Why so many Felixes?

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  • Posts: 406
    Anyone else think a stand alone felix film could work? With a part two being the next bond film the following year? Kind of like the marvel films. Would be much better than a jinx film and we need more wright!
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,049
    Alan007 wrote: »
    Anyone else think a stand alone felix film could work? With a part two being the next bond film the following year? Kind of like the marvel films. Would be much better than a jinx film and we need more wright!

    Dynamite Comics did a story with just Felix. It was okay, but it would possibly work as a movie, with a bit more meat to the story. Also, wait for the next Bond actor and Felix actor, in cause of possible sequels. So it could work, possibly.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited July 2019 Posts: 5,921
    Alan007 wrote: »
    Anyone else think a stand alone felix film could work? With a part two being the next bond film the following year? Kind of like the marvel films. Would be much better than a jinx film and we need more wright!

    A movie starring Jeffrey Wright is always a good idea. One of the very best current actors, period.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 7,999
    I liked Lord, Linder, Hedison and Wright. All have personalities that work well with the leading Bond actors.

    Van Nutter was too much of a non-entity, doesn’t really do much other than follow Bond’s orders. Burton’s Leiter felt like a high school teacher that walked onto the Bond set. And Terry was barely in it to even register, and apparently he hated his experience working on TLD.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,049
    I liked Lord, Linder, Hedison and Wright. All have personalities that work well with the leading Bond actors.

    Van Nutter was too much of a non-entity, doesn’t really do much other than follow Bond’s orders. Burton’s Leiter felt like a high school teacher that walked onto the Bond set. And Terry was barely in it to even register, and apparently he hated his experience working on TLD.

    I agree 100%.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited July 2019 Posts: 5,921
    Alan007 wrote: »
    Anyone else think a stand alone felix film could work? With a part two being the next bond film the following year? Kind of like the marvel films. Would be much better than a jinx film and we need more wright!

    And it would also be cool to have a Felix film while we are waiting for Eon to recast Bond 26.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 7,999
    I think it would be neat to see a Felix after the shark attack. No need to redo the story as it was already done in LTK. When recasting Bond, recast Felix, but this time seeing him with his prosthetics. Like the novels, show Leiter never lost his spirit and is as jovial as he was pre-shark attack. Hell, have him and Bond argue about American and Euro cars.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited July 2019 Posts: 17,727
    Yes, and he would fit in in AVTAK as well, as so much of it takes place in the US.

    Yes, Leiter would have been a good fit for AVTAK, that's true. I suppose the fellow CIA agent Chuck Lee took his place in that assignment. Leiter appearing in both LALD and AVTAK would have been a nice book-ending of the Moore Bond era too, especially if David Hedison had reprised the role.

    Here's an article I wrote for the sadly now defunct site www.felixleiter.com in 2010 on another "appearance" that Felix Leiter makes in the Moore era Bonds:

    http://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/oblique-reference-to-felix-leiter-in_5824.html
  • Posts: 6,682
    Norman Burton was very funny and memorable in DAF.
  • Posts: 1,637
    Maybe Cubby felt that Lord could overshadow Sean , kinda like Parker feared Elvis would be overshadowed by AM in Viva Las Vegas : "Elvis is the star , dont you forget it" (Parker might well have said this during filming)
  • Posts: 19,339
    I don't think any of the past and present Felix's would be successful in a separate film.
    The character has only played bit parts in Bond,and would have been forgotten in most peoples minds.

    What's next : Bill Tanner in Silent Witness the Movie ? (that's about all he does).
  • ThunderballThunderball playing Chemin de Fer in a casino, downing Vespers
    Posts: 776
    Wright is my favorite Felix and I’m delighted he’s returning for NTTD. I was disappointed he wasn’t in either SF or SP or both. The question is, will he carry on as Felix for the next Bond actor, in Bond 26 or 27? Or a new actor? Or retire the character? No idea yet.
  • Posts: 631
    Wright is my favorite Felix.

    Mine too

    I love the scene in QOS when they’re on the private jet flying to Brigenz. It’s just a conversation between some men but there’s something weirdly gripping about it. And the glance that Leiter gives after they’ve landed (“I need to know you’re a team player”) is brilliant

  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,904
    Tracy wrote: »
    Maybe Cubby felt that Lord could overshadow Sean , kinda like Parker feared Elvis would be overshadowed by AM in Viva Las Vegas : "Elvis is the star , dont you forget it" (Parker might well have said this during filming)

    I heard it was UA executives who didn't want a second hero in the movies. So they start in DN with a somewhat faithful recreation of Leiter. Lord matches Connery for coolness and you sense their friendship developing.

    Then in GF we get an older tubby Felix who seems to be Bond's errand boy and not his equal. TB he's Bond's pilot. By DAF he's short, kind of irritable and again left to fix up Bond's messes. In LALD he's played more like Bond in terms of good looking and somewhat cool. However he's still cleaning up messes.

    TLD his role is so small and played so ineffectively I doubt many of the widespread public would even remember he was in the movie. LTK he's played older again and is a big part of the story. However by the end with lost limbs and wife he's smiling and joking with Bond removing the gravitas of the character arc. Then he simply disappears for almost 20 years. Comes back again as a cool character. But I am not sure what if anything he's done that is memorable. He strikes a friendship with Bond but I'm not clear as to why. Then he puts his career on the line for the guy in the next film.

    I would love to see the friendship and the relationship explored more. I think there is something worth looking into and seeing. Just please don't give us Cedar!
  • AleanderAleander Kavala, Greece
    Posts: 33
    I think their friendship aspect has rarely been on display. Its kinda there in DAF and GF, and definitely there in NSNA and LTK, but not much anywhere else. And in the latter, he's not in the film long enough to make a true lasting impression.

    Although, I've to say, the black Leiters are the best for me. Casey really sells the part, especially for his limited on-screen presence, and Jeffrey Wright is just genuinely great, so there.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 7,999
    I hope Wright gets a bigger part in NTTD, because I thought he was pretty underused in QOS, but I suppose we’ll see.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I hope Wright gets a bigger part in NTTD, because I thought he was pretty underused in QOS, but I suppose we’ll see.

    His part may not have been bigger, but it made a bigger impact.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited December 2021 Posts: 14,861
    Aleander wrote: »
    I think their friendship aspect has rarely been on display. Its kinda there in DAF and GF, and definitely there in NSNA and LTK, but not much anywhere else. And in the latter, he's not in the film long enough to make a true lasting impression.

    I think this is a good observation, and it turns out that NTTD was probably the one where their friendship felt the most real.
    I know he's at Felix's wedding in LTK but does anyone else get the sense that he'd rather not be there? He's loyal to Felix but I'm not sure I buy they're actually friends in that film, if you get what I mean..?
    I hope Wright gets a bigger part in NTTD, because I thought he was pretty underused in QOS, but I suppose we’ll see.

    His part may not have been bigger, but it made a bigger impact.

    That's what I tell the ladies.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    edited December 2021 Posts: 2,895
    When Bond says 'I stopped trusting pretty faces years ago', Felix's response that 'Yeah, I heard' not only indicates that they haven't seen each other in at least the five years since the PTS (and probably since before SP), but that they haven't even spoken to each other in that time. Someone in Felix's position is unlikely to have kept the same phone number for all those years, so Bond's 'I've got your number' indicates that he's kept tabs on him - while Felix's presence in Jamaica suggests that he's done likewise. Many of us have probably got old friends that we don't see for long periods, but when we do it's as if no time's passed at all. Bond and Leiter are like that.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    Bring Magnussen back, but as Felix.
  • Posts: 1,693
    Bring Magnussen back, but as Felix.

    He would make a good Felix. I always thought Jimmy Dean in DAF should have been given the Felix role. He fit Fleming's description to a tee.
  • Posts: 7,500
    mtm wrote: »
    Aleander wrote: »
    I think their friendship aspect has rarely been on display. Its kinda

    His part may not have been bigger, but it made a bigger impact.

    That's what I tell the ladies.

    ;))
  • Posts: 15,785
    delfloria wrote: »
    Bring Magnussen back, but as Felix.

    He would make a good Felix. I always thought Jimmy Dean in DAF should have been given the Felix role. He fit Fleming's description to a tee.

    That would've been great! Then cast an actor who more resembled Howard Hughes to play Willard Whyte.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 7,999
    I hope Wright gets a bigger part in NTTD, because I thought he was pretty underused in QOS, but I suppose we’ll see.

    His part may not have been bigger, but it made a bigger impact.

    Like night and day. Just seeing Bond and Felix having some fun at a nightclub was just what I've been looking for so long. I could watch a whole film with these two just shooting the ****.
  • To reply to the original question, I also would have liked Felix to be played more consistently by the same actor. It’s just a guess but in the past he was never a recurring character such as M or Q. He always made sporadic appearances and only with Craig have we seen him as a more permanent presence. Maybe it was just a question of finding a suitable actor all over again every single time.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 2,895
    It's a shame that Jack Lord wasn't Connery's Felix throughout. Short-term thinking, Jack! Pity Sir Rog's Bond only worked with Leiter the one time - I'd've liked David Hedison to have played Felix in at least a couple more outings with Roger.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,049
    Venutius wrote: »
    It's a shame that Jack Lord wasn't Connery's Felix throughout. Short-term thinking, Jack! Pity Sir Rog's Bond only worked with Leiter the one time - I'd've liked David Hedison to have played Felix in at least a couple more outings with Roger.

    100% agreed for both. Jack had an ego the size of Texas. It didn’t really help anywhere else but Hawaii 5-0.
  • Agent_Zero_OneAgent_Zero_One Ireland
    Posts: 554
    Venutius wrote: »
    It's a shame that Jack Lord wasn't Connery's Felix throughout. Short-term thinking, Jack! Pity Sir Rog's Bond only worked with Leiter the one time - I'd've liked David Hedison to have played Felix in at least a couple more outings with Roger.
    I wouldn't have even minded if they brought back Linder, because at least he had chemistry with Connery.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 7,999
    Venutius wrote: »
    It's a shame that Jack Lord wasn't Connery's Felix throughout. Short-term thinking, Jack! Pity Sir Rog's Bond only worked with Leiter the one time - I'd've liked David Hedison to have played Felix in at least a couple more outings with Roger.
    I wouldn't have even minded if they brought back Linder, because at least he had chemistry with Connery.

    I agree. Linder gets a lot of flack from fans, but I’ve never really heard a legitimate reason WHY he wasn’t at least a decent Leiter. Most of it comes down to “he looks so old” which I think is a weak argument. He may look older, but he’s got more personality than Rik Van Nutter, who only got the part in TB because just because he was a friend of Cubby’s.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited August 2022 Posts: 5,921
    I'm pretty sure that I am in the minority, but I really liked Norman Burton in DAF.

    He felt more like Bond's equal than like his lackey, a fate which befalls a lot of the Leiters because it is after all Bond's story, not Felix's.
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