I’m going with JW, as he definitely has more impact, making a bad film, even worse (that said, probably something to do with age and nostalgia, I’ll watch TMWTGG when it’s on whereas TND can’t hold my attention, car chase aside).
I liked Joe Don Baker as Whittaker - a villain who got lost in the convoluted TLD. He’s one of those actors who I loved during his 70s heyday - appearances in Walking Tall, Charley Varrick and Junior Bonner as good a run as anyone else out there, and yet for this franchise each showing nothing more than a walk-on, especially as Wade. I’ve never had a problem with the “friend of Cubby” casting, and yet each time that seems to have been relied on rather than actually writing a significantly decent role for the family friend to inhabit.
James Bond is a member of a secret intelligence service that concerns itself with matters overseas / international.
A colossal, Bond-shaped flapdoodle has arisen in a nation where unlike the U.K. they drive on the right hand side of the road and the steering wheel is on the left.
Q Branch is due to issue Bond with his lovely new car.
Despite “secret” and despite “unlike the U.K.”, Bond is presented with an Aston Martin (or Lotus) with its steering wheel on the right which then finds itself unnecessarily shipped at taxpayer expense to Whereverland to stand out like a rat in a pram.
It used to be proper when Bond, shortly after the war, crossed the Channel with his own private Bentley(s). And Fleming with his Studilac Avanti to impress former lovers (nope, didn’t work) and new acquaintances*.
Later Fleming seems to have caught on to the fact they have cars on the continent, too. Bond hasn’t his own ride when he’s in Europe in From a View to a Kill, driving a commandeered Peugeot 403 instead. Same in Risico, only now he’s taking taxis. In The Living Daylights he’s even taking public transport in Berlin, if memory serves. Goldfinger’s Aston and On Her Majesty’s Bentley are primarily there for the needed fast motoring/long range surveillance, which the films just mirrored.
Of course that’s neither economically justifiable nor good tradecraft. And still I’d say for Bond films it’s proper to go out of their way to depict a ludicrously expensive car of British manufacture for Bond to use and abuse. The proper tradecraft choice would be TOMORROW NEVER DIES’ BMW, a sensible and fun choice that nonetheless lacks any flavour or style.
And I’m not even sure the Bentleys and Astons are that obtrusive any more. Alone in my neighbourhood there are three Bentleys parked (footballers one assumes; not that I would know such people socially) and one also sees quite the amount of Astons on our streets, no doubt due to the new downtown dealership. Yes, these cars mark you out - but rather as a football player, pimp or Bond fan than as a Briton or secret agent.
So there, proper one assumes.
*Supposedly, the Simenons in their chateau weren’t too impressed either - though Georges Simenon looks conspicuously interested in this shot:
Proper because those perks keep Bond on the job. According to his contract he has an unlimited budget and can waste any taxpayer‘s money for the sake of rescuing the world.
He could even marry Tracy and close down a European town without a care in the world.
Maybe that’s why Blofeld hates him so much. Blofeld really is a socialist* wishing to end the wealth of the few by taking away their hard(ly) earned money and sowing discord among the powerful.
Regardless of how one felt about the BMWs, at least they “fit” the locales, meaning that Bond blended in. No to be fair, it’s not like he’s driving like Chevy Chase in ‘European Vacation’ but there’s no need to drawing attention to oneself.
Of course, with the BMWs, it probably would have made sense to have put a steering wheel in the back…
I had to look up Smithers; astonishingly, the nameless, faceless intelligence proletariat sometimes has a name and a face. This guy is a top operative in walking away from both his roles unnoticed (by me).
Cleese’s first appearance was simply an annoying, unfunny skit. The second time he morphed into Q, displaying all the character traits of his predecessor in caricature proportions. He’s still seconded to SIS from the Ministry of Silly Walks though…
Cleese, definitely. Although he could have profited from more Monty Pythonesque humour. It was like casting Jim Carrey in a straitjacket and a gag order.
Going with Cleese, as the next thing I type is “Which one is Smithers again?”
For someone who claims to be a fan of this thing, it’s shocking how little I know about some of the background stuff. And I only mean that half-facetiously - with all the talk in other threads as to “who should be next” and what the matter was with the last era (convos not new, if you’re of indeterminate middle-age like myself), the only other character that really counts is M.
Three of my faves from the series are FRWL, OHMSS, & CR (nothing ground-breaking about that opinion) but it’s interesting how removing characters might negatively affect things (in the vain of those ‘Days without a workplace accident’ signs, how about a ‘Minutes without Q and Moneypenny’ ticker? - what did we get up to with CR-QoS - about 6 hours, no?). Moneypenny and Q don’t appear in CR, Q a walk-on in FRWL and a cameo in OHMSS, and only Moneypenny truly affects the plot in the latter.
I’ve consistently not been a “fan” of Q - as great as the scene in GF is, it got played over ad nauseum after that, and really (Alex McCowan in NSNA aside) not interesting until SF. And even then, it was blindingly obvious that the series could just do “that” iteration over and over for the next 30 years.
If nothing else, I do get a sense that Cleese’s Q thinks that Bond is ultimately a prat, so we have some character development, which in this case trumps the “whch character was that?” that is reflective of this particular member of these here boards…
Smithers seems happier to be there, at the workshop, cabbieing, going to India, he just wants to be helpful, rather than the seething pit of jealousy that’s is R’
Baron Samedi to me is a character with enormous potential, easily the most mysterious and bizarre. Meeting him again, possibly as another grey eminence beside a villain would have been huge fun.
Mrs. Bell, if still active, could have her own school now, having become a superb pilot after that traumatizing lesson given by Bond - so, that would be interesting for a spin-off (working title „Mrs. Bell‘s Flying Circus“, maybe with a young Pussy learning the ropes?)
Stabby man - definitely potential for a whole franchise of many little, fat stabbies, multiplying like DAD-Blofeld. Scary and fun.
But the Baron has the edge here, injecting that supernatural threat only a real con man can invoke (as currently on display in our news).
And maybe that touch of „is this the real life or is it fantasy?“ is what could make the next Bond stick out.
I’d love that, a kind of threat or scheme that’s touching on the supernatural while still keeping it ambiguous whether it’s a trick or not. Peter O’Donnell’s I, Lucifer had a great amalgamation for such an idea.
Little Fat Stabby Man! Or should that be Stubby Stabby.
I find Mrs Bell’s singsong voice and fake outdoor school set somewhat annoying, and Baron Samedi’s laughing roar a signifier that ultimately it’s all about him. So the short guy with a knife, who can just appear randomly, shank someone (Q preferably), disappear, only to return unexpectedly and unannounced. Like a Monty Python/Benny Hill (take your vintage comedic bit) running gag.
I am amending my previous post. I thought Mrs Bell was the smuggler from DAF! (I’m a moron). I’m still not voting for her, as her drawl, oversized cartoon chipmunk glasses, and fake cockpit set are somewhat annoying.
