Top James Bond Kills of the Decade: 1960s

Top James Bond Kills of the Decade: 1960s

We all know James Bond has his license to kill.  And he uses it.

This is the first video in our series showing you James Bond’s best kills from each of his movies.   This one covers the seven James Bond movies released in the 1960s.

Seven James Bond movies?  Don’t we mean six? Yes, there were six EON Productions James Bond movies released in the 1960s.  However, a non-EON Productions James Bond movie was produced by Charles K. Feldman and Jerry Bresler was released in 1967. Of course, we’re talking about Casino Royale spoof.

So, in this video we look at James Bond’s kills in DR. NO, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, CASINO ROYALE (1967), and ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE.

Enjoy “Top James Bond Kills of the Decade: 1960s” here and let us know your thoughts about this video, ideas for future videos, and if we missed any quality James Bond kills in this movie by either leaving a comment below or by dropping us a note at info@spymovienavigator.com.

And, Top James Bond Kills of the Decade: will return with our look at James Bond’s kills in the 1970s.

You can find more videos like this on our YouTube Channel or our website.

The Most Attention-Grabbing Entrances for James Bond – Connery era

Sean Connery’s James Bond attention-grabbing entrances are part of the James Bond lore. The way Connery played Bond gave him a swagger and sometimes a funny quip to go along with it. And, no matter what, James Bond was in charge of the situation.

Let’s look at how Connery gave entrance scenes for James Bond his special touch. From DR. NO to NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, Sean Connery set the bar for dynamic James Bond entrances.

So, take a look as we look at Connery’s Bond’s dynamic entrances in all seven of his James Bond movies, from DR. NO to NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN.  You’ll “be in the know”

You can check out all of our podcast episodes on your favorite podcast app or our website. Our channel name is CRACKING THE CODE OF SPY MOVIES.

Ideas/Comments on this video, Sean Connery’s James Bond attention-grabbing entrances? Mail us at:  Info@cracking-the-code-of-spy-movies.com

See more of our videos on our website or on our YouTube channel.

Gadgets in James Bond’s YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE Decoded!

Podcast Episode

Gadgets in James Bond’s YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE Decoded!

Join Tom, Dan and Vicky as they have some fun with the gadgets in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE!

 

Space capsules,  poison-dart-firing cigarette, Little Nellie, safe-crackers, flash paper, slides, closed-circuit cameras, micro-dots, collapsing bridges and more as we decode the gadgets in James Bond’s  YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE!

Join Tom, Dan and Vicky as they have some fun with the gadgets in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE!

Dan, Tom and Vicky look into the following gadgets in You Only Live Twice:

  • Chris’ space walk maneuvering device
  • Space capsules
  • Poison-dart-firing cigarette
  • Little Nellie
  • Safe-crackers
  • Flash paper
  • Micro-dots
  • Collapsing bridges
  • Exploding Lipstick Cases
  • Closed Circuit Television
  • and More …

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GOLDFINGER – Oddjob Character Spotlight, played by Harold Sakata

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What makes FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE So Good?

What makes FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE So Good? Listen as Dan and Tom call out the top 10 reasons to answer this question.

GOLDFINGER – Pre-Title Sequence Decoded!

Join Dan, Tom and Vicky as we dig for the gold in the pre-title sequence of GOLDFINGER!

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You Only Live Twice – All The Gadgets In 3 1/2 Minutes

Related: You Only Live Twice

Related: You Only Live Twice – Scene and Title Song Analysis

Related: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – Pre-Title Sequence Decoded

 

Space capsules,  poison-dart-firing cigarette, Little Nellie, safe-crackers, flash paper, slides, closed-circuit cameras, micro-dots, collapsing bridges and more as we examine all the gadgets in James Bond’s  YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – all in 3 1/2 minutes!

This video takes a look at all of the gadgets used in the James Bond movie You Only Live Twice!


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You Only Live Twice

You Only Live Twice is the 1997 James Bond movie from Eon Productions, featuring Sean Connery as James Bond. Bond is in Japan to keep SPECTRE from instigating a world war started by the Soviet Union and the US.

You Only Live Twice – Scene and Title Song Analysis

Join Dan, Tom & Vicky in a scene analysis of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE with connections to other movies and a lyrics analysis too!

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – Pre-Title Sequence Decoded

Join Dan, Tom & Vicky as they decode the pre-title sequence of You Only Live Twice!

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – Pre-Title Sequence Decoded

Podcast Episode

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – Pre-Title Sequence Decoded

Join Dan, Tom & Vicky as they decode the pre-title sequence of You Only Live Twice!

Join Dan, Tom & Vicky as they decode the pre-title sequence of You Only Live Twice!

We want to hear from you and what you think of this podcast!  Send us a message at https://spymovienavigator.com/contact-us/

Or leave us a voice message by pressing the big red button to your right.

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You can send us your comments in an email at info@spymovienavigator.com

In this episode we examine:

  • The length of time it took Chris to “try” to get back to the spacecraft
  • How one spacecraft swallowing another is similar to scenes from The Spy Who Loved Me and Q Planes.
  • How Houston and Cap-Con were mispronounced
  • The great work on the McDonnell Aircraft employees and the NASA control Center
  • How realistic the maneuvering device is that Chris uses on his EVA
  • Is it a spaceship or a spacecraft?
  • Tsai Chin, playing Ling, and her role in another James Bond movie
  • Bond’s death in bed and our questions about this scene.
  • And More …

 


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James Bond’s CASINO ROYALE (2006) Pre-Title Sequence Decoded!

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You Only Live Twice

You Only Live Twice Poster

You Only Live Twice is the 1997 James Bond movie from Eon Productions, featuring Sean Connery as James Bond.
Bond is in Japan to keep SPECTRE from instigating a world war started by the Soviet Union and the US.


YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – Pre-Title Sequence Decoded Video

 

Join Dan, Tom & Vicky as they decode the pre-title sequence of You Only Live Twice! This video includes clips and images from a number of movies.

We want to hear from you and what you think of this podcast!  Send us a message at https://spymovienavigator.com/contact-us/

Or leave us a voice message at by clicking on the red button to the right.

You Only Live Twice – Scene and Title Song Analysis

Podcast Episode

You Only Live Twice – Scene and Title Song Analysis

Join Dan, Tom & Vicky in a scene analysis of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE with connections to other movies and a lyrics analysis too!

 

You Only Live Twice is Sean Connery’s 5th outing as James Bond – join Dan, Tom & Vicky in a scene analysis with connections to other movies, and a lyrics analysis too!   Some hidden gems!

You Only Live Twice – so listen right now!

Subscribe to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show – thanks!  Comments?  Send then along at https://spymovienavigator.com/contact-us/ – we want to hear from you!!

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Reach us at:  info@SpyMovieNavigator.com or https://SpyMovieNavigator.com/contact-us

Here are the links we mentioned in this episode:

Our Podcasts mentioned in this episode:

Here are the links to the articles and YouTube videos we mentioned in this episode:


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James Bond’s QUANTUM OF SOLACE Pre-Title Sequence Decoded!

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Julian Glover Talks FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, Other Roles, and his new book!

Dan and Tom interview Julian Glover in a wide-ranging interview, discussing his career, including playing Kristatos in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY!

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME Pre-Title Sequence Decoded!

Join Dan, Tom and Vicky for a fun outing decoding one of the BEST pre-title sequences of any Bond movie! The Spy Who Loved Me of course!

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Examining Ian Fleming’s Original James Bond Manuscripts – Part 1

Podcast Episode

Examining Ian Fleming’s Original James Bond Manuscripts – Part 1

Join Dan and Tom for Part One of their journey to The Lilly Library at Indiana University in the USA, as they examine, in-person, all of these wonderful James Bond masterpieces, gaining some insight into the novels and into Ian Fleming’s way of writing!

Dan and Tom of SpyMovieNavigator.com had the privilege of examining 11 of Ian Fleming’s original James Bond manuscripts – his actual typed pages, with hand-written edits in the margins, crossed-out sections, add-ins and more!  You can see where he changes a name that we all know, and then – there it is in the final published version of the novel!
Come with us to The Lilly Library at Indiana University in the USA, as we examine, in-person, all of these wonderful James Bond masterpieces, gaining some insight into the novels and into Ian Fleming’s way of writing!
This is Part one, covering Casino Royale to From Russia With Love, of a 2-part series!  Look for Part 2 as well!”

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Ian Fleming and the Lily Library 

The Ian Fleming Manuscripts!  Bond from the Page to the Screen! 

How would you like to touch and examine the actual pages that Ian Fleming typed when writing his James Bond novels?  Well, we did and here’s our story! 

Hi, this is Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato from SpyMovienavigator.com – the Worldwide Community of Spy Move Fans – spy movie podcasts, videos, discussions and more!  If you like our podcasts, please give us a 5star rating on iTunes and in Google Play – that helps us a lot!  Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram too.  And when you have feedback, an idea for a podcast, something you want to say – just click the red button on our website that says “Send us a Voicemail”, or send us a message and we may include it on our show! 

We like traveling, hunting down spy movie filming locations and other significant places that played a part in spy movies.   Like, when we were in London not too long ago, we stood on the steps, and at the door of Les Ambassadeurs in London.   Of course, we know that is the casino that Bond is playing baccarat in at the beginning of Dr. No – where we first meet Bond on film, and with his now-famous, “Bond. James Bond” introduction to Sylvia Trench and all of us!  It’s also when Ian Fleming met with some of the EON folks early on to solidify a deal to turn the books into films.  

Well, how about visiting a place that owns 11 of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels?  Type-written pages that he typed at Goldeneye in Jamaica!  With Ian Fleming’s hand-written notes, deletions and additions, edits in blue ink?  Well, Indiana University in the State of Indiana in the United States has a special library called, The Lilly Library – and they have the manuscripts!   

The maddening thing is that this is where I got my undergraduate degree.  I knew the library existed and that is was a rare book library.  I knew it had part of the Gutenberg Bible.  They have the letter with George Washington accepting the first presidency of the United States.  I just knew it as a rare book library and never went in there in my four years of study.  Now I find out it had 11 James Bond manuscripts typed and hand-written by Ian Fleming?   What better reason to go visit my alma mater, read the manuscripts and get a chance to see if Mother Bear’s pizza is still as good as I remember (it is). 

Only a fourhour ride for us, we drove down and spent a day and a half pouring over all 11 of the manuscripts.   We photographed every page of Casino Royale, the first novel.   We are trying to get permission to post some of these pictures.   We were able to turn the pages of each manuscript with ungloved hands – touching the very pages that Fleming typed in his typewriter in Jamaica.  And examining every edit he made in all 11 manuscripts.  

This was a thrill beyond belief!  If you are a spy movie fan, and especially as a James Bond fan, we would highly recommend this.   When we drove down there, parked the car in the nearby Student Union parking lot, and were walking to the door of the library, our hearts were racing!  We walked in, signed in, and went into the special room where they brought the manuscripts – from the vault!  SpyMovieNavigator was about to examine in person, the original manuscripts! 

One quick note:  you need to make a reservation for the reading room which you can do online at https://libraries.indiana.edu/lilly-library . You request what you want to read.   We allocated a day and a half and really could have used 3 – 4 days in order to go page-by-page with the manuscript and the published book.  

They brought each manuscript out, 2 at a time – one for Dan and one for Tom.  They set then on foam rubber stands that allowed the book to sit there, opened, on an angle so you can read, and easily turn the pages.   We were not allowed to pick up the books, and of course, not to make ANY marks on these valuable pages.    

Here are the manuscripts that they have.   Now, keep in mind, there may be other editions of these drafts – because there were some things in other drafts that made it into the books, and so on.   The only novel they don’t have is his last one, The Man With The Golden Gun. They don’t have Thunderball either, but that was based on a screenplay that was credited to Kevin McClory, Jack Wittingham, and Ian Fleming.  But that’s a different story we won’t go into this podcast, maybe a later one. 

Here are the 11 they have and we examined: 

  • Casino Royale published 1953  (21st  Movie: 2006) 
  • Live and Let Die – published 1954 (8th Movie: 1973) 
  • Moonraker – published 1955 (11th Movie: 1979) 
  • Diamonds are Forever – published 1956 ( 7th Movie:1971 ) 
  • From Russia With Love  published 1957 (Second Movie: 1963) 
  • Dr. No – published  1958 (First Movie: 1962) 
  • Goldfinger – published 1959 (3rd Movie – 1964) 
  • For Your Eyes Only – published 1960 (From A View to a Kill).  (12th Movie – 1981) 
  • Also part of this short story set: Death Leaves an Echo, Quantum of Solace, Risico 
  • The Spy Who Loved Me – published 1962 (10th Movie: 1977)  
  • On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – published 1963 (6th Movie – 1969) 
  • You Only Live Twice – published 1964 (5th Movie: 1967) 

Fleming used a lot of inserts to make changes.  Sometimes these would be written on the back of the previous page.  Other times they were typed and either inserted or pasted on the page. 

 We’re just going to go through a few of the highlights of paging through these manuscripts, book by book.   We can talk for a couple of hours about this great outing! 

Casino Royale published 1953  (Movie – 1962) 

  • The first page of the book and the manuscript have some slight differences so this isn’t the last manuscript. Many edits in all of the books handwritten by Ian Fleming.  
  • Fleming liked to name people in his books with names similar to real-life people.  Therefore, in the manuscripts, there are some name changes.  The first change is actually a company name change.  Messrs. Lascelles de Mercado was changed to Messrs. Caffrey.  It is interesting to see these as he had to go through other references to those names and change them too.  This was before cut/paste, Word, WordPerfect, Word processors, or even Wite-Out.  
  • What do you think, Petty?  Petty is scratched out.  Hand-written by Fleming is the word: “Penny.”   A couple of sentences later, Miss Pettavel is scratched out, and hand-written in its place is Miss Moneypenny!   OMG!  This is where it happened – right on this page!  Significant name change! 
  • The person who he modeled Pettavel after was based on Kathleen Pettigrew who was the personal assistant to the real-life MI6 director. 
  • CHECK FOR A VERSION RELEASED IN 2013 where Fleming had Bond as the real name, but James Secretan as his real name.  From an article by Susanna Lazarus, April 15th, 2013.  On page 59 in the version we have examined, he says his name is Bond! This isn’t until chapter 7. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2309144/The-names-Secretan–James-Secretan-Early-Ian-Fleming-draft-reveals-nearly-chose-different-007.html  
  • Bentley details: changed it to an almost new 1933. 
  • The Bitch is dead – it’s in there! 
  • Vesper Martini – ingredients described 
  • In describing a member of SMERSH, the name “Maxim Gorki” is changed to “Trotsky” and gives an assassination date of August 22, 1940.  There was a real-life Russian Revolutionary named Leon Trotsky who was killed in Mexico.  Actually, the attack came on Aug 20th and Trotsky died on the 21st.  There was a Russian writer named Maxim Gorky who died in 1936.   

 

Live and Let Die – published 1954 

  • Title page IN RED INK: “The Undertaker’s Wind”, which is scratched out in blue ink, and above it printed in blue ink: “Live and Let Die”.   “Live and Let Die was also written in on the left side of the title page and scratched out.    
  • 134 manuscript pages Bond in America – because he did well with the CIA in the Casino job (Bond handling the Jamaican end for the British) 
  • All the gold coins minted before 1620.  Over 1000 have shown up in the US in the last few months 
  • Mr. Big stands for Buonaparte Ignace Gallia.  Plus he is huge height and bulk.  This was added to the story as an insert at x on page 11`.  Chapter 3 
  • There is a hand-written insert for Page 18,  “and don’t go stirring up a lot of trouble for us.  This case isn’t ripe yet.  Until it is, our policy with Mr. Big is “live and let live.”  Bond looked quizzically at Dexter.  “In my job,” he said, “when I come up against a man like this one, I have another motto.  It’s ‘live and let die.”   This is cool because this is an edit to the story and now a big part of it! 
  • Description of Solitaire page 36 
  • Solitaire: Her real name was added as a written in the edit by Fleming at the top of page 53: to Bond: “I will just tell you my real name.   It is Simone Latrelle, but you can call me what you like.” 

 

From Russia With Love  published 1957 

  • Puts chapter titles 
  • Donovan Grant – the result of a midnight union between a German professional (The Mighty O’Donavanweight lifter and a Southern Irish waitress (Grant).  Behind a circus test just outside of Belfast.  Page 11 in the original manuscript 
  • Lots of background details on Grant and his life.  Kills Dr. Baumbartner as a test.   Then put into training for Russians.  He was an advanced manic depressive.  He carried out many executions for the soviets 
  • Head of SMERSH was General Brubozabou – schikovknow as G. 
  • Soviets agree that an act of terrorism against the British Secret Service would be their next move – looking for a target of someone who is admired and whose destruction would cause dismay.   They decide on Bond who had twice frustrated the operations of SMERSH – at the Casino with LeChiffre and Mr. Big.  And another adds Drax (Moonraker) WHO WAS FOILED BY Bond.  The most recent info was Bond having something to do with a diamond affair, from Africa to America,  Pages 38 – 42.  Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Diamonds Are Forever, and Moonraker had already been published – so some acknowledgment of previous missions and books.   
  • Bond’s scar: “three-inch scar showing whitely down the sunburned skin of his right cheek”  Page 43.  Page 44: Expert pistol shot, boxer, knife-thrower, does not use disguises; languages French and German; smokes heavily; vices; drinks but not to excess and women.  Knows the basic holds of Judo 
  • Kronsteen and Klebb get the orders to kill Bond.   Page 52 
  • Biela Klebb changed to Rosa Page 54 and  Fleming must scratch out Biela and insert Rosa from now on! 
  • Romanov gets recruited by Klebb page 58 and the dialogue is very very close to the movie.  It is a remarkable job in the movie to capture this moment.   
  • Klebb picks Grant page 75 
  • Bond in a funk page 84 because Tiffany Case, his love of several months, had left him.  They had gotten on very well, because M asked him to explain, and there “was some idea we might get married”  Page 89.  But she then met some American on the Military Attaché staff and they both went to America.   Fleming writes in the next top margin (page 90) that M was secretly pleased and the last thing he would want is “for Bond to be permanently tied to one woman’s skirt” and that is in the final print version of the book! 
  • Bond prefers to fly on the 13th of the month because no one wants to and he has fewer passengers to deal with and gets better service.  “I always choose the thirteenth whenever I can”  Page 97 
  • During a very rough part of the flight to Istanbul, Bond gets concerned, and Fleming writes in the bottom margin with an arrow to where it should be placed: “Bond “smelled the smell of danger.   It was a real smell, something like the mixture of sweat and electricity you get in an amusement arcade.”    Fleming describes Bond as going into his hurricane room – the kind of strong room they have in the middle of their homes in the tropics to protect themselves – he only did this when things were “beyond his control and no other possible action could be taken”   Page 100. 
  • Kerim: “Common blood is the best security” talking about his sons and uncles working with him. 
  • In the manuscript, the chapter titles The Tunnel of Rats – has pages 121 – 177 lined out in pencil.  Yet a lot of it is in the book.   Then again with CHAPTER TWENTY THREE from 178-187, and again for Chapter twenty-four FROM 188-195 and CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE from 196-20-5, and CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX from 206-213 and CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN from 214-220 
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT is NOT lined out from 221–  228  

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Spy Movies & Real-World Connections – Part 1

Podcast Episode

Spy Movies & Real-World Connections – Part 1

Have you ever thought about how events in the real world and other movies could affect and work their way into some of our favorite spy movies? Well, think about it a minute because that’s what we are going to explore today on Spy Movie Navigator. Join Dan and Tom as they explore the unique connections between spy movies and the real-world impact on what goes into a spy movie! This is Part 1 of a multi-part series! If you have any suggestions on what to include in a future podcast, send them to Dan@SpyMovieNavigator.com

Many movies get ideas for their scenes from either other movies or real-world events.  Think about the jet-pack in Thunderball or the dinner jacket that 007 reveals when removing the wet suit in Goldfinger.  Were these ideas made up for the movie or were they based on real events?  Spy Movie Navigator is starting an on-going series of podcasts that cover scenes like these.   We will tie the scene back to either another movie or a real-life event of which the scene may have been based.

In this episode, Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato will examine the first six James Bond movies and look at the roots of some of their scenes.  We’ll discuss those two scenes from Thunderball and Goldfinger and also look at many other scenes in these films to identify their roots.

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HOW EVENTS IN THE REAL-WORLD AFFECT WHAT GOES INTO SPY FILMS – Part 1

Have you ever thought about how events in the real world and other movies could affect and work their way into some of our favorite spy movies?  Well, think about it a minute because that’s what we are going to explore today on Spy Movie Navigator.  (MUSIC) 

Hi, this is Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato at Spy Movie Navigator.com – the Worldwide Community of Spy Movie Fans – Spy Movie podcasts, videos, discussions and more! 

Let’s start by looking at some of the Bond films –  the biggest success franchise in all of spy films and a few others. 

The first real fact is, of course, Ian Fleming got the name James Bond from one of his favorite books, Birds of the West Indies, by…. James Bond. 

Dr. No was written in 1957 by Ian Fleming, published in 1958, and was his 6th James Bond novel.   The movie Dr. No, EON Production’s first Bond movie, came out in 1962.   So, here is the first instance the real world affecting this spy movie: 

  1. By 1962, both the Soviet Union and the USA were launching astronauts into space, so far ahead of the theme in the novel where the USA was launching test missiles.   In the novel, Dr. No says he is working with the Russians to disrupt American test missiles, in the movie, he is disrupting American space flights.  Also, in the movie both the East and the West have rejected his services, and so he is a member of SPECTRE Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), and not working with the Russians.  The cold war between Russia (the Soviet Union) and the US in real life was heating up by the time the movie came out, so here, the movie was influenced by real world happenings.   
  1. And, in a subtle nod to life happening,  the painting of the Duke of Wellington by Francisco de Goya was stolen August 21st, 1961 from the National Gallery in London.   It was still missing when EON Productions was filming Dr. No.  So,  In Dr. No, when Bond is in Dr. No’s lair, he walks through the lair about to step up a couple of steps, stops and looks at a painting on an easel – it is the Duke of Wellington!  So, if you are watching Dr. No and don’t realize the painting he stops to look at is this real-life stolen Duke of Wellington, you just think, ah Bond finds that painting interesting.   Once you know the reallife incident, then this adds a brilliant glow to this scene, where the writers for EON Productions were indeed very clever and inventive.   By the way, the painting was eventually recovered in real-life and now hangs in Gallery A at the National Gallery in London once again – we saw it there while visiting Gallery # 24 where in SPECTRE, Bond meets the new Q. 

From Russia With Love – 1963 – released in 1963 by EON Productions as their second James Bond film, and Ian Fleming’s 5th James Bond novel published in 1957 (the year the Soviets launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite), was heavily influenced by the times – and the Cold War.   The tensions between the US and the Soviets was at an all-time high.  Remember, the Cuban Missile Crisis (the showdown between Russia and the US) was in October 1962, the year EON was filming From Russia With Love.  So, once again, EON Productions was brilliant in their release of From Russia With Love! 

  • In addition, check out the book,  “For Your Eyes Only – Ian Fleming + James Bond” by Ben Macintyre.  Here he tells of the attempt to murder Bond on the Orient Express by SMERSH was based on a US Naval attaché in Romania, Eugene Karp, who was more than likely trying to escape from Russian agents.  He boarded the Orient Express in Bucharest in February 1950, and his body was found in a railway tunnel near Salzburg.  It was never proven the Soviet assassins did it, but it is highly probable.      
  • Even SMERSH is from the Russian Smyert Shpionam = “death to spies” – and we will see this is The Living Daylights 

 

 

Goldfinger – 1964 released in 1964 by EON Productions as their third James Bond film, based on Ian Fleming’s 7th novel of the same name, published in 1959.  In the pre-title sequence in the movie (not written in the novel) is James Bond in a wet/dry suit emerging from the water, setting explosives, and then removing his wetsuit (really a dry suit) to reveal a perfectly neat and crisp white dinner jacket, bow tie etc.    Ah, you are thinking like we were thinking – what is the chance of that really happening or being able to happen?!   

Well, let’s talk to MI6 about a similar WW-II operation!  In an article by David Harrison in April 2010 for The Telegraph, he reveals that a Jeremy Duns,  a British writer, was researching a new book.  He found out that a Dutch spy used a very similar technique to infiltrate a German-occupied mansion in the Netherlands during WW-II  From the water, he emerged in a wetsuit.  Underneath this specially designed wetsuit, he wore the evening wear.  His evening wear would make him look like he belonged, and he could slip past the guards into the party.   He was supposed to extract two comrades and escape.   Well, Jeremy Duns thinks that a Brit screenwriter, Paul Dehn, who was called in to polish up the Goldfinger script, knew about this WW-II incident, because he was a former intelligence officer in WW-II.  Hmm!   The original script did not have this scene, and, as said, it was not in the novel.     He feels it is too much of a coincidence that this scene was written into the screenplay by Paul Dehn, who most certainly was aware of this WW-II operation!  True real-life incident put into the movie! 

Skipping ahead, at the point in the film where Bond is captured by Goldfinger’s henchmeafter another great car chase scene, Bond finds himself strapped to a metal table, as Goldfinger is about to demonstrate his new toy – a laser beam.  Here in the film, the laser beam is directed at the base of the table and is guided to rise-up between Bond’s legs, into his crotch and eventually kill him.   In the book by Fleming, published March 23 1959, there were no lasers yet – and so this device was a table saw.   The laser was not invented until 1960.   The first working laser was built on May 16, 1960 by Theodore H. Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories based on the theoretical work of Charles Hard Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow.   The term laser came to be an  acronym for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.”   Again, EON Productions was brilliant at integrating a real-life happening, the invention of the laser, into this film which was being shot in 1963 for release in 1964.  And at the time, this was a very high-tech scene in Goldfinger!  We cannot think of another film of any kind using a laser before Goldfinger, so here is another first for EON Productions!   

This scene is famous the world-over for the laser, and for the dialogue: Bond: “ You expect me to talk?”  Goldfinger” “No, Mr. Bond I expect you to die!”   

   

 

Thunderball – 1965 Thunderball was Ian Fleming’s 9th James Bond novel, published in 1961, and EON Production’s 4th James Bond 007 movie, which opened in 1965.   Thunderball probably would have been the first movie produced but there were some copyright issues that were delayed in settlement.  Kevin McClory and Fleming had worked on a script that never made it to production.   Fleming used part of it for Thunderball, and eventually a settlement was reached.  Thunderball is the only early EON production  movie where the producers are not listed as “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman.  Here they are listed as Executive Producers (which is a lesser status) and McClory is listed as the producer.   Also, McClory got the right to produce his own James Bond film based on his Thunderball contributions and eventually did Never Say Never Again which is basically the same story.   

But we digress!   In Thunderball, SPECTRE is at it again.  So, we get away from the US versus the Soviet Union and have this other entity as the enemy again.   Remember in Dr. No we were introduced to SPECTRE.   

Of course, by 1961 when the novel was published, we had lots of atomic bombs in the world, and there was an arms race between the Soviet Union and the US.  So, atomic weapons were on everyone’s minds.    

  1. The basis of this story is based in real life – people were worried about a nuclear war and atomic weapons.   Here, two atomic weapons are hijacked by SPECTRE who threaten to destroy a major city either in the US or in the United Kingdom.  So even though EON Productions did not make this their first Bond film, in 1965 the world was very aware of the threat from major powers building up supplies of nuclear weapons.    So, the topic was hot. 
  1. The sky hook, which recovers Bond and Domino at the end, is an actual real-life device developed by Robert Fulton for the CIA in the 1950s.  By letting up a line from the ground with a self-inflating balloon, a specially equipped plane can fly by and scoop up the line and the one or two personnel it was designed to retrieve.  Cool!  A real-life gadget at the time.   
  1. In 1956, a Soviet cruiser came to Britain, with Nikita Khrushchev on a state visit to Britain.   He was the former Premiere of the Soviet Union.  It was also in 1956 where, Khrushchev said: We will bury you” while addressing Western ambassadors at a reception at the Polish embassy in Moscow on November 18, 1956.  So Soviet/Western relations were not good.   So on this visit to Britain, Britain wanted to get a look at this new Soviet ship – some reports say to examine for mine-laying hatches, or sonar equipment, and other reports, like from Peter Wright’s book, “Spycatcher,”  Britain’s Naval Intelligence  wanted information on the potential new propeller system this ship had.  So MI6 sent a scuba diver down (actually, two were reported as being sent) and one was a great diver, Lionel Crabb.  Crabb never returned from this mission, and a headless, handless body was found 14 months later dressed in the scuba gear he had worn on that date (April 15 1956).  MI6 covered up the mission, saying Crabb was lost in some underwater exercise.   Many theories floated about, one being that Soviet sentries were stationed underwater to guard the ship, caught Crabb, cut his air hose and brought him aboard and he later died.  Other theories say he was shot underwater by a Soviet sniper.   

Now, you will remember in Thunderball, Bond is sent to inspect the hull of the Disco Volante, Largo the villain’s boat.  Bond is discovered too by Largos frogmen, as Bond was taking photos of the hull to determine if there was an underwater hatch.   Bond, more luck than Crabb, escapes.  The photos showed an underwater hatch which leeds Bond to think Largo’s entire operation (the theft of the plane carrying to nuclear missiles) might be underwater – including the plane that was hijacked.  Is there a connection between the Crabb event and these scenes in Thunderball?  The MI6 officer in charge of the Lionel Crabb underwater deployment and mission was Nicholas Elliott – a friend of Fleming’s! 

  1. In the 1958 movie, Silent Enemy(based on a true story) – 2 British battleships are sunk in Alexandria by explosives set under their hulls.  The explosives, in real life, were being set by Italian scuba-divers, who were launched from a submarine using what they called, “underwater chariots” – which in Thunderball and other spy movies to come – were the underwater sleds used to transport the bombs, get divers to certain locations underwater, etc.!  In real life, they were using these underwater chariots to bring frogmen to the British ships where they would attach torpedoes and mines.  The British had to figure this out and stop it – and here, Lionel Crabb (who we mentioned earlier) was in charge of the operation to infiltrate the enemy shipdestroy their capabilities of continuing to blow up British ships!   So, in this movie we see real-life events.  Of course, we see in The Spy Who Loved Me, Stromberg’s (the villain) ship, the “Liparus,” has underwater bow hatches that capture the Soviet and US submarines (with nuclear weapons aboard).   

In the same movie, Silent EnemyALSO, there is a great underwater battle of frogmen, cutting breathing hoses and more – just like in Thunderball and additional spy movies to come.   The Thunderball underwater scenes, filmed in the Bahamas, were set the standard for future underwater battles, and the potential connections to real-life events from World War 2 makes Thunderball underwater hull investigations, and underwater battles with frogmen and underwater sleds even more grounded in reality.   

Also in Thunderball, the jet pack, was real and flown by Bill Suiter, who demanded using a helmet which is why Sean Connery as Bond puts on a helmet when he takes off.   

  1. Though the movie came out in 1965, Fleming’s 9th novel was published in 1961.  And it foreshadowed the threat of the Cuban Missile Crisis to the US Florida cities (like Miami, Cape Canaveral etc).  

 

You Only Live Twice – 1967 Ian Fleming’s 12th novel published in 1964 (counting the For Your Eyes Only collection of short stories, and it’s the last novel published before his death), and EON Production’s 5th James Bond 007 film which opened in 1967.  The movie has little to do with the actual novel.   Here, the beginning of the movie depicts the death of James Bond, complete with obituary in the newspapers.   There is a burial at sea for Commander Bond, and when the body sinks to the bottom of the ocean, scuba divers retrieve the body and bring it to the awaiting submarine where it is taken aboard, the wrappings open, only to reveal a live James Bond who quips, “Request permission to come aboard, Sir.” 

Thank God Bond is alive – we were worried, right?   His death was faked to throw off the enemy .  Of course, that means they knew who James Bond was, which is often the case, but that’s another podcast! 

  1. The faked death of spies is definitely grounded in reality.  Google Arkady Babchenko, faked his own death because being very critical of Vladimir Putin, he was certain that he would be killed by the KGB.  In a huge real-life situation in World War-II, Operation Mincemeat (Google it!) the Allies floated the body of a dead man with fake papers identifying him as a Captain who the Germans had been tracking. With papers indicating an invasion of Sardinia Italy and Greece instead of Sicily, to mislead the Germans.  Some stories say the fictitious name of the dead man was Captain William Martin, while other reports say the Germans were aware of the supposed dead man and felt he really knew something.  Regardless, the deception worked.  And the source of the plan came from Rear Admiral John Godfrey and his assistant, Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming.    Yep!
  2. We all remember Henderson, the contact Bond meets in Japan and who has key information, was based on Richard Hughes, a reporter and double agent who worked for Ian Fleming at one point during WW-II.  Hughes did a lot of Bond-like things.  Hughes spent a great deal of time in Japan.   Hence, a great place to film this movie.  Google The extraordinary untold Japan story of ‘You Only Live Twice’ by Damian Flanigan, special to the Japan Times.   Great story!
  3. “Little Nellie,” the one-man autogyro that Bond flies to do surveillance in Japan was a real-life invention, developed by Ken Wallis, a Royal Air Force guy, in the early part of the 1960s.  The one used in the movie was modified, of course.  
  4. Of course, the Space Race played a part here too – the US and Soviet Union at the time were racing each other for outer space advantages and achievements.   So, SPECTRE capturing Soviet and US space capsules is a natural, given the times in 1967, two years before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin will land on the moon on the US Apollo 11. 

 

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – 1969 Ian Fleming’s 11th novel, published in 1963; and EON Production’s 6th James Bond 007 movie, showing in 1969.  The first Bond movies without Sean Connery, George Lazenby steps in to be Bond and to be bonded – married – to Teresa Di Vincenzo (Tracy) – played by Diana Rigg. 

In his mountain-top laboratory, posing as an allergy clinic, at Piz Gloria (Schilthorn, Switzerland  Blofeld is brainwashing young women to deliver a chemical agent that will stop plants and animals from reproducing- creating a tremendous food crisis.  The setting is spectacular – we have been to Piz Gloria about 10,000 feet up! 

  1. In 1968, there was an experiment done by the US Army at Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah.  Through a malfunction of a spraying nozzle, a toxic chemical was released and almost 30 miles away, over 6,000 sheep were found dead.   There was no definitive connection to the agent released and the sheep deaths, but traces of the toxic chemical were supposedly found on the carcasses.   So, draw your own conclusion!   So, when OHMSS comes out in 1969, chemical warfare and potential devastation to life through chemicals was very much real.
  2. The Soviet Union was ramping up chemical warfare research, while the US began to downgrade ours.  Again, what Blofeld was thinking was not out of the realm of possibility! 

 


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