After the 1960’s, Michael Caine had become arguably the most bankable British actor around. What with the Harry Palmer trilogy, Alfie and The Italian Job, he was a household name. But one senses, even 50 years on, that he knew his onscreen persona needed reinventing. The latter in particular had framed him as a cheeky …
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Commando
At some point in 1980’s Hollywood what had formally been considered B movie fare suddenly mutated. Expletive heavy, violent, testosterone laced action pictures, short on plot and dialogue, big on explosions and muscular leading men. One might argue this was the natural progression from Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry films or the Westerns of John Wayne. …
Octopussy wrap party 1983
Hotel suite room, empty but one can hear some whistling coming from the bathroom. Enter Cubby Broccoli who frowns on hearing the whistling. Cubby – Roger? Is that you? Roger – (his voice from the bathroom) Hello Albert, just finishing up. A flushing sound can be heard and a few seconds pass before Roger emerges …
Licence To Kill – A retrospective review
Having kicked off the Timothy Dalton era with the satisfactory The Living Daylights, Bond makers Eon apparently wanted to further drill down further into 007’s gritty side as touched upon in that film and move the series on from the quip laden and outlandish Roger Moore entries. With few if any reliable Ian Fleming plots …
Diamonds Aren’t Forever
Disenchanted with the role and his salary, Sean Connery stepped away from Bond in 1967 following the bombastic You Only Live Twice. This presented makers Eon with their first real challenge as they had to find a replacement which eventually came in the shape of George Lazenby and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service followed. However, …
Casino Royale – deconstructing, reconstructing & demolishing Bond
Shortly after earning his double-0 status by registering two kills, Bond (Daniel Craig) is engaged in a surveillance mission in Madagascar, the subject of which is a bomb maker Mollaka. This leads to a chase across a building site with both men leaping off cranes and free running around scaffolding and half finished structures. In …
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Dr No – The founding member of SPECTRE?
Although the governance and hierarchy of James Bond’s primary arch nemesis SPECTRE is made abundantly clear in the novels with them and their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld making their debut in Thunderball before the latter appears in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice, the films have muddied the waters somewhat. By …
Never Should Have Said “Again”
The history behind 1983’s unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again could form the basis of a university dissertation. It marked the return of the original Eon actor Sean Connery to play Bond for a seventh time, financed and produced by a rival studio and Kevin McClory who retained the rights to SPECTRE and Ernst …
Never Should Have Said “Again”
The history behind 1983’s unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again could form the basis of a university dissertation. It marked the return of the original Eon actor Sean Connery to play Bond for a seventh time, financed and produced by a rival studio and Kevin McClory who retained the rights to SPECTRE and Ernst …
Dr No – The founding member of SPECTRE?
Although the governance and hierarchy of James Bond’s primary arch nemesis SPECTRE is made abundantly clear in the novels with them and their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld making their debut in Thunderball before the latter appears in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice, the films have muddied the waters somewhat. By …
Athon 