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TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 5, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: Jame Bond
All this month, on Thursday evenings, TCM is featuring the movies of Bond. James Bond.The name's Bond...James Bond. As we celebrate 100 Years of United Artists, TCM takes a special look at the history of the Bond movies that have played such an important role in UA's history. Our 007 retrospective ranges from the 1960s through the 1990s and includes an amazing 13 TCM premieres!
Novelist and short-story writer Ian Fleming created the James Bond character, who first appeared in 1953, and would feature his fictional hero in 12 novels and two collections of short stories. After Fleming's death in 1964, other authors have been authorized to continue the character's adventures. The most recent was Anthony Horowitz, who published the Bond novel Forever and a Day in 2018.
The character James Bond is a Secret Intelligence Service agent, also known by the code number 007, who lives in London but is regularly involved in international espionage adventures. The English-born Fleming reportedly based Bond on several commandos and secret agents he had known during his own service in the Naval Intelligence Division during World War II. Another influence on the composite character was Fleming's older brother, Peter, who was a soldier/adventurer in Norway and Greece during the war.
Some say the character's name came from the American ornithologist James Bond; others say from the Welsh agent James C. Bond, with whom Fleming had served. The character as portrayed on the page and screen is suave, beautifully groomed, fearless and unflappable, with well-cultivated tastes in automobiles, weapons, gadgets, food, alcohol ("shaken, not stirred" martinis), smoking (until more recent times) and sex.
To date there have been 24 Bond movies created through Eon Productions (short for Everything or Nothing), the British film company that primarily produces 007 adventures. There were also two independent productions built around the Bond character: the 1967 spoof Casino Royale and the 1983 Sean Connery vehicle Never Say Never Again, which marked the iconic actor's return to the Bond role for the first time in 12 years.
At this writing, a new adventure starring Daniel Craig in his fifth outing as 007 is being filmed in England, Italy and other locations by Eon under the title No Time to Die It is scheduled for release in 2020. The character also has been on television, radio, comic strips and video games. The movies constitute the longest continually-running film series ever and, with grosses of more than $7 billion, one of the most profitable.
Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman co-produced the Eon movies (with the exception of 1965's Thunderball) until 1975, when Broccoli became the sole producer. In 1984, Broccoli was joined by Michael G. Wilson, his stepson, as producer. In 1995, Broccoli stepped aside and was replaced by his daughter Barbara, who has since co-produced with Wilson.
The Bond series has seen great continuity in casts and production crews, with repeated contributions by directors, writers, production designers and composers. In addition to their gadgetry, the movies are noted for their memorable musical scores, with theme songs that have received several Oscar nominations and two wins. They are also well-remembered for the lineup of beautiful actresses who have played 007's love interests, often referred to as the "Bond girls."
The first theatrical film to feature Bond was Dr. No (1962), starring Sean Connery as 007 with direction by Terence Young. Many Bond fans had imagined Cary Grant or David Niven as their hero, and there was some consternation when Sean Connery, a strapping Scottish actor in his early 30s, was chosen instead.
Ian Fleming was initially unhappy with the choice of this athletic, unrefined, 6'2" Scotsman to play his sophisticated character, reportedly calling him "an overgrown stuntman." But Fleming came around after director Young coached Connery in the ways of a suave man-about-town and the casting proved spectacularly successful with audiences. Connery was immediately catapulted from leading man to superstar status.
Since Connery's portrayal was so definitive, many think of him as the first screen Bond. That honor, however, goes to Barry Nelson, who played Bond in an adaptation of Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, for American television in 1954.
Connery would play 007 in five more Eon productions (but he played Bond a total of seven times): From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971). In addition to Young, his directors were Guy Hamilton and Lewis Gilbert.
The stunning lineup of TCM premieres is shown below, categorized by the actors who succeeded Connery in the role of James Bond.
George Lazenby played 007 in only one film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), directed by Peter R. Hunt. The Australian actor was said to have declined further Bond films on the questionable advice of his agent. Although not well-reviewed at the time, Lazenby's characterization would later draw praise for the touches of vulnerability that brought his Bond closer to the hero of the novels than Connery had been.
Roger Moore tied with Connery in having the longest run with the character, playing Bond in seven movies: Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), directed by Guy Hamilton; The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979), directed by Lewis Gilbert; and For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983) and A View to a Kill (1985), directed by John Glen.
Moore, a veteran of Bond-like characters on TV including "The Saint," brought a lighter touch to the character. He played Bond with a jokey, mocking humor that made the violence inherent in the films seem like a joke. Moore was quoted as saying that the Bond situations were "outrageous. So you have to treat the humor outrageously as well."
Timothy Dalton was Bond in a pair of films: The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989), both directed by Glen. Dalton, who studied the Fleming novels to guide his interpretation, was a more serious, vulnerable and morally ambiguous Bond. Roger Moore considered his successor to be "the best actor" to have played the role.
Pierce Brosnan did Bond duty in four films, and we've got three of them: GoldenEye (1995), directed by Martin Campbell; Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), directed by Roger Spottiswoode; and The World Is Not Enough (1999), directed by Michael Apted.
Brosnan, who had perfected his image as a cool operator in his TV role as private investigator Remington Steele, recaptured some of Connery's athletic roguishness in the role while blending in Moore's lighthearted touch. Critic Andrew Spicer wrote that Brosnan's "lithe, sinuous athleticism is well suited to the fast-paced action and state-of-the-art gadgetry that retains the series' core appeal."
The current Bond, Daniel Craig, began his run in 2006 and, with the release of No Time to Die, will have appeared in five Bond films. Craig faced opposition by fans and commentators who found his blond, blue-eyed, 5'10" image unsuitable for Bond. In criticizing Craig's casting, The Daily Mirror ran the headline "The Name's Bland...James Bland."
But Craig vindicated himself with a characterization that some felt has come closest to capturing the Bond that Fleming created. The BBC's Paul Arendt described Craig's 007 as "a professional killing machine, a charming, cold-hearted patriot with a taste for luxury." Director Steven Spielberg called Craig "the perfect 21st-century Bond."
by Roger Fristoe
Novelist and short-story writer Ian Fleming created the James Bond character, who first appeared in 1953, and would feature his fictional hero in 12 novels and two collections of short stories. After Fleming's death in 1964, other authors have been authorized to continue the character's adventures. The most recent was Anthony Horowitz, who published the Bond novel Forever and a Day in 2018.
The character James Bond is a Secret Intelligence Service agent, also known by the code number 007, who lives in London but is regularly involved in international espionage adventures. The English-born Fleming reportedly based Bond on several commandos and secret agents he had known during his own service in the Naval Intelligence Division during World War II. Another influence on the composite character was Fleming's older brother, Peter, who was a soldier/adventurer in Norway and Greece during the war.
Some say the character's name came from the American ornithologist James Bond; others say from the Welsh agent James C. Bond, with whom Fleming had served. The character as portrayed on the page and screen is suave, beautifully groomed, fearless and unflappable, with well-cultivated tastes in automobiles, weapons, gadgets, food, alcohol ("shaken, not stirred" martinis), smoking (until more recent times) and sex.
To date there have been 24 Bond movies created through Eon Productions (short for Everything or Nothing), the British film company that primarily produces 007 adventures. There were also two independent productions built around the Bond character: the 1967 spoof Casino Royale and the 1983 Sean Connery vehicle Never Say Never Again, which marked the iconic actor's return to the Bond role for the first time in 12 years.
At this writing, a new adventure starring Daniel Craig in his fifth outing as 007 is being filmed in England, Italy and other locations by Eon under the title No Time to Die It is scheduled for release in 2020. The character also has been on television, radio, comic strips and video games. The movies constitute the longest continually-running film series ever and, with grosses of more than $7 billion, one of the most profitable.
Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman co-produced the Eon movies (with the exception of 1965's Thunderball) until 1975, when Broccoli became the sole producer. In 1984, Broccoli was joined by Michael G. Wilson, his stepson, as producer. In 1995, Broccoli stepped aside and was replaced by his daughter Barbara, who has since co-produced with Wilson.
The Bond series has seen great continuity in casts and production crews, with repeated contributions by directors, writers, production designers and composers. In addition to their gadgetry, the movies are noted for their memorable musical scores, with theme songs that have received several Oscar nominations and two wins. They are also well-remembered for the lineup of beautiful actresses who have played 007's love interests, often referred to as the "Bond girls."
The first theatrical film to feature Bond was Dr. No (1962), starring Sean Connery as 007 with direction by Terence Young. Many Bond fans had imagined Cary Grant or David Niven as their hero, and there was some consternation when Sean Connery, a strapping Scottish actor in his early 30s, was chosen instead.
Ian Fleming was initially unhappy with the choice of this athletic, unrefined, 6'2" Scotsman to play his sophisticated character, reportedly calling him "an overgrown stuntman." But Fleming came around after director Young coached Connery in the ways of a suave man-about-town and the casting proved spectacularly successful with audiences. Connery was immediately catapulted from leading man to superstar status.
Since Connery's portrayal was so definitive, many think of him as the first screen Bond. That honor, however, goes to Barry Nelson, who played Bond in an adaptation of Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, for American television in 1954.
Connery would play 007 in five more Eon productions (but he played Bond a total of seven times): From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971). In addition to Young, his directors were Guy Hamilton and Lewis Gilbert.
The stunning lineup of TCM premieres is shown below, categorized by the actors who succeeded Connery in the role of James Bond.
George Lazenby played 007 in only one film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), directed by Peter R. Hunt. The Australian actor was said to have declined further Bond films on the questionable advice of his agent. Although not well-reviewed at the time, Lazenby's characterization would later draw praise for the touches of vulnerability that brought his Bond closer to the hero of the novels than Connery had been.
Roger Moore tied with Connery in having the longest run with the character, playing Bond in seven movies: Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), directed by Guy Hamilton; The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979), directed by Lewis Gilbert; and For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983) and A View to a Kill (1985), directed by John Glen.
Moore, a veteran of Bond-like characters on TV including "The Saint," brought a lighter touch to the character. He played Bond with a jokey, mocking humor that made the violence inherent in the films seem like a joke. Moore was quoted as saying that the Bond situations were "outrageous. So you have to treat the humor outrageously as well."
Timothy Dalton was Bond in a pair of films: The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989), both directed by Glen. Dalton, who studied the Fleming novels to guide his interpretation, was a more serious, vulnerable and morally ambiguous Bond. Roger Moore considered his successor to be "the best actor" to have played the role.
Pierce Brosnan did Bond duty in four films, and we've got three of them: GoldenEye (1995), directed by Martin Campbell; Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), directed by Roger Spottiswoode; and The World Is Not Enough (1999), directed by Michael Apted.
Brosnan, who had perfected his image as a cool operator in his TV role as private investigator Remington Steele, recaptured some of Connery's athletic roguishness in the role while blending in Moore's lighthearted touch. Critic Andrew Spicer wrote that Brosnan's "lithe, sinuous athleticism is well suited to the fast-paced action and state-of-the-art gadgetry that retains the series' core appeal."
The current Bond, Daniel Craig, began his run in 2006 and, with the release of No Time to Die, will have appeared in five Bond films. Craig faced opposition by fans and commentators who found his blond, blue-eyed, 5'10" image unsuitable for Bond. In criticizing Craig's casting, The Daily Mirror ran the headline "The Name's Bland...James Bland."
But Craig vindicated himself with a characterization that some felt has come closest to capturing the Bond that Fleming created. The BBC's Paul Arendt described Craig's 007 as "a professional killing machine, a charming, cold-hearted patriot with a taste for luxury." Director Steven Spielberg called Craig "the perfect 21st-century Bond."
by Roger Fristoe
Enjoy!
6:36 AM -- BIG BLUE GOOSE (1956)
In this short film, naturalist Van Campen Heilner travels to the Louisiana bayou country.
Dir: Van Campen Heilner
Cast: Harry Wismer, Pervis Hebert, Raquel Romero Heilner
BW-8 mins,
6:45 AM -- THE SOUTHERNER (1945)
A sharecropper fights the elements to start his own farm.
Dir: Jean Renoir
Cast: Zachary Scott, Betty Field, J. Carrol Naish
BW-93 mins, CC,
Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Jean Renoir, Best Sound, Recording -- Jack Whitney (Sound Services Inc.), and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Werner Janssen
Originally intended for Joel McCrea, but when the studio couldn't get him they gave it to Zachary Scott.
8:30 AM -- THE PHENIX CITY STORY (1955)
A crusading lawyer takes on the corrupt machine running a Southern town.
Dir: Phil Karlson
Cast: John McIntire, Richard Kiley, Kathryn Grant
BW-100 mins, CC,
In the film, John Patterson (Richard Kiley) is depicted as supportive of African-American Zeke Ward (James Edwards) and his family. In real life, following his term as Alabama attorney general (1954-58), he ran for governor in 1958 in an openly racist campaign and won. One of his opponents, George Wallace, had run as a racial moderate and told his friends after the election, "John Patterson out-niggered me, and I'm never gonna be out-niggered again." Four years later, in 1962, Wallace won the governorship of Alabama as an avowed segregationist.
10:15 AM -- INTRUDER IN THE DUST (1949)
Only a young boy and an old woman stand between an innocent black man and a lynch mob.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., Juano Hernandez
BW-87 mins, CC,
The film is generally considered as breaking new ground in its depiction of blacks on screen. In 1949, it was certainly highly progressive in the way it portrayed African-Americans.
11:45 AM -- GOD'S LITTLE ACRE (1958)
A dirt-farmer lets his family fall apart while he hunts for his grandfather's buried gold.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray, Buddy Hackett
BW-118 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
A 1967 re-release attempted to appeal to the new generation by playing up the sex in the advertisements. The '67 poster featured the drawing of a topless woman underneath a bare-chested man on a bed, as well as a topless (but chaste) photo of co-star Fay Spain that was definitely not in the picture itself! For this re-release, Tina Louise was given top-billing and Michael Landon went from tenth billing in 1958 to second billing this time.
1:45 PM -- BABY DOLL (1956)
A child bride holds her husband at bay while flirting with a sexy Italian farmer.
Dir: Elia Kazan
Cast: Karl Malden, Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach
BW-115 mins, CC,
Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Carroll Baker, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mildred Dunnock, Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- Tennessee Williams, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Boris Kaufman
In retrospect, Eli Wallach called the film "one of the most exciting, daring movies ever made." But he added, "People see it today and say, 'What the hell was all the fuss about?'"
3:45 PM -- ODE TO BILLY JOE (1976)
A country boy tries to hide from his homosexuality by courting a female friend.
Dir: Max Baer
Cast: Robby Benson, James Best, Glynnis O'Connor
C-106 mins, CC,
Screenwriter Herman Raucher was paid $250,000 by the Dell Publishing Company to author a tie-in paperback novel, which was ultimately deemed a colossal financial disaster.
5:45 PM -- THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER (1968)
A deaf mute changes the lives of all he meets.
Dir: Robert Ellis Miller
Cast: Alan Arkin, Chuck McCann, Peter Mamakos
C-124 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Alan Arkin, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Sondra Locke
To conceal her age - ostensibly in a bid to muddy the backwaters of her early life - Sondra Locke changed her birth year more times than such notorieties as Joan Crawford, Mae West or Zsa Zsa Gabor. When Heart was being made in 1967, the actress (born Sandra Smith in May 1944) was 23 years old, but an international press release said she was 17. Nashville newspaper The Tennessean called her out on the lie almost right away, but it took decades for syndicated publications to catch on. At the time of the movie's 1968 premiere, Locke claimed to be 21 but was in fact 24. While promoting The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) eight years later, the then 32-year-old gave her age as 20. Various news outlets wrongly reported Locke as being 29 in 1978 (when she was 34); 26 in 1979 (35 then); and 30 in 1980 (actually 36). Her real age was finally confirmed by her maternal half-brother, Donald Locke, in an exclusive interview with The Tennessean in 1989. Sondra Locke was 45 in 1989, but her publicist claimed 42. Locke never came clean about her age, even lying about it in her autobiography. In a 2015 podcast interview, the 71-year-old former star said that she "was just graduating high school" when she started work on this film. Locke graduated high school in May 1962 at age 18 - more than five years before she was cast in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: JAMES BOND
8:00 PM -- DR. NO (1963)
James Bond uncovers a plot to end the U.S. space program.
Dir: Terence Young
Cast: Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman
C-110 mins, CC,
Contrary to popular belief, Sir Sean Connery was not wearing a hairpiece in his first two outings as James Bond. Although he was already balding by the time Dr. No was in production, he still had a decent amount of hair and the filmmakers used varying techniques to make the most of what was left. By the time of Goldfinger (1964), Connery's hair was too thin and so various toupees were used for his last Bond outings.
10:00 PM -- FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1964)
James Bond searches Istanbul for a stolen Russian decoding.
Dir: Terence Young
Cast: Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendariz
C-115 mins, CC,
Then-President John F. Kennedy listed Ian Fleming's book as among his top ten favorite novels of all time. That list was published in Life Magazine on March 17, 1961. Possibly as a result, the producers decided to make this the second James Bond movie. According to the book "Death of a President" (1964) by William Raymond Manchester, this was the last movie J.F.K. ever saw, in a private screening in the White House, November 20, 1963.
12:15 AM -- GOLDFINGER (1964)
James Bond tries to thwart an attempt to rob Fort Knox.
Dir: Guy Hamilton
Cast: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman
C-110 mins, CC,
Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Sound Effects -- Norman Wanstall
Aston Martin was initially reluctant to part with two of their cars for the production. The producers had to pay for the Aston Martin, but after the success of the movie, both at the box-office and for the company, they never had to spend money on a car again.
2:15 AM -- THUNDERBALL (1965)
James Bond hunts for stolen nuclear warheads in the Bahamas.
Dir: Terence Young
Cast: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi
C-130 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- John Stears
Bond's jetpack was actually flown by engineer Bill Suiter. He was one of only two people in the world qualified to fly it.
4:45 AM -- YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967)
James Bond investigates a series attacks in space that could lead to nuclear war.
Dir: Lewis Gilbert
Cast: Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, Tetsuro Tamba
C-117 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
The henchman that Bond fights against in Osato's office was played by a Samoan pro-wrestler named Peter Fanene Maivia. His grandson is WWE legend Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.