GoldenEye

Goldeneye, editorial content, 007, James Bond, spy movie podcasts, EON Production movies, espionage, Pierce BrosnanGoldenEye, released in 1995 and Eon Productions 17th Bond film, pits a former MI6 agent 006 – Alec Trevelyan, against Bond and the world.   Of course, Alec has help with his cohort, Xenia Onatopp – a skilled assassin.  There is this space weapon, named GoldenEye, that must be dealt with before the Russian syndicate uses it to threaten the world.   

There are reasons Trevelyan wants revenge on the Britain for betraying his parents.  This is a solid movie, with great action, beautiful women like Natalya of course, and interesting characters like Boris Grishenko, a programmer.

Pierce Brosnan is the new James Bond and will star in a total of 4 Bond movies – this perhaps his best.  

Casino Royale (2006)

Casino Royale, editorial content, 007, James Bond, spy movie podcasts, EON Production movies, espionage, Daniel CraigCasino Royale, released in 2006 by Eon Productions, it’s 21st Bond film, rebooted the series with another new James Bond, Daniel Craig, now earning his 00 status here.   The script sticks closely to the Ian Fleming novel and is a masterpiece of suspense involving big-stakes Casino gambling at Casino Royale in Montenegro., Le Chifre, a terrorist money manager, who is trying to recoup money he was to invest for war lords in Uganga, Vesper Lynd – Bond’s love interest, we meet Mr. White, Rene Mathis and others along the way.  And a big ending.

Often rated one of the best James Bond movies ever, Casino Royale (2006) takes us all over the globe from Prague, Uganda, Madagascar the Bahamas and more.

For Your Eyes Only

For Your Eyes Only, editorial content, 007, James Bond, spy movie podcasts, EON Production movies, espionage, Roger MooreFor Your Eyes Only was the James Bond movie released in 1981. It stars Roger Moore, returning in the role of James Bond.

James Bond needs to find a device called Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator (ATAC) which was in a submarine that had sunk.  The soviets find out about the missing ATAC so a race to find it ensues.

Bond must also deal with a man named Milos Columbo and one named Kristatos.  One of these men is an ally and one is the enemy.  James Bond must figure out who is the ally as he isn’t sure for a while in the movie.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Pre-Title Sequence Decoded!

Podcast Episode

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Pre-Title Sequence Decoded!

Join Dan, Tom & Vicky for a deep look into a great James Bond pre-title sequence in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE!

 

A car chase, a fight on the beach, guns, knives, suicide, a new James Bond, a different Aston, a time machine, a Queen with a trident, and more in the pre-title sequence to the 1969 James Bond movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service!

Join Dan, Tom & Vicky for a deep look into a great James Bond pre-title sequence!

Send us a comment on our website here or click the red button to your right that says “Send Us a Voicemail”

Dan, Tom, and Vicky Discuss:

  • The new gun barrel sequence
  • The gradual introduction of the new actor playing James Bond
  • James Bond’s cigarettes
  • Influences from earlier James Bond movies to solidify that George Lazenby is really James Bond
  • The fight on the beach
  • Scenes that may have influenced Mission: Impossible
  • Homage paid to Alfred Hitchcock and maybe even the 1923 movie Safety Last!
  • The title sequence and some hidden meanings (like the Trident)
  • And more …

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Character Spotlight: Rosa Klebb played by Lotte Lenya in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

Join Dan and Tom as they shine the character spotlight on Rosa Klebb, played by Lotte Lenya in the James Bond movie, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.

DR. NO – James Bond’s Critical Choices at end Decoded!

Dan and Tom break down James Bond’s end game choices from his holding cell to the boat in which he and Honey flee in DR. NO.

James Bond’s A VIEW TO A KILL – Pre-Title Sequence Decoded!

Join agents Dan, Tom and Vicky as they decode and uncover new discoveries and connections in the pre-title sequence to A View to a Kill!

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Gadgets – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE and LIVE AND LET DIE – Can you Believe It?

Podcast Episode

Gadgets – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE and LIVE AND LET DIE – Can you Believe It?

Join Tom and Dan & special guest host Vicki Hodges (from the UK) as we discuss the gadgets in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and LIVE AND LET DIE - and some Bond movie locations that have been visited and celebrities met!  

Join Tom and Dan & special guest host Vicky Hodges (from the UK) as we discuss the gadgets in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Live and Let Die – and some Bond movie locations that have been visited and celebrities met!

Vicky joins us as a co-host on the show, and is an avid Bond memorabilia collector and knowledgeable James Bond and spy movie fan!  She’s great!

Subscribe to our show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies!

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We add a new host to our podcast, Vicki Hodges who lives in the UK.   She helps us look at the viability of the gadgets from the movies On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Live and Let Die.

  • On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
    • How part of the Armalite AR-7 rifle is used and where we’ve seen that rifle before
    • The Safe-Cracking Device/Photo Copier
    • MacGyver-type gadgets Bond makes
    • Miniature spy camera
    • Blofeld’s gift for the Angels
  • Live and Let Die
    • Bond’s Rolex Submariner watch
      • How it made Madeline Smith. who played Miss Caruso, uncomfortable
      • Could it deflect bullets?
    • Bonds Espresso maker
    • The coffin in the pre-title sequence
    • The Felix Lighter
    • Dart guns
  • And More …

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James Bond Filming Locations Around the World – with Johannes Eklund

Visiting James Bond movie locations is fun, and we have the expert with us today - Johannes Eklund who runs http://www.JamesBondLocations.com ! 

No Time To Die Trailer Discussion – A Quick-Fire Look

Join Tom and Dan in Cracking the Code of Spy Movies! Here we take a Quick-Fire look at the December 2019 trailer for No Time To Die and speculate as to what it all means.

Character Spotlight: Rosa Klebb played by Lotte Lenya in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

Join Dan and Tom as they shine the character spotlight on Rosa Klebb, played by Lotte Lenya in the James Bond movie, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.

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NO TIME TO DIE Sept. 3, 2020 Trailer – Analysis & Perspective!

Podcast Episode

NO TIME TO DIE Sept. 3, 2020 Trailer – Analysis & Perspective!

Join Dan and Tom and Vicki as they dive into the new No Time to Die trailer released September 3, 2020!  

 

Join Dan and Tom and Vicky as they dive into the new No Time to Die trailer released September 3, 2020!

The focus is “perspective” and how that works when dealing with “good” and “bad” here in the film, and how that could be handled.

So tune in now!

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James Bond’s Walther PPK w/ Firearms Expert, Tom Whiteman

Today we talk with a weapons expert, Tom Whitehall of Legacy Collectibles – all about Major Boothroyd’s weapon of choice for James Bond!

Diamonds Are Forever Pre-Title Sequence Decoded

Japan!  Cairo, a tropical oasis, mud baths, finger-snappers, cloning, a "new" Bond, and Blofeld is finally dead!  Let’s decode the pre-title sequence to Diamonds Are Forever!

Dr. No’s Impact On The James Bond Franchise

How did DR. NO impact the James Bond movie franchise? To celebrate DR. NO's 60th anniversary, we dive into the movie to answer that question.

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James Bond Podcasts

Here are our podcasts associated with James Bond Movies. Click on the audio player to hear the podcast!

Or go to your favorite podcast app (links on left on PC or below on mobile) and subscribe to Cracking the Code of Spy Movies.

THUNDERBALL – A Deep Dive – Part 1

Podcast Episode

THUNDERBALL – A Deep Dive – Part 1

Join Dan and Tom as they take a deep dive into the James Bond 1965 film, THUNDERBALL, starring Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi.

A Listener: “Really Loved it!  You guys do a Good Job Explaining the film in Detail I even love Tom talking about the original No Time to Die in the UK in 1958 wow!!!!”

Join Dan and Tom as they take a deep dive into the James Bond 1965 film, THUNDERBALL, starring Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi.

THUNDERBALL was originally slated to be the first James Bond movie.   Dan and Tom dive into things that surround key scenes, and events that really happened in the world that influenced this film, including the 1958 movie, THE SILENT ENEMY.

Join the fun in Cracking the Code of THUNDERBALL – some interesting reveals! Part 1 of a 2-part podcast.

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In this James Bond 007, Thunderball podcast, we examine:

  • The intriguing title of a 1958 movie with human ties to Thunderball
  • How a switch to Panavision got Sean Connery into the Gunbarrel Sequence
  • Fake Funerals?  Where else have we seen them?
  • The role of the 1958 movie The Silent Enemy and its impact on Thunderball
  • Water, water everywhere – The role of water in Thunderball
  • Who is William Fairchild?
  • What happened to Tom Jones at the end of his performance of the theme song?
  • Nudes in the title sequence
  • SPECTRE’s heritage
  • How a real train robbery finds fame in THUNDERBALL
  • Doubles in other movies
  • Nuclear bombs lost in real life?
  • And more …

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Cracking the Code of Spy Movies – A Look at 2019 and A Look Ahead to 2020

Join Tom and Dan in our 2019 wrap-up podcast of our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show! Here, we include clips from all of our 2019 podcasts - take a listen, find ones that interest you and subscribe (free)…

Brigitte Millar – Dr. Vogel in SPECTRE and No Time to Die!

Join Dan and Tom as they have a charming talk with Brigitte Millar, who played Dr. Vogel in SPECTRE and in No Time to Die!

Gadgets FRWL & Goldfinger – Can You Believe it?

Join Tom, Dan and Vicky as they take apart the gadgets in From Russia With Love and Goldfinger - and determine whether we can believe in the gadget or not!   Fun stuff!

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No Time To Die is now scheduled for a November 2020 release, after the April 2020 delay due to the worldwide pandemic.  

Plenty of speculation of what will happen in the film – we have about 6 podcasts out on No Time To Die already!  The biggest
question is:  What will happen to Bond?   Will he survive?  Die? Be Dying?  Will someone big, who we are used to, die?

James Bond has been around since Ian Fleming first published “Casino Royale” in 1953.   He has been on television with Barry Nelson playing an American version of Jimmy Bond, in the 1954 production of Casino Royale.  The first actor to play Bond on screen.   Then Eon Productions took over striking a deal with Fleming to produce James Bond movies, and Dr. No was the first one they produced, released in 1962. It was an immediate hit.    About $1 million to produce, and it grossed over $59 million!

Eon continued to produce James Bond movies, and No Time To Die will be their 25th film in the franchise. Over the decades, they grossed at the box office over $7 billion.  And then there are licensing fees, DVD and Blue Ray sales and more that bring in revenue.

The formula, although changed gradually over the decades, has worked well for Eon Productions.   It has made them a lot of money, has gained them tons of recognition around the world, and continues to be a juggernaut.   Skyfall (2012), their 23rd movie, grossed over $1 billion at the box office.   And Spectre, in 2015, grossed over $878 million dollars.   So, this franchise is strong and continues to grow in popularity and in making money.   Which is a good thing.

So, now we have No Time to Die, the 25th entry, scheduled.   And speculations abound.  Many serious reports that Bond will survive, and others that he will die.   Now, if you are Eon Productions, which has successfully tweaked Bond’s character over the decades, reducing his misogynist tendencies and womanizing, and make him more in tune with the brave new world.  

And, as of the last film, Spectre (not one of the fans’ favorite films in general), they still grossed over $879 million. Not bad, right?

 

You’re in a meeting with Eon.  Where should the franchise head?

So, now suppose you are sitting in one of the Eon meetings where they are deciding what to do next.   Are you raising your hand saying, “I think what is best for the business is if we kill off Bond in our next release?”

Well, if not you, who?  Danny Boyle?  And what is the argument?

“I think in Bond 25, we should kill off Bond and start afresh with a new 007 – perhaps a woman.   It would fit the social narrative of our cultures now, and we can gain a large part of the female audience that we lack so much now.   The male audience will continue to come to see the “Bond” movies because they are used to it and will want to see how the new 007 develops. We can merchandise lots of clothing and other items around the new 007 who is female.   We won’t lose out massive Bond audience if we do this right.”

What happens if you’re wrong?

Well.   What if you DO lose your audience – your multi-billion-dollar business might be competing with Charlies’ Angels instead of dominating the spy movie world.   What happens if the new 007 is NOT accepted?  IF people want Ian Fleming’s Bond still around – after all, THAT is the whole basis of the James Bond franchise – the original Ian Fleming manuscripts.

 Yes – James Bond has changed over the decades as we have said. He is becoming more of a good social citizen.   But we must remember, a spy by nature is two-faced.   When we talked to Roberto Schaefer, Director of Photography for Quantum of Solace, he said as much.   A spy is something else in the known world and an undercover assassin in the dark underworld.   So, how much do we want him to change IN the dark underworld where his business takes him? Do we want a completely different spy? A nicer spy in this dark world?  

Then what?

Basically, what else do we demand to be changed in the character of James Bond?   Let’s make a list.

  1. He is still too much a misogynist.  So, we must get rid of that.
  2. He still does not have enough respect for women.  So, we must change that
  3. He has been a cold-hearted killer.   Shooting and killing people who are unarmed, like Professor Dent on Dr. No.  We can’t have that.
  4. Bond knows how to do everything.  He can fly any craft, drive any vehicle, get out of any jam, disarm bombs – is anyone THAT good?  He needs to be more realistic. 
  5. And on what an agent makes, how can Bond afford the best clothes, the best food and drink, the best of everything?  MI6 isn’t paying for all that stuff, are they? Unrealistic.   Need a more grounded agent – grounded in the real world.

And if we change all of this in Bond, no one will accept this new iteration of Bond.   So, maybe we switch to a whole new spy.  A female “Bond-like” character.

This is all possible. With the delay of No Time to Die, we have more time to speculate. 

Our thoughts

Now, if it were SpyMovieNavigator making this decision, we would do one of two things.

Leave Bond alone.  People for decades have been loving James Bond in the movies, so leave him alone.
Sure, tweak some things as you have done in the past.   The faithful audience can accept that people, even spies, change over time.    And James Bond in the movies, HAS changed over time, and the last couple of Bond movies were the highest-grossing box office Bond films ever.   So, there is plenty of reason to stay the course.

If you are going to introduce another MI6 agent to take Bond’s place – a complete replacement – then do it as an experiment.  Do NOT kill off Bond.  Ian Fleming left us hanging at the end of his novel, “From Russia With Love, not knowing if Bond would survive the poison unleashed upon him by Klebb.   In No Time to Die, do a similar thing then, if you must.  Leave us hanging.

If you KILL off Bond, and the new agent replacement for 007 is NOT accepted, what do you do?   Now, if this were science fiction, you have no problem.   Because no one ever dies in science fiction.  You can write anyone back into the next script. 

But this is not science fiction.

Where have we seen this before?

But wait.   Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did it with Sherlock Holmes!  Sherlock Holmes died in “The Adventure of the Final Problem”, after falling off Reichenbach Falls.  Sherlock Holmes.  Dead.   And fans did not like it!  They were outraged!

So, after pressure from his publisher and the public, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “brought back” Sherlock Holmes in “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, which was
a prequel to Holmes’ death in “The Final Problem”. So, he really was not brought back from the dead.   Yet.
They COULD do the same with Bond. Bring back Bond, if the new non-Bond 007 is a flop – in a series of prequels.  

But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle finally did bring Holmes back to life, in a series of short stories, “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”.

So, maybe EON Productions can bring back James Bond in a similar manner.   He dies, let’s say, in No Time to Die.  The movie-going public is outraged and rejects the new 007 in the next film released.   A board meeting.   Eon decides, we must bring Bond back.  And, they fabricate a screenplay that does just that.  It is possible.

And would the public accept it?  Yes, of course!  They did for Sherlock Holmes and they will for Bond!  

And that takes us to … To die or not to die?  That is the question . . . that may not matter!

So, it seems:

  1. If Eon Productions kills off Bond in No Time to Die, they could probably bring him back to life somehow in a future movie, that is either a prequel or he is resurrected and is alive again to “Die Another Day.”  Or, perhaps the new 007 is even more popular than James Bond, and he remains dead as long as the money is rolling in. 
  2. If they leave us hanging, with Bond appearing to die, or dying at the end, then Eon could easily choose to do what they want next.
  3. If Bond survives, then life goes on.  And so does the Bond franchise.

So, it looks like Eon Productions can do whatever they want in No Time to Die, and all will be fine for them.   Sure, some rough waters could be ahead, but they can always return to calm seas.  

For us James Bond 007 fans, let’s see what they do.  But, whatever they do, let’s just chill out.  In fiction, where you write it and it is done, anything can happen. 

 

 

 

 


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A Talk with QUANTUM OF SOLACE Director of Photography, Roberto Schaefer, ASC, AIC – Part 1

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Join Dan and Tom as they spend a couple of hours with Roberto Schaefer, ASC, AIC - Director of Photography for Quantum of Solace!  Roberto has been the Director of Photography on some great films, including Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball, Stay and many other great films.    This is Part 1 of a 2-part podcast.

Join Dan and Tom as they spend a couple of hours with Roberto Schaefer, ASC, AIC – Director of Photography for Quantum of Solace!  Roberto has been the Director of Photography on some great films, including Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball, Stay and many other great films.

In Part 1, we talk with Roberto about the role of Director of Photography, his work on Quantum and lots more!  This is Part 1 of a two-part podcast with Roberto!

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In this episode, we discuss the following topics with Roberto Schaefer, ASC, AIC:

  • How Roberto got the call to be Director of Photography on Quantum of Solace
  • What a Director of Photography does
  • How second units work in general and in Quantum of Solace
  • The prep work involved for Quantum of Solace was
  • How the British crews are different than American crews
  • How Roberto got his start
  • Roberto’s thoughts on working for Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson
  • His role in the last shot of Finding Neverland
  • The significance of the transitions in Stay
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Team Fukunaga and Waller-Bridge – Will This NO TIME TO DIE Team Work?

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The Lost and Overlooked Bonds

Contributed by: Daniel Silvestri and Tom Pizzato of SpyMovieNavigator.com

Posted on

James Bond has been big for decades!  Spies still rule movies, and James Bond still rules spies!  There have been six actors who have played James Bond so far in the EON Production James Bond 007 movies.  Hundreds of articles and polls rank these actors as to who is the best, with rankings from one to sixThere is some consensus that people like Sean Connery the best.  Daniel Craig is ranked highly as well And, there are those who love Pierce Brosnan, and others who adore Roger Moore. Many times, what influences a person’s rankings or favorite Bond is the era in which they grew up. If you grew up with Pierce, then a lot of people like Pierce and so on. As a result, that means that there are two who are the lost and overlooked Bonds. 

We would like to concentrate on these “forgotten” Bonds. Namely, George Lazenby from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Timothy Dalton from The Living Daylights  and Licence to Kill 

Is George Lazenby – A lost and Overlooked Bond?

George Lazenby wearing a tux - headshotOn Her Majesty’s Secret Service is just one of the best Bond stories Fleming ever wroteAnd while bringing it to film, EON Productions stuck very closely to the Fleming text. George’s only acting experience had been in television commercials.  Still, he landed the role after Sean Connery decided to leave the franchise.

The Criticism

There is a loof criticism swirling about that George Lazenby was a poor Bond, that his acting was terrible, that his characterization of Bond was weak. However, we think that this is misguided.  In our opinion, George is one of the lost and overlooked Bonds who deserves more credit than he gets.  We think George did a wonderful job as Bond.  He was surrounded by an outstanding cast spearheaded by Diana Rigg (Tracy di Vincenzo) and Gabriele Ferzetti (Draco, Tracy’s father)The movie was well done.  It has great cinematography and wonderful locations selected in Portugal and Switzerland 

George Lazenby’s Talent

George Lazenby was a believable, emotional, real-person Bond: much like Fleming wrote Bond. For example, look at the scene  at Draco’s birthday party at the bull ring.  Bond follows Tracy down the stairs and speaks with her just outside the bull ring.  Lazenby’s acting is just spot-on, he’s a believable guy. He’s a guy, not just a spy guy.  

James Bond (George Lazenby) and Tracy (Diana Rigg) in the barn

 

And when Bond and Tracy are hiding in the barn, and Bond asks Tracy to marry him. We think this is just a perfect scene – well played.  Diana Rigg certainly elevates the emotions and acting here.

 

George Lazenby as James Bond - see his expression when he looks at Tracy's dead body

 

In the last scene, he is cradling his dead wife in his arms in the car after she is killed.  George is just outstandingWe believe is a very real Bond.  He’s a very believable spy who is also a human being.  Lazenby gives a very consistent portrayal of Bond throughout this production. 

 

Our Thoughts On George Lazenby

Lazenby should have continued to do more Bond films, but he received advice from agents or friends that he should move onAnd he didThat is too bad because we think he would have been better and better as Bond, and a very solid contribution to the history of the franchiseGeorge Lazenby, at the time of this writing, is still active.  He participated in the 50th Anniversary of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service celebration held in Portugal and Switzerland in 2019, and is active on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lazenbyofficial 

We truly believe that George Lazenby is one of the lost and overlooked Bonds.  That is unfortunate because we really liked his performance in the role.

Is Timothy Dalton – a lost and overlooked Bond?

Timothy Dalton wearing a tux - headshotAfter Roger Moore left the Bond franchise having done seven James Bond films, Timothy Dalton stepped in as the next James Bond, for the 1987 film, The Living DaylightsHis take on the role was to bring back the Fleming-esque elements of Bond – the blunt instrument of the government – the tough, rough assassin who is dedicated to Queen and Country.   The transition from a very light Bond portrayed by Roger Moore, with a more tongue-in-cheek approach, lots of funny quips, more humor than we have seen ion any other Bond – to Timothy Dalton’s Bond was like Evel Knievel leaping across Grand Canyon on a motorcycle – a huge challenge.   

In short, after seven Bond films with Moore, the viewing public might not have been ready for this take on Bond. Dalton played a very serious James Bond – with few quips, few smiles, and a very hard-nosed focus on getting the job done, and in a way that was a very believable approach to how a spy in the real-world night workThe missions were more down-to-earth too: transporting a defecting spy from the Russians to the British in The Living Daylights, and capturing a South American drug lord in Licence to Kill.  This is stuff that really happens in the real world – not dealing with some demented, super-megalomaniacal enemy who wants to rule the world. Although in real life we have some instances of that.    

We like that “normal” approach to the spy world – which is more realistic.  However, we have enjoyed the world domination theme as well in the other films 

With Dalton, you can see several things which stand out in his acting: 

Facial Expressions

For instance, his facial expressions are exactly that – they express a lot to the viewer in just a few short seconds.  This is very difficult to doSome great examples of this are: 

    • In The Living Daylights:

Timothy Dalton looking for revenge after Saunder's death • Saunders gets killed and Bond runs to his side. A balloon blows in with “Smiert Spionom” written on it.  Dalton’s angry face says it all – he will retaliate.  

• Similarly, during the entire scene with Pushkin in the hotel room where Bond is threatening him with his gun.  Dalton has perfect facial expressions and body movement. 

    • In Licence to Kill:

Timothy Dalton's expression when looking at Della after her death 

When Bond finds Della’s body 

 

 

And then finds Felix in the body bag – his face just says it all – terrific acting.

 

 • His facial expression when M is talking to Bond at the Hemingway House, revoking his license to kill is top-notch.

• When Bond tells Sanchez about potential traitors and Sanchez says he was right and got the guy, and Bond says, “Only one?”  Again, lots of potential dialogue delivered in a couple of words and great facial communications which substitutes for more linePerfect.

In the scene where Sanchez dies.  Bond is wounded and bleeding.  Sanchez, after saying “You could have had it all” goes up in flames. Examine Bond’s face – you feel the pain, you feel the tension.   

Body Movement

Similarly, Timothy Dalton’s body movements are spot on.  In other words, he walks, he fights, and he runs just like what we think a normal human being would be like 

    • In Licence to Kill:
      • When Bond is walking with Hawkins through Mallory Square in Key West on the way to the Hemingway House to meet M. Bond which Bond did not know that’s where they were going at the time.  However,  he moves like a normal personNatural, walking, and walking. 
      • And, when he’s on the boat with Sharkey going to Wavecrest’s warehouse and research center – again, great facial expressions, and great, natural body movement. 
      • And, when he gets off the boat at the Barrelhead Bar in Bimini – again, perfect movement, perfect facial expressions, and inside the bar, his face says it allSo powerful.
    • In The Living Daylights, as above, with the Pushkin scene Dalton’s body movement is just what you think it should be. And, as you’re watching, you do not think about it. This is the pointThis entire scene is Dalton at his bestLove it! 

Our Thoughts On Timothy Dalton

These are just a few examplesDalton did a great job as Bond and we wish he would have done more Bond moviesFor a variety of reasons it was not to be.  This was partially due to delays in the next release (6 years).  Some licensing issues and rumors that lower box office numbers had something to do with it.  But, Dalton himself says, they approached him to do GoldenEye. However, they wanted a 5 movie deal.  As a result, Dalton thought that would be the rest of his life and turned them down.   See this article in Esquire where he talks about this very point.   

In our opinion, Timothy is the other lost and overlooked Bonds who deserves more credit than he gets.

Bravo Gentlemen

In short, these overlooked and mostly forgotten Bonds deserve an honored place in Bond movie folklore, performance, and durabilityThey have survived the years, and more people now think that their work should be appreciated as part of the James Bond 007 movie franchise 

Therefore, we salute both George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton as rightful Bonds! 

What do you think?

All That Glitters – the Gold in Goldfinger – Part 1

Podcast Episode

All That Glitters – the Gold in Goldfinger – Part 1

Join Tom and Dan as we go gold mining for the unique elements and special highlights of Goldfinger, and how other spy movies and real-world events affected Goldfinger, in the James Bond podcast, All That Glitters – the Gold in Goldfinger! This is Part 1 of a 2-part podcast!

 

From a listener: “You’re the men with the midas touch, engaging & fun, as always!” – Eddie

GOLDFINGER was one of producer Cubby Broccoli’s favorite Bond films – top 3 of the 17 he produced.

Join Tom and Dan as we go gold mining for the unique elements and special highlights of Goldfinger, and how other spy movies and real-world events affected Goldfinger, in the James Bond podcast, All That Glitters – the Gold in Goldfinger!

This is Part 1 of a 2-part podcast! Look for Part 2!

Come join us on all of our podcasts as we’re Cracking the Code of Spy Movies!

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All That Glitters – The Gold in Goldfinger – Part 1,

Episode Notes:

Goldfinger is one of the best-loved James Bond films of all time!

Goldfinger Part One Episode Notes: the following topics are discussed in this episode!  Take a listen now to the All That Glitters – the Gold in Goldfinger Part 1 now and remember to Subscribe to our show through your favorite podcast app!

  • Of the 17 James Bond 007 films that Albert “Cubby” Broccoli produced, one of his three favorites was box office GOLD, namely Goldfinger!
  • Pre-title sequence: James Bond exits the water in a dry-suit, with a duck affixed to his dry suit hood, as a decoy. But, after he blows up the nitro barrels and the drug lab successfully, he unzips the dry to suit and removes it to reveal that he is wearing evening wear complete with bow tie and carnation. Impossible right?  We tell you why it IS possible and who actually did it!
  • Title Sequence: who designed the Goldfinger title sequence and the Goldfinger posters, and what are the important things the sequence shows, and poster discussion
  • The Fontainebleau scene and which actors really made it to Miami Beach, Florida for these scenes?
  • The Bond/Goldfinger relationship is established over the “Golden Girl!”
  • Discussion of SpyMovieNavigator’s recent trip to the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach Florida and what has changed!
  • “Golden Girl” discussion and implications!
  • The Gold in Goldfinger is everywhere. . .
  • Discussion of the golf match between Bond and Goldfinger and SpyMovieNavigator’s recent visit to Stoke Poges Club in Stoke Park where these scenes were filmed! Fabulous!
  • DB5 car chase and death of Tilly Masterson discussion – DB5 details, and the emotional side of Bond discussed, and sound effects discussed

 

 

 

 

 


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No Time To Die Title Song by Billie Eilish – Reactions & Lyrics Analysis

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No Time To Die Title Song by Billie Eilish – Reactions & Lyrics Analysis

Join Dan and Tom as they dive into the lyrics of the title song for No Time To Die by Billie Eilish! James Bond is returning!

Join Dan and Tom as they dive into the lyrics of the title song for No Time To Die by Billie Eilish!

Looking at the tune from the key it is written in & what the lyrics may portend for the film!   Let’s speculate together – join the fun!

Subscribe to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show and leave us a voice message about the song on our website!

 

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No Time To Die Trailer Discussion – A Quick-Fire Look

Join Tom and Dan in Cracking the Code of Spy Movies! Here we take a Quick-Fire look at the December 2019 trailer for No Time To Die and speculate as to what it all means.

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Join Dan, Tom and Vicky as we salute Sir Sean Connery and remember his passing on October 31 2020.

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In NO TIME TO DIE, It IS Time for Somebody To Die!

Podcast Episode

In NO TIME TO DIE, It IS Time for Somebody To Die!

Today we look at the strengths and weaknesses of some of the speculative scenarios that are possible directions for EON to take on the James Bond movie, No Time to Die. What are the potential character plot twists that might unfold in No Time To Die? We'll look at Nomi, Bond, Leiter, and Swann.

We’ve watched the No Time To Die trailer a lot.  We are intrigued.  The photography, special effects, lighting – all so enticing and yet – not all that revealing.   Or is there something to be revealed here on several of the main characters?  This podcast is pure speculation!

FOCUS:  What are the potential character plot twists that might unfold in No Time To Die?   We’ll look at Nomi, Bond, Leiter, and Swann.

Today we are going to look at the strengths and weaknesses of some of the speculative scenarios that are possible directions for EON to take with No Time to Die.

So let’s speculate – and send us your speculations and insights through a voice message on our website, or message us on Facebook!  We might include your comments in our next show on the subject!!

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Tom Pizzato:                      00:02                     Hi, this is Tom Pizzato and Dan Silvestri from spymovienavigator.com — the worldwide community of spy movie fans – spy movie, podcasts, videos, discussions, and more. If you like our podcast, please give us a five-star rating on iTunes and Google Play. That helps us a lot like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram too. When you have feedback and idea for a podcast, something you want to say, just click the big red button on our website that says, “send us a voicemail” or send us a message from our Facebook page. We may include it on our show

Dan Silvestri:                     00:33                     In No Time to Die, it is time for somebody to die. We’ve watched the No Time to Die trailer a lot, we’re intrigued. The photography, special effects, lighting also enticing and yet not all that revealing or is there something to be revealed here on several of the main characters?

Tom Pizzato:                      00:55                     Now, pretty much the rest of this podcast is going to be pure speculation. We don’t know until April what happens, Dan. So, that said, we’re going to look at the strengths and weaknesses of some of the speculative scenarios and possible directions that EON might take with No Time to Die.

Dan Silvestri:                     01:12                     Yeah. And we’re going to look at what are the potential character plot twists here that might unfold in No Time to Die. We’re going to speculate with the rest of the world and let’s have some fun. So let’s go look at a few of the main characters here. That’s what we’ll do. Nomi, Bond, Leiter, and Swann. As we know, there is a ton of rumors and speculation flying about what will actually happen in No Time to Die. The world.

Tom Pizzato:                      01:39                     Beautiful thing about speculation, huh?

Dan Silvestri:                     01:41                     Yeah. The world is going nuts with this movie, so I think it’s going to be, it’s going to be a huge hit. They’ve done a great job of getting all of us to talk about this pretty much nonstop since the trailer came out. So we’re going to jump right in with the speculation too. And as Tom said before, send us your speculations. We’d love to hear your insights and speculations. Send us a voice message on our website, or message us through Facebook and we’ll include your comments in one of our future shows. That’ll be fun.

Dan Silvestri:                     02:11                     For Nomi, played by Lashana Lynch, of course, there has been the most speculation and we’re going to have some fun with that.

Dan Silvestri:                     02:19                     Four things can happen we think with Nomi: One) she could really be introduced as the next 007 and really replace James Bond going forward in the franchise.

Tom Pizzato:                      02:24                     Yeah Dan, How really likely is that?

Dan Silvestri:                     02:30                     That’s a good question. Well, she is introducing the trailer as we know as a double agent and she’s been gone for two years. We know she’s a badass. She’s already had to make two kills to get her double-O status.

Tom Pizzato:                      02:48                     I love, I love that requirement. It’s like you got to kill two people and then we make you licensed to kill.

Dan Silvestri:                     02:55                     Which is kind of weird but okay, so we know she’s, she’s already tough and then we hear her be a badass in the trailer when she tells bond though “the world has moved on commander bond. So stay in your lane. You get my way, I’ll put a bullet in your knee. The one that works.” I thought she’s fantastic. She delivers those lines with authority. Beautiful. So I think this reveals a lot about Nomi. A) she’s in control. You get in my way. So she’s got a way, she’s authorized to get her job done and does not want interference from Bond.

Tom Pizzato:                      03:36                     And it’s interesting Because Bond is used to getting things his way.

Dan Silvestri:                     03:39                     Yeah. So they’re already making her a very, very strong double-O. And B) she’s comfortable with her threat to put a bullet in his knee and would likely do it if she had to. I think she’d say, yeah, fine. You know what? Bam, there ya go. You little bastard. So wow. You know unlike Jersey numbers in sports that are sometimes retired for great athletes, maybe the 007 number is not retired just because Bond retires. So Nomi may be introduced as 007. That was a big rumor in the beginning. And of course, they didn’t tell you that in the trailer. But obviously, she’s not James Bond or the next James Bond. And Barbara Broccoli once said: I always feel that Bond is a male character. That is just a fact. We have to make movies about women and women’s stories, but we have to create female characters that are not just for a gimmick that turns a male character into a woman. And she took, she said that at the Bond 25 launch in Jamaica. So yeah, obviously 007, a woman, is not going to be James Bond. It’s like, okay, that’s pretty clear. And no matter, you know, Barbara Broccoli could say that all the time because that’s going to be true. You’re not going to have a female 007 as James Bond.

Tom Pizzato:                      05:02                     Okay, so, with that then Nomi is not going to be James Bond in our opinion then. Right?

Dan Silvestri:                     05:09                     Well, she’s not going to be James Bond. She could be 007 and she could replace James Bond. That’s what we’re speculating on here.

Tom Pizzato:                      05:16                     So this is one of the four areas of speculation.

Dan Silvestri:                     05:19                     The question is, will she be the franchise 007 agent in continuing 007 movies with no Bond or will James Bond return?

Tom Pizzato:                      05:31                     Well then that would lead us to speculation two, which would make the first one be absolutely impossible. Well, our speculation two then, the first one is that she becomes the next Bond. The second way to look at the next 007, replacing Bond. Then the next thing then would you know, you take the opposite of that. She could die in this movie.

Dan Silvestri:                     05:54                     We’re going to talk about that next. So Hey, here’s our second option: Nomi will die in this movie. Like Tom said. Okay, look, somebody has to die in this movie.

Tom Pizzato:                      06:05                     Well, why does somebody have to die? It’s No Time to Die. Nobody should be dying.

Dan Silvestri:                     06:09                     I know, but somebody is going to die and it’s going to be someone other than the character played by a Rami Malek, Safin. Is it Safin? I think that’s how you pronounce it. No one’s ever said it that I’ve heard. Somebody else is going to die. So could it be Swann? Could it be Nomi, it could be Felix. It’s happened before, obviously, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service his wife gets killed. He’s lost his love before, Bond. And we’ll talk about this a little bit later because he’s basically, Bond has had a tragic life. I mean, he’s got a pretty tough life, but let’s see. But maybe if it’s Nomi who will die, but wait, here’s our thought: EON Productions is going all-out to create this very powerful double-O agent in Nomi. And as Barbara Broccoli just said, as we just talked about, Hey, she wants to make movies about women and with strong women’s stories and so on. So that isn’t just a gimmick. So we think, look, you’re putting all this effort into No Time to Die for Nomi to be in this film as a strong double-O agent. EON has invested a lot into developing this female agent in the, in the modern world of advancing women’s causes and status and so on. So she gonna die. Ah, ah, yeah. I say probably not too.

Tom Pizzato:                      07:32                     All right. So we went with the thing that she replaces 007 she becomes a new 007. We then went to the speculation of she would die. So then what’s the third area of speculation we needed to tackle?

Dan Silvestri:                     07:46                     Well and I kind of like, I like these last two that Nomi will achieve equal status to James Bond in Bond films to come. This is what I think would be brilliant. And she’ll stay on as a powerful woman, double-O agent to maybe team up with Bond on cases in missions in the future or have parallel stories going on with Nomi and Bond in the same movie and teaming up at some point. This seems to be a very good idea to us at spymovienavigator.com and to us on our show here, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies. Why? It really is a perfect solution. Bring Bond back. Again they still have the issue that if he retired because of his age. As we said in the previous podcast, how do you bring them back? I mean, they do hint openly that he’s older and he’s been gone a while and so on here, but it’s the movies so they can bring them back. Right. Casino Royale was a reboot.

Tom Pizzato:                      08:44                     You know, they, they bring in new Bonds over time. So I mean they can do that

Dan Silvestri:                     08:48                     and look what they did with Casino Royale, you know, that was a reboot, but it wasn’t a reboot to 1962 it had modern technology.

Tom Pizzato:                      08:55                     It’s not just technology and also brought modern things. I know the game they’re playing, Texas Hold ’em, it’s not Chemin de fer.

Dan Silvestri:                     09:02                     That’s a good point. Yeah. So yeah, and with our willing suspension of disbelief is like, yeah, okay, we’re going to accept it and go with it. So we’re fine with that. We just love Bond. Judy Dench was still M again, you know, in the reboot and through Skyfall. So yeah, it could be done.

Tom Pizzato:                      09:25                     The weird thing to me about Judy Dench being M in the reboot. Is that the way they did this whole Daniel arc. With these stories going back to Casino Royale and then going forward with this whole series of related movies. You had nothing there about Tracy dying, about Tracy at all and her dying yet in previous Bond films, prior to Daniel, there were references made to the fact that he had a wife before.

Dan Silvestri:                     09:57                     Well, I’m going to give him a break here and say, Hey, this was a reboot and maybe these first four movies with Daniel Craig here are you know before that happened. So again, it’s the movies. They could do whatever the hell they want and we’ll eventually say, yeah, that’s okay. So anyway,

Tom Pizzato:                      10:17                     It’s EON Productions all bow down.

Dan Silvestri:                     10:20                     I mean, they’ve taken things out of order the whole time ever since they started with Dr. No. So with the order of the books versus the order of the movies with Quarrel getting killed in the Dr. No movie, the first movie. But, so anyway, we think this would be great though. You have two equal double-O agents that EON Productions can do whatever the heck they want with going forward. Wow. Yeah, I think that’s great.

Tom Pizzato:                      10:45                     I think that that, that’s a really good concept. So we’ve covered three of the four scenarios of what we think might have with Nomi. Let’s go ahead and get to the fourth one. And this one’s kind of Disney-like when you were talking to me about this one… You were talking about using Nomi and extending the double-O brand and creating a spinoff, which is different than what you were just talking about in the third scenario. Which is where they were like co-partners almost. It’s, you’re talking about in this fourth scenario, maybe they’re using this to spin off this Nomi character into a whole new series of movies.

Dan Silvestri:                     11:23                     Yeah. And I think that’s a possibility. Why not? I mean, others have done it and sure. It’s another investment in extending your brand and hoping this new brand extension works and that costs money to do all that. But Hey, they might be, and then they’re competing head-on with Atomic Blonde and Anna and all these other female spy movies. So, Hey, it’s a possibility, I think.

Tom Pizzato:                      11:52                     Yeah. But those movies did not make nearly the money as Mission: Impossible or a James Bond film.

Dan Silvestri:                     11:57                     Yeah. But they’re going to, this is going to have the Bond brand really. So it is a different scenario. I mean it’s possible. Is it likely? I don’t know. But it’s a strong scenario and it could happen. What do I like to happen? I think it would be fun if they actually did it and then they can either both, they could be cameos in each other’s movies and stuff. It’d be kind of cool.

Tom Pizzato:                      12:20                     Well the thing that intrigues me about this idea is that EON Productions could actually start getting to some kind of an alternating schedule. So like we’re having to wait five years for this movie. So if they could sit there and say, okay, every other year we’re going to put out a Nomi movie or a James Bond movie and alternate through there that gives them the time to do the development they need to do whichever character and whichever story. And still, be able to get out more frequently than this five-year hiatus gives us,

Dan Silvestri:                     12:54                     Yeah, that’s a good point. And that would be kind of fun. Everybody would say, Hey, wow, this is kind of cool. So that’s the end of our Nomi treatment. There are four different scenarios that could happen with Nomi and in this next film, No Time to Die. So we’re gonna look at James Bond now. Okay. Yeah. Lots of speculation as we just talked about in the Nomi treatment. What can happen to Bond?

Tom Pizzato:                      13:17                     Of course, Dan, he is going to die and they’re going to just wrap up the series.

Dan Silvestri:                     13:20                     Yeah, there you go. He dies and that’s, that curtain comes down, end of Bond – boom. EON Productions as a $7 billion franchise based on Bond. Right. The longest-running film franchise in history at stake here. Yeah. So they could make Bond die in this movie. Ah nah. I’m thinking. No.

Tom Pizzato:                      13:45                     Well you know they supposedly, the reason they changed directors was because the other director wanted to kill Bond off.

Dan Silvestri:                     13:53                     Yeah. But there was very strong speculation early on, before the trailer even came out, about Bond dying in this movie. They even said, Oh, you have Moneypenny hovering over Bond at the end and Bond looks like he might be dead. And she says, this is No Time to Die and then boom, it ends. That was one speculation. So is he going to die in this movie? No. Could he be dying in this movie? Yeah, I think that’s a possible scenario that he could be dying at the end of this movie. And

Tom Pizzato:                      14:26                     so that’s, that’s kind of along the lines of what we talked about in our previous podcast and in January where we were talking about, you know where James Bond was like Coca-Cola and why this is No Time to Die.

Dan Silvestri:                     14:39                     Yeah. So I mean, again, we’re looking at all sides so he could die or they could leave us hanging, whether he’ll live on to fight another day, you know, this is a nice little close for them to say, well, we don’t know. I mean Ian Fleming did this in “From Russia with Love”, the novel he wrote, he got poisoned at the end. You didn’t know if Bond was going to survive or not at the end of the novel.

Tom Pizzato:                      15:07                     we talked about that in that last podcast as well.

Dan Silvestri:                     15:10                     Yeah. So I mean this could happen. So, okay. So if EON wants time to think about what they’re going to do next with Nomi and the, you know, female, double-0 agent, this would give them a lot of time to think whatever.

Tom Pizzato:                     15:16                     And Bond in general, what do they do with the fact that they’ve got this guy who’s old and retired now?

Dan Silvestri:                     15:27                     This could be a very neat little scenario for them: a dying Bond. Okay, so we’re going to see, that’s another possibility. Here’s another one. He stays retired even after getting pulled back in by Leiter and MI6 and we’re still left wondering what will happen to 007 or Bond or Nomi? Well, maybe he stays retired as we said before, EON does have a problem bringing a retired Bond back if he’s too old. Well, they do. It’s like, okay, well now we bring back a young Bond How’s that fit in? Another reboot? Nah, I don’t think so.

Tom Pizzato:                      16:05                     Well see. I actually, I disagree with you on that, but go on.

Dan Silvestri                      16:08                     yeah, you think they could reboot it again?

Tom Pizzato:                      16:10                     Absolutely. I mean that’s, they’ve done that right?

Dan Silvestri:                     16:13                     Oh, can they. Yeah. I said, can they? Oh, of course they can. It’s the movies, but yeah, I just don’t see them doing it. But would we accept it? Yeah. Yeah, we would probably accept it. We’ll just have, suck it up and accept that Bond came back younger and this whole retirement thing was maybe a future concept, but maybe the new movies are just prequels to there. I’m retiring in this movie. They can do whatever the heck they want and we’ll, we’re going to go with it. We’re going to, we want more Bond movies. We, so I dunno. It’s fun guessing.

Tom Pizzato:                      16:50                     And that’s all we’re doing.

Dan Silvestri:                     16:51                     Yeah. So here we go. And then I think the last possibility for Bond, in No Time to Die, is he comes out of retirement and he stays out of retirement and he’s reassigned his 007 number. If it’s been reassigned, we don’t really know that for sure yet. Okay. That’s, that’s cool too. I think that would be all right. So again, the age thing still lingers over his head and this scenario though, but again, fill in the blanks and future movies of the younger Bond this strong Nomi, eh, it could be done. So he comes out of retirement, stays out of retirement and we got Bond back and a strong female double-O agent. Not bad.

Tom Pizzato:                      17:31                     Yeah. I’m not into that idea. I actually think, I actually think that uh, number one makes the most sense: Him dying and you know, gives EON time to see what public reaction to the movie was. And how they brought Lashana in and try to figure out what that Nomi character can do for them. So it gives them, it gives them some wiggle room and we’re all about analytics these days. What are the analytics from the moviegoers on this and how do we take it? The dying scenario to me gives them the most flexibility.

Dan Silvestri:                     18:11                     Yeah, it does. It does. All right. Now we’re going to take a look at Felix Leiter. This is a fun one. Felix Leiter has appeared in nine Bond films of the 24 prior to No Time to Die, this will be his 10th appearance. Seven different actors played Felix lighter. But Jeffrey Wright will have the most appearances as Felix Leiter at three with No Time to Die.

Tom Pizzato:                      18:38                     As an aside, Ian Fleming developed the name Felix Leiter from the middle name of a friend, Ivar Felix Bryce, and Leiter, which was a surname of another friend.

Dan Silvestri:                     18:47                     He did that a lot where he took,

Tom Pizzato:                      18:49                     and we’ve talked about that in other when we did our whole thing on the Ian Fleming manuscripts. How he did that a lot in his writing.

Dan Silvestri:                     18:57                     Yeah. So anyway, Felix here has been a big part of Bond’s life and in the trailer for No Time to Die, Felix comes to Bond who was retired and says to him, I need a favor, brother. You’re the only one I trust for this.

Tom Pizzato:                      19:14                     Well, and what I love about that is that means this has to be something really covert because he can’t trust his CIA brethren.

Dan Silvestri:                     19:22                     Yeah, that’s a good point, Tom. Because he is in the CIA. And Bond’s the only guy he could trust and Bond is retired. So yeah, this is big. So that’s pretty good. So Bond’s, strong bond with Felix is what seems to really jostle bond out of retirement and into this chase again. So yeah, so that’s a good point. He’s coming to Bond, not the CIA, his other cohorts in the CIA, but to Bond for this special mission. So

Tom Pizzato:                      19:55                     he’s going to bring Bond back out of retirement. But what’s going to then happen with Felix? Right? What are the options?

Dan Silvestri:                     20:03                     We’ve got a couple of things that could, that could happen to Felix. One is Felix entices Bond out of retirement. They succeed in their mission together and Bond feels like, Hey, this retirement thing is overrated. I’m back. This is a plausible scenario. Likely, I don’t know, probably not.

Tom Pizzato:                      20:25                     But retirement is a good thing.

Dan Silvestri:                     20:28                     Well why not? I mean, why not? He could be enticed out of it and think, eh, what the heck, I’m coming back.

Tom Pizzato:                      20:34                     Okay, so then Felix and Bond go on. Save the world in future movies.

Dan Silvestri:                     20:39                     Yeah.

Tom Pizzato:                      20:40                     Okay.

Dan Silvestri:                     20:41                     The other scenario would be, and I’d be disappointed, Felix dies.

Tom Pizzato:                      20:48                     (sighs)

Dan Silvestri:                     20:48                     Again, someone has to die. Maybe it’s Safin. Maybe it’s Felix and Safin. And maybe Felix comes to Bond and says he needs him. And in between that meeting and Bond unretiring Felix is killed. That would get Bond out of retirement in a heartbeat. Remember in Licence to Kill where Bond goes rogue to carry out his personal vendetta against Franz Sanchez who fed Leiter to the sharks. I mean if he gets killed, Bond would definitely come out of retirement to go retaliate and get whoever killed Felix Leiter.

Tom Pizzato:                      21:27                     That’s true.

Dan Silvestri:                     21:27                     Right. So this might be a very strong case.

Tom Pizzato:                      21:32                     The interesting thing is you’re referencing Licence to Kill, which is Felix having prosthetic leg and stuff like that. This is nowhere into the Daniel Craig things. So this whole, he went to seek revenge with his personal vendetta Either happens before the Daniel series starts or the Daniel series just totally ignores the past.

Dan Silvestri:                     21:54                     Yeah. It paints a picture of the portrait of James Bond and what he is and what we would do and what he’s willing to do.

Tom Pizzato:                      22:03                     And the fact that he had such a strong bond with Felix in License to Kill. We know that he’s got a strong bond for this guy.

Dan Silvestri:                     22:10                     Yeah. I mean, I hate to see Felix go, especially Jeffrey Wright. I think he’s been terrific.

Tom Pizzato:                      22:14                     Oh, he’s been absolutely wonderful. Now the interesting thing too for me here is in “Live and Let Die”, which was Fleming’s second novel. It’s actually where he wrote about Leiter getting mauled. Right. So that whole scene in License to Kill actually comes out of Fleming’s second book. And I mean even the line “he disagreed with, with something that ate him”. That was actually in “Live and Let Die”: a note pinned to Leiter in “Live and Let Die” that they just took into License to Kill.

Dan Silvestri:                     22:49                     Yeah. EON Productions and their screenwriters have done this kind of thing a lot. And, pretty well though

Tom Pizzato:                      22:57                     And the other thing though is that Fleming in that book was originally was going to have Leiter die and he had to be convinced to keep him alive. So Leiter dying really to me doesn’t sound too far-fetched. Although again, as we’ve mentioned, these story arcs are a little weird, his character does live on in some of the Bond continuation books. Yes. So where are we in time is the interesting part to me here.

Dan Silvestri:                     23:27                     The continuity thing has never been the biggest issue with the Bond series. Again, it’s our willing suspension of disbelief. It’s like, yeah, okay. It’s a little mixed up, but somewhere in there that makes sense somehow. But it may be the time now and maybe there’s another CIA operative that Bond will get close with and develop a relationship with in the future and whatever. And of course, Nomi is there to maybe be a presence for the MI6 for a long time. But this relationship with Felix and CIA and so on, I’d hate to see it end here, but that’s another possible scenario for Felix and one that sounds pretty strong.

Dan Silvestri:                     24:13                     All right. Lastly, we have to mention Swann. She’s either believable or not in the trailer. When she says to Bond, “Why would I betray you? In general, and this is my opinion, when people answer questions with another question, they’re covering something up and they’re really not answering your questions.

Dan Silvestri:                     24:33                     Like it’s like, why would I betray you? That doesn’t answer anything. It’s putting a question on you, so that’s clever for a trailer especially. Because we have no idea what’s going on and that’s good. So what are her dark secrets that they have not explored yet? It kind of says that in there. We haven’t gotten to your secrets yet. This is an exciting part of the trailer and, it makes us keep wondering throughout the trailer and till April. What’s going to happen?

Tom Pizzato:                      25:04                     We’ll find out in April.

Dan Silvestri:                     25:05                     Yeah. So what’s the first scenario for Swann? So maybe it’s all a mix-up. Here’s one possible scenario with Swann. Swann, though her father was a SPECTRE operative is clean. Tracy Di Vincenzo was clean in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, even though her father, Draco, ran a criminal organization.

Tom Pizzato:                      25:25                     So, now actually the interesting thing to me here is there’s been no acknowledgment of Tracy in the Daniel Craig arc. We’ve talked about this a couple of times. Is Swann a Tracy replacement? She’s got a dirty dad, she’s clean, do Bond and Swann get married and then she meets an unfortunate end. Is this, I mean, are they going to really do that kind of mirroring of what they did in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with Madeline instead of Tracy?

Dan Silvestri:                     25:58                     Yeah. So if she’s clean, that’s a possible scenario, right? He ends up marrying, or maybe he did marry her. We don’t even know. You’ve been gone for a long time. Yeah. But the scene here, when she’s opening the box with the Phantom of the Opera mask, I mean that’s the eerie part that makes you question this whole scenario. Is she clean or not clean? Which is,

Tom Pizzato:                      26:19                     I love that when she opens that up.

Dan Silvestri:                     26:21                     Yeah. So you don’t really know. Was this in her possession all along or did she just happen upon it or did somebody?

Tom Pizzato:                      26:31                     Maybe she got it mailed to her. Maybe Safin sent it to her.

Dan Silvestri:                     26:34                     her and she’s just opening it. We don’t know. That’s the big question here.

Tom Pizzato:                      26:38                     That’s what I love about this part of the trailer is the look on her face when she opens that thing up and she’s like, and she looks at that mask. Is it “hello old friend” or is it, “what the heck is this?” Or “I know what this is and Oh my, I don’t like where this is going to go.” All three of those are possible with the expression she has on her face.

Dan Silvestri:                     26:59                     I look at her face and I think, Oh, she’s thinking, Oh no, I gotta do this. You know, that’s what I’m looking for. I’m thinking she’s looking at that going. Okay, shoot, I gotta do this. So I don’t know. So that’s one possible scenario. So the second scenario is maybe Swann is not so clean and she’s maybe infiltrated MI6 as a double agent. When Bond sees her in the hallway of MI6 when he says he won’t lose his control.

Tom Pizzato:                      27:26                     Yeah. He has that pause as he sees Nomi and Swan walking together.

Dan Silvestri:                     27:32                     Yeah. And he’s shocked. Is he doubting his control now that he’s seen her? That maybe she’s working for MI6 based on what he actually knows about her and that we don’t know yet. Oh, that’s also a possible scenario.

Tom Pizzato:                      27:46                     Well, I especially because the interesting thing to me is in Spectre when Swan and Bond meet Blofeld, there does not appear to be any recognition between Blofeld and Swann. Yeah. And so, but her dad worked for Spectre. Yeah. Mr. White. Yeah. So it’s

Dan Silvestri:                     28:09                     so Bond keeps getting involved in these people that have, uh, underworld connections. I, yeah. Why does he do that?

Tom Pizzato:                      28:16                     Yeah, exactly.

Dan Silvestri:                     28:18                     Anyway, this scenario, if this is a scenario where she’s not so clean, it cannot end well. Really cue the music. Maybe we will hear her Swann song as she ties.

Tom Pizzato:                      28:30                     Oh, Dan, you didn’t go there.

Dan Silvestri:                     28:34                     All right. So this would not be the first time Bond would lose his woman for one reason or another. This did happen to the other fellow because Bond is the other fella, Casino Royale 2006 he loses Vesper in the movie and in the novel by Fleming. Of course, like we just said On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in both the movie and the book he loses his wife Tracy. In Fleming’s book, “Moonraker“, Bond loses the woman at the end. He says I was going to take you off to a farmhouse in France. Her name is Gala, says to him, “I’m sorry I can’t oblige.” “Well, goodbye Gala.” And they, they go off, he loses her and later, you know, he’s talking about this is as though man, this, could have been a good relationship. Even in the book “Diamonds are Forever”, Bond really falls for Tiffany Case, but soon she’s out of his life.

Tom Pizzato:                      29:29                     He falls for all of these women.

Dan Silvestri:                     29:31                     Well he doesn’t, not in a serious way. He likes them all and he wants to have sex and whatever with them all. But in some of these cases, he really falls for them. Like this could be a love kind of thing. In Tiffany Case’s case, he really thought and he tells, it tells M, I think in from “Russia with Love”, he thought they could’ve gotten married, but she runs off with some American military officer and goes back to America. So again, he loses somebody he really cared about. It’s happened to Bond a lot. And so I think sometimes in both the films in the, in the novel Bond does not get a woman. We always think he always gets his woman. He does not always get his woman. And in this particular case, maybe Swann is another one that for one reason or another will get away or be killed. I don’t know.

Tom Pizzato:                      30:29                     All right. That’s possible. We’ve looked at the scenarios then of what could happen, what we think could happen to Nomi, to Bond, to Felix and to Madeline.

Dan Silvestri:                     30:39                     Yeah. And we know somebody who is not the evil bad guy is going to die. I just know that

Tom Pizzato:                      30:48                     (laughing) You just know it. Dan, this is what is the beauty of speculation.

Dan Silvestri:                     30:52                     Yeah, of course. It’s speculation. We don’t have any inside info here. We’re just speculating like the rest of the world. So who will it be? Send us your thoughts right now by sending us a voice message from our website. It’s spymovienavigator.com. Hit the big red button on the right of the screen that says “send us a voicemail” and we’ll put you in our next podcast about No Time to Die. Let’s see who can speculate the best. Go do it now. Send us a message we want to hear from you.

Dan Silvestri:                     31:20                     Did people like the trailer? Overwhelmingly it seems people like the trailer. In fact, most people love the trailer. We did a little poll on Twitter about the trailer of course, not a scientific poll and overwhelmingly those who responded mostly rated it ‘A’ with some ‘B’s. Nobody didn’t like the trailer and we loved the trailer. They did a fabulous job on the trailer. We can’t wait to see the movie.

Tom Pizzato:                      31:48                     Now, Dan, I think you and I have to go to London to see it. Because it releases there before it releases in the US that week in between the two

Dan Silvestri:                     31:55                     That might be fun. Let’s do it. I got to see this, right when it comes out.

Dan Silvestri:                     32:01                     Alright, let’s go to London and see it before it opens in the US that might be fun.

Dan Silvestri:                     32:08                     This has been Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato. We’re finished with our speculating. Head to our website now to send us the voice message with your speculations and guesses and you will be on our show and keep listening. We appreciate it very much. Let’s keep Cracking the Code of Spy Movies together.

 


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On this show, we reference the following links:

Commercials (these links will take you to YouTube):

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  • Archaeology – (link)

Article:  Creative Father of the ‘Pepsi Generation’ Turned Lifestyle Into a Selling Point, By  Betsy McKay. Updated Aug. 4, 2007 12:01 am ET in The Wall Street Journal (link)


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Goldfinger

Goldfinger, editorial content, 007, James Bond, spy movie podcasts, EON Production movies, espionage, Sean Connery
Goldfinger Poster

After successfully blowing up a drug lab in Central America, Bond needs a vacation.   So, he heads to the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach, Florida in the USA.  And so begins the Goldfinger – James Bond 007 saga.

Listen to our filming location podcast on “SpyMovieNavigator Visits Goldfinger Filming Locations in Miami Florida (USA)!”

We break down the movie, discussing the film and how it either was influenced by or influenced real-life events or other movies in this podcast.

In this curated movie section (and in the related podcast), we look at it as it related to other bond films before and after, and to many subtleties:

        • The pre-title sequence when Bond removes the wet suit and is in a tux – discussion of the real-life similar event!
        • The title sequence has flashbacks to No and From Russia With Love
        • Goldfinger publicity poster discussed!
        • Always in Gold!
        • Villain’s Megalomaniacal behavior – in Goldfinger, Dr. No and From Russia With Love
        • Other movies mentions; The Man with the Golden Gun, Live and Let Die, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever
        • SpyMovieNavigator on location at Stoke Poges Club (where Goldfinger and Bond golf). Photos!
        • The tender side of Bond revealed again
        • The laser versus table saw
        • The three things Goldfinger loves about gold
        • Meeting Pussy and Goldfinger’s Lockheed notes
        • The ruthlessness of Goldfinger
        • Oddjob and Bond

Bond. James Bond

Bond.  James Bond

This Dr. No clip is one of the most critical and important scenes in the entire James Bond 007 franchise  The interaction between Sylvia Trench, in red, and James Bond at the baccarat table at Le Cercle at Les Ambassadeurs in London sets up the entire Bond.  James Bond scenario in the films.   For the very first time in film history, Bond says his name like this. And Sylvia Trench is truly the first Bond Girl.   So this clip is one of the most important clips in any James Bond 007 film.  Bond, in this the scene,  receives word that he must leave and head to Jamaica to investigate deaths of J branch MI6 members.

Les Ambassadeurs

Here, Bond is in Le Cercle at Les Ambassadeurs in London.    We visited Les Ambassadeurs in London – we could not get in as it is private, but we were at the doorway,  awning, and sign, which is the establishing shot for this scene in Dr. No.  Very cool building and the security guys were nice to let us take some pictures.  We were on the steps of Les Ambassadeurs, knowing what an important role this place played in the Bond films!  We were there on a pleasant day, and the the entryway was elegant.  It was Bond, and we were standing right there!  And guess what?  So was Fleming once!

As an aside, Cubby Broccoli, who along with Harry Saltzman were the original producers of the Bond films, set up a meeting once at Les Ambassadeurs for Fleming and Irving Allen to talk about maybe turning the Fleming Bond novels into movies.   Allen was not impressed and told Fleming the stories were not even good enough for television.   So, we were standing at the door where Fleming walked through for this meeting!

We see Bond here as cool and elegant.  In the “Dr. No Documentary” by John Cork, it comes out that a stylistic decision was made by Terrence Young and the writers: to take the elegance, wit, and sophistication of Fleming’s writing and infuse James Bond with those characteristics.  And forever, Bond is cool, elegant, witty and sophisticated.

SpyMovieNavigator On Location – London

Les Ambassadeurs, London Bonb. James Bond
Dan in front of Les Ambassadeurs in London. Scene where Bond first says: “Bond. James Bond.”

Les Ambassadeurs in London Dr.No. Bond. James Bond
Les Ambassadeurs in London – awning, and entrance. We were able to get some pics at the doorway and more!

This scene is exceptional.  We see this fancy club, we see people sitting at the chemin de fer table, meticulously dressed.  A lady in red, and several others sitting around the table, are enjoying this aspect of their lives.   And there is a gentleman across the table from the lady in red, in a tux.  You see only his sleeves, hands, chest.  She is losing and he is winning.  Who are they?  Will their lives entwine?

“I admire your luck, Mr. . . .”

Miss Trench loses more money, then asks the house to cover, and then writes a check out for more money.  At which point the gentleman in the tux says, “I admire your courage, Miss. . .”  To which she replies, “Trench.  Sylvia Trench.  I admire your luck, Mr…?”   To which the gentleman in the tux replies coolly, while lighting a cigarette: “Bond.   James Bond.”  This is the first time in Bond movies we see Bond and hear the famous line, “Bond.  James Bond” and we are now set up to hearing this for all of time.   Who in this world does not know this line?

From this scene, we know absolutely Sylvia Trench will be the first Bond Girl.

Clues as to why Sylvia Trench Was to Become the First Bond Girl

How do we know that Sylvia Trench will become the first Bond girl?   Because of several overlooked clues that she gives us in this scene.  Want to know what to look for?  Well, let’s look into this together right here and right now.

  • First, when she is shown losing for the first time, she raises both eyebrows, which is often a sign of surprise – which could be pleasant or not, or a sign of acceptance – like when you see a friend and they smile – their eyebrows go up. But watch her face closely the entire scene!  She just lost to Bond, so raising her eyebrows is certainly acknowledging the other person, drawing attention to herself – as your eyes are in full view and opened wider – it’s almost like saying hello – a signal – from a distance directed at your target.  And she parts her lips while doing this –  a sign of sexual submissiveness – which is very important here.
  • And when she loses again, and again she raises both eyebrows, as she says
    “I need another 1000” Again, opening up to Bond, almost surrendering to him.
  • Wait!   Here is the big clue – we have been watching her eyebrows closely: when Bond says to her, “I admire your courage, Miss…?” And she says, “Trench.  Sylvia Trench.”  She has her head downwards, and her eyes upwards – which is a submissive eye expression.  She then says to him, “I admire your luck, Mr…?”  Right here is the secret clue!  She raises only her right eyebrow!  That is often a sign of interest in the person you are talking to, maybe even submissiveness as you are looking for attention and it is a sign of less aggressiveness – but it can also be a sign of power – as in “I want your name, now.”  – but definitely a sign of opening up to that person.  Here she tells us, she will be the first Bond.  James Bond. Girl.
  • And you will notice later in the film, on Crab Key, when Honey Rider walks out of the ocean and Bond sees her for the first time, he raises his left eyebrow – so yes, she will be THE bond girl!

Its movie origin is right here in Dr. No – and now forever, he is Bond.   James Bond.

James Bond Lifestyle

And now, we get a good glimpse into James Bond’s lifestyle – he is at a private club casino, playing chemin de fer in a tuxedo.   What a lifestyle that we all look at and admire, wish for, long for – can we be, in some small way, Bond.   James Bond?

We will see a further glimpse into Bond’s lifestyle when he says to Miss Trench a bit later,
“You’re out to get me” and she replies, “that’s an idea.”  Bond gets interrupted by a message that he must leave (to go back to MI6, to discover his next mission).  Miss Trench gets up as well and they stroll out together.  They will meet again, as Bond hands her his card and says, “My number’s on the card.”  Very cool.

And in fact, we do see Miss Trench later in Dr. No and again in From Russia With Love.   Sylvia Trench was played by Eunice Gayson, who passed away in 2018 – the first Bond girl to pass away.  She played it well.

James Bond Movies

And Their Connections to Other Spy Movies & Real-Life Events and Things

Here, in our James Bond sections, are all the Bond movies that we will dive into!  We are not showing you the entire movie here, but some of the best movie clips and scenes, in order, with our take on how they fit into both Bond and the bigger spy movie landscape.

We will look at each clip, analyze it, and offer some insights and how these clips relate to other spy movies, prior to and after the particular movie we are working with.

So every movie we look at in any genre will always include
references to other spy movies and real-life events!  In our podcasts too!

So, let’s navigate our way through the 007 movies!  We invite your input!

Click on any image below to go to all the movie clips and insights.

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