About how genre entertainment runs out of time

When does the sun set on various genres of entertainment?

I was catching up with a good friend recently. We’ll call him Jim from Detroit. We discussed how different types of genre entertainment (and their actors) run their course over time.

Specifically, we talked about various movie stars have their moments — among them James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Burt Reynolds, Fred MacMurray, and others — before their time is up.

Example: by the 1970s, Fonda and Stewart were mostly doing TV shows, rather than being movie leading men in movies. Reynolds’ tenure as a big-time movie star was mostly gone in the early 1980s.

The James Bond film franchise is a big exception. Except, the stardom of many of the Bond film actors didn’t take hold past their 007 tenure. To be sure, Sean Connery had a big renaissance of stardom after his time as Bond was up. Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig? Not so much.

Westerns and (perhaps) superhero movies have run out of steam. Each genre had decades of popularity in their day.

The reaction of many 007 fans? Bond will go on forever!

Maybe so. But that’s not a sure bet. Let’s see how Eon Productions will answer this challenge in the future.

UPDATE: By the late 1960s and 1970s, the Western genre was being deconstructed by the likes of The Wild Bunch and other films. The Cowboys and The Shootist even had stories where the leading performer of the genre (John Wayne) saw his characters killed off. No Time to Die, of course, was the ultimate deconstruction of James Bond where he was killed off.

Pamela Salem, NSNA’s Moneypenny, dies

Pamela Salem as Moneypenny in Never Say Never Again

Pamela Salem, an India-born actress who played the character of Miss Moneypenny in 1983’s Never Say Never Again, has died at the age of 80, according to her Wikipedia entry.

In the early 1980s, Never Say Never Again amounted to a serious Bond attack against the Eon 007 series. Until that decade, there had been a parody Bond film (1967’s Casino Royale).

In 1983, Eon came out with Octopussy with Never Say Never Again (essentially a remake of Thunderball) coming out months later. Never Say Never Again featured the return of Sean Connery as the cinematic Bond.

For enthusiasts of Never Say Never Again, Sean Connery’s interactions with Pamela Salem were a highlight. Salem was different from Lois Maxwell’s interpretation of Moneypenny in the Eon movies.

Octopussy and Never Say Never Again, to this day, still generate a debate. I’ve seen comments where Eon fans feel NSNA was an insult to Eon. I’ve seen NSNA fans that movie was better than better than Octopussy.

Regardless, 1983 was a once-in-a-lifetime event for Bond fans. Pamela Salem was part of that.

Goldfinger’s 60th anniversary: The golden touch

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.

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.

1964: The year the spy craze began

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.

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.

About Eon’s official social media channels

Eon Productions logo

Every so often, there’s discussion about Eon Productions and its official social media accounts.

Eon, like other companies, uses social media to promote itself. That’s the No. 1 mission of such corporate accounts. But this week, some fans made observations.

For example, Oct. 31 was the third anniversary of the death of Sean Connery, the first actor employed by Eon to play James Bond.

The official Eon account on X (formerly Twitter) had two posts (THIS ONE and THIS ONE) promoting a 007-themed reality show that will be on Amazon Prime this month. There was a THIRD POST featuring behind-the-scenes footage taken during production of 2015’s SPECTRE, with Daniel Craig as Bond.

Some fans questioned why have nothing about the passing of the original film Bond. Others scoffed. It’s just social media. Why get so upset?

The Twitter (now X) account debuted in late 2011. It had a mix of news about the filming of Skyfall as well as the then-upcoming 50th anniversary of the Bond film franchise.

To be honest, I kept track of how long the Eon social media account might mention Harry Saltzman, who co-founded Eon with Albert R. Broccoli. That finally happened in July 2012. Without Saltzman, you would not have gotten the early Bond films as we know them.

The blog received some pushback. “I don’t understand your critical obsession with EON’s Twitter feed,” wrote an anonymous respondent.

My thought was social media is a public projection. A common fan belief is that Eon’s social media accounts are produced by interns. Even if that’s true, such accounts are a company’s public face.

To be sure, a franchise that’s been active for more than 60 years has countless anniversaries it could cite at any date. Also, to be sure, some fans have an intense interest concerning many aspects of such a franchise.

Finally, two realities:

–Eon’s boss, Barbara Broccoli, is on record (including a Hollywood Reporter podcast in December 2017) as saying Daniel Craig is the best film James Bond. So it is natural that Eon’s social media accounts will have a lot of Daniel Craig-related posts. That’s true whether such accounts are made by interns, outside contractors, or whomever.

–There hasn’t been a James Bond film without Daniel Craig since 2002. Social media tends to reflect recent events over those further back.

For what it’s worth, on Nov. 3, @007 had a post about the 62nd anniversary of Sean Connery being cast as Bond for Dr. No.

1964: Saltzman plays hardball with McClory

Thunderball poster in 1965

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.

Higson discusses Bond on X

Charlie Higson, author of several “Young Bond” novels and the 2023 On His Majesty’s Secret Service novella, took to X (formerly Twitter) to discuss the character of James Bond.

The writer made the comments ahead of a scheduled appearance on Saturday at the Capital Crimes series of panels. Higson will be on a panel called Torch Carriers featuring authors doing continuation stories of characters created by other writers.

“just seen demented rant on YouTube by a guy who objects to my Bond book (he hasn’t read it of course) most amused to be described as a ‘left wing comedian’,” Higson wrote in the first post of a series on X. “It’s amazing how important Bond is to so many people and how they all believe they are the only fans to really understand”

“The Fleming books still exist,” Higson continued in another post. “All the films still exist. If someone writes a new book, or makes a film, looking at Bond in a different light, it doesn’t alter the past or somehow cause the other stuff to disintegrate. If you don’t like it, ignore it and move on. Why get so angry”

In another post, Higson added this: “I do believe in many ways that Bond is a blank cardboard cutout that people can project their own fantasies, desires and prejudices onto.”

The author also replied to his posts. In one reply to a question about the end of the Daniel Craig era of Bond films by Eon Productions, he said: “I think a certain sense of fun and escapism was lost. Interested to see what EON do next.”

Other questions included who was Higson’s favorite film Bond. “Has to be Connery for me. Craig was perfect in Casino Royale. Moore was fun. Can’t wait to see who’s next,” he wrote in a reply.

Higson was also asked about actor Idris Elba playing Bond. “He would have been great. Too old now sadly,” he wrote. Elba turns 51 early next month.

1975: Connery (briefly) discusses Bond films

James Bond (Sean Connery) just before an action sequence in You Only Live Twice

In 1975, Sean Connery and Michael Caine were promoting the movie The Man Who Would Be King, directed by John Huston.

At that time, the main way to promote a film in the U.S. was The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Both stars were guests in early December 1975, Caine came on first, Connery second. It was Connery’s first appearance on Carson’s show.

When Connery came on stage, Carson asked a few questions about James Bond films.

“It was very difficult,” Connery said about the 1960s spy craze. He cited intense attention from the Japanese press related to 1967’s You Only Live Twice. “I was under a great deal of pressure.”

Carson observed the Bond movies were “fantasy pictures.”

“I enjoyed a lot of the work one did in the films,” Connery responded. “Many people enjoyed them.”

At that point, Carson’s audience applauded.

Connery also said in the interview he didn’t want to lose his Scottish accent for movies.

The Caine-Connery clip is below. The excerpt from The Man Who Would Be King is not included (presumably for rights issues). Trivia: Carson began his long run on The Tonight Show in October 1962, the same month that Dr. No debuted in the U.K.