This week’s topic is ranking the Ian Fleming novel main allies. That means allies from the short stories are NOT included.
So how would you rank them? Here’s mine:
Darko Kerim – FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE – The best ally in the films is also the best ally in the novels for a reason. He is simply THE template for all Bond allies to follow.
Rene Mathis – CASINO ROYALE – When doing main allies I try not to use “regulars” such as those at MI6 or even Felix Leiter who is routinely found on Bond’s missions. Another similar one to Leiter is Mathis, though he is not used as much as Leiter is–certainly when it comes to Fleming’s adventures. But for CR, there really is no other alternative. So Bond’s best European friend it is and, fortunately, he is a great character too and has great scenes with Bond.
Marc-Ange Draco – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – Not your standard ally, but the charismatic crime lord is thoroughly enjoyable although admittedly, probably more so in the film than the novel.
Tiger Tanaka – YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – Tanaka gets along great with Bond and proves a good tour guide for Japan. Contrary to Draco, he’s probably even more enjoyable here than in the film which is saying something.
Ernie Cureo – DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER – A good, enjoyable bloke who drives Bond around Las Vegas. Doesn’t do a whole lot otherwise, but you still have a good time with him.
Ronnie Vallance – MOONRAKER – I nearly put him at #5, but opted to keep him here. He’s another good guy, this time from Special Branch. He occasionally pops up in later stories, but he’s most prevalent here. He and Bond get on well. He may be Bond’s best friend in England outside of MI6.
Quarrel – DOCTOR NO – In his second adventure with 007, he has a good rapport with Bond and it is sad what happens to him. He’s a good ally, but I just like the others a little better.
John Strangways – LIVE AND LET DIE – I don’t like to have repeat allies, girls, henchmen, and villains if I can realistically have another option–and in this case I do. Strangways is used about as much as Quarrel in this story, and is already friends with Bond when 007 arrives in Jamaica. (And besides, Quarrel gets more play in DN anyway.) As for Strangways, himself, he is a likable enough fellow but doesn’t have a lot to do other than arm Bond with supplies and introduce him to Quarrel.
Nick Nicholson – THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN – A nice, eager young chap who doesn’t get a lot to do once Leiter gets on the scene.
Peter Pedersen – THUNDERBALL – Captain of the U.S.S. Manta, he’s in charge of the final fight with the SPECTRE frogmen. A decent sort who is appropriately commanding, but there’s not much else to say.
Mounties Lieutenant / Stonor – THE SPY WHO LOVED ME – I consider TSWLM to have two adventures–1) the bedtime story about 007 protecting a Soviet defector from a SPECTRE assassination attempt and 2) the story proper about 007 saving a woman from two nasty thugs at an empty hotel–hence the two entrants here. We get little information about the Mounties lieutenant other than that he is in charge while Capt. Stonor, after the aforementioned events, amusingly tries to dissuade Vivienne Michel from keeping romantic feelings about Bond. There’s not much more about them than that.
Smithers – GOLDFINGER – The number of possible allies in Goldfinger are very thin. This is probably the strongest argument for putting Leiter as the main ally. But for me, he’s too much of a regular so Smithers it is. All he does is set up the mission and supply Bond with a gold bar. Not too exciting, so he sits here.
So what are your rankings of the Fleming novel main allies?
Interesting one on Goldfinger - Hawker the caddy gets more page time and although not involved in the mission per se, it’s novel to see Bond getting along with a civilian, and Hawker does help Bond cheat back, so has some plot relevance. Possible shout out to Tilly Masterton, albeit coming a cropper.
Colombo in Risico has more to do than some of these put together, but I get the point you are not including the short stories.
Interesting you don’t include Felix Leiter - accepting the rule that these can only live once for the point of this ranking - but where would you put him at his single most effective point? I suspect he is of most relevance to Live and Let Die, which would place that much nearer the top. That or Thunderball, where he’s of some consistent use throughout.
I think I’d need to do a full series re-read through to fully be able to rank individual allies. I’d place Quarrel higher and include Felix on the list. I’d have him as the main ally in Diamonds Are Forever and probably Thunderball. And strangely, the I’d consider the ally in The Spy Who Loved Me as Bond as the main character is actually Vivian Michel. Otherwise, I agree with your list.
I do consider Hawker an ally, but he has so little to do with the overall plot by being, as you said, a civilian, that he is completely oblivious to it other than helping James Bond cheat back at Auric Goldfinger, that I can’t put him as the primary ally. But he is an entertaining character. So why Smithers as the main ally? He is in on the mission from the start and he does supply Bond with something for the said mission. It’s not much, but he’s the best there is of a very thin lot. Interesting point about Tilly Masterton. I hadn’t really thought about her. I mostly just thought of her as a Bond girl. I might have to rethink that a little.
Yes, Enrico Colombo might be the second best ally in the Ian Fleming canon regardless of him being in a short story, but that does not matter in this ranking due, as you said, to it being only for those in the novels. (At some point I will be doing the short stories too. )
Where would I put Felix Leiter? Just about every novel he is in, he plays a big role–Casino Royale, Live And Let Die, Diamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger, Thunderball, The Man With The Golden Gun. I agree with you that he probably has the most relevance in LALD, but where he is the most effective? I would probably go with Thunderball as well. He is present for a large part of the book and assists Bond on his helicopter search for the missing warheads, joins him on his tour of the Disco Volante, and in his hopping aboard the U.S.S. Manta. But as for where I would put Leiter as Bond’s main ally if I had to? It’s between Goldfinger and Thunderball who probably have the “weakest” or least obvious candidate other than Leiter to be a main ally. And in comparing the alternatives, Smithers or, if you like, Hawker from Goldfinger compared to Peter Pedersen in Thunderball, I would use Leiter for Goldfinger.
But to be clear, I don’t have a hard rule that I or you can only use one ally/girl/henchmen/villain only once. I just try to avoid doing it as much as I can such as going with Chang instead of Jaws for Moonraker henchman (he was the main henchman originally anyway). I suppose I do it for variety’s sake as much as anything. But sometimes it can’t be helped such as Ernst Stavro Blofeld for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice villain or Fredericka von Grüsse for Bond girl in Never Send Flowers and SeaFire.
Incredible how patently useless in comparison Leiter is in Fleming’s last offering. I wanted to reread the respective chapters in The Man with the Golden Gun to be sure, but the fact remains he’s organising a blonde mannequin, drives out to the narrow-gauge line and puts it across on Scaramanga’s orders*. Instead of simply not doing it when the train is set to end up in the swamps a mere two minutes later. Plus, it might have been worth the trouble to warn Bond about the bridge in case Leiter doesn’t make it back in time. Or simply slips from the bumpers.
Finally, Leiter gets up during the shootout - but wouldn’t he have been best placed to shoot Scaramanga when the shooting started, even from his cover? How far away can Scaramanga’s head have been? Even if shooting someone in cold blood wasn’t any more to Leiter’s liking than to Bond’s, at least once he saw the heavily bleeding Scaramanga on the floor of the brake van it would have been just sensible not to take his demise for granted.
*Must have taken hours, especially since he used this task as cover to rigg the bridge up for demolition. And how did he get there and back again in time to ride on the brake van? And how did Scaramanga not notice him? Plus, why does Scaramanga ask Nichols about Leiter when he himself sent him on his errand? Debriefing that mission must have taken until 1979…
I think that’s where the fact that TMWTGG is essentially a first draft comes into play. It’s possible the scene itself would’ve changed had Fleming had a chance to edit the novel.
There’s also a line where he conspicuously calls Scaramanga ‘Mr Scaramanga’ in the text; quite unusual and would likely have been changed with proper editing.
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