Would Ian Fleming have liked the ones he didnt write?
GordoLeiter
Posts: 462MI6 Agent
Do any of you guys think that Fleming would have enjoyed the Bond films that continued on after his novels? I dont think he would have liked Die Another Day hands down.
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On the other hand, I think he would be deeply gratified at the longevity, popularity and fame of the character he introduced 59 years ago, when he opened the CR novel with: "The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning." I also think he'd wish that he'd negotiated the price for the rights a bit more stridently :007)
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Bond's probably at his most brutal in that book. There's a passage where he's described as wearing a grim smile as he looks out the window of his hotel room and looks forward to a confrontation with Mr. Big. When he later escapes from Mr. Big's henchmen he leaves behind a trail of bodies in what's probably the most violence done in the novels in the shortest amount of time. He traps 'The Robber' in the shark tank and leaves him to die after Robber answers all his questions (not unlike Bond leaving Dominic Green in the desert after he cooperated and answers his questions). At the climax of the story, Bond resolves to drown Solitaire and then commit suicide himself rather than letting them both be eaten alive by sharks - Bond in QoS was about to shoot Camille out of mercy rather than let her burn to death (her worst nightmare). In both stories, he's spared the act at the last second, naturally.
Quantum of Solace was fast and brutal and had a sort of 'take no prisoners' attitude, which, to me, was very Fleming. He probably would have found the boat and plane stunts over the top - the literary Bond certainly never flew a plane and I can't recall him even driving a boat - but for the general spirit and sense of things, I think he'd generally like it. As a Fleming purist I liked the film a lot more than many others seemed to, but those peoples' idea of Bond is probably more cemented by the earlier films rather than the books.
I would think that he would like the general idea behind For Your Eyes Only, but not so much the execution. Especially the 'amiable' ending where Bond and General Golgol smile at each other and leave, having reached a draw, which sort of suggested that the Russians weren't so bad - 'hey, they just want the same things we do!' Fleming made sure to paint the Russian spies in his novels as pretty damned evil and contemptible... and he probably would have flipped his **** over 'The Spy Who Loved Me' for similar reasons.
the producers did with some of his Plots and characters.