Casinos, yachts, a submersible car and Great Old Ones

[matgb]

Yesterday, I did finish reading autopope's Jennifer Morgue. It's a damn fine James Bond pastiche with casinos, yachts, a submersible car and Great Old Ones—I commend it to the housereadership.

By random chance, It was revealed today that my good friend innerbrat, despite being a smart, educated Brit in her mid twenties, has never seen a Bond movie. Now, while I am tempted to complement her parents for managing to raise her and not once have ITV on on a bank holiday, I am completely and utterly amazed that she has managed to never see a Bond movie. Given that I am always aware of the potential problems caused by the small numbers fallacy, I thought I'd find out if she's actually less unusual than I think. Poll time:
[Poll #1296178]
See, I read the books mostly when I was a kid (I distinctly recall reading a fair few while on the caravan holiday in France, which dates it to 1986 just before I turned 12 and started grammar school). I can remember both enjoying reading them and being surprised at how different they were to the films—Bond got married in one, and was getting over her assassination in the next, there was distinct character development and Moneypenny was a bit part.

They were, without doubt, a product of their time, which is why the new films are even further away from them, even if elements (Bond's character) do seem closer than the earlier films. At times I consider going back to reread them, then decide life is too short and I've got far too many other books to read (like the rest of autopope's books for a start). Anyone else read enough of them as an adult to have an opinion one way or t'other?

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Jennie posted a slightly different poll rating the movies awhileback for those of you that are poll obsessed or merely didn't see it.

Comments

[pmoodie.livejournal.com]

I can see how someone could grow up here and not see any Bond. All you'd have to do would be to avoid the telly at certain times. And I can certainly see how some people could dislike the films.

But I love them! The first one I ever saw on the big screen was On her Majesty's Secret Service*, and I was hooked. It's still my favourite Bond film, and I think George Lazenby is very underrated as Bond. Considering he'd been a male model up to that point, he makes a damn fine actor.

I'm not so keen on the books. They're rife with snobbery, racism and misogyny, and Fleming was obsessed with status symbols, wearing the right kind of clothes, drinking the right kind of cocktails and driving the right kind of cars. His is not a world I'd want to visit often.

Thankfully the films water Fleming down and put much more emphasis on action and spectacle, and the best ones are hard to beat for pure cinematic entertainment.

As for the actors, I think they're all good. But the quality of the films varied over the years. So my least favourite period was the mid-late 80s, meaning that Moore and Dalton had the misfortune to appear in the worst Bond films, but that doesn't make them bad actors.


*It was a re-release, I'm not that old!