Sympathy for the Devil: Do you have sympathy for any of the James Bond Villains or Henchmen?
Silhouette Man
The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,865MI6 Agent
This idea of having sympathy for the deaths or experiences of the James Bond villains and henchmen first came to me when my friend said he felt sorry for the villain dying when Octopussy was shown on TV back in the late 1990s. He was referring in particular to Prince Kamal Khan's death by plane crash. I was watching Live and Let Die again recently and I felt (not for the first time) a twinge of sadness and sympathy for Tee Hee, the jolly henchman who likes to laugh, as his claw is locked on to the train window handle. Although he is a ruthless henchman trying to kill Bond there is still a feeling of how pathetic his ending is, desperately trying to free himself and hoist by his own petard:
So are there any Bond villains or henchmen you feel any degree of sympathy for either in terms of their background, their choices in life or their deaths at the hands of Bond or someone else? Some other contenders in the sympathy stakes could be the likes of Raoul Silva or Lyutsifer Safin who were both affected by external factors and not really "born evil".
Comments
Although he's a slimy creep, I've often thought Milton Krest got a raw deal in LICENCE TO KILL... Bond frames him, and for that Krest gets his head blown up.
^Yes. Especially when Krest's cries of protest fall on deaf ears.
I feel some sympathy for Dr No. Poor bugger only wanted a job.
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
Gupta in TND. Guy's only a tech doing what he's told and gets shot by his own boss.
With Dr. No being rejected by science it was like Hitler being refused entry to art school. A villain origin story right there.
Krest, Boris (only as a kid, because i realized he completely had it coming) and also Le Chiffre
Scaramanga. He's a lot more likable than Bond in TMWTGG, especially towards the end.
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Sort of feel bad for Krontseen in From Russia With Love. Klebb screwed up and he got killed. She had her kicks for sure.
May Day. She did everything asked of her by Zorin and got totally hosed by him at the end. She initially feels like a villain getting her just desserts but her callout to Jenny Flex (who floats by) earns a lot of goodwill from me. Her heel turn to help James feels merited.
Though not strictly henchmen perhaps I do have sympathy for all of the mine workers (and Jenny Flex and Pan Ho) who Zorin and Scarpine either shoot or drown as a result of the explosion flooding the mine early in A View to A Kill. It only serves to increase our dislike of Zorin and Scarpine:
I also feel sorry for the employee who prepares the horses for Khan and Gobinda near the end of Octopussy and who Gobinda brutally kicks to the ground after he's served his usefulness:
The diamond smugglers in DAF who get killed by Messrs Kidd and Wint, especially old Mrs Whistler.
theres a lot of minions like this: Stromberg killing the two scientists, then dropping his secretary in the sharktank
especially in the early films, we see scenes from the minions point of view as the big baddy tells them theyve failed
we first hear Dr No's voice as he tells Dent he's failed, and Dent is trembling in fear (but is given a second chance)
even Klebb is trembling in fear thinking Blofeld will punish her with death, before it turns out to be Kronsteen who is killed: Blofeld wants to terrify both of them with anticipation, so that the survivor is more obediant
variations of that scene occur in Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and the Spy Who Loved Me, probably others: the big baddy misdirects who is about to be killed, so all present assume it will be themselves
whoda thunk we'd feel sympathy with Klebb? but thats how the scene works
I prefer it in Austin Powers, where Dr Evil drops the minion in the shark tank during a meeting, and the shark doesnt quite eat all of him, so he continues to cry in pain while the meeting struggles to continue despite all that awkward screaming. definitely felt sympathy for that minion
I've been reading a book of interviews with Hitchcock, and he talks about using suspense to manipulate the audience into sympathising with the villain. He does this in a lot of his films.
for example in Psycho, the audience symapthises with Marion Crane even though she is a thief (and introduced engaging in premarital sex!). This is done by the shots of her attempting to leave town, deciding to change cars, and a cop hanging round while she does this. We should be nervous that she wont purchase the new car in time to get away before that cop walks over and asks whats in the bag (stolen money). and by having us sympathise with the sinful Marion, Hitchcock has begun leading us down a slippery slope.
Then once Marion is killed off, Hitch thinks we should sympathise with Norman Bates, as other characters show up at the hotel investigating Marion's disappearance. The scene where Norman sinks the car into the water, and it looks for a second as if the car wont sink, works exactly the same as the shot where Marion is trying to buy that car. because all of this is seen from Norman's point of view, we sympathise with him and perceive the detective and Marion's sister as the threat.
all of which is to say, the much repeated Bond scene where the big baddy is going to kill one minion for failure and all the other minions (including Klebb) think it will be them, works along the same logic.
Or even more general scenes like in goldeneye where we experience a countdown from Boris's point of view. will he run the code in time? what about that exploding pen he keeps clicking? that there is a Hitchcockian suspense sequence experienced from the bad guys point of view. do you sympathise with Boris or Bond each time Boris nervously clicks that pen?
An obvious example that comes to my mind is Irwin Wolfe, the main villain of Forever and a day (Horowitz's second Bond novel).
He lost his two sons during the D-Day and his main goal is to prevent the US government from sending thousands of young men to death in Korea. Furthermore, the facts his days are counted because of his illness makes his arc even more tragic.
He's one of the few villains whose motivations are not harmful in the evil way.