Worst Bond movie?

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We’ll have to wait a while longer to see if No Time To Die finds its way onto the list of “worst Bond movies”. It was just announced this morning by the producers that the release has been pushed back to November.
 
This is one of those rare cases where the movies are better than the books. I had never read a single Ian Fleming novel until quite recently. My son persuaded me to try Casino Royale, which I found only so-so in comparison with the film. I also read Dr. No and one other. The books seem flat and uninspired, compared with the movies.

I have nothing against spy thrillers. Of all novelists now living, in all genres, the writer I like best is John le Carré. But the movie adaptations of his books are mostly very disappointing. It’s the other way around from the James Bond pictures
 
BartholomewB said:
This is one of those rare cases where the movies are better than the books. I had never read a single Ian Fleming novel until quite recently. My son persuaded me to try Casino Royale, which I found only so-so in comparison with the film. I also read Dr. No and one other. The books seem flat and uninspired, compared with the movies.

I have nothing against spy thrillers. Of all novelists now living, in all genres, the writer I like best is John le Carré. But the movie adaptations of his books are mostly very disappointing. It’s the other way around from the James Bond pictures
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Oh, I disagree. I LOVE the novels. I love the movies, too, but I have read the novels more times than I have seen the movies! I actually have three sets of the Fleming novels, because I pretty much destroyed one set by reading it so often the pages fell apart (cheap paperbacks!). So I bought two more sets (easy to find at yard sales and thrift shops), and that way, I always have at least one copy that’s in good condition.

I find the novels gripping, and I love the story arc in the novels. I also love the whole “world” of Bond, which apparently is based on reality (Fleming worked for the government).

And the characters–love them! Fleming has a way of creating wonderful characters with only a few phrases and appearances.

One of my favorite characters is Quarrel, who shows up in two of the novels, and sadly, doesn’t survive his second appearance.

I love all the “girls”, too. We’ve already talked about Tracy, but I loved Domino, and Solitaire, and especially Honeychile! They’re all so tough and strong and have such interesting backgrounds.

And I love the various situations that Bond survives–I think it’s cool that he has so many skills, e.g., expert skier, golfer, card player, etc.

The novels present a life that is so different than my very simple, safe, and basic life. They’re pure escapism.

When my brother and I were growing up, we loved playing “Spy” and developed a Secret Agent Club. Our parents bought us these cool toys–a radio that turned into a gun, and a camera that turned into a gun, and we played with these for hours. We also had a secret decoder ring that we got out of a cereal box!

I have actually written six novels with an organization similar to Bond’s organization, and a leader that reminds readers of “M.” It’s so fun, although I realize that in real life, intelligence workers face very real dangers and risk their lives constantly so that the rest of us can be safe and at peace.
 
Peeps said:
I think James Bond is one of many of the great fictional characters created by British writers! Such an amazing list–Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, the Narnia characters, the Lord of the Rings characters, Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, the Harry Potter world, the Christmas Carol characters (and for that matter, many of the Dickens characters), Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, John Steed and Emma Peel, etc. etc.–I know I’m missing many, but James Bond and his world (“M”, Felix Leiter, Moneypenny, all the villains, etc.) are definitely right there at the top!
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Don’t forget Alice from "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’!
 
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Rincewind, Carrot, Vimes, Vetinari.

Ford Prefect, Arthur Dent, Marvin.

Next…
 
Bram Stoker was British. In his lifetime the Emerald Isle was still part of the United Kingdom. And, of course, he lived and worked in his nation’s capital, London.
 
“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
 
That’s the way of things. I Thought quantum was actually pretty cool with the opera scene was my favorite and I could go with out watching an Aston Martin get wrecked so many times was heart breaking.
 
Titivillus said:
“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
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In Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, Bertie Wooster learns that a Mr. Trotter of his acquaintance is blessed with the forenames Lemuel Gengulphus. Bertie exclaims, “Golly, Jeeves, there’s some raw work pulled at the font from time to time, isn’t there?”

When Wodehouse wrote those lines, he surely must have been thinking of his own given names, Pelham Grenville.
 
@(name removed by moderator) I guess you could say he was Irish and British in the parlance of those times.

@BartholomewB I’m reading a novel by George Eliot in which there’s a character named Tertius Lydgate. I guess he would go by ‘Terry’ these days.
 
Ian Fleming’s most famous villain is Ernst Stavro Blofeld. I don’t know where the names Ernst and Stavro came from, but Thomas Blofeld was a friend of his, the father of sports broadcaster and writer Henry Blofeld.
 
BartholomewB said:
Ian Fleming’s most famous villain is Ernst Stavro Blofeld. I don’t know where the names Ernst and Stavro came from, but Thomas Blofeld was a friend of his, the father of sports broadcaster and writer Henry Blofeld.
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I believe that Blofeld lasted through three of the novels.

I personally liked Goldfinger best. Also Dr. No, but he was a little fantastical. But Goldfinger had that classic line, “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”
 
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