Best Era of Bond Girls?
tshold
TorontoPosts: 214MI6 Agent
I'd love to know which era you all think had the hottest Bond Girls. My initial thought goes to Connery but each Bond actor had some seriously amazing women in their films.
I have posted a photo of some of my favorites from each era. Comment below your choice!
I have posted a photo of some of my favorites from each era. Comment below your choice!
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Comments
If I had to pick, I probably prefer the 1960s specifically the late sixties run from TB to OHMSS, some truely lovely, glamorous ladies and the (at the time) added exotica of the Chinese and Japanese actresses in YOLT.
How can I forget Claudine Auger in a bikini, Lucianna Paluzzi in a bath tub, Virginia North mixing cocktails & playing chess, Diana Rigg - Oh Oh Heaven - & those twelve gorgeous Angels of Death.
Overall though, for me, the most classically beautiful Bond heroine was Daniella Bianchi, after all she was runnerrunner-up in Miss Universe 1960. And she's a blonde Italian....
I'd better stop...
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But in terms of personal favorites in which Bond girls made my heart beat faster, it’s the 60’s era, including OHMSS. When Bond began there was still a spillover from the 50’s and I love the look of women from that time with the emphasis on the hour-glass figure, the hairstyles that took more effort, the false eyelashes, etc. ...which to me compared to the following decades, was a greater effort of women to objectify themselves as sex objects, lol! Like come on, why were bullet bras invented?!
Interestingly, Bond girls did reflect their decade and some looked more at home in their time period than others. To me, for example, Barbara Bach epitomized the 70’s with her natural yet exotic facial features and perky breasts. However, Maud Adams in TMWTGG and Lois Chiles had elegant looks that IMO was above the norm of those times. I would think that Carole Bouquet can easily fall into this period, just as she can also naturally represent the 80’s. This larger period (70’s up to FYEO) is my second favorite era for Bond girls.
The 80’s Bond girls also nicely represented their era, though save for Mlle. Bouquet, I’m not a big fan of the Bond girl look of that period in retrospect...though recalling my own feelings during that time I was enamored by Maryam d’Abo and Talisa Sotto.
Again, in retrospect I found the Bond girls of the 90’s in the Brosnan Bonds to be just okay, and the same for the Craig movies with the Bond women who represent the 21st Century so far, with the exception of Eva Green who is just plain, inherently sexy at so many different levels. It seems in terms of looks, the 2010’s is a repeat of the 70’s with the popularity of that natural but exotic look like with Lea Sedoux.
Looking back at my analysis, I guess I, like most others, am the product of my time.
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Thank you very much, Tshold!
Instead I favours the Craig era. They are played by very good actresses who are given more meaty roles, but they still look fantastic.
The roles have absolutely advanced throughout the years!
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Yes, love the supporting girls, esp. the ones behind the counter that give Bond the head to toe!
Granted, Vesper as played by Eva Green is as complex as she is sexy - a well realised character substantial enough to cast a poignant sense of loss across subsequent films in the Craig era. And Eve is the first female character developed as a friend of Bond over a series of movies (in a way more involved than just ritualistic flirtation). But other women in the Craig films tend to riff on earlier Bond girls, sometimes in a moodier style but not necessarily with significantly greater depth. Camille's revenge motive has an antecedent in Melina's - and even in Domino's. Severine echoes Andrea and Lupe, but she's played with a brittle, psychological realism which makes Bond's own exploitation of her vulnerability seem particularly unsavoury. Madeleine has 'Daddy issues', but so too does Tracy - after a fashion - and Elektra King. To my mind, Craig-Bond's love of Madeleine fails to convince as much, or as well, as Lazenby-Bond's love of Tracy. Although Madeleine is supposed to be less 'cartoonish' than some of the earlier, 60s/70s Bond girls, her motivation occasionally fails to ring true (such as when she walks away from Bond in the London street near the end of SP. That's borderline 'EastEnders'!). It would be more fun to hang out with an Aki or a Tiffany, any night of the week! Also, I bet Pussy Galore has a more interesting personal life than any of the Craig-era women; it's just that it's implied, rather than made explicit in soap opera style...
I agree. Tell a story with good characters rather than tell each character's story.
There's a young lady working at the hotel in Sardinia who gives Bond exactly the look you describe as he and Anya check in, then again as she delivers something to their room. I don't think she speaks a word of dialog, and is not named.
Since she is working at a hotel, my theory is she is secretly Vivienne Michelle, making a cameo in the film adapted from the book she wrote!
Oh, god, how I wish modern writers understood this.
-{
by Clare McBride, 2018
She really knows her stuff, and has fun overanalysing.
She specifically discusses Pussy Galore, Fiona Volpe, Countess Tracy di Vicenzo, Melina Havelock, Judi Dench's M, Natalya Simonova, Xenia Onatopp, Vesper Lynd and Dr. Madeleine Swann.
One new observation that impressed me:
Melina is one of the few female characters that is introduced to the audience before Bond meets her, and thus has a plot thread and character arc independent from her function as Bonds eventual bedmate.
Think about it, how many other Bondgirls can this be said of?
in the majority of cases the character is introduced from Bond's point of view.
I've tried to list them from memory
-Tatiana (a Fleming creation, and she drives the plot)
-Fiona Volpe
-Solitaire (by a matter of minutes, and she is introduced foretelling Bonds arrival, so may not actually count)
-Andrea Anders
-Anya Amasova
-Melina Havelock
-Octopussy (as an unseen voice in the style of Dr No. We first see her when Bond does)
-Natalya Simonova
-Christmas Jones (!) (by a matter of minutes, though Bond is already on the scene, so may not count)
-Miranda Frost
Have I missed any Bondgirls who are introduced to the audience before Bond meets them? Do you think it makes a difference?
I think its an interesting pattern. They are mostly more interesting characters, and more likely to drive the plot. But many of my favourite characters are missing from that subset.
Tracy and Vesper are conspicuously not on that list.