A mini-007 tour of New York

One of our intrepid HMSSers was recently in New York and (figuratively) retraced some of the steps that the literary James Bond took.
Sardi’s, 234 West 44th Street: In Chapter 8 of Diamonds Are Forever, Felix Leiter takes Bond to lunch at Sardi’s and they dine in the upstairs dining room. The friends have some martinis [...]

Quentin Tarantino: ‘Daniel Craig shouldn’t be James Bond’

http://www.showbizspy.com/article/189759/quentin-tarantino-daniel-craig-shouldnt-be-james-bond.html
Daniel Craig wouldn’t be playing James Bond — if director Quentin Tarantino had his way.
The eccentric movie maker said he would like to have directed Casino Royale — but with Pierce Brosnan as the suave British spy.
“The reason they did Casino Royale all comes down to me,” Quentin said.
“I made it a point, I said [...]

Writer selected for Ian Fleming movie

Writer John Orloff, who scripted A Mighty Heart, has been selected to develop a screenplay for a movie about 007 creator Ian Fleming, the Hollywood Reporter disclosed this week.
To read the story, click RIGHT HERE.
To read a blogger’s take on the project, click RIGHT HERE
And for more on Orloff’s career, take a look [...]

Merry Christmas from HMSSWeblog

Happy holidays to everyone. Only one James Bond movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, had an overt Christmas setting. So here’s the gunbarrel and title sequence, paced by John Barry’s amazing score.

The Silencers: a true alternate universe James Bond movie

Of all the 1960s spy entertainment produced to capitalize on the success of James Bond, The Silencers, the first of four Matt Helm movies starring Dean Martin, may be the closest to an altnerate universe James Bond movie.
What do we mean by that? It was the one movie where alternate choices — the actors, crew [...]

The murky origins of the James Bond Theme

The James Bond Theme, as anyone who visits here knows, is one of the most famous pieces of movie music. But trying to peel back the origins has proven a bit tricky. A UK court has decided that Monty Norman is the author. But when you see the UK documentary we’ve linked to (via YouTube). [...]

More about James Bond songs from UK documentary

The original spoofy Casino Royale in 1967 was, by all accounts, a big mess. It was instigated by Cubby Broccoli’s former boss, Charles K. Feldman, who snared the rights. But Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, after already having to make Kevin McClory a partner in Thunderball, weren’t in the mood to share a second time with [...]

More from the UK documentary on James Bond songs

A few days ago, we linked to some YouTube versions of a UK documentary on James Bond title songs. That posting drew a bit of traffic, so we thought we should do some more. First up, how John Barry and Tim Rice faced a daunting task to do a song for a movie titled Octopussy. [...]

007 vs. The Joker….huh?

Those YouTubers. You can’t stop ‘em from recreating and reinterpreting stuff. Here’s one trailer for a Bond Vs. Joker movie, using footage from Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and The Dark Knight:

QoS falls to No. 5, passes $150 million mark in U.S., Canada

Quantum of Solace slipped again this past weekend in the U.S. and Canada to the No. 5 slot, with $6.6 million in ticket sales, Bloomberg reports.
The 22nd film in the 007 series produced by Eon Productions has now grossed $151.5 million in four weeks.
Four Chistmases was the No. 1 film [...]