Davinder Mahal looks back at the history of James Bond to uncover the appeal of the super spy...

James Bond - The History & Appeal (1)
15th August 2004

Can you name a famous spy? James Bond, perhaps? Little did Ian Fleming know when he created James Bond, 007, the culture and phenomenon that would be created along him. It's a truly remarkable from his first scenes in Casino Royale, James Bond will take a leap into the movies and will last over three decades and continue his legacy into the future, strong as ever before.

After the release of the first movie Bond fans started emerging from all over the world. Each movie thereafter would only create more and more fans desperately wanting to see the next installment of 007. It was here the Bond culture began.

For over four decades Bond fans have been going to the cinemas to see their favourite spy save the world. Children play with toys based on vehicles or gadgets in the movies. Children and grown men act and pretend to be James Bond, saying behind those dark sunglasses looking into the shiny mirror, "The name's Bond..... James Bond".

Yet, why do people do this - pretend to be James Bond? Why does James Bond appeal to us? And do these people really know who James Bond is - the history behind him?

To answer these questions, let's first look at James Bond, and the history of the Bond movies.

James Bond's literary father, Ian Lancaster Fleming was born in London on May 28, 1908. As young man, Fleming tried journalism as a career and achieved fame with his coverage of a spy trial in Russia during the 1930's. He later moved away from journalism and into a career in banking only to become bored and to rejoin the newspaper as a journalist. Fleming was sent to Russia to cover news for The Times, but in actual fact was working undercover as a spy for the British government.

With the start of World War II, Fleming joined the British naval intelligence, excelled and gained a position of commander. As the war prolonged he continued to excel in his work and later headed a secret commando squadron which performed numerous high profile missions which he had developed. Towards the end of the war, Fleming visited Jamaica only to fall in love with the island. It was here, where Fleming after the war, would settle down with his newly brought gold plated typewriter in 1953, and write his first novel, Casino Royale in which James Bond entered the world.

Within the pages of Casino Royale, James Bond appears for the first time as a sophisticated and sensitive man and he has great anxieties for being a killer. His darker side becomes clear throughout the book as being "emotionally cold and distant to the opposite sex and his views on women are strong and chauvinistic". Casino Royale also shows the violent and most ruthless side James Bond. These characteristics however were not seen in the movies.
Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli along with Harry Saltzman purchased the screen rights to produce the 007 movies. Broccoli then created Eon Productions and secured a deal with Arthur Krim, president of United Artists for one million dollars to produce the first in a series of 007 movies. From this Broccoli creates a legend and will continue to work on all of the James Bond movies until his death in 1996.

The first James Bond movie, "Dr. No", was released on October 5, 1962 in the UK (May 8, 1963 in the US) and starred Sean Connery as James Bond. Connery continued to be make another four movies of James Bond: "From Russia with Love" (1963 UK, 1964 US), "Goldfinger" (1964 UK & US), "Thunderball" (1965 UK & US), and "You Only Live Twice" (1967 UK & US).

The first two Bond movies, "Dr. No" and "From Russia with Love" showed the more realistic James Bond by placing him in realistic situations. "Goldfinger" was the turning point to the James Bond movies as it was the first time when James Bond saw more emphasis on gadgets and weapons. Humour was also added to the script and the real-life spy stories were removed from the movie. Unfortunately, Ian Fleming passed away only a month premature to the "Goldfinger" release date and never saw the new portrayal of James Bond.

Over the years, James Bond has changed faces as new actors replace the previous ones. Each time a face changed, the portrayal of Bond changed as each actor brought difference characteristics to Bond. The first face change 007 saw was in 1969 in the movie, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and was played by an Australian model, George Lazenby. Lazenby who had no previous acting experience impressed the producers in a screen test and won the role of Bond. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" screenwriter Richard Maibaum downplayed the use of gadgets and stuck more closely to the original novel written by Ian Fleming. This allowed Lazenby to develop Bond's character on screen and allows further character building for future Bond movies to come. Broccoli offered Lazenby another role within the next Bond movie but was turned down. The first time actor felt the Bond scene "was all too intense". Without a James Bond, and movie waiting for production, the producers set out looking for another James Bond.

Broccoli and Saltzman wanted Sean Connery to play James Bond again and with the rejection from Lazenby offered Connery a chance to play Bond. Connery had had a series of movie flops of non-James Bond movies and needed money to fund The Scottish International Educational Trust. Therefore Sean Connery came back to the sets for the seventh installment of 007. Connery received a record salary of $1,250,000 in addiction to a portion of profits from the movie. He gave the entire amount to the Educational Trust. "Diamonds are Forever" (1971 UK & US) saw more humour than the previous movies and once again sending the Bond movies away from the original character written by Fleming, and this will continue for over a decade.

- Article by Davinder Mahal. Visit his website Mahal.org

Part 2 will continue to look back at the history and appeal of the James Bond franchise.