Product Description

When Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman set out to make what they expected to be the first of three or four movies based on the espionage novels of Ian Fleming they can hardly have dreamt that they were founding a business that would still be going strong nearly half a century later. Yet the role of James Bond, which transformed Sean Connery's career in 1962 when Dr No came out, still retained its star-making power in 2006 when Daniel Craig made his Bond debut in Casino Royale. This is the story of how, with the odd misstep along the way, the owners of the Bond franchise, Eon Productions, have contrived to keep James Bond abreast of the zeitgeist and at the top of the charts for 45 years, through 21 films featuring six Bonds, three M's, two Q's and three Moneypennies Thanks to the films, Fleming's original creation has been transformed from a black sheep of the post-war English upper classes into a figure with universal appeal, constantly evolving to keep pace with changing social and political circumstances. Having interviewed people concerned with all aspects of the films, Sinclair Mckay is ideally placed to describe how the Bond 'brand' has been managed over the years as well as to give us the inside stories of the supporting cast of Bond girls, Bond villains, Bond cars and Bond gadgetry. Sinclair Mckay, formerly assistant features editor of the Daily Telegraph, works as a freelance writer and journalist. He is also the author of A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films, which the Guardian called 'A splendid history' and the Independent on Sunday described as 'Brisk, cheerful and enthusiastic'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #290670 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
`...marvellously entertaining tome...an arch but jolly 350-page 'galumph' (to deploy his [McKay] own splendidly fruity posho banter) through Eon's 21 productions up to Casino Royale...It's blessedly free of highbrow discussion of Bond as an iconic, socio-cultural construct; the book instead treats us to a dissection of each film, with a vague wave at contemporary cultural context (Woodstock, the arrival of the contraceptive pill), nostalgia about school trips on hovercrafts and much chuckle-inducing praise of Roger Moore and his reversible safari suits.' --Metrolife, October 21, 2008

About the Author
Sinclair Mckay, formerly assistant features editor of the Daily Telegraph, works as a freelance writer and journalist. He is also the author of A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films, which the Guardian called 'A splendid history' and the Independent on Sunday described as 'Brisk, cheerful and enthusiastic'.

Customer Reviews

V entertaining
V similar to the Licence to Thrill book published a few years earlier but a lot more enjoyable to read due to its writing style. This book gives in depth critical coverage to every Bond movie out there and in a very humourous way doesnt hesitate to pick out the moments that dont work as well as the ones that do. Its written in such an entertaining way you can almost imagine the words coming to life as if spoken by Barry Norman. The author is very full in his praise of the film producers Saltzman and Broccoli and reveals how Ian Fleming's original novels - often archaic and unsuitable in their appeal to a general audience - were expanded and remoulded so they would appeal to a larger proportion of cinema-goers. As well as also revealing how each film affected and was affected by the culture of the world at that time the author very cleverly reveals why Bond should be a firm fixture for a very long time to come.

Near scene by scene reviews of all the Bond films
I was a bit iffy on it to begin with as it seemed he was just going to just tell us the plots in excessive detail, with regular critical comments and tales about how the films were made. Very pointless as anyone reading a book like this will already have seen the films and will know the plots already. And if we want our minds refreshed we'll either watch the films again or read the books instead of reading this. I quickly realised that it was an entertaining read, and not a tiresome recounting of the plot for each and every movie. Yes he does tell us the storyline in detail, but he always has something to say, either as a film critic or with information about how or why it was made the way it was.

I personally find it to be enjoyable reading criticism for itself, even when the subject isn't very interesting. I was once, not totally unfairly, compared with a character from a film called Metropolitan who confessed to prefer reading the critics than to reading the books themselves. So I enjoy reading someone well informed complaining about stuff. It's usually even better if I completely disagree with their opinion. And it's always fun to see sacred cows slaughtered.

He has no new information on the Bond films that you probably don't already know if you're interested in a book like this. On the other hand it's interesting to hear his opinion on the films, action scenes, Bond girls etc.

His particular annoyances seem to be any fights on or underwater. The problem is that there is only two or three things that can be done, and after the first minute of the fight there's nothing else to do apart from repeating itself. Also underwater scenes are always too slow. I agree with him for the most part although I remember the speedboat chase in Live and Let Die and the opening chase in The World Is Not Enough being fairly exciting.

He also points out that almost every Bond film has an exciting big ending. And then they plod on for another fifteen or so minutes with another unnecessary, unwanted and less spectacular action scene. So the majority of Bond films end with an anti-climax.

One thing he touches upon but doesn't ponder at length is how haphazard the scenes are bolted together in the scripts. The films flit from one scene to the next with some very shaky connections. Almost a sense of making it up as they go along. "Whoops, this scene is going down a dead end. I know, let's have the person give Bond the name of someone who might know something. That can then lead to a big fight scene." I particularly noticed how random and unconnected the different segments of the films are the last time I watched Live and Let Die (the airport fight is crowbarred in with a particular lack of subtlety).

There are a few references to other films that impacted on the James Bond franchise. The 1967 comedy version of Casino Royale gets a few pages of attention. The Thunderball remake Never Say Never Again from 1983 starring Sean Connery gets about a third of the Octopussy chapter. Austin Powers, if I remember right, gets a short chapter to itself. For some reason the Jason Bourne films only get about two mentions totalling about half a page. This strikes me as the writer being either sniffy or paranoid about them as they threaten the credibility of the Bond films much more than anything else does.

Do you like reading reviews? Do you like or are interested in Bond films? Do you like the idea of reading long indepth near scene by scene reviews of each Bond film? If so then you should like this book. You won't agree with everything he says, but then wouldn't it be boring if you did (he dislikes Thunderball but has almost nothing bad to say about Moonraker and On Her Majesty's Secret Service?!)? I enjoyed it and I would recommend it. Especially if you want something with more teeth than another merchandise tie-in about the girls, gadgets, cars etc. This book is for grown ups who consider those to be much less interesting than the films themselves.

It's also worth pointing out that this book deals only with the films, and the novels are only referred to briefly when relevant to one of the films.

A Good Read!
Ths is a very entertaining book for all fans of the Bond films. Each film has its own chapter and there are other chapters dedicated to the spin offs, Miss Moneypenny etc.
The social & economic climate at the time of each film is covered without getting too heavy.
Not everyone will agree with the opinions here, ie Mckay is not very complimentary about Thunderball but praises The world Is Not Enough which for me is the worst Bond of the series. At least he seems to be writing as a Bond film fan with a genuine interest.