Memories of 007 double features

Elsewhere on this blog, Paul Baack shared his version of a poster for a double feature of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. In this home video era, such a double bill won’t reach movie theaters, at least for a general release. But that poster got us to remembering about Bond double features of the [...]

Moonraker 30th anniversary addendum

ABC and James Bond has a long relationship. So here’s the opening to The ABC Sunday Night Movie when Moonraker appeared a few years after its 1979 debut in theaters. Ernie Anderson does the honors for the voiceover:

And while we’re at it, here’s a 1980s repeat showing of From Russia With [...]

1975: ABC promo for Diamonds Are Forever

For the 1975-76 television season, ABC included Diamonds Are Forever among its slate of theatrical movies it would show. Unlike the 1972-73 season, however, 007 wasn’t the biggest draw for ABC.
In this promo, ABC begins showing previews of its movies around the 3:00 mark. Diamonds doesn’t show up until around the 6:15 mark. By contrast, [...]

TCM 007 update

On the Saturday afternoon telecast of Diamonds Are Forever, TCM weekend host Ben Mankiewicz didn’t mention his family’s connection to the movie. According to imdb.com, Ben is cousin once removed of Diamonds co-screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz.
Ben Mankiewicz in his introduction said United Artists paid Sean Connery $2 million to come back to the role. Robert Osborne, [...]

Questions about You Only Live Twice

While watching You Only Live Twice for the umteenth time on TCM, we starting stockpiling a few nagging questions about the movie’s plot. Yes, it’s not intended to hold up to such examination but what the heck. For example:
1. Bond trains to be a ninja at Tiger Tanaka’s top-secret ninja training facility. Yet, not one [...]

Being picky: Goldfinger and Thunderball on TCM

The last few seconds of Goldfinger’s end titles were cut off before we got the credits of the digital restoration crew. Maybe they were anxious to see their names and figured nobody would notice a few seconds lopped off. At least they didn’t change the colors of the end titles this time.
After the movie, TCM’s [...]

TCM starts promos for 007/Connery movies

TCM has started running a promo for “star of the month” Sean Connery in May. As you might expect, it relies heavily on Connery appearances in his six James Bond movies filmed for Eon Productions.
Throughout the promo, TCM uses the dots from the main titles of Dr. No superimposed over clips from that movies, the [...]

More HMSS (and reader) nominations for harebrained 007 movie ideas

Consider casting John Gavin as James Bond
After George Lazenby abruptly quit (or was fired, depending on which version of the story you believe), producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and studio chieftains at United Artists gave a lot of thought to Americanizing Bond. Gavin was signed but UA wasn’t quite sold. So, the studio [...]

HMSS nominations for most harebrained ideas for 007 movies

The James Bond movie series is remarkable for its longevity (47 years, albeit with a couple of notable gaps in production). But it’s also remarkable for some harebrained ideas that were seriously considered. Our list of five nominations.
1. Considering Adam West, for the role of Bond.
West, the one-time Batman, disclosed in his autobiography that [...]

More HMSS (and reader) nominations for best line(s) from James Bond movies

Our post the other day about nominations for best lines from James Bond movies drew five responses. So here’s some of the feedback we got for additions plus a few we added.
The World Is Not Enough
James Bond: The world is not enough.
Elektra King: Foolish sentiment.
James Bond: Family motto.
Die Another Day
Q (following virtual reality exercise): [...]