Goldeneye gardening comment

minigeff · December 2011

Hi peeps, I've been told this before but can't remember it now.

Was watching goldeneye today (personal fave) and was wondering what relevance the 'do any gardening?' comment had.

I did here something about it being more explained or apparent in the book.

Anyone able to explain it?

Ta ,

MG -{

JohnMasterson · December 2011

The one thing I always found to be a little annoying about the gardening comment is that we never get to see Bond's answer. It's completely left to the imagination.

Peppermill · December 2011

There is no reference to Bond doing any gardening in the novels. He lives in a flat in Chelsea, so I presume he doesn't have a garden.

Napoleon Plural · December 2011

It's just a crummy line, supposed to imply that the character is a bit of a bore, but there's nothing about Wade to suggest he'd be a gardener anyway, maybe a baseball fan.

jon_1uk · December 2011

Can you remind me what part of the film it is in and in what context it was said ?

Mr Martini · December 2011

jon_1uk wrote:

Can you remind me what part of the film it is in and in what context it was said ?

It takes place when Bond first meets Wade. Bond approaches Wade and says something and Wade is supposed to respond with a certain answer (I forgot Bonds question and Wades answer). Bond also has to check for a tattoo of a Rose on Wades butt cheek. After Wade shows Bond the flower tattoo, Wade asks Bond if he does any gardening.

Thunderpussy · December 2011

I agree it's a clumsy Line. Although I always thought it was meant to convey that it was a boring Place to be stationed.

SpectreBlofeld · December 2011

Poor attempt at comic relief, I'd say.

Mr Martini · December 2011

Mr Martini wrote:

jon_1uk wrote:

Can you remind me what part of the film it is in and in what context it was said ?

It takes place when Bond first meets Wade. Bond approaches Wade and says something and Wade is supposed to respond with a certain answer (I forgot Bonds question and Wades answer). Bond also has to check for a tattoo of a Rose on Wades butt cheek. After Wade shows Bond the flower tattoo, Wade asks Bond if he does any gardening.

Here's the exchange between Bond and Wade:

James Bond: In London, April's a spring month.

Jack Wade: Oh yeah? And what are you, the weatherman? I mean, for crying out loud... another stiff-ass Brit, with your secret codes and your passwords. One of these days you guys are gonna learn just to drop it.

Jack Wade: Come on, my car's over there.

James Bond: After you.
Jack Wade: Thank you.
[comes up after Jack Wade and traps him with the car door and draws his gun on him]

James Bond: Like you said, "Drop it".

Jack Wade: All right, in London April is a spring month, whereas in St. Petersburg we're freezing our butts off. Is that close enough for government work?

James Bond: No. Show me the rose.

Jack Wade: Please, no.
[Bonds shoves his gun into Wade]

Jack Wade: Alright, alright, alright.
[Wade unbuckles his pants and shows him his rose tattoo with the name "Muffy"]

James Bond: Muffy?

Jack Wade: Third wife.

Then Wade asks Bond if he does any gardening.

thesecretagent · December 2011

Isn't wade carring a gardening magazine - or is that in the novel? I can't remember now. Later on wade comments in Cuba about bannion trees or something like that, carrying on the gardening pretence...

Lancaster · December 2011

Surely the gardening line is an attempt to link the rose reference? although, I agree, poor scripting.

Given the rose is connected with his third wife, maybe Muffy is the gardener and she has conscripted Wade into this pleasurable past time (so I'm told). Once a person gets the bug, all they can do is talk about it - hence Wade's line of questioning.

Alternatively, maybe gardening is an analogy for "tattoo", so Wade is in fact asking if Bond has a tattoo?

Who really knows...

thesecretagent · December 2011

I personally hate gardening and have limited my "gardening" to throwing the lawn mower around the lawns once a week between April and November. I replaced the previous owners beds with decking, paving, more lawn and some apple trees - at least you can eat those! We have some fields and I came over all twee when we moved in and dug a very large fenced-in veg patch and worked at it all summer. The seeds and other crap cost more than buying it from a grocer or supermarket and all I did was come home from work and water, weed and other stuff I forget now. Last summer it became a makeshift rifle range with a solid hedge backstop. Great for the .22 and .44 magnum, much more fun and a hobby Bond would enjoy more.

jetsetwilly · December 2011

Wade was far more of a gardening freak in the original screenplay, but his scenes were cut. All that's left in the film is the "do any gardening?" and his recognition of the banyan trees in the Caribbean. Much of the dialogue occurred at an "arms bazaar" which was edited in favour of the lines over the shot of the St Petersburg bridge. (The arms bazaar then turned up in TND of course). I agree that it's an odd line to leave in the Muffy scene, but without it, everything would have just ended and it would have been even more unsatisfactory.

kernnab · July 2012

I read somewhere that before creating his character, Ian Fleming came across a botany book authored by one James Bond. He liked how the name sounded, and used it for his main character. So perhaps the gardening comment is a nod to that?

Thunderpussy · July 2012

Close but it was a book on Birds, You can see it in DAD.

minigeff · July 2012

Although not the edition seen in DAD, this is the book in question;

SpangledWeb · July 2012

I've always wondered about this, it certainly does seem random. Some sort of explanation would've made it play better. If I remember, he also comments on the trees when he trades Bond the plane for the car, as well as when the mission is over in Cuba and he shows up with the Marines. I suppose when you throw in the rose tattoo, you have a serviceable quirk for a supporting character... but it still could've used some explanation, even if we had to wait until TND for it.

gm00752 · September 2013

The comment never quite made sense to me but it actually refers to a Book Called Blenheim: Landscape for a Palace by James Bond and Kate Tiller. James Bond is a landscape English gardener. The book is a lavishly illustrated history of Blenheim Park, revealing the main developments in English landscape gardening.

minigeff wrote:

Hi peeps, I've been told this before but can't remember it now.

Was watching goldeneye today (personal fave) and was wondering what relevance the 'do any gardening?' comment had.

I did here something about it being more explained or apparent in the book.

Anyone able to explain it?

Ta ,

MG -{

Strangeways · September 2013

In the novelisation of Goldeneye by John Gardner (LOL), there is a whole passage lasting several paragraphs explaining Wade's back story. He is indeed a keen gardener and uses this to relax when not in the field. I remember when reading the novel in the mid 1990s, that it was rather odd - but then in the film the line kind of made sense because I am sure I read the book before I saw the film.

Hope this helps - anyone else read the novel and member this passage?

The Domino Effect · September 2013

gm00752 wrote:

The comment never quite made sense to me but it actually refers to a Book Called Blenheim: Landscape for a Palace by James Bond and Kate Tiller. James Bond is a landscape English gardener. The book is a lavishly illustrated history of Blenheim Park, revealing the main developments in English landscape gardening.

The only problem with this theory is that the book was first published two years after Goldeneye hit the big screen. While it's possible that the writers were aware of this other James Bond, he is a landscape archaeologist by profession, not a gardener...bit like comparing an architect with a decorator. I have to think that this connection is purely coincidental.

Peppermill · September 2013

I have read the novel of GoldenEye in the past but I don't remember that. I do remember the beginning of the book that starts about 5 minutes before the movie. I really liked that part but I can understand why they didn't include this in the movie.

Charmed & Dangerous · September 2013

I always thought it was Wade making a "Brit" joke at the expense of Bond, ie gardening is a kind of stage-British obsession along with the weather...

Colonel Shatner · September 2013

In GoldenEye's deleted scenes, when Wade drives past the undertaker business used as a crime front, he carries on rambling about his garden and boasted about his vegetables looking 'like hand grenades!'.

GRiPracer · November 2023

Hi guys,

I notice it is a bit too late for a reply, however I happened to refresh the movie just now and noticed that very line. Which, I believe, is a referrence to the movie THE LAWNMOWER MAN (1992, therefore 3-years prior to the 1995 GoldenEye), where Pierce Brosnan (aka Dr. Lawrence "Larry" Angelo) experiments on his gardener through series of experiments in order to increase his IQ.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104692/

Just wanted to make clear it is no attempt for a bad joke or 007 being "boring".

Quentin Quigley · November 2023

Wade was indeed into gardening - as someone mentioned up thread, he was holding a small magazine when Bond approaches. A few gardening magazines were made for the film, both in Russian and, naturally, showing heaps of images of flowers. One of the magazines translates as a '1994 annual'. This is the one he holds. There are photos of these props in one of the reference books. Another magazine has strawberries on the cover.

Goldeneye gardening comment

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