James Bond vs Golden Age

[Brian Sheridan]

I would rather have been Napolean Solo or John Steed.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

I just got the MAN FROM UNCLE complete series DVD set for Christmas. Those first season shows were incredible.

 

[carter]

Popcorn Anyone?

For all the Sean Connery as James Bond fans, BBC America is showing Thunderball, Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger consecutively today.

There are commercials. [huh]

 

[Brian Sheridan]

For all the Sean Connery as James Bond fans, BBC America is showing Thunderball, Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger consecutively today.

There are commercials. [huh]

On the UNCLE set? No there are not.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

83 Functions, if you wish to light a cigar

I agree with what others here have said, in that I have intense moods when I immerse myself in the 1930s-40s and then I can go months without liking anything else but Bond's era, which I call my "65-75 Mood", it includes our beloved 007. However, I find that I prefer the action stylings of one Derek Flint. Alll the ability, knowledge, and ladykiller skills with none of the "torment." So enjoy the Golden Era and the Swingin' Sixties for their respective charms. Open up a copy of Esquire when you're feeling 30s; or a copy of Hef's publication when you're feeling Bondian. Enjoy them both, for your taste is impeccable for loving them.

Lloyd Cramden: Flint, I owe you my life. The medic said four more seconds, and I...

Derek Flint: Three more seconds.

Lloyd Cramden: Damn it, man, is there anything you don't know?

Derek Flint: A great many things, sir.

 

[Doctor Strange]

That's why he's Flint!

I love those two Flint movies. I saw them theatrically when they first came out - I was around 10 and 12. (I actually saw them before I had seen any of the Bond films, which were considered more adult fare at the time. I was, of course, up on Secret Agent, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and other TV spies.)

However, seen objectively as an adult, they are awfully dumb, poorly made, cheap (pegboard backgrounds!), and mostly pretty silly. But I still love them! Coburn's joyful, tongue-in-cheek performance really makes them, and some of the whacked-out humor is classic (e.g., the Asian scientist is Dr. Schneider and the German one is Dr. Wu?!?)

One of my friends uses Kramden's hotline phone as his ringtone. I can't help but think it's totally cool! (Of course, younger folks usually think it rips off Basil Exposition's hotline from Austin Powers.)

 

[Nathan Dodge]

I love those two Flint movies. I saw them theatrically when they first came out - I was around 10 and 12. (I actually saw them before I had seen any of the Bond films, which were considered more adult fare at the time. I was, of course, up on Secret Agent, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and other TV spies.)

However, seen objectively as an adult, they are awfully dumb, poorly made, cheap (pegboard backgrounds!), and mostly pretty silly. But I still love them! Coburn's joyful, tongue-in-cheek performance really makes them, and some of the whacked-out humor is classic (e.g., the Asian scientist is Dr. Schneider and the German one is Dr. Wu?!?)

One of my friends uses Kramden's hotline phone as his ringtone. I can't help but think it's totally cool! (Of course, younger folks usually think it rips off Basil Exposition's hotline from Austin Powers.)

Whenever I see a 20th Century Fox film from the mid-to-late 1960s (except The Sand Pebbles) I can't help but notice how dreary many of the films look. The cheapness you mentioned and the Cleopatra shockwave still reverberates. Fox made their money from the Batman TV show and if you listen carefully, you'll notice the show gets namedropped in more than a couple Fox productions. I've found it in Guide For the Married Man and In Like Flint so far.

I'm "only" 37, but thankfully I associate the ringtone with Flint rather than Austin Powers, which IMO was a grand opportunity missed because it chose to cater to the mainstream humor rather than being more in line with its spoofing of the 1960s spy films.

As for Bond, the Connery incarnation has yet to be topped (sorry, Daniel Craig; you owe more to Jason Bourne than to The Hairy-Chested One) It's a delightful grown-up fantasy, and it may interest you to know that Connery himself plugged for Jim Beam bourbon, not Vodka during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Flint: [communicating with dolphins] "Skattooo-dddskittibidditti!!!"

 

[Lone_Ranger]

The Bond written by Fleming was indeed a tough character, but certainly had a British panache and approach to life.

I often contrasted him with Matt Helm, a guy with a much more practical (and immediate) approach, and an all-American take on the profession. Helm would have taken someone out while Bond was still considering the necessity. I'm really a Matt Helm fan, and although I was amused by the Dean Martin movies, they really did the character a disservice.

The best part of Martin as Helm and James Coburn as Our Man Flint was that they were completely, wildly tongue-in-cheek. I loved Flint's red phone which rang with a variant of "Hail to the Chief".

I often wished that they would have let Dean Martin, play Helm, as he was written.

DreamWorks optioned the film rights to Donald Hamilton's books in 2002 and began planning a more serious adaptation of the Matt Helm novels, but the project is in limbo.

Unfortunately, the "Spymaster" died in his sleep on 2006. There will be no more books, unless some other author takes up where he left off.