From a former member of ajb007.co.uk:
I corresponded with Richard Maibaum, briefly, in the 1980s on the subject of screenwriting and his Bond films. He lived a mile-and-a-half away from me in Los Angeles. Peter Hunt, who lived a mile-and-a-half in the other direction, put me in touch with him. Maibaum would not discuss Licence to Kill which he was working on at the time, but we discussed the other Bond films. He had some issues and disappointments, but I think at his age he was grateful for the work and the pay.
Richard Maibaum’s contribution to the series has been vastly underestimated. Creatively he was one of the three originators of the film series, together with director Terence Young and editor Peter Hunt. They worked closely to create and define James Bond as we know him cinematically. Maibaum did the writing. Absolutely he was the best Bond screenwriter. He really understood the character, knew how to convey Ian Fleming, and knew how to tell a Bond story better than anyone. The producers would always bring in other writers, usually to the detriment of the films, and Maibaum would be blamed for things he didn’t write, but Maibaum’s core scripts made for the strongest and the sturdiest of the Bond films.
He is sorely missed today.
Richard Maibaum had strong feelings about how things went in the 1970s after OHMSS. He was very proud of that script, proud of his collaboration with Peter Hunt, and his sincerest wish was that the two of them would continue to do the Bond films together. They were good friends, and had such a respect for each other. But the producers had other ideas. Things began to go wrong when Cubby assigned his stepson Michael Wilson to oversee THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. Wilson had no experience in production, no training or education in film, and was not a professional writer. Wilson brought in several writers (including Wilson himself, Wood and Mankiewicz) to rewrite Maibaum’s straightforward romantic action-thriller. Very little of his original script survived the rewrites, and the resulting film wasn’t as good a Bond story as the one Maibaum had provided. Maibaum kept his own counsel because the association with EON was important to him creatively and necessary to him financially. He was very proud of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY which he described as “a fine-tuned engine.” Peter Hunt had a lot of input in the script Maibaum turned in. But history repeated itself. Once again Maibaum was very upset over the changes and new material Michael Wilson imposed (expanding Bibi the ice-skater into a speaking role, bringing Melina to Cortina, adding the motorcylce fight in the town plaza and the hockey fight in the rink, losing the execution of Luigi, reducing the importance of the Countess etc). Wilson shifted the emphasis into all the wrong areas and director John Glen dropped the ball completely in other areas.
I’m not sure how much of this to believe (does Michael G. Wilson really deserve those devil horns?), but the undeniable point is that the writer is the person most likely to get overruled on a Bond film–and most other films. For years I have hoped that someone would write a script history of the classic Bond films, using the treasure trove of screenplays within the Maibaum Papers at the University of Iowa. Up to now the history of the Bond films has primarily relied on oral history. It’s time to hit the archives! I can only imagine what we’ll discover when EON’s own papers become fully available to researchers.
Credit where credit is due. I’m a bit surprised that @Revelator didn’t post this earlier. It is a shame that Peter Hunt never directed another Richard Maibaum script. I still think that Maibaum is a bit too critical at times (although if the FYEO part is true, that’s fair). I think that Maibaum would have mixed feelings on the writing and directing of Bond after his death. But I will always consider him the best Bond screenwriter.