Bond...James Bond

[tex]

Re: Bond...James Bond

George Lazenby is 79 years old today, btw...

Knowing what we now know about about Lazenby, i bet he hated dressing like this, he was a real hippy type and a bit of a hardcase in real life.

[zabadak]

Re: Bond...James Bond

George Lazenby is 79 years old today, btw...

[zabadak]

Re: Bond...James Bond

Thunderball is hardly ever shown. I saw it on TV, about a year ago, and it was so foreign to me I was even starting to think that was the first time I'd seen it!

I use to say that my favourite was Live And Let Die, until I saw Skyfall. Wow! It helped that Bond (on film, at least) was 50 years old, as was I, so I was caught up very much in the moment.

Anyway, that is now my favourite but my fave theme is You Only Live Twice, but then I'm a huge Nancy Sinatra fan!

[George 1978]

Re: Bond...James Bond

The semi-official Never Say Never Again has been shown on BBC1 a few times, & BBC4 once screened From Russia With Love as part of a theme night.

It's interesting of the basis on whether a James Bond film is an official one or not - the 1960s film Casino Royale is an example - it was a spoof of a James Bond film, although an actual film of that name has been named in recent years. A bit like people who thought that Carry On Admiral was actually a Carry On film.

[Mulletino]

Re: Bond...James Bond

I deffo remember getting my first exposure to James Bond as a kid on TV, usually Bank Holiday Mondays or Easter, certainly remember eating Easter Eggs while watching it.

My first Cinema Bond was The Spy Who Loved Me then Moonraker. Seen every one since at the movies. I have all the classic ones on DVD but the Daniel Craig ones on Blu Ray. Do love me some Bond.

[Richard1978]

Re: Bond...James Bond

I suppose that was because only ITV showed James Bond films (did they ever appear on the BBC?) - the Harry Potter films seems to have replaced them to a certain degree.

The semi-official Never Say Never Again has been shown on BBC1 a few times, & BBC4 once screened From Russia With Love as part of a theme night.

[George 1978]

Re: Bond...James Bond

The Bond films are normally on ITV3 or 4 these days.

Usually interrupted by one of those five minute Entertainment bulletins an hour into the film...

[George 1978]

Re: Bond...James Bond

The bond movies have been overexposed by itv and the excitement that used to go with watching them has long since disapeared, seeing a new bond film in the cinema is always a thrill but knowing it will be on tv every few months for the next 30 years is not, i am a massive bond fan but would never watch on itv

I suppose that was because only ITV showed James Bond films (did they ever appear on the BBC?) - the Harry Potter films seems to have replaced them to a certain degree.

[Richard1978]

Re: Bond...James Bond

The Bond films are normally on ITV3 or 4 these days.

[tex]

Re: Bond...James Bond

I agree with the middle paragraph but ofcourse we all have a colour tv bigger than a bus in our living rooms these days and ofcourse the joy of watching on dvd with no ad breaks.

[tex]

Re: Bond...James Bond

Bond on TV: A brief history

The James Bond movies did not arrive on British TV until 1975, when the very first Bond movie, Dr. No, was screened (on 28th October, 1975), to both great excitement and some pessimism. The excitement, naturally, came from keen Bond fans who, up until that point, could only see James Bond in action if they caught the latest 007 movie released at the cinema, or happened to introduce themselves to Mr. Bond with the regular double-bill screenings that were hugely popular in British cinemas in the early 1970s.

The pessimism came from some film and TV critics, and also some dedicated Bond fans, who feared that James Bond on the small screen could herald the end of the series. Bond on the small screen, they argued (especially in monotone black-and-white), could never capture the over-the-top exotic glamour and larger-than-life action of the big screen, and the James Bond series would suffer as a result. Thankfully, in hindsight, the pessimists were mistaken.

In fact, some film historians have argued that, far from undermining the Bond series, the regular small-screen TV screenings merely whetted the appetite of a whole new generation of Bond fans, who were made even more determined to catch the latest 007 adventure as it appeared in the cinemas. Indeed, ITV themselves skilfully made use of the advent of the latest 007 film releases by creating special ‘premiere’ programmes, often screened live from the World Premiere itself, and EON were more than happy to co-operate.

[staffslad]

Re: Bond...James Bond

The bond movies have been overexposed by itv and the excitement that used to go with watching them has long since disapeared, seeing a new bond film in the cinema is always a thrill but knowing it will be on tv every few months for the next 30 years is not, i am a massive bond fan but would never watch on itv

It used to be a tradition that ITV would show a Bond film on Christmas Day, but I believe that has fallen by the wayside now. I am old enough to remember the excitement when the Bond films first started to be shown on ITV back in the mid 70s. Prior to that, cinemas would show Bond films on re-release years after they were made. I saw From Russia with Love at my local cinema around 1971, 8 years or so after it was first released.

There have been an amazing number of actors considered to play Bond down the years. For me, the hands-down most unlikely was John Bingham in 1967, who turned down a screen test. John Bingham is probably better known as 7th Earl of Lucan--Lord Lucan, who would go on to be prime suspect in the murder of his children's nanny and attempted murder of his estranged wife. He vanished without trace a short time after the murder in 1974.

[tex]

Re: Bond...James Bond

Do ITV still show James Bond films? I know that they used to do so on Bank Holidays in the 1990s, but as they just show normal programming on those days, I suppose the answer is no to that respect. I am sure that they have been seen on Saturday and Sunday afternoons though.

Regarding favourite bond actors, I cannot make up my mind between Connery or Moore, so I would choose films that they were in. When I last saw Ben Price in Coronation Street, I actually thought that would make an excellent James Bond - he looks like someone who would play him.

Back in the 1990s on the Radio 4 panel game First Impressions, they got someone (Kate Robbins or someone like that) to sing Bond film theme songs at a piano singing it like Victoria Wood which I thought was such a brilliant talent!

The bond movies have been overexposed by itv and the excitement that used to go with watching them has long since disapeared, seeing a new bond film in the cinema is always a thrill but knowing it will be on tv every few months for the next 30 years is not, i am a massive bond fan but would never watch on itv

[tex]

Re: Bond...James Bond

As Staffslad mentioned above George Lazenby was offered a multifilm deal, but turned it down after his agent reckoned the series would fade away in the 1970s.

Roger Moore made both Octopussy & View To a Kill after For Your Eyes Only. I've heard he considered View To a Kill a film too far, not enjoying making it.

Moore was 58 years old when he filmed avtak which by his own admission was too old, who can say how the series would have panned out had Lazenby done seven films, i know after just one outing that i prefered his portrayal to Moores, i suspect the scriptwriters were influenced by Moores playful acting in the saint and the persuaders when they wrote his parts for bond

[Mulletino]

Re: Bond...James Bond

Roger Moore made both Octopussy & View To a Kill after For Your Eyes Only. I've heard he considered View To a Kill a film too far, not enjoying making it.

An old Moore tonguing Grace Jones is probably one of my least favourite movie kisses also.