Bond’s First Car Chase

Bond’s First Car Chase

We have come to expect car chases and virtually any other kind of chase in spy movies now, and especially in Bond movies.  And, here, we see Bond’s first car chase

Now, in real like this does not happen very much!   We have reached out to the International Spy Museum in Washington DC in the US.  We plan on doing a podcast with them on the very subject of the differences between what happens in spy movies versus what happens in the real world of real spies!   So look for our podcast on that.   In the meantime, there was a great article on July 31 2015 in the online Vanity Fair on this subject.  It’s entitled, “14 Ways Spy Movies Are Nothing Like Real Life” by Julie Miller.  In this piece, the curator of the museum said: “High-speed car chases only happen when the mission goes very, very bad.”    He suggested that it is always better to blend in.

Despite real life, in movies we now expect it.  Here is James Bond’s first real car chase, where he is driving and eluding pursuers.  Here he is driving a lake-blue, English  Sunbeam Alpine Series II.   He is on his way to Miss Taro’s place (played by Zena Marshall) for some fun, but she is in on the plot to eliminate Bond.   So, on the exact way Taro told him to go, he is pursued by another vehicle whose occupants are determined to kill Bond.

Another Chase, and More Chases

This is the hearse that the three blind men loaded Strangways into after they killed him.   So, we assume this is the three blind men once again, and for the last time.   For spy movies, we will see this same concept, of course, repeated over and over again – car chase scenes, and other vehicle chase scenes – trains, helicopters, running.  And it did not begin here, in Dr. No.

Chases are now expected and anticipated in spy movies and will make an appearance in many more Bond films, Bourne, e.g., and more. And there have been chase scenes in spy movies in the more distant past.  Here is a great example:  Brit planes chasing a train with German spies in the 1936 movie Secret Agent and other movies (like Bullit, 1968).   But they are nevertheless still exciting, and somehow the stunts are more and more dramatic.  It is now part of the formula.  In the 2006, Casino Royale by EON Productions, when Bond rolls his Aston Martin DBS V12 while pursuing Vesper Lynd, they achieved a world record of 7 rolls.   It it is a spectacular roll, and this pursuit is believable and contextually made sense.

Fortunately, Bond eludes the pursuers and they crash off a cliff with the what has become the fiery crash scene in many spy movies to come.    Of course, in real life, in general, cars don’t explode and catch fire in a crash.  Even the American TV show, Mythbusters at one time fired bullets directly into the fuel tank of a car.  And . . . nothing happened.   It is possible but unlikely!

Anyway, Miss Taro is surprised when Bond shows up, and she gets a call, they have some fun. Bond fakes car trouble and calls a taxi for them to go out, and she gets her into what she thinks is a taxi, and is taken off by a Bond ally.  After she is out, Bond is cooly awaiting whoever it may be to show up and try to dispose of him   So here it is!

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