There’s one gaping hole in Stevan Riley’s excellent documentary celebrating the 50 film years of James Bond there’s no Sean Connery interview.
That’s to say, all the other Bonds are clearly happy to sit in front of a camera and tell their stories. Connery is there alright Riley makes up for no one-to-one interview by filling the first half of his film with excellent clips from the films, and Connery is heard in short bursts radio interviews maybe? It would have been great to hear from the man himself in what is an amazing franchise and a fascinating story.
What we do get is a thorough telling of the Bond legend, starting off with some great reminiscences from friends of Ian Fleming, including Christopher Lee. The books were not an instant success, and there came a tricky period of negotiating film rights which, as Barbara Broccoli says, were to cause problems later. Firstly there was a black and white TV series, Jimmy Bond’, which was as bad as it sounds judging from the mercifully brief footage.
It’s hard to believe but Connery was not the first choice by any means he was too muscly’ but Cubby Broccoli asked his wife if she thought he was sexy and her reply sealed the deal. Then came the success, the great Bond films, the glamour and the trappings. There’s some great footage of a clearly startled Connery filming in Japan, where the set was mobbed constantly, making filming almost impossible.
The film pulls no punches in depicting the problems between producer Harry Saltzman and Connery the actor thought Saltzman greedy, he pretty much admitted it and the cracks began to show. Eventually they became too great and Connery bailed, with Barbara Broccoli claiming the producers made Connery into the star he was.
Then we get the rest of the Bonds having their say. By far the most entertaining is George Lazenby, hilariously recounting how he cheated by getting an audition, couldn’t act and just wanted to get laid. Footage of him at the premiere is pant-wettingly funny.
Roger Moore is a charmer but lacked threat, Dalton is philosophical about being so poorly treated his performances were good, the scripts were not, as Broccoli admitted and Brosnan just looks happy to have been involved. The story of how he got the gig before Dalton, lost it and got it back again is actually pretty interesting more so than his films, which now look badly dated. To his enormous credit he has the grace to laugh at how ludicrous they had become.
Something had to change, and weirdly it was 9/11 which did it, Broccoli reveals. It was time for a new gritty Bond, one that rejected the flippant and got back to harsh basics. It was time for Casino Royale.
The doc rightly lauds Casino as a huge return to form, but then makes no mention of its disappointing follow-up Quantum Of Solace, which was hit by the writers’ strike and rather rushed. It’s strange that it’s not included the film has no problems including the other unofficial’ Bond movie, Never Say Never Again, fascinatingly revealing the conflict between Connery and Moore which Moore won at the box office at least. Broccoli wisely says: “It proved there is more to Bond than just one element they had Connery, we still had Bond.
Overall verdict: A great way to warm up for the 50th anniversary of James Bond and the imminent release of Skyfall, including a Sam Mendes interview. It had better be good Sam as the film hints, nothing goes on forever, not even James Bond.
Reviewer: Mike Martin