By Lucie M. Winborne, ReMIND Magazine
Variety isn’t necessarily the spice of life when it comes to a James Bond film. Girls, gadgets and cars, a snazzy wardrobe and super-size villains in hot pursuit — certain motifs are as elemental to a 007 saga as candles to a flame, and filmmakers aren’t likely to tinker with a formula that’s kept fans lining up at the box office for five decades. Our hero typically is viewed first through the eye of a gun barrel, since it’s a given that desperadoes of all stripes prefer him dead. Just as surely, Bond gets the first shot, blood slowly begins to pool, and our hero heads for a meeting with his superior, known simply as M, to accept his latest assignment. Before departing, he frequently indulges in a bit of flirtation with M’s assistant, Miss Moneypenny, everlasting victim of an unrequited passion for the spy.
Then it’s on to a briefing with Q for mission details and the required special equipment … and what spy could possibly fail his mission when armed with grenades masked as ink pens, or an attaché case filled with everything from gold coins to a folding rifle with infrared sight? All the better to dispatch wrongdoers bent on destroying London with a nuclear missile or developing a deadly virus. Bond’s methods of dispatch are occasionally as inventive as his enemies, a couple of whom have met their timely demise by being partially eaten by an octopus or buried under a pile of guano.
Adventures like these demand an eye-catching backdrop. The Eiffel Tower in Paris … a gondola (that doubles as a land vehicle) in Venice … a Monte Carlo casino … a speedboat on the Amazon river. Agent 007 has one well-stamped passport.
Of course, it’s not merely cool props and glamorous locales that make Bond films iconic. The agent’s physical traits are just as remarkable: off-the-eyechart vision; iron lungs (no hacking cough for this smoker); cast-iron stomach capable of digesting poison with the most exotic cuisine; and equally cast-iron liver (think you’ll ever see 007 lamenting those shaken martinis at an AA meeting?).
Finally, let’s not overlook his longevity. Mr. Bond has been dispatching enemies and romancing the fair sex far longer than any man should have the right, yet shows nary a hint of advancing age or the indignities that inevitably accompany it.
No wonder it’s good to be Bond. James Bond.
Brought to you by the publishers of ReMIND magazine, a monthly magazine filled with over 95 puzzles, retro features, trivia and comics. Get ReMIND magazine at 70% off the cover price, call 844-317-3087 or visit remindmagazine.com