The character created by Ian Fleming was the protagonist of 25 films over almost 60 years. He had the faces of actors in the category of Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. In 2006 Daniel Craig took over, who is at the forefront of Agent 007’s new adventure, “No Time to Die” which opens on Thursday, September 30.
Actor Daniel Craig is the one in charge of the 007 character in No Time to Die. Crdito: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Universal Pictures
–
When it drew up its list of the fifty most famous heroes in movie history, the American Film Institute topped it with Atticus Finch, the lawyer played by Gregory Peck in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Very close, in second place he placed Indiana Jones. And in third place the most popular spy of all time: James Bond, who will be on the big screen for the twenty-fifth time on Thursday, September 30, when the premiere of “No time to die.” It is that the agent in the service of His Majesty, who was immortalized thanks to the number 007, the license to kill, the passion for vodka with martini “shaken not stirred”, good food, attractive women, luxury cars, Technological gadgets, exotic landscapes and the fight with villains who want to dominate the world, in an attitude so often parodied, has become an icon of commercial cinema of the last half century.
Although, strictly speaking, the character was born in the 1950s from the pen of the writer Ian Fleming, the origin of the “Bond” myth can be traced back to 1962, when Sean Connery agreed to take over the character in “Dr. No ”for a $ 17,000 cachet. This first film adaptation, directed by Terence Young, set the standards for the universe that will surround (with various nuances) the character and was the starting point for one of the longest-lasting sagas in history. It is that Bond emerged in the context of the polarized world of the Cold War but from the first moment he transcended it thanks to the confidence of the producers in the rules of that kind of parallel and glamorous world, which has little or nothing to do with the most cold, realistic world of serious spies recreated by authors like John Le Carré. In other words, no one is more alien to the hedonistic Bond than the withdrawn George Smiley.
Connery stayed with the character throughout the 1960s. “From Russia with Love” (1963), “Operation Thunder” (1965) and “You Only Live Twice” (1967) and “Diamonds Are Eternal” (1971 ) finished rounding out the work of the Briton who, for many, was the most accomplished Bond of all. Throughout this stage, “Goldfinger” (1964) is the one that best synthesizes the aesthetics of the Bond films. Both the villain Auric Goldfinger (a gold smuggler) and his plan to place an atomic device in Fort Knox to render useless the precious metal contained there and revalue his own have an imprint closely linked to the comic. In 1969, Australian actor George Lazenby had a brief stint in the Bond universe in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, where he confronts Blofeld (Telly Savalas).
Moore and after
In 1973 Roger Moore took over 007 in “Live and Let Die”, which had among its main attractions the song by Paul McCartney, nominated for an Oscar. Moore, until then known for his portrayal of Simon Templar on the television series “The Saint,” gave him more glamor than his predecessors, but the character lost some of the poise that Connery had given him. Moore had an air too aristocratic for a character often forced to put himself in the crosshairs of assassins and go down into the mud of the action. However, no one can deny the British appeal that he was able to introduce in the seven installments in which he participated, between 1973 and 1985, with a brief return of Connery in 1983 in “Never say never again.”
By 1987, Moore was 60 years old, too old for the character. So the chance came to Timothy Dalton, who kept him afloat in “His Name is Danger” and “License to Kill.” The main merit of this actor, seasoned in the Shakespearean repertoire, was to give a dark and worldly tone to the spy, more akin to the original version that Fleming built in his novels. In some way, Dalton was the “hinge” that left some guidelines to those who came later so that, without breaking ties with tradition, they could seek new edges.
Adapt to changes
After a hiatus of half a decade, in 1995 there was a relaunch of the saga with “Goldeneye”, which put Pierce Brosnan in the shoes of the British agent. The film, with vibrant and action-packed sequences, recovers the spirit of the sixties films of the saga, such as “You Only Live Twice” and “Operation Thunder”: there are villains behind an ultra-secret space weapon that emits nuclear pulses that disable any electronic equipment and Bond must stop them. Brosnan wore the Bond suit until 2002 and said goodbye in style in “Another Day to Die,” whose villain has developed a satellite that allows him to direct sunlight at will and teams up with North Korea to put on edge world stability.
– –
Then came the turn of the one who, until now, carries the license to kill. Daniel Craig joined the franchise in 2006 with “Casino Royale.” And, in line with what Dalton had proposed twenty years earlier, he tried humanizing and making the agent more complex, something that gave him good results. Unlike the refined and cynical Connery and Moore, Craig suffers, bleeds, and is disappointed. He is wrong, he gets angry, he doubts. But that is not why he abandons his presence. In this regard, the saga is in order.
Bond girls
The different actresses who, over 60 years, participated in the films starring the spy inaugurated and consolidated a very specific category: that of “Bond girl”, as well known in the world of cinema as that of “Almodóvar girl” or “Hitchcock blonde.” With some characteristics in common but with its own peculiarities regarding each time and place. Sometimes the “Bond girls” are allied to the spy, in other cases they face him, but in almost all cases they play a significant role in the development of the plot.
– –
The one who inaugurated the myth was Ursula Andress, with her white bikini, in “Dr. No”. The most representative who followed her are Daniela Bianchi, Honor Blackman, Barbara Bach, Kim Basinger, Grace Jones, Tanya Roberts, Maryam d’Abo, Sophie Marceau, Denise Richards, Halle Berry, Eva Green and Olga Kurylenko. From the ’60s to the present, the context has changed substantially with respect to the role of women, which is why, as Britt Ekland (Roger Moore’s co-star in “The Man with the Golden Revolver”) pointed out, Bond girls no longer exist. and how they were conceived until twenty years ago.
Villains
The other fundamental category in the Bond universe is the antagonist. To be able to live up to the saga, the villain must be perfectly delineated, to justify the expectations before the final confrontation. They are, in general, dark beings, of great sharpness, with delusional plans to carry out revenge, conquer spaces of power, obtain fortunes or directly dominate the world.
– –
From the satanic Dr. No, played by Joseph Wiseman to Franz Oberhauser, whose body is put on by Christoph Waltz in “Specter”, there were several villains that Agent 007 had to fight against. The most emblematic is Ernst Stavro Blofeld, leader of the Specter organization, played in various installments of the saga by actors such as Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas and Charles Gray. But there are others who occupy a privileged place in cinephile memory such as Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe); Donald “Red” Grant (Robert Shaw); Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee); Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) and Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem).
An enduring life
– –
How did James Bond, an agent in the midst of the tensions of the 20th century, win the game over time and continue to ensnare audiences in a time of so much turmoil? Mainly because of the permanent reinvention capacity of producers, directors, screenwriters and actors, who made this passage possible without suffering trauma. To the point that in the last installments Sam Mendes had the ability to return to the origins of the franchise without leading to anachronisms. However, what best explains that the character remains standing is the exoticism. That made everyone who ever saw his movies wanted to have a vodka and martini, shaken not stirred, “drive an Aston Martin, or just look in the mirror and play” Bond, James Bond. “
–
