The least sexy James Bond movie vehicles

The James Bond film series is best known for fast Aston Martin and Lotus sports cars (often with gadgets). But there are quite a few Bond vehicles that don’t get the heart pumping. Here are some examples:

Kerim Bey’s station wagon

In From Russia With Love, Kerim Bey sends a Rolls-Royce limousine to pick James Bond up from the Istanbul airport. Later in the movie, the head of Station T sends the Rolls (with two dummies in the back) off in another direction while he and Bond travel to a gypsy camp in a station wagon.

The modest transportation works in the context of the story. The flashy Rolls is a decoy. Bond’s journey in Kerim’s station wagon helps set up one of the key sequences of the movie. But the station wagon isn’t particularly sexy. In 1966’s The Silencers, Matt Helm (Dean Martin) also goes around in a station wagon. But Dino’s wheels include a bar (!).

James Bond’s Lincoln Continental

In Thunderball, Bond (Sean Connery) again drives the Aston Martin DB5 he had earlier piloted in Goldfinger. The fourth Bond film made by Eon Productions provided 007 a more down-to-earth set of wheels once Bond got to The Bahamas — a Lincoln Continental he drove up to the estate of Largo (Adolfo Celi). The Lincoln is only briefly seen onscreen.

Honda ATV (all-terrain vehicle)

In Diamonds Are Forever, Sean Connery’s final movie for Eon Productions, the intrepid agent infiltrates a Nevada installation owned by industrialist Willard Whyte. Bond is discovered and has to get out fast.

He first steals a “moon buggy” being developed by Whyte’s company (which is under control of Blofeld). Bond manages to get out of the moon buggy while the vehicle continues on its way. Bond then overcomes one of the Whyte security personnel, who is driving a three-wheel Honda all-terrain vehicle (or ATV).

Despite the lack of dignity, Bond drives the ATV until he can rendezvous with Tiffany Case (Jill St. John). She is waiting with a new Ford Mustang, the main product placement deal of the film.

Bond’s Ford LTD

In A View to a Kill, Bond (Roger Moore) is following Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts) around San Francisco in a Ford LTD. The LTD was a big, boxy Ford sedan that went out of production and is long forgotten. Presumably, in the story, it was a rental car but that’s not spelled out in the movie.

By the time of the release of A View to a Kill, the LTD was on its last legs. The model would soon be phased out in favor of the Ford Taurus.

Bond’s Lincoln Mark VII

In Licence to Kill (1989), Bond (Timothy Dalton) intends to depart Florida after Felix Leiter (David Hedison) has gotten married. Dalton’s Bond is depicted as getting ready to return his rental car. But things take a turn when Bond discovers Leiter never made his honeymoon. Bond goes rogue, doesn’t catch his flight, and instead gets back in the car to figure out what’s going on.

Bond’s Ford Mondeo

2006 Ford Mondeo prototype driven by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (photo by The Spy Command)

Technically, the first car driven by the Daniel Craig version of Bond was a Ford Mondeo. The automaker had redesigned the European car and arranged for it to be in 2006’s Casino Royale. The car in the film wasn’t then (and still isn’t) street-legal. Bond drives the car (or so it seems) after the agent has arrived in The Bahamas.

Many Bond fans can’t stand the Mondeo’s appearance in the movie, viewing it as an obvious commercial for Ford. The magic of cinema likely made the Mondeo appear to be traveling faster than it could, via camera angles and sound effects.

60th anniversary of the Ford Mustang

A damaged Ford Mustang after getting the Ben-Hur treatment from Bond’s Aston-Martin DB5 in Goldfinger

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the introduction of the Ford Mustang at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

The model’s first cinema appearance took place during the filming of 1964’s Goldfinger.

James Bond (Sean Connery) was driving the soon-to-be-iconic Aston Martin DB5 while following Auric Goldfinger. Suddenly, a woman (Tania Mallet) driving the Mustang initially passes the DB5 on the roads of Switzerland. After Bond seems to have been targeted for a killing attempt, the British agent passes the Mustang.

Bond uses the DB5’s gadgets to pull a Ben-Hur maneuver to tear apart the Mustang and run it to the side of the road.

Things turn out to be more complicated and the Mallet character ends up as one of the movie’s sacrificial lambs. Regardless, in Goldfinger, the Mustang is almost as iconic as the DB5.

The Mustang would also be seen in 1965’s Thunderball, driven by SPECTRE killer Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi). In 1971, a muscle car version of the Mustang was seen in Diamonds Are Forever, with Sean Connery dodging law-enforcement cars in Las Vegas.

As the Mustang’s design evolved, it would also be featured prominently in 1968’s Bullitt, driven by Steve McQueen as the film’s title character. What’s more, the Mustang would be featured on American television shows such as The FBI (1965-74). In the first four seasons of that series, star Efrem Zimbalist Jr. drove Mustangs in the end titles.

About 007 parental advisories, trigger warnings

Bond tries to secure Pussy Galore’s cooperation in Goldfinger.

The British Film Institute ignited intense discussion among James Bond fans this week. The BFI is coming out with a program of films scored by John Barry, including Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice, according to The Guardian.

Goldfinger includes a sequence where Bond (Sean Connery) wins over Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman). In the 21st century, this doesn’t always go over well.

The institute issued “trigger warnings” about the movies (which also include The Ipcress File) saying the films may have elements that may offend modern audiences.

An excerpt from The Guardian story:

A spokesperson for the BFI told the Guardian:

“As a cultural charity with responsibility for the preservation of film and moving image work and presenting it to audiences, we continuously face and deal with challenges presented by the history of film and television programmes and how they reflect views prevalent to their time.”

Some Bond fans consider this silly. Goldfinger’s 60th anniversary is this year. There has been plenty of time to hash over these issues.

A critic for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw, raised the question whether such warning were necessary.

Other fans say this is OK as long as the movies themselves aren’t altered.

For more than 50 years (at least in the U.S.), Bond movies had parental advisories attached when broadcast on the U.S.

In the States, the first Bond film shown on TV was Goldfinger in 1972 on ABC. The gunbarrel logo was taken out. Later Goldfinger showings saw the movie cut down further to meet a two-hour (with commercials) broadcast slot.

Similar cuts occurred with other Bond films. ABC’s most ambitious editing was a 1976 showing of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service where the order of scenes was changed with an American voice-over actor providing narration as Bond.

These issues persisted for years.

As recently as 2002, ABC used digital technology to make the panties of Plenty O’Toole (Lana Wood) in Diamonds Are Forever black where they were flesh-colored in the original 1971 film.

Other movies having nothing to do with Bond have gotten disclaimers similar to what the BFI is doing.

The Disney + streaming service added a disclaimer to Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier from 1955. Several years ago, the TCM channel in the U.S. had a showing of 1942’s Holiday Inn. The introduction, before the film began, cautioned the audience that Bing Crosby did a song number in blackface, which modern audiences abhor.

All of this points to complicated issues. The BFI controversy is not the last word.

Bond 26 questions: The future edition

Some fans of the James Bond film franchise criticize other fans who feel they are entitled to 007 films on a regular schedule.

Good god, people! Be patient! Shut up and wait!

Other fans say they aren’t entitled. They just want some indication that something is happening.

Amid all this, the blog has questions.

Once upon a time, Cubby Broccoli didn’t want to press a reluctant actor (Sean Connery) to act. Should fans press a reluctant producer to produce?

In one of the home video extras, Dana Broccoli (1922-2004) is interviewed concerning the backstory of Diamonds Are Forever. Her late husband didn’t want to press Sean Connery to come back as Bond for Diamonds.

As a result, Eon signed John Gavin as Bond. However, United Artists executive David Picker had other ideas. UA took a dump truck full of money (figuratively) to Connery and the Scot came back. Gavin got paid off.

More than 50 years later, the question is whether fans should expect a reluctant producer (Barbara Broccoli, Cubby’s daughter) to make another Bond movie.

What do you mean?

Eon’s Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli’s half-brother, has spent more than a half-century in Bondage. Barbara Broccoli has spent more than 40 years in Bondage (longer than Moses roamed the desert, according to the Bible). Cubby Broccoli himself was in Bondage only for 35 years (from the founding of Eon in 1961 until he died in 1996).

So?

If you had more money than you could ever spend, and you had spent decades doing something, might you want to take a break?

No! No! Eon plays three-dimensional chess! You’re not serious, are you?

In the past few years, I’ve seen a lot of complicated theories. Eon is playing three-dimensional chess with Amazon, which acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2021. The wheels are always turning at MGM!

What if — if — the answer is simpler.

Barbara Broccoli had a special relationship with actor Daniel Craig, who did five Bond films between 2006 and 2021. She was the first Bond actor she chose.

Maybe it’s hard — really hard — to do an encore.

Broccoli says nothing is happening. What if it’s that simple?

As usual, we’ll see.

Sotheby’s to conduct Fleming auction

Sotheby’s is conducting an auction of James Book books by Ian Fleming as well as rare books the author owned.

Bidding for items part of James Bond on Bond Street begins at 3 p.m. U.K. time (10 a.m. New York time) on Sept. 8. What follows is a small sampling of some of the items up for auction.

BOND NOVELS

—Casino Royale, uncorrected proof copy, 1952. Described by Sotheby’s as, “Featuring the earliest printed form of the text, which varies from the published book. Print run unconfirmed, although ‘a tiny number appear to have survived … likely fewer than twenty-five copies.'”

—Casino Royale, first edition, 1953.

—Casino Royale, first edition, overseas edition, 1953.

—Casino Royale, first edition, second impression, Raymond Chandler’s copy, 1953. This copy has “Chandler’s La Jolla address ownership stamp,” according to Sotheby’s. Also up for auction is Chandler’s copy of Live And Let Die.

—Live And Let Die, first edition, first state, 1954.

—Moonraker, advance copy, 1955.

—Diamonds Are Forever, uncorrected proof copy, 1955. It has “numerous textual differences to the published edition.”

—From Russia With Love, corrected proof copy, 1956. “Only two softcover proofs are recorded as being sold at auction,” according to the listing.

OWNED BY FLEMING

—Copy of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, 1916. “FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM, 4to (244 x 165mm.), original printed wrappers, housed in black buckram collector’s folding case with Ian Fleming’s crest and motto in gilt to upper cover, case slightly worn at extremities, a near fine copy.”

—Prometheus, or Biology and the Advancement of Man, H.S. Jennings, 1925.

PERSONAL ITEMS

—Fleming Family Autographs, 1930s.

—1943 typed letter by Commander Fleming. “Typed letter signed, to George Murray Levick, confirming that they do not require the hut at Shlignich (in Scotland), informing him that Admiral Godfrey read his article on dehydrated foods, telling him to come and see him when he is in London.”

In all, there are a total of 197 lots of Fleming-related items as part of the auction.

Goldfinger’s ‘secret sauce’

Iconic publicity still for Goldfinger with Sean Connery leaning against the Aston Martin DB5.

Almost 60 years after it debuted, 1964’s Goldfinger remains one of the landmarks of the James Bond film franchise. But why was it?

The series made by Eon Productions and released by United Artists had two solid financial successes with Dr. No and From Russia With Love. But Goldfinger took everything up a notch or two or three.

What was the “secret sauce”?

Maybe it was the choice of the source material by Ian Fleming.

Eon had multiple options for proceeding after From Russia With Love. The Fleming novels Live And Let Die and Diamonds Are Forever were available. Eon had the rights to other Fleming short stories.

But, at the end of 1963, the cinematic Bond was ready to break out. The film franchise was ready to take on a larger-than-life story. There were elements of that in the first two films. Eon had passed on the giant squid of Fleming’s Dr. No novel. Regardless, Fleming’s Goldfinger novel had even more.

A robbery of Fort Knox. One of Fleming’s best villains. A henchman who hadn’t been seen before?

The filmmakers expanded upon Fleming’s vision. The author’s buzz saw was replaced with a laser beam. Fleming’s Aston Martin DB3 was replaced with an even more elaborate DB5.

In 2014, the blog raised the question of whether Goldfinger was the first A-list comic book film.

Sometimes, it’s just timing. Almost 60 years later, there’s no way to be sure.

My guess, selecting Goldfinger to be the third film was a choice that attracted U.S. audiences.

The selection may have been a simple business choice. The story would have more U.S. scenes, a way to capture American audiences.

Regardless, it was one of the best choices Eon and UA ever made.

Live And Let Die’s 50th: The post-Connery era truly begins

Live And Let Die’s poster

Adapted from a 2013 post
For the eighth James Bond film, star Sean Connery wasn’t coming back. Three key members of the 007 creative team, screenwriter Richard Maibaum, production designer Ken Adam and composer John Barry, weren’t going to participate. And producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were mostly working separately, with this movie to be overseen primarily by Saltzman.

The result? Live And Let Die, which debuted in 1973. It would prove to be, financially, the highest-grossing movie in the series to date.

Things probably didn’t seem that way for Eon Productions and United Artists as work began.

They had no Bond. Broccoli and Saltzman didn’t want Connery back for 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever. The studio didn’t want to take a chance and made the original screen 007 an offer he couldn’t refuse. But that was a one-film deal. Now, Eon and UA were starting from scratch.

Eon and UA had one non-Connery film under their belts, 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. They had tried the inexperienced George Lazenby, who bolted after one movie. For the second 007 film in the series not to star Connery, Eon and UA opted for a more-experienced choice: Roger Moore, former star of The Saint and The Persuaders! television shows. Older than Connery, Moore would employ a lighter touch.

Behind the camera, Saltzman largely depended on director Guy Hamilton, back for his third turn in the 007 director chair, and writer Tom Mankiewicz. Mankiewicz would be the sole writer from beginning to end, rewriting scenes as necessary during filming. In a commentary on the film’s DVD, Mankiewicz acknowledged it was highly unusual.

Perhaps the biggest creative change was with the film’s music. Barry had composed the scores for six Bond films in a row. George Martin, former producer for The Beatles, would take over. Martin had helped sell Saltzman on using a title song written by Paul and Linda McCartney. The ex-Beatle knew his song would be compared to the 007 classic title songs Barry had helped write. McCartney was determined to make his mark.

Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman pose with their new star, Roger Moore, during filming of Live And Let Die

Saltzman liked the song, but inquired whether a woman singer would be more appropriate. Martin, in an interview for a 2006 special on U.K. television, said he informed Saltzman that if Eon didn’t accept McCartney as performer, the producer wouldn’t get the song. Saltzman accepted both.

Live And Let Die wasn’t the greatest James Bond film, despite an impressive boat chase sequence that was a highlight. The demise of its villain (Yaphet Kotto) still induces groans among long-time 007 fans as he pops like a balloon via an unimpressive special effect.

Sheriff J.W. Pepper, up to that time, was probably the most over-the-top comedic supporting character in the series. (“What are you?! Some kind of doomsday machine, boy?!”)

But Live And Let Die is one of the most important films in the series. As late as 1972, the question was whether James Bond could survive without Sean Connery. With $161.8 million in worldwide ticket sales, it was the first Bond film to exceed the gross for 1965’s Thunderball. In the U.S., its $35.4 million box office take trailed the $43.8 million for Diamonds Are Forever.

Bumpy days still lay ahead for Eon. The Man With the Golden Gun’s box office would tail off and relations between Broccoli and Saltzman would get worse. Still, for the first time, the idea took hold that the cinema 007 could move on from Connery.

Many editors at the former Her Majesty’s Secret Servant website criticized the movie and its star in a survey many years ago. But the film has its fans.

“I vividly remember the first time I saw one of the Bond movies, which was Live And Let Die, and the effect it had on me,” Skyfall director Sam Mendes said at a November 2011 news conference. Whatever one’s opinions about the movie, Live And Let Die ensured there’d be 007 employment for the likes of Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.

FEBRUARY 2012 POST: LIVE AND LET DIE, A REAPPRAISAL

JANUARY 2010 POST: 1973: TIME PROFILES THE NEW JAMES BOND

JANUARY 2010 POST: 1973: TIME CALLS 007 A `RACIST PIG’

Bond cultural reference: Terry and the Pirates

Diamonds Are Forever poster

In 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, the seventh James Bond film referenced a comic strip that may have gotten past some 007 fans.

Toward the end of the movie, Bond (Sean Connery) and Blofeld (Charles Gray) exchange some witticisms. At one point, Bond tells Blofeld he’s holding “all the aces, right down to the Dragon Lady (Jill St. John as Tiffany Case) here.”

The Dragon Lady originated with the comic strip Terry and the Pirates, created by Milton Caniff (1907-1988). Caniff exited the strip late in 1946 when he created Steve Canyon, a character he owned.

At the time Diamonds Are Forever was made, Terry and the Pirates was still being made with other writers and artists. The Dragon Lady remained one of the strip’s most famous characters. Here’s part of the Wikipedia description of The Dragon Lady:

Dragon Lady is usually a stereotype of certain East Asian and occasionally South Asian and/or Southeast Asian women as strong, deceitful, domineering, mysterious, and often sexually alluring.^[1][2] Inspired by the characters played by actress Anna May Wong,^[3] the term comes from the female villain in the comic stripTerry and the Pirates.^[1][3] It has since been applied to powerful women from certain regions of Asia, as well as a number of Asian and Asian American film actresses. The stereotype has generated a large quantity of sociological literature. 

At the time Diamonds Are Forever was released, Terry and the Pirates was in its last years. It would end its run in 1973. With the Bond film, the last drafts of the script were written by Tom Mankiewicz (b. 1942). It’s possible Mankiewicz had read the comic strip. But, at this late date, there’s no way to be sure.

Regardless, the Dragon Lady was a character Diamonds Are Forever references.

Sam Mendes makes his Bond film case

Sam Mendes

Sam Mendes has made points about his two-film tenure in the James Bond film series. Some are new, some provide new twists.

The director, in a Nov. 8 story by The Hollywood Reporter, made new versions of previous comments about his time on Skyfall and SPECTRE, the only Bond films made during the 2010s.

The Skyfall delay was good! Bond 23, which would become Skyfall, originally was to be written by Peter Morgan and the writing team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

Bond’s home studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, entered bankruptcy in 2010, resulting in delays. An excerpt from the THR story:

Mendes and his collaborators used the downtime as an opportunity to creatively resuscitate the film’s storyline.

Morgan exited the project while Mendes brought in writer John Logan to rework the scripting by Purvis and Wade. Mendes has said that process helped the film and he repeats that in the new THR story.

Skyfall was the first time acknowledging that Bond aged: Skyfall “acknowledged the passage of time, arguably for the first time ever, in the series. It acknowledged that they are mortal, that they are going to age and probably die,” Mendes told THR.

Arguably, no it wasn’t. When Sean Connery did interviews for Diamonds Are Forever in 1971, he said he was playing Bond as older. In For Your Eyes Only, Roger Moore’s Bond goes to the gravesite of his late wife Tracy. That movie came out in 1981 but Tracy’s headstone says she died in 1969 (the year On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was released). Lois Maxwell’s Moneypenny in 1983’s Octopussy acknowledged being older.

For more details, CLICK HERE.

SPECTRE was something else: The director didn’t get additional time for 2015’s SPECTRE.

With SPECTRE, “that time was not afforded to me,” Mendes told THR. “[With Spectre], I felt there was some pressure. Certainly Barbara (Broccoli) and Michael (G. Wilson) exerted some pressure on me and Daniel to make the next one, so that makes a big difference. People saying: ‘We want you to do it,’ and passionately wooing me to do it, was a big thing.”

Of course, Mendes could have said no. In 2015, Mendes told the BBC he almost turned SPECTRE down. “I said no to the last one and then ended up doing it, and was pilloried by all my friends,” Mendes told the BBC. “But I do think this is probably it.”

While not referenced by THR, SPECTRE also saw entire scripts made public because of hacks into Sony’s computer system. (Sony released four of the five Daniel Craig 007 films.) In addition to scripts, details about tax breaks from Mexico for SPECTRE became public. With SPECTRE, the writing team of Purvis and Wade was brought in to rewrite John Logan.

REVISIT: A Bond tour of NYC

New York City’s 21 Club in better days (photo courtesy of Gary J. Firuta)

With the 60th anniversary of the film Bond (and the 69th anniversary of the literary 007), the blog was reminded a mini-tour New York City locations.

The blog’s host more than a decade ago was Bond fan Gary J. Firuta. He lived in the greater New York area at the time.

(Originally published 2009)

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 (with a domestic vermouth).

At the time of the visit, the upstairs dining room was closed but the Spy Commander had an unofficial tour guide. We were told the bar had been moved since the time Fleming described the Bond-Leiter meal. Also, black paint had been removed from windows overlooking 44th Street, so now the restaurant has a great view of nearby theaters.

21 Club, 21 West 52nd Street: In chapter 9 of Diamonds, Bond and Tiffany Case have dinner. Tiffany has three martinis before dinner and as the main course arrives, so does “one of the famous Kriendler brothers who have owned ’21’ since it was the best speak-easy in New York.”

The 21 Club is known for the jockey statues outside. If you go, prepare to spend money. A cocktail costs about $15. There’s a men’s room attendant who has been with 21 for decades, complimenting patrons (for example telling middle-aged men they should remember to bring their ID next time or they might get carded).

Years later, toward the end of the Live And Let Die film, Bond (Roger Moore) tells Felix Leiter (David Hedison to remember to meet up for dinner the following night at the 21 Club. As Bond gets on a train with Solitaire (Jane Seymour), Felix asks why Bond is traveling by train. “Say goodbye to Felix, darling,” Bond says.

Unfortunately, the 21 Club has closed, a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.