scrapped in the late 1950s, a story treatment entitled Thunderball, written by Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham, was adapted as Fleming's ninth Bond novel. Initially the book was only credited to Fleming. McClory filed a lawsuit that would eventually award him the film rights to the title in 1963. Afterwards, he made a deal with EON Productions to produce a film adaptation starring Sean Connery in 1965. The deal stipulated that McClory could not produce another adaptation until a set period of time had elapsed, and he did so in 1983 with Never Say Never Again, which featured Sean Connery for a seventh time as 007. Since it was not made by Broccoli's production company, Eon Productions, it is not considered a part of the "official" film series. A second attempt by McClory to remake Thunderball in the 1990s with Sony Pictures was halted by a legal dispute resulting in the studio abandoning its aspirations for a rival James Bond series. Until his death in November 2006 McClory claimed to still own the film rights to Thunderball, though MGM and EON assert they have expired.

The 1973 BBC documentary Omnibus: The British Hero featured Christopher Cazenove playing a number of such title characters (e.g., Richard Hannay and Bulldog Drummond), including James Bond in dramatised scenes from Goldfinger — notably featuring the hero being threatened with the novel's circular saw, rather than the film's laser beam — and Diamonds Are Forever.

References

1. "Stars out for Bond royal premiere". BBC. Retrieved 2006-11-15.
2. "Casino Royale - Worldwide release dates". Sony Pictures. Retrieved 2006-10-25.
3. http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/bonds/dalton.php3
4. http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/articles/bond_17_intro.php3
5. Last, Kimberly (1996). "Pierce Brosnan's Long and Winding Road To Bond". Retrieved 2007-02-22.
6. "BBC News: 'Brilliant' Bond seduces critics". Retrieved April 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
7. "BBC News: Queen rules over BAFTA hopefuls". Retrieved April 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
8. Dave McNary, "Hollywood films' dating game. Opening weekends being set for '09, '10", Variety 7-13-2007
9. McDonagh, Maitland (2006-04-19). "The James Bonds who might have been". Retrieved 2007-02-22.
10. DVD Times: Octopussy: Ultimate Edition DVD
11. Dave McNary, "Hollywood films' dating game. Opening weekends being set for '09, '10", Variety 7-13-2007
12. Casino Royale seems opaque, but a closer look will reveal that Bond can still be seen under the red
13. "Episode 1". Main Hoon Bond. Episode 1. August 5, 2007. 54 minutes in. {{cite episode}}: Check date values in: |airdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |serieslink= (help); Unknown parameter |channel= ignored (help)
14. ""Bond. James Bond" 22nd greatest line in cinema history". AFI's 100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes. Retrieved July 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
15. "Revelation of Moonraker not being a reaction to Star Wars". Retrieved 2007-08-03.
16. BBC Comedy Guide: Mainly Millicent
17. DVD Times: Live and Let Die: Ultimate Edition DVD

External links

• James Bond Official Website
• Pinewood Studios - home of Bond
• BondMovies.com
• Bond Lifestyle
• MI6.co.uk One of the largest unofficial James Bond websites online.

• James Bond films