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This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Man With The Golden Gun.
The 1974 film has received a lot of flak over the decades. It’s exhibit A when the subject comes up about 007 film misfires. Too goofy. Too cheap. Too many of the crew members having a bad day.
For example, Don McGregor, then a writer for Marvel Comics, savaged the movie in a lengthy article in a 1975 issue of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine (which featured a cover drawn by comics legend Neal Adams).
Also, the former Her Majesty’s Secret Servant website had few kind words when its contributors (including myself) did rankings of the Bond films. (Speaking only for myself, as I look back on my comments, the one about John Barry was over the top.)
Over the years, Bond fans have said it has an average John Barry score (though one supposes Picasso had average paintings). Barry had three weeks to do the score, according to the 2012 book The Music of James Bond. Barry’s music had one major demerit, a slide whistle used for the movie’s signature stunt when a car makes a jump, rotates in the air, and lands right-side up. Barry regretted the choice, The Music of James Bond author Jon Burlingame wrote.
Other criticisms: The movie has too many bad gags (Bond watches as two teenage karate students take out a supposedly deadly school of assassins). And, for some first-generation American 007 film fans, it has Roger Moore playing Bond, which is bad in and of itself.
Golden Gun is a way for fans to establish “street cred” — a way of establishing, “I’m not a fanboy.”
Neal Adams cover to The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine containing an article savaging The Man With the Golden Gun
However, the movie also has its defenders. Among them is David Leigh, who runs The James Bond Dossier website and is a regular guest on the James Bond & Friends podcast.
The movie was a disappointment at the box office.
Golden Gun’s worldwide box office plunged 40% compared with Live And Let Die ($97.6 million versus $161.8 million, according to THE NUMBERS website). Within a few weeks of its December 1974 U.S. release, United Artists hurriedly paired Golden Gun with Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, which UA released earlier in 1974, to make a double feature.
In terms of long-term importance, Golden Gun was the finale of the Albert R. Broccoli-Harry Saltzman 007 partnership. Saltzman would soon be in financial trouble and have to sell out his share of the franchise to United Artists. In a way, things have never really been the same since.
The end of the car jump of The Man With the Golden Gun
Golden Gun is not the best offering in the Eon Production series. Rather, in many ways, it’s the runt of the litter that many like to pick on — even among the same people would chafe at criticism of their favorite 007 films.
The documentary Inside The Man With The Golden Gun says the movie has all of the 007 “ingredients.” Of course, such a documentary is approved by executives who aren’t demanding candor.
But the statement is true. It has not one, but two Oscar-winning directors of photography (Oswald Morris and Ted Moore); it has a score by a five-time Oscar winner (John Barry); it is one of 13 007 movies to which Richard Maibaum contributed writing.
Then again, movies sometimes are less than the sum of their parts. It happens. Not everyone has their best day.
For many, Golden Gun is a convenient piñata. Despite some positives (including the genuinely dangerous driving stunt), it doesn’t get much love from parts of the 007 fan community.
Sean Connery, Honor Blackman and the “Golden Girl.”
Adapted from a 2014 post
This year marks the 60th anniversary of Goldfinger, the third James Bond film.
Where Dr. No and From Russia With Love were wildly successful, Goldfinger turned 007 into a phenomenon. Where the first two films were escapist, Goldfinger was outlandish — a woman killed with gold paint; a car equipped with an ejector seat, machine guns, and other weaponry; a plot to invade Fort Knox; and a henchman who killed people by throwing a steel-rimmed hat at them.
Audiences could not get enough. Worldwide, Goldfinger’s box office was 58 percent higher ($124.9 million) than the box office of From Russia With Love ($78.9 million). In the U.S., Goldfinger’s box office more than doubled that of its 007 predecessor ($51.1 million compared with $24.8 million).
Sean Connery had become a star as Bond, his status confirmed by having his name “above the title” in the main titles. In the first two films, it was “Starring Sean Connery” immediately after the name of the movie was shown.
As noted here before, Goldfinger was the tide that lifted all boats of the 1960s spy craze.
In the U.S., The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which had struggled in the ratings early in its run, rallied around the time Goldfinger made its American debut. By the fall of 1965, spy shows would be a major attraction on U.S. television.
In theaters, Bond’s success encouraged both wildly escapist films (the Flint and Matt Helm series) and the occasional serious, “anti-Bond” film (The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and The Ipcress File, the later produced by Eon Productions co-founder Harry Saltzman and having several 007 production crew members aboard.).
Television commercials likewise were inspired by Goldfinger and 007. Harold Sakata, who played henchman Oddjob, starred in a series of spots for cough medicine. Butterfinger candy bars had a spot that utilized the hit John Barry-Leslie Bricusse-Anthony Newley Goldfinger title song.
The movie has been analyzed in many, many places, including years ago at this blog. It was a difficult film to script, with Richard Maibaum, and later, Paul Dehn, tackling storytelling issues in Ian Fleming’s novel. The final script turned Fleming’s longest novel into a tight film that ran under two hours.
In the 21st century, some Bond fans will say Goldfinger isn’t the best 007 movie. Some even say they’ve seen it so many times they’re really not sure they can watch it again.
Still, whatever one’s opinion, Goldfinger changed everything in the 007 universe. For years, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman sought “another” Goldfinger. Richard Maibaum’s first take on Diamonds Are Forever included Goldfinger’s twin brother, an idea that was rejected.
You can make the case that various 007 films are better. Some fans cite From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Casino Royale, and Skyfall among them. But Goldfinger, because of its impact not only on the 007 franchise but on other popular entertainment, might be the most important.
Sean Connery, Shirley Eaton and Ian Fleming on the set of Goldfinger
It’s a new year and, in many ways, the 60th anniversary of the start of the spy craze of the 1960s.
The most obvious example is the 60th anniversary of Goldfinger, the third 007 movie made by Eon Productions.
The first two Eon Bond films, Dr. No and From Russia With Love, were very successful at the box office. But Goldfinger was a mega-hit. Bond was a thing!
Ian Fleming’s novels were popular. In the 1960s, they were best-sellers globally. In the U.S., Fleming’s stories got a boost from President John F. Kennedy and Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy magazine.
Bond’s popularity exploded with Goldfinger. Today, even hard-core 007 fans can point out problems with the film’s narrative. At the time of release? Nobody cared about such details.
At the same time, television also reflected interest in spies.
The Avengers debuted in 1961 on U.K. television. Starting with the show’s second year, Patrick Macnee’s John Steed was paired with Honor Blackman’s Cathy Gale. Blackman left the show and was cast as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.
Danger Man first came out in 1960. Patrick McGoohan played John Drake, an American NATO investigator.
After one year as a half-hour series, Danger Man was revived in 1964, with McGoohan’s John Drake now an agent for British Intelligence (referred to as “M9”) in an hour-long show. One of the film editors for Danger Man was future Bond film director John Glen. Bond film cast members Earl Cameron, Burt Kwouk and Nadja Regin show up in episodes.
In the U.S., The Man From U.N.C.L.E. came out in September 1964. You could argue that its lead character, Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn), was co-created by Fleming with executive producer Norman Felton. (The rest of the series was devised by writer-producer Sam Rolfe.) In 1963, Fleming was under pressure from Bond producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to exit the project. He sold his interest for 1 British pound.
U.N.C.L.E. got off to a rocky start in terms of ratings in the fall of 1964. But its popularity surged during the 1964-65 season.
There had been previous attempts in the U.S. with spy TV shows. Five Fingers in 1959 starred David Hedison and Luciana Paluzzi. It only lasted 16 episodes.
By the fall of 1965, other spy shows followed in U.N.C.L.E.’s path, including The Wild Wild West, I Spy, and Get Smart. In addition, CBS imported Danger Man, which was retitled Secret Agent for American audiences.
The irony was that Ian Fleming, who had done so much to launch the spycraze, wasn’t around to see it take flight. He died in August 1964, before Goldfinger’s U.K. premiere and before The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was seen in the U.S.
Over the past few days, I came across a 2008 Bloomberg Television interview with Roger Moore. The interview was conducted after Moore came out with a memoir, My Word Is My Bond.
Some samples of Moore’s quotes from an edited version of the interview, conducted by Mike Schneider:
Does it surprise you Bond’s appeal goes on?
“I suppose it surprised me after I had done two or three (films) myself…The audience have grown accomplished to its face.”
Moore’s opinion about the early Bond films.
(Eon Productions founders Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman) “didn’t cheat the audience.”
Moore about advice he received as an actor early in his career.
“You never, ever look at yourself on the screen…The secret was not to look at yourself but to listen to yourself.”
Was Moore nervous before Live And Let Die (1973) came out?
“I didn’t even have a set of nerves about it until…the first press screening in London….It’s like having a baby on the way to the delivery room.”
Was The Spy Who Loved Me your favorite Bond film?
“It is correct. (Director) Lewis Gilbert, it was the first film I had done with him, and I found a kindred soul, somebody who had as ridiculous sense of humor as I did.”
Did you do A View to a Kill knowing it’d be your last?
A former image for the official James Bond feed on X, formerly Twitter
What follows is a post from 2010. Despite the passage of time, this article remains relevant today.
Since originally published, the Bond films have achieved Academy Award wins, including three for Best Song. But the Eon series received none for acting, directing or writing.
Prior to the release of 2021’s No Time to Die, on an official podcast, Eon boss Barbara Broccoli said her production company’s 25th James Bond film was a “cinematic masterpiece.”
Prior to No Time to Die’s production, auteur director Danny Boyle signed on to direct from a script by his writer John Hodge. But Hodge and Boyle bowed out and things started over with director Cary Fukunaga.
Right now, Bond 26 faces an uncertain future. Christopher Nolan, another auteur director (but a Bond fan who has been influenced by 007 films), is the subject of speculation.
Regardless, there is a question whether Barbara Broccoli, 63, still desires critical acclaim for her Bond movies.
Here is the original 2010 post:
The Peter Morgan situation (fiasco?), where Eon Productions’ flirtation with a “prestige” writer didn’t pan out, got us to thinking about the state of the James Bond movie franchise. As Lt. Columbo on more than one occasion said, “little things” bothered him about a case. So it is with our concerns about the state of the James Bond movie franchise.
Peter Morgan wrote Frost/Nixon and other movies that had the label of being a Very Important Film. So, in 2009, when Eon announced that Morgan would be part of a writing team to script Bond 23, it got a lot of attention, especially among Bond fans. Months after ending his 007 writing efforts, Morgan gave an interview where he indicated he really didn’t care that much for the Bond concept.
In a way, that seems to represent the approach of Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli after the death of Albert R. Broccoli, Eon’s co-founder, in 1996. There have been hints of this for awhile.
Michael Apted got hired to direct 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, even though he had basically no experience directing action films.
But the stepson and daughter of Cubby Broccoli really hit paydirt on the respect scale with 2006’s Casino Royale, which arguably got the best reviews of a 007 film in decades. Part of the reason was co-screenwriter Paul Haggis, known as a writer and director of Very Important Movies, despite the fact he also created the schlocky TV series Walker, Texas Ranger.
That’s a heady thing to ignore. So the duo hired Marc Forster, also known as a director of Very Important Movies, such as Monster’s Ball, to direct Quantum of Solace, with Haggis returning as the lead writer, getting first billing ahead of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.
The result: a $230 million-budgeted movie that was hard to follow in many places and seemed twice the length of its 106-minute running time, the shortest of the 22-film Eon/Bond series.
For an encore, the Wilson-Broccoli duo hired Peter Morgan to write Bond 23. Now the delay in Bond 23, understandably, is blamed on financial problems at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., 007’s home studio which also controls half of the Bond franchise with Eon.
But even if MGM’s finances hadn’t tanked, there’s some reason to doubt the current Eon regime was up to getting out a Bond film in a reasonable amount of time. In April, when Eon said it was suspending the development of Bond 23 because of MGM’s financial ills, it said the film was originally scheduled for a “2011/2012” release. That would have been three or four YEARS after Quantum of Solace.
What’s more, Morgan revealed in an interview that after months of work in 2009, he had gotten no further than a “treatment” (essentially a detailed outline) and never had gotten around to actually writing a script.
Aside from Morgan himself plus the grateful city of Vienna (where Morgan lives), it’s hard to see who else benefitted from the decision to hire Morgan in the first place.
Morgan made his reputation on films that were lathered in politics. Bond films, while having a few references to the time they were made, tended to be as “timeless” as possible.
Eon’s co-founders, Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, de-emphasized the Cold War roots of Ian Fleming novels such as Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, which formed the basis of the first three films of the series. The Russians were the ultimate villains of all three novels; in the first two films the independent SPECTRE took the place of the Soviets while in Goldfinger, the title character was acting independently with the backing of the Chinese.
Bond 23 has been delayed primarily because of MGM’s financial ills, make no mistake. But even if MGM’s finances were fixed tomorrow, Eon would still have a lot of work to do to get a shootable script ready.
The Broccoli-Saltzman team was able to do four films in four years and, after that, adhere to producing a film every other year (more or less). It’s unimaginable to envision the current Wilson-Broccoli regime sticking to such a schedule.
They seem too busy worrying about their press clippings. The irony: Cubby Broccoli, a supposed hack, in 1982 received the Irving Thalberg Award, one of the most prestigious awards Hollywood gives to one of its own. Does anyone really think either Michael Wilson or Barbara Broccoli will receive that award anytime soon?
As part of this week’s Sotheby’s auction concerning Ian Fleming-related items, one lot provides a peak into the negotiations between Eon Productions and Kevin McClory concerning Thunderball.
McClory had gotten the film rights to the Ian Fleming novel, which originated as a film project headed by McClory. The Sotheby’s auction includes an offering of documents from McClory’s estate.
Most notable is a Sept. 10, 1964 letter by Harry Saltzman (typed on Eon Productions stationary) where the Bond film producer appeared to be losing his patience with McClory.
“We and our lawyers have made unremitting efforts during the last four weeks with you for the production of THUNDERBALL,” the co-founder of Eon with Albert R. Broccoli wrote.
“We have wanted so much to be able to make an agreement that we have postponed work on ‘ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE’ which we have to start producing in January if we are unable to make a deal with you,” Saltzman continued. “We have repeatedly set deadlines to our negotiations with you because we have been afraid that we would run out of time for our next film.”
The Eon co-boss said, “(W)e are still a long way from agreement and we are afraid that we cannot wait any longer.” Saltzman says in the letter that Eon is “immediately” going forward with Majesty’s and “can no longer” talk about doing a Thunderball deal. Saltzman suggests a break and that, perhaps, Thunderball could be made after Majesty’s.
At the time of the letter, Goldfinger was coming out in the U.K. and those early prints say that Bond “will be back On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” Eon did reach an accord with McClory and when Goldfinger was released in the U.S. in December 1964, those prints say Bond would be back in Thunderball.
There’s no way to tell from the letter itself whether Saltzman beat down McClory or whether McClory held tough and got what he wanted from Eon.
The lot of documents also includes a 1989 handwritten note by Sean Connery, star of Eon’s 1965 Thunderball and its 1983 remake, Never Say Never Again.
The Connery letter is addressed to “whom it may concern.”
“The first James Bond film which I was hired for was — “THUNDERBALL” for UNITED ARTISTS and the first script I was given to read by BROCCOLI & SALTZMAN’S company was “THUNDERBALL”
Eon initially intended to make Thunderball as its first James Bond film and Richard Maibaum did a script in 1961. Because of the rights disputes, Eon switched gears and did Dr. No instead as its opening 007 effort.
Iconic publicity still for Goldfinger with Sean Connery leaning against the Aston Martin DB5.
The Redford Theatre in Detroit is showing two James Bond films later this month.
First up is 1964’s Goldfinger, scheduled for 8 p.m., Aug. 11, and 2 p.m., Aug.12. It’s followed by The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), scheduled for 8 p.m., Aug. 12. Tickets for all showings cost $5 each.
Both films are important in the history of the Bond film series produced by Eon Productions.
Goldfinger, with Sean Connery as Bond, was a mega-hit and helped launch the 1960s spy craze. Goldfinger was the tide that rose all boats. The first two Bond films, Dr. No and From Russia With Love, were big hits. Goldfinger took things to the next step.
The movie included one of the best-known Bond songs (by John Barry, Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley) while soundman Norman Wanstall won an Oscar.
The Spy Who Loved Me, starring Roger Moore in his third 007 movie, provided a surge for the series. Eon’s founders, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, had split with the latter selling out his interest to United Artists.
The box office for the previous Eon entry, The Man With the Golden Gun, had dipped. With Spy, 007 bounced back with a movie that received three Oscar nominations (for sets, music score, and song), albeit with no wins. Still, Spy’s success ensured there would be future Bond installments.
Ian Fleming, drawn by Mort Drucker, from the collection of the late John Griswold.
The spring and summer of 1963 was a decisive period for Ian Fleming’s involvement — and in the end non-involvement — in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Fleming and producer Norman Felton had met just months earlier, Oct. 29-31, 1962. The two had co-created Napoleon Solo. Felton turned over that material to writer-producer Sam Rolfe to do the heavy lifting. Rolfe revamped the previous ideas into a series proposal. It was titled Ian Fleming’s Solo. Rolfe was not happy about that. It was mostly (actually, almost entirely) his work.
On May 8, 1963, the Ashley-Steiner agency sent a letter to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which includes details about Fleming’s financial demands for being a participant in U.N.C.L.E.
“He definitely wants to be involved in the series itself if there is a sale and is asking for a mutual commitment for story lines on the basis of two out of each 13 programs at a fee of $2500.00 per story outline,” according to the letter.
Fleming also wanted a fee of $25,000 to be a consultant for the series per television season. In that role, the author wants two trips per “production year” to travel to Los Angeles for at least two weeks each trip and for as long as four weeks each trip. The author wants to fly to LA first class and also wants a per diem on the trips of $50 a day.
However, Fleming was under pressure from Bond film producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to exit U.N.C.L.E. Fleming would sell off his U.N.C.L.E. rights for 1 British pound.
In early July 1963, Felton sent Fleming a letter: “May I thank you for meeting with me when I was in England recently. It was deeply appreciated in view of all of the pressures on you at that time. I am hoping, incidentally, that your move to the country has worked out satisfactorily.
“Your new book, ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’, is delightful. I am hoping that things will calm down for you in the months to come so that in due time you will be able to develop another novel to give further pleasure to your many readers throughout the world.”
Fleming sent a reply to Felton on July 16, 1963: “Very many thanks for your letter and it was very pleasant to see you over here although briefly and so frustratingly for you.”
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.
Autographed photo of Julie Mendez (Provided by Steve Oxenrider)
Steve Oxenrider, a long-time James Bond fan, originally prepared this story more than a decade ago. He talked to Julie Mendez, who was the dancer in the main titles of From Russia With Love. She passed away in 2013.
By Steve Oxenrider, Guest Writer
A belly dancer’s best friend is her snake. If Julie Mendez had had her way, the undulating, gyrating movements of the main title dancer in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE might have featured a boa constrictor.
Julie is the dance artist who performed as the credits were projected onto her shimmering body for the introduction to the second James Bond thriller. When I spoke to her at her Brighton home summer 2009, Julie had just returned from holidays in Málaga, Spain.
She was tanned, exuberant and excited to talk about her contribution to what many fans and critics consider the best Bond film. She is also extremely modest. “All my work, no matter how popular, I just regarded it as going from one job to another. It never went to my head…even FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.”
“My background was as a specialty dancer. I started training at age 4.” Julie continued training and practice and her love of dance developed into other talents.
“I left home when I was 15 and was chaperoned around England by an American family of performers. I learned how to ride a unicycle, jump trampoline, even shooting.” Somewhere around the age of 18 or 19, Julie added a new dimension to her cabaret act by working with large, live snakes.
“I learned everything I could about them. I had no fear at all. Each snake has its individual characteristics. I would do housework, vacuuming, washing dishes with the snake wrapped around me and that way the snake would get used to me.”
But accidents do happen. “Before I went on one evening, I was bitten by one of the snakes after it had been fed two large rats. I went to the hospital and got a tetanus shot and went right back on stage. But I had a noticeable bite mark inside my arm. So I applied glue and glitter and it looked just like a decorative bracelet, part of my costume.”
Julie says she prefers boas to pythons. “Boas cling to you but pythons are more interested in trying to escape.”
One of Julie’s earliest screen appearances was in the 1959 Brian Rix comedy THE NIGHT WE DROPPED A CLANGER in which she appeared as a tassel dancer. She had a brief role as an alluring snake dancer in THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL (1960), as an exotic cabaret dancer in THE VALIANT (1962) and as a cabaret snake dancer in THE INSPECTOR (1962) starring Stephen Boyd.
“In Tel Aviv, THE INSPECTOR was advertised by posters with me holding the snake! I always took an interest in all the places I traveled to. Before I went to Israel I learned all about the desert. It’s much more interesting to talk to people about their countries than about my snake! I read up on copper mining before I went to Zambia and so on.”
There is a lot of debate over how the innovative title design of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE evolved. In a 1964 interview for SHOWTIME magazine American graphic designer and creative advertising specialist Robert Brownjohn recalled how a student, late to his typography class, accidentally walked in front of his slide-projector presentation at school. “He walked in front of the projector’s beam. Immediately the type in the slide shot on to his shirt. Of course, the shirt wasn’t flat like a screen, so the type changed sizes. It looked great!”
In her lavishly produced book ROBERT BROWNJOHN: SEX AND TYPOGRAPHY (2005, Princeton Architectural Press, New York) author Emily King stated that in animator Trevor Bond’s initial meeting with Robert Brownjohn the FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE main title design was to be an animated chessboard, with bullet holes.
But when Bond producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli met with Brownjohn and mentioned there was a belly dancer in the film, the slide projector idea immediately came back to Brownjohn. The designer demonstrated the notion by borrowing a projector, darkening the room, removing his jacket and dancing in front of a beam of projected images. “It’ll be just like this,” he told the producers and executives, “except we’ll use a pretty girl.”
In fact, three different women would be used for the title design. Harry Saltzman introduced Brownjohn to Trevor Bond, who had animated the Maurice Binder titles for DR. NO. After Brownjohn explained the belly dancer theme, Trevor Bond accompanied him to audition girls at Omar Khayyam, a famed Oriental cabaret of Middle Eastern belly dancers in London in the 1960s. They brought one of the dervish dancers to the studio to do tests, but when they asked her to lift her skirt in order to project on her legs, the frightened girl fled in disgust. A brief filmed sequence of this first girl appears during the smaller credits. Then a friend mentioned Julie Mendez to Trevor Bond.
“I approached Robert Brownjohn directly, not through an agent. I didn’t have to audition as I just showed him stills of myself from another film, THE INSPECTOR, with Stephen Boyd and Dolores Hart. The costume I did the FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE titles in was used in several other films, including THE INSPECTOR. We had a chat and that was it. His choice was made. I did not meet the director, Terence Young.”
“Robert Brownjohn was a large man, very charming and extremely professional.” Julie was very candid in describing her working relationship with Brownjohn. “I just remember him sitting behind a desk. He had very little to do with me, whereas Trevor Bond was young, hip and attractive. Secretly… he took a fancy to my hairdresser!”
“Trevor directed me to move my body, but not to music, and he focused the letters to my body as I moved. He’d direct me to step back a little…move to the left…which way to step.”
“I remember that at one stage during filming, the titles were focused on my right thigh. So when I moved, it tended to disappear…up my backside!! We all laughed about this, as it was highly amusing. In the end, I had to change position so this didn’t happen.”
“I had to concentrate my movements on the titles…I had to focus on accuracy. I had good balance and could do it quickly. Time is money. The whole lot was filmed over several days in a private studio on Baker Street in London.”
A third girl, a Persian model, was later brought in for the face and breast shots, with ‘007’ projected onto them. Years later, Julie says she wasn’t really aware of any other face in the titles and speculates “it might have been Robert Brownjohn’s wife as I had seen her around a lot in the office.” FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square, London, on October 10, 1963. Julie was invited along with the rest of the cast and crew but had a previous engagement and was unable to attend.“I saw it for the first time at a West End cinema.”
When asked if she is ever confused with Lisa ‘Leila’ Guiraut, the sensual belly dancer who charms Bond at the gypsy camp, Julie replies, “Whenever anyone has asked, I have always said I was the belly dancer behind the credits and that’s all. As far as being recognized, if people don’t know, I don’t say anything. I’m four feet eleven inches. Leila was much taller.”
“Leila and I did cabaret together at Omar Khayyam. She was booked long before the main titles were done. I actually invited her to my house for tea. She was lovely, very charming and an excellent belly dancer.”
The rest of the 1960s was an especially prolific period for Julie, with a steady stream of film and television offers (SHE, THEATRE OF DEATH, DUFFY, “Hugh and I Spy”, “Virgin of the Secret Service”), choreographer on several CARRY ON films (“In FOLLOW THAT CAMEL I taught Anita Harris how to belly dance”), worldwide theatre and cabaret, even a safety film for the National Coal Board!
Readers can enjoy seeing Julie in two of her most celebrated on-screen appearances. In a 1970 episode of the British TV. comedy On the Buses titled, appropriately enough, “The Snake”, Stan and Jack go to an Indian evening at the depot. Both have their eye on an attractive Indian cook, Fatima, played by Mendez. As the evening progresses, Fatima, much to their surprise, does an exotic dance with a large snake and ends by putting the snake’s head in her mouth!
Interestingly, the character Ahmed is played by Ishaq Bux, who 20 years later would appear as the fakir disturbed from his restful bed of nails in the OCTOPUSSY market scene. And in perhaps the funniest scene of THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971) Dr. Longstreet (Terry-Thomas) tries desperately to get his inquisitive maid out the door so he can enjoy a ‘stag’ film of a scantily-clad snake dancer (Mendez) on an old-fashioned home projector, shortly before he becomes victim to one of Phibes’ ingeniously gruesome murders.
“I entertained U.S. forces in Germany, France and England. Other belly dancers or artists would come on stage and the GIs would be yelling out ‘Take it off!’ But when I appeared, with a large snake wrapped around me, there was surprise, then a long silence, then applause. The snake controlled the audience.”
Note from Steve Oxenrider: A special thank you to Vicky Yare for arranging this interview
The Spy Command 