This Week In Bond (November 18th, 2022)

Life after Bond

Daniel Craig has raised a few eyebrows with his new TV commercial for Belvedere vodka - strutting his stuff to Rita Ora. Was it an attempt to shed his James Bond image? Past actors have made interesting choices on which role they take on immediately after turning in their tuxedos. Even though ‘No Time To Die’ wrapped back in 2019, he will next be seen as Benoit Blanc in ‘Glass Onion’ next month, a follow-up to the wildly successful’ ‘Knives Out’ that also had the quality of bringing Ana de Armas into the Bond universe. Judging by early reviews, ‘Glass Onion’ could be the best post-Bond film of any of the actors. But the bar is not very high. How many of these have you seen?

Sean Connery - ‘Shalako’ (5.9/10)
In 1880 New Mexico, a group of European hunters runs afoul of the Apache but is aided by an ex-cavalryman turned guide. We’re going to run with Connery’s choice after he bailed from Bond with ‘You Only Live Twice,’ but for completists, his film after ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ was ‘The Offence’ (6.9/10). Connery’s co-star Brigitte Bardot was the producer’s choice to play Tracy in ‘O.H.M.S.S.’ had he stuck around for one more film. The press at the time were interested in how ‘difficult’ Connery got along with ‘difficult’ Bardot.

George Lazenby - ‘Universal Soldier’ (4.2/10)
A lifelong mercenary commander and weapons expert played by George Lazenby is commissioned to train an army for an exiled African leader. But as his conscience finally catches up to him, he is seen as a threat to the powers behind the operation. Pushing back against the establishment, which started with growing a beard for the premiere of ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,’ Lazenby opted for a largely improvised outing with little semblance of a plot and cinematography that often looks like a student film. ‘Universal Soldier’ - no, not the one you are thinking of - is a tough watch.

Roger Moore - ‘Fire, Ice & Dynamite’ (3.8/10)
A tycoon's children and creditors compete for his money in an athletic contest. Perhaps the strangest entry on this list, ‘Fire, Ice & Dynamite’ is a German feature-length sports film directed by Willy Bogner - the man behind many of the Bond ski sequences and a pal of Moore’s. More surprising is that this is a sequel! Bogner had written and directed ‘Fire and Ice’ in 1986. Watch out for cameos from Steffi Graf, Niki Lauda, Buzz Aldrin, Dennis Conner, and Isaac Hayes.

Timothy Dalton - ‘The King's Whore’ (5.8/10)
Set in the seventeenth century, an Italian nobleman weds an impoverished countess, who is wooed by the King of Piedmont and faces pressure from his entire court to succumb to his wishes. Despite appearing at various film festivals and in theaters overseas, Dalton’s post-Bond film was never released in cinemas in the US. It finally made it to VHS in 1993.

Pierce Brosnan - Laws of Attraction (5.8/10)
Amidst a sea of litigation, two New York City divorce lawyers find love. A textbook rom-com of two opposites who start out adversaries but end up in love. Julia Moore co-stars. Oddly, Brosnan was seemingly OK with some of the characters portrayed in the film. A popular Dublin newspaper printed a full-page article on how insulting this film was towards Irish people, depicting them as a stereotype, on the day of its release in Ireland.

News

There are two major 20th anniversaries today: ‘Die Another Day’ celebrated its world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and EA released the videogame ‘NightFire’ on PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. Whilst everything stands in the shadow of ‘GoldenEye’s totemic reputation as the ‘Best Bond Game,’ NightFire is a very, very good 007 outing. Brosnan provided his likeness to the character late in development.

Tom Butler, host of the James Bond A-Z podcast, landed an interview with ‘Die Another Day’ director Lee Tamahori as his film marked 20 years. Tamahori apologized for one aspect of the film. Can you guess which?

Watch

More entertaining than watching the actual film itself, check out Calvin Dyson’s review of George Lazenby in ‘Universal Soldier.’

Exit Through The Gift Shop

The latest issue of MI6 Confidential went on sale yesterday, although it is already in the mail and making its way to subscribers around the world. You can pick up the individual issue now through the magazine store. Hot on the tail of the 60th-anniversary celebration, this issue commemorates the sound of 007 with features on the composition and history of Bond’s music, we speak to one of the composers behind ‘No Time To Die’, and quiz aficionados and filmmakers about the best Bond cues.

More Bond

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