Bond Controversy

zebondzebond DolletPosts: 103MI6 Agent
What is the most controversial moment in the history of Bond? What are the controversies? Literature Bond and Film Bond. (and in some cases both)
"Guns make me nervous!"

Comments

  • Bill TannerBill Tanner "Spending the money quickly" iPosts: 261MI6 Agent
    Difficult to think of anything more controversial than the appointment of Craig for the role and the recent reboot of the series.

    Everything else (Lazenby's appointment and the Rigg/Garlic Incident? Connery leaving, coming back, leaving and coming back again?), pales besides the amount of press coverage we've seen over recent events - though this may in part be due to the nature of today's media and the growth of the internet.
  • InfernoInferno Posts: 45MI6 Agent
    Never Say Never Again
  • zebondzebond DolletPosts: 103MI6 Agent
    Inferno wrote:
    Never Say Never Again

    lol - Nothing more needs be said :)
    "Guns make me nervous!"
  • Bill TannerBill Tanner "Spending the money quickly" iPosts: 261MI6 Agent
    Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me.
  • darenhatdarenhat The Old PuebloPosts: 2,029Quartermasters
    Licence to Kill did a great deal to polarize both Bond fans and general movie-goers IMO.
  • JennyFlexFanJennyFlexFan Posts: 1,497MI6 Agent
    The alleged Jinx spin-off. :o
  • Moore Not LessMoore Not Less Posts: 1,095MI6 Agent
    Difficult to think of anything more controversial than the appointment of Craig for the role and the recent reboot of the series.

    Everything else (Lazenby's appointment and the Rigg/Garlic Incident? Connery leaving, coming back, leaving and coming back again?), pales besides the amount of press coverage we've seen over recent events - though this may in part be due to the nature of today's media and the growth of the internet.

    If the nature of the media was the same in 1968/9 and if the internet existed then as it does now George Lazenby's appointment would be on a par with Daniel Craig's in terms of controversy. It's not difficult to imagine why. Sean Connery was the one and only Bond, and he was being replaced by someone "Who can't act" "He's not even British".
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,906Chief of Staff
    edited November 2006
    One of the biggest controversies in all of Bondom was over the publication of Dr. No in 1958. A critic branded the novel as dealing in "sex, snobbery, and sadism," and the label stuck. People began debating the merits of the novels, charges flew that Fleming was warping people's minds, and so on. Of course, all the controvery caused sales to rise--and it wasn't long after that the filmmakers came knocking.

    Otherwise, I'd place the Thunderball brouhaha at the top of the controversy chart. As has been covered elsewhere--and which I understand will be documented in a forthcoming book--Fleming was accused of plagiarizing the story and was sued over it; he lost the film rights to the novel; the trial was considered a major cause of Fleming's first heart attack; and, of course, the whole affair resulted in decades of legal confusion over who owns SPECTRE, Blofeld, and the rights to the film series itself.

    There are also many minor controversies involving the films: of those that haven't been mentioned, Live and Let Die was accused of promoting racism; South Korea protested Die Another Day, saying its depiction of the North would hurt relations between the two Koreas (and Buddhists objected to Bond and Jinx having sex in a Buddhist temple); and, of course, there's that never-controversial Craig thing. . .
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • JennyFlexFanJennyFlexFan Posts: 1,497MI6 Agent
    Hardyboy wrote:
    One of the biggest controversies in all of Bondom was over the publication of Dr. No in 1958. A critic branded the novel as dealing in "sex, snobbery, and sadism," and the label stuck. People began debating the merits of the novels, charges flew that Fleming was warping people's minds, and so on. Of course, all the controvery caused sales to rise--and it wasn't long after that the filmmakers came knocking.

    Otherwise, I'd place the Thunderball brouhaha at the top of the controversy chart. As has been covered elsewhere--and which I understand will be documented in a forthcoming book--Fleming was accused of plagiarizing the story and was sued over it; he lost the film rights to the novel; the trial was considered a major cause of Fleming's first heart attack; and, of course, the whole affair resulted in decades of legal confusion over who owns SPECTRE, Blofeld, and the rights to the film series itself.

    There are also many minor controversies involving the films: of those that haven't been mentioned, Live and Let Die was accused of promoting racism; South Korea protested Day Another Die, saying its depiction of the North would hurt relations between the two Koreas (and Buddhists objected to Bond and Jinx having sex in a Buddhist temple); and, of course, there's that never-controversial Craig thing. . .

    Very good Hardy! I never knew of the Dr. No novel controversy. But that aside, I know no one likes the movie but I believe we call it "Die Another Day". ;)
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,906Chief of Staff
    Dyslexic am I and funny it isn't!
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • taitytaity Posts: 702MI6 Agent
    Id say that when both Craig and Lazenby took over as Bond they sparked a fair amount of criticism - probably fair to say the most, as when any court cases (with the late McClory) were going on the public never seemed to know all the details.

    Additionally, another controversy is who composed the James Bond theme. - thats a hard one to call.

    And JFF, Im glad that LTK is no longer your most detested mvoie! Im counting this as a win for LTK!
  • Sir Hillary BraySir Hillary Bray College of ArmsPosts: 2,174MI6 Agent
    Biggest controversy? Easy -- the court battle that resulted in the 6-year hiatus.
    Hilly...you old devil!
  • zebondzebond DolletPosts: 103MI6 Agent
    Just finished watching OHMSS w/ my brother and he said he really liked it. This got me to thinking how funny time changes things. Back when it was released it was under the magnifying glass about everything from Lazenby to Bond's wedding - but nowadays a 10 year old can watch it and say "Wow, a pretty good Bond flick." And it not be a controversial statement (for the most part)
    But thinking of the raism brought up in LALD reminded me of the DN "fetch my shoes" line. Which, ironically is somewhat the opposit of OHMSS in that it probably wasn't controversial at the time but could be viewed as such now.
    "Guns make me nervous!"
  • jhermanjherman Posts: 59MI6 Agent
    edited December 2006
    taity wrote:
    Id say that when both Craig and Lazenby took over as Bond they sparked a fair amount of criticism -

    Craig will be around alot longer than Lazenby.Lazenby wasn't even a one hit wonder,after is performs in OHMSS I'm surprised he acted anymore,but its not like he was ever a big sucess after it.
  • jhermanjherman Posts: 59MI6 Agent
    Inferno wrote:
    Never Say Never Again

    i like it better than LALD.Connery was good in the film and Bassinger was flat hot.
  • jhermanjherman Posts: 59MI6 Agent
    Biggest controversy? Easy -- the court battle that resulted in the 6-year hiatus.


    I still don't understand what all this was about,would someone fill me in.
  • jhermanjherman Posts: 59MI6 Agent
    Inferno wrote:
    Never Say Never Again

    i like it better than LALD.Connery was good in the film and Bassinger was flat hot.
  • zebondzebond DolletPosts: 103MI6 Agent
    jherman wrote:
    Biggest controversy? Easy -- the court battle that resulted in the 6-year hiatus.


    I still don't understand what all this was about, would someone fill me in.

    I believe (please correct me if my wrong) that Sir Hillary is speaking of the gap of time with no Bond films between LTK and GE, and all of the other influences of the reason for the amount of time "Brosnan with Remington Steel, producers going bankrupt etc. etc.
    "Guns make me nervous!"
  • evilhenchmanevilhenchman U.S.Posts: 41MI6 Agent
    As cool as it is, the new direction of the series will surely bring cntraversy.
Sign In or Register to comment.