James Bond is a fixture in British culture. Before my stay in England, I’d only seen part of a Bond film on television – there was lots of skiing and shooting. I was bored, so I turned it off.
The one Boxing Day I spent over there, I caught Diamonds are Forever starring Sean Connery.
It has the famous line, “so long as the collars and cuffs match,” in response to the question of his favorite hair color. Overall the movie was okay, nothing to write home about, but I didn’t turn it off. Progress made.
Years passed and many Bonds were cast before I watched another.
I forced myself to watch Daniel Craig as Bond. I don’t find him attractive at all, and to me, Bond needs to be attractive. Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, let me also point out that I have also never found Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt attractive either. It’s just me, and I get that. I did see Skyfall, which to me was an action film with no plot and nothing like the Bond in Diamonds.
It wasn’t until I read the first book, Casino Royale, that product of its time, that I understood the Bond phenomenon and decided to give the movies another go.
I knew I wanted more Sean Connery, so I talked DH2U into watching Goldfinger.
This was before we watched Zardoz, so DH2U didn’t have that bad costuming forever associated with Mr. Connery. That Bond was quite enjoyable, so I watched Thunderball and liked that, too.
I decided to give Roger Moore a chance for a couple films. Moore is a very different Bond. No street smarts. I keep expecting him to say, “I was on the boxing team at Cambridge,” as he got walloped. I did spend way too much time rooting for him to get smacked. Plus what is with all the gadgets?
I think I will stick to the books and the older, closer-to-the-book Bond movies. At least now I have an appreciation for them, which never would have happened if I hadn’t been willing to venture past my initial impressions. Not everything is for everyone, that is why there is so much variety.
Grown Up, Now What? 