Their Favorite Bond Moments

in Bond Movies Posts: 2,887
An interesting recent article:

THEIR FAVOURITE BOND MOMENTS

(Sunday Times, March 8)

Sam Mendes, Director of Skyfall and Spectre:

The parachute opening in The Spy Who Loved Me is, basically, the best stunt ever done. It is everything that Bond should be. It's funny. It's insanely spectacular. And you get the Bond theme when the chute opens, bam!"

Cary Fukunaga, Director of No Time to Die:

I love the conversation between Vesper and Bond on the train in Casino Royale. It's rare, in a conversational game of chess, to see Bond checkmated.

William Boyd Novelist, author of the Bond continuation novel Solo:

From Russia with Love is the best Bond novel and the best film. The moment that stays with me is when Bond is honey-trapped by Tatiana Romanova. As they make love, they are being filmed through a two-way mirror by two Smersh operatives. It's a real shock: "The clockwork mechanism of the ciné-cameras whirred softly on and on as the breath rasped out of the open mouths of the men and the sweat of excitement trickled down their bulging faces into their cheap collars". It's a real compliment to the novel that nothing was changed in the movie version.

Joanna Lumley, Appeared in OHMSS:

The scene in On Her Majesty's Secret Service when Bond slips into a Swiss lawyer's office during the lunch break to copy some papers. The clock is ticking; it's unbelievably tense. Just as the lawyer returns, Bond exits as smoothly and daringly as he arrived. Split-second timing; Peter Hunt's direction at its very best.

Tom Shone, Sunday Times film critic:

So many to choose from. The bomb timer stopping at "007" at the end of Goldfinger. Roger Moore using alligators as stepping stones in Live and Let Die. Daniel Craig straightening his cuff after plunging through a train roof in Skyfall. It may seem perverse to pick something tragic, but I'm going with the death of Tracy (Diana Rigg) at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). "She's having a rest," insists Bond (George Lazenby), cradling the head of his dead bride. Why does so wrenching a scene work as the ending of a Bond film? Because as much as we were happy that 007 had found true love, the thought of him changing a nappy was inconceivable. Bond must lose Tracy so that we may regain Bond.

Jeremy Clarkson, Sunday Times columnist:

Bond knows everything. In Diamonds Are Forever, he's even able to put down M, who tells him sherry doesn't have a vintage. Bond explains he was referring to the wine on which the sherry was based. The best demonstration of this encyclopaedic mind comes in The Spy Who Loved Me. Posing as a marine biologist, Bond is quizzed by Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens) on what sort of fish they're looking at. He doesn't just know the answer. He knows it in Latin: "Pterois volitans." And now, thanks to 007, so do I, which is handy when I'm snorkelling.

Camilla Long, Sunday Times writer:

My favourite Bond is the Bond that's about to be shagged to death. There's something about his expression of terror and excitement in the most Hitchcockian of the Bond films, Diamonds Are Forever, when Bambi and Thumper confront him in Willard Whyte's Las Vegas lair. What a terrifically unsettling and creepy scene it is — the two glistening women snaking down like shining cobras in a vivarium. For the female viewer, it's also immensely satisfying to see Bond finally getting kneed in the bollocks.

Susan Hill, Novelist:

The heart-stopping scene in the novel Moonraker where Bond unmasks the villainous Sir Hugo Drax cheating at bridge is perfectly paced, impeccably constructed, dramatically charged. Even non-card players can follow the tense game enough to relish Bond's brilliance and cunning, and Drax's parting words after his huge loss of cash and face are bone-chilling: "I should spend the money quickly, Commander Bond."

Comments

  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    Very cool stuff! I didn’t realize they gave Drax’ line from the novel to Kamal Khan in Octopussy (film).
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Very cool stuff! I didn’t realize they gave Drax’ line from the novel to Kamal Khan in Octopussy (film).

    It's been used more than once, I believe.

    It would make sense. Taking money from bad guys while gambling is something of an MO for Bond I suppose.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,904
    I believe Kamal says "Spend the money quickly Mister Bond." Bond replies "I intend to, Kamal Kahn." I always liked that exchange as it was delivered with such relish by Jordan and then Bond's retort is the first time Kamal's name is used by Bond. Its like Bond is saying my sights are on your now.

    Surprisingly I don't think the line was uttered by another villain. In GF after the golf game

    Goldfinger "I suppose you want it made out to cash?"
    Bond "That will be perfectly satisfactory."
    Goldfinger (rips the cheque) "Good bye Mister Bond." (slams car door shut) Bond deftly moves out of the way.

    Bond and Largo exchange pleasantries but no one says much about spending money.

    Domino "Emile you promised me a drink."
    Largo "later my dear I have to win my money back."
    Bond "May I be allowed to buy the lady a drink." (notice he doesn't say her name)
    Largo "I would like that very much."
    Bond "Then I must pass the shoe."

    There really hasn't been a lot of these type of scenes in the recent Bond movies. A game that is being played on a table and in words between two men who are feeling each other out and such.
  • Posts: 2,887
    And of course Bond did spend the money quickly in OP--after it saved his life during Kamal's assassination attempt!

    Drax's line also has an extra layer of irony that doesn't become apparent to the first-time reader until the end of the novel--Bond would have needed to spend the money quickly because Drax planned to nuke London very soon.
  • edited May 2021 Posts: 1
    It was really interesting and inspiring to read even now. There's a lot to learn from Bond. I think everyone learns and finds something different for himself, but I personally learned to keep my word and always strive for my goals. Since I was a child, I was always forbidden to do what I wanted, despite the fact that I had a lot of really worthwhile dreams. Because of this, now when I am 25 years old, I work in an unloved job and I do not even have family and friends. Now I understand that it is time to change something and most likely I will start with my work. I have long dreamed of becoming a paralegal and I think I am ready to start learning a new profession again https://www.vocationaltraininghq.com/how-to-become/paralegal/
Sign In or Register to comment.