Shaken Not Stirred
So there's a new Bond flick that is due to come out this week, Casino Royale. Daniel Craig is pegged to be the sixth man to play Bond. Other than I have never heard of him, my biggest problem with this choice of actors is that he is blond. Isn't J.B. supposed to be a brunette?Personally, I want to see Dave Chappelle get a crack at Bond...
Okay...maybe that incarnation of James Bond might be a little controversial...
I was never a much of a Bond fan until rooming with my friend Brian. He introduced me to the glamorous, seductive, exciting, chauvinistic world of Bond, James Bond. My favorite is still the king of all Bonds, Sean Connery.
This guy was mean! I have always enjoyed the fact that Connery's version was always the meanest, toughest, roughest Bond of them all. There was NOTHING p.c. about this guy. James Bond had no problem offing the bad guy, downing a martini (shaken not stirred) and hopping in bed with the local cutie.
One of my all-time favorite scenes is from Goldfinger. Felix Leiter meets up with Bond at a hotel pool. Bond is massaging the back of a lovely lady poolside. When Leiter comes up to Bond, J.B. needs to send Dink, the girl, away. With a slap on the bum, audio enhanced I might add, Bond sends her away, "Man talk!!!" Okay...I'm going to spend a day or two in purgatory for loving that scene too much...
The next Bond, George Lazenby, lasted all of one film...On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Lazenby was the other guy Bond. One film and done. That's enough said about him I suppose...After a few more films starring Connery we entered the James Bond comedy era with Roger Moore as the leading man.
Now, I don't have a huge problem with Moore at the helm of Mr. Bond, but he did give a humorous edge to the Bond character. There was always something in his expression, his eyes, that revealed that Moore always understood the sheer absurdity of the Bond character.However, there were a few absolutely classic Bond films that included Moore. Live And Let Die still has the best theme song and Bond hanging in the Hood in New Orleans was great. Octopussy, while...er...interesting title, had lots of great moments. My favorite was when Bond is playing backgammon and the evil guy's henchman crushes the dice to dust when Bond wins.
Unfortunately, Moore hung on too long, and at the end, I was wishing for his demise. Next up, Timothy Dalton.
He harkened the return to a tougher Bond...however he didn't seem to be mean. And what was with all the women saving his ass in Living Daylights?!!! Unfortunately for Dalton he was the victim of some suspect writing and he only lasted two episodes of Bond...
Then came Remington Steele...uh...I mean Pierce Brosnan. Although a bit of a "pretty boy" Brosnan was the first Bond since Connery to actually be mean. Brosnan actually was probably the best J.B. since Connery's initial version. I got the sense that Brosnan's character had no problem slicing the evil guys' throat.And through the miracle of film we could watch this skinny guy beat up men much larger than him. I would wonder how this skin and bones Bond could out muscle the bad guys with such ease. No wonder it took him so long to off Famke Janssen in the fight scene in the spa in GoldenEye.
So here we are now in November 2006...a new James Bond. Good luck Daniel Craig, you have some legends to live up to. I'll sip a martini, shaken not stirred, for you!
posted by LoneCactus @ 6:18 AM
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