It’s the 50th anniversary of 007 and with it the general release of the 23rd James Bond film Skyfall tomorrow, which means we have 22 James Bond theme songs:
Film
Song
Dr No. (1962)
No song, just the ‘James Bond Theme’ written by Monty Norman and arranged by John Barry
Click on the links above to listen (and watch) the songs. The legendary Shirley Bassey has the record of singing the most songs, 3: Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker.
VOTE for your favourite below. Pick the one(s) you like the best, but don’t associate it with your view of the film it goes with, e.g. The Living Daylights is not one of the great Bond films, but A-Ha’s theme song is actually very good.
Whether you’re just discovering the world of James Bond 007 or have been a fan for years, the following trivia should be of interest to you. If you are a true Bond aficionado then you should know them already, but do you know them all?!
1) M’s Real Name M’s real name is Vice Admiral Sir Miles Messervy. Revealed in Fleming’s final book ‘Man with the Golden Gun’. In the 1977 Spy Who Loved Me, General Gogol actually refers to M as Miles when they are together, “Miles, after you“, during the scenes they explain to 007 that he and Triple X will be working together on the mission.
2) Sean Connery wore a Toupee Sean Connery wears a toupee in all the James Bond movies he appears in.
3) Jaws’s Real Name In the screenplay, Jaws is revealed to be Polish and his real name is Zbigniew Krycsiwiki.
4) Roger Moore has played Bond the Most Times Roger Moore has played Bond the most in official bond films – 7, although so has Sean Connery if you include Never Say Never Again (a remake of Thunderball).
5) The Top Rated Bond Films on IMDb The following are the Top 12 rated Bond films on IMDb (Correct as of 14th November 2012):
The lowest ranked Bond film is Die Another Day with a score of 6.0 (105,000 votes).
Non-official James Bond film Never Say Never Again has a score of 6.1 from 31,000 votes.
–
6) For Your Eyes Only Underwater Scenes Weren’t Underwater The close-ups of Carole Bouquet and Roger Moorefor the underwater scenes were actually filmed in a studio with a windfan to produce the effect of floating hair. The scenes were then played in slow motion with the bubbles added in.
7) The Gun Barrel Opening Sequence Maurice Binder designed the gun barrel opening at the last minute, by pointing a pinhole camera through a real gun barrel. The actor in the sequence is not Sean Connery, but stuntman Bob Simmons. Connery didn’t film the sequence himself until Thunderball. –
8) Q/Major Boothroyd “Q”/ Major Boothroyd played by Desmond Llewelyn appears for the first time in From Russia With Love. This character was played by Peter Burton in Dr. No. When Burton was unable to return for this film, the role was recast with Llewelyn in the part. Llewelyn would reprise the role of “Q” in 16 subsequent Bond films (17 performances in all, but he didn’t appear in Live and Let Die. Q is referred to by his real name, “Major Boothroyd,” only in Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and The Spy Who Loved Me.
9) Octopussy Stunt Actually Real In Octopussy, during the scene the TukTuks are racing through the busy Indian street, a bike goes between the two vehicles. This was not a rehearsed stunt, but a local riding through not realising they were filming! –
11) Dolph Lundgren’s First Role in A View to a Kill Although only appearing very briefly, A View to a Kill is Dolph Lundgren‘s first on-screen role, playing General Gogol’s KGB bodyguard Venz. He landed the position because he was dating Grace Jones at the time of the filming, and was conveniently on set when director John Glenrealized he quickly needed someone to fill in as a simple gun wielding body guard. You can spot him 52mins in to the film.
12) Jaws Had Only One Line of Dialogue Actor Richard Kiel has only one line of dialogue in his two Bond appearances as “Jaws” (Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me). He says, “Well, here’s to us,” near the end of Moonraker to his blonde girlfriend.
13) Recurring Drunk Tourist Role The guy on the beach who looks bemused as he sees Bond’s Lotus Esprit come out of the water in The Spy Who Loved Me, also appears in Moonraker & For Your Eyes Only. His real name is Victor Tourjanski and he is not an actor, he is an Assistant Director.
14) The Last Film Elvis Presley Saw Elvis Presley saw The Spy Who Loved Me on August 10th 1977 during a special viewing at the General Cinema in Whitehaven, TN. It was the last movie he saw as he died six days later on August 16th 1977 at the age of 42.
15) American Actor James Brolin Almost Played James Bond During casting, James Brolin was almost given the role of James Bond when at the last minute, Roger Moore agreed to play Bond again. Brolin’s screen tests can be seen on the DVD. Moore had gone out of contract after Moonraker, and had agreed to return to the role one more time in For Your Eyes Only. The production went with Moore because this film would be competing with Never Say Never Again starring original and former James Bond actor and legend Sean Connery. The uncertainty in using an American actor in the role and having to introduce a new actor in going-up against Connery were the reasons. In the meantime, Oliver Tobias, Michael Billington, Timothy Dalton and Ian Ogilvy had also been considered for James Bond.
16) The Eldest James Bond Despite being the third actor to play James Bond in the official films, Roger Moore is 3 years older than Sean Connery. Moore was born in 1927 and Connery in 1930.
17) JFK’s Top 10 Favourite Books When then US President John F. Kennedy listed Ian Fleming”s book From Russia With Love among his top ten favourite novels of all time, a list published in Life Magazine, March 17, 1961, the producers decided to make this the second James Bond movie.
18) MI6 Objection to Bond Filming When the real MI6 learned that ‘The World is Not Enough’ would shoot a scene around their headquarters, they moved to prohibit it, citing a security risk. However, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, at the urging of Member of Parliament Janet Anderson, moved to overrule them and allow the shoot, stating, “After all Bond has done for Britain, it was the least we could do for Bond.”
20) Octopussy Phantom Nipple I went to see Octopussy on my friend Jonathan Owen’s birthday with his younger brother Duncan and a few others. Duncan Owen afterwards claimed you could see the nipple of Kristina Wayborn when she is standing at her bedroom door when Bond is staying at Khan’s Palace. This isn’t true! However, at the beginning of Diamonds Are Forever you can see a nipple very briefly when Bond (Connery) rips off the bikini top of Marie (played by Denise Perrier) trying to find the location of Blofeld.
– Some James Bond fans believe that 007 creator, Ian Fleming, made a secret cameo appearance in the second Bond film, From Russia with Love (1963). The suggestion is that Fleming’s one and only cameo takes place during the Orient Express sequence, after James Bond (Sean Connery) and Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) flee Istanbul with the stolen Russian Lektor decoder machine. Eagle-eyed fans believe that a man standing to the right of the train, seen shortly after Kerim Bey (Pedro Armendariz) has been found dead, is in fact Ian Fleming.
“The curious notion of Fleming’s cameo is mentioned in Roger Ryan and Martin Sterling’s book of Bond trivia, ‘Keeping The British End Up‘, under the heading ‘Brief Encounter’. The scene in question pops up when the Orient Express must stop for a truck that has stalled across the tracks (originally, part of Grant’s escape route). Watch for an oddly placed gentleman wearing a white top and dark pants, who seems to be holding some sort of walking stick. –
“… I say that the man is oddly placed, because he seems to have no part in the plot, and cannot simply be brushed off as someone merely out for a casual stroll due to the apparent desolation of the surrounding area. I also find it quite odd that although the train is passing fairly close to him, the man has his back to it and is looking the other way. “
It is not clear to see from the photo, but have a closer look for yourself in the video below:
– At first glance, the man on the side of the rail tracks does not appear to be Ian Fleming and the shadow on his face from his cap makes him seem like a man with a darker-skinned ethnicity. However, the more you compare the man in the film with other photos of Ian Fleming, you realise you cannot rule it out. Both men have large ears and the nose and cheeks ‘seem’ to be similar. Ian Fleming was 6ft tall and the man in the film appears to be shorter than this but it is very hard to judge as he not standing close enough to another something we are sure of the height of to gain a proper perspective.
Also consider the fact the film-makers have never disclosed this (Never say Never!) and that is hard to believe or understand why? The film-makers know that fans would love to know if it were true and surely it would help sales of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray. But no, they have not said anything which suggests that it is probably not true.
It is also odd that his cameo would be in that remote scene, presumably shot on a day when most of the main cast were not around and in the middle of the European countryside somewhere? However! There are publicity stills of Fleming on location during the filming of From Russia with Love wearing a white top(!) in front of and by the Orient Express train. See below, do these images match the man appearing in the film?
These pictures add much further weight to the notion that the man in the film was actually Ian Fleming. In the photos you can clearly see he is wearing a white top with a white shirt collar coming through. Look at the film again. The man by the side of the railway tracks is wearing a white top with a white collar.
My gut feeling is that it is not Ian Fleming as there is no evidence to confirm that it is was him and I am almost (!) certain there would be if it were true. My heart, though, believes it would be great if it was actually him and that he got to play a tiny part in the film of his famous story. At the very least he has created a genuine Ian Fleming mystery.
The number one Definite Bond Girl is Pussy Galore, beating all her rivals quite comfortably by scoring very high in all categories. Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder may have set the standard for Bond Girls, but Honor Blackman in 1964’s Goldfinger raised the bar so high that no one else has been able to surpass it.
This achievement is all the more impressive when you consider the name Pussy Galore is really quite absurd and juvenile, but Honor Blackman’s performance gives it complete credibility. She was also 38 years of age when she made the film, making her the oldest Bond Girl and is nearly 5 years older than Sean Connery.
Pussy Galore makes her first appearance halfway through the film when James Bond wakes up inside the private jet of baddie Auric Goldfinger and being the pilot she introduces herself to him.
Pussy Galore: My name is Pussy Galore. James Bond: I must be dreaming.
Pussy is more mature, not just in age, than most Bond Girls and she is actually a villain who is helping Goldfinger carry out his dastardly plan so she can make a lot of money, buy an island in the Bahamas and ‘go back to nature’.
Pussy Galore: I’m Mr. Goldfinger’s personal pilot. James Bond: Oh? Just how personal is that? Pussy Galore: I’m a damn good pilot. Period.
James tries to win her over when they first meet, but she is having none of it.
Pussy Galore: You can turn off the charm, I’m immune.
As well as being an expert aeroplane and helicopter pilot, she runs her own air show team, Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus, who are instrumental in Goldfinger’s plan to break into Fort Knox, killing off the surrounding army base by spraying Delta 9 nerve gas into the air.
James Bond is being held prisoner at Goldfinger’s Kentucky stud farm and when Goldfinger is informed people are watching the farm (CIA’s Felix Leiter), he asks Pussy to entertain James to make it look like he is not in any trouble.
James Bond: Well, well, the new Miss Galore. Where do you hide your gold knuckles in that outfit. Pussy Galore: Oh, I never carry weapons after business hours. James Bond: None at all? Pussy Galore: I’m completely defenseless… James Bond: … so am I.
They take a walk arm in arm around the farm and Bond spots a barn for them to go into. Their banter has been friendly up until that point but he expresses his dislike of her being caught up in the plan and states that Goldfinger is quite mad.
James Bond: What would it take for you to see things my way? Pussy Galore: A lot more than you’ve got. James Bond: How do you know? Pussy Galore: I don’t want to know.
He grabs her and then she shows off her judo skills (written into the film especially for Honor Blackman) and they proceed to have a tumble together which leads directly to a more passionate and intimate moment. We later realise this time with Bond has helped her see the light and Pussy and her flying circus team only pretend to use the nerve gas, allowing the army and CIA to prevent Goldfinger’s plan.
Pussy Galore is a talented and independent woman who knows how to handle herself, yet is also very beautiful and sexy without any need for gratuitous bikini shots. Her character is interesting and develops over the film as she is involved in something quite bad, but ultimately her actions allow Bond to succeed. Her impact was and, 46 years later, still is huge, being one of the most well-remembered and highly-regarded Bond girls.
Therefore, Pussy Galore fully deserves her place as the number one definitive Bond girl.
21st Century Boy 