Elements of non-Fleming Novels (Garnder, Benson, etc) in the Films

davidelliott101 · March 2013

Just curious... I am re-reading (after a LOT of years) License Renewed and once again it has struck me as more than coincidence that elements of this book are in the film A View To A Kill... even during the horse race that one of the characters is cheering on Murik's horse like Moneypenny did in the film ("Come on, Blue!")

Even though these novels have not been made into movies, are there many elements or plots that found themselves into the Bond films? I haven't read them in a long time, and just wondering...

chrisisall · March 2013

davidelliott101 wrote:

Even though these novels have not been made into movies, are there many elements or plots that found themselves into the Bond films? I haven't read them in a long time, and just wondering...

Short answer: yep.

Thunderpussy · March 2013

I always thought the Fight at the back of the aircraft in TLD.
was very similar to the Fight in "Licence renewed "

chrisisall · March 2013

Thunderpussy wrote:

I always thought the Fight at the back of the aircraft in TLD.
was very similar to the Fight in "Licence renewed "

"Lifted" is the polite term, I think.

Shady Tree · March 2013

I'm not a great fan of John Gardner's Bond novels but I've started re-reading the first ones because I've bought them as re-issues of the original hardback editions with the jacket covers. I'm a good way through 'For Special Services' (1982). Cedar Leiter somewhat brings to mind Pam Bouvier but there's no evidence of a direct link. Bond's and Cedar's escape from a sabotaged elevator in NYC makes me think of Bond's and Stacey's shenanigans in the San Francisco elevator but it lacks the pyrotechnics.

Silhouette Man · March 2013

Well, Role of Honour (1984) by John Gardner features an airship climax...just like the 14th James Bond film A View to A Kill (1985). There was a CBn article on this by zencat - it can still be found on zencat's The Book Bond website and blog here:

http://www.thebookbond.com/2011/11/deja-vu-mr-bond-surprising-similarities.html

Shady Tree · April 2013

In 'For Special Services' it's not quite true that Bond kills Nena Bismaquer in cold blood, as zencat claims in order to push the similarity with the fate of Elektra King. Sure, Bond's willing to kill Nena, but what happens is that he throws a chair at her. He is surprised when in consequence she falls into a cage and is attacked by pythons. It's actually Felix Leiter who delivers the coup de grace, in case she's survived being crushed by the snakes.

Leiter's brief cameo right at the end of the novel is rather gratuitous. Post-LTK - with bad guy Kilifer's catchphrase now part of fan memory of 80s Bond - it's not possible to read Leiter's mode of address to Bond as "old buddy" without wincing! Particularly sordid is the question with which Gardner toys at the end of the novel as to whether Bond will be finally seduced by Felix's daughter, Cedar - and the fact that Felix seems cheerfully prepared to bequeath his old buddy "the gift of a daughter" (as if the Texan had become a latter day Marc Ange Draco!) Suffice to say, this whole sleazy proposition is as cringeworthy as Bibi Dahl's attentions to the ageing Moore-Bond in FYEO, the year before, or as the embarrassing age gap between Bond and Stacey in Moore's final outing as 007.

There are at least two further, incidental similarities between 'For Special Services' and the Bond film which followed hot on its heels, OPY. In the novel, Bond, recovered from the attempt to drug him, masquerades as General James A. Banker in order to dupe the SPECTRE infiltration team. This sequence reminds me of Bond's uniformed ruse as Colonel Toro in the film's PTS. Also, when Luxor addresses the SPECTRE board meeting about the new Blofeld's grand enterprise, part of his briefing prefigures General Orlov's speech in the movie to the Kremlin's strategic group (in which he, Orlov, asserts that "the West is decadent and divided"): "We see marches, demonstrations, and pressure groups building, particularly within the powerful Western countries. These action groups are motivated by fear: fear of a nuclear holocaust" (Luxor).

Silhouette Man wrote:

There was a CBn article on this by zencat - it can still be found on zencat's The Book Bond website and blog here:

http://www.thebookbond.com/2011/11/deja-vu-mr-bond-surprising-similarities.html

Silhouette Man · April 2013

Shady Tree wrote:

In 'For Special Services' it's not quite true that Bond kills Nena Bismaquer in cold blood, as zencat claims in order to push the similarity with the fate of Elektra King. Sure, Bond's willing to kill Nena, but what happens is that he throws a chair at her. He is surprised when in consequence she falls into a cage and is attacked by pythons. It's actually Felix Leiter who delivers the coup de grace, in case she's survived being crushed by the snakes.

Leiter's brief cameo right at the end of the novel is rather gratuitous. Post-LTK - with bad guy Kilifer's catchphrase now part of fan memory of 80s Bond - it's not possible to read Leiter's mode of address to Bond as "old buddy" without wincing! Particularly sordid is the question with which Gardner toys at the end of the novel as to whether Bond will be finally seduced by Felix's daughter, Cedar - and the fact that Felix seems cheerfully prepared to bequeath his old buddy "the gift of a daughter" (as if the Texan had become a latter day Marc Ange Draco!) Suffice to say, this whole sleazy proposition is as cringeworthy as Bibi Dahl's attentions to the ageing Moore-Bond in FYEO, the year before, or as the embarrassing age gap between Bond and Stacey in Moore's final outing as 007.

There are at least two further, incidental similarities between 'For Special Services' and the Bond film which followed hot on its heels, OPY. In the novel, Bond, recovered from the attempt to drug him, masquerades as General James A. Banker in order to dupe the SPECTRE infiltration team. This sequence reminds me of Bond's uniformed ruse as Colonel Toro in the film's PTS. Also, when Luxor addresses the SPECTRE board meeting about the new Blofeld's grand enterprise, part of his briefing prefigures General Orlov's speech in the movie to the Kremlin's strategic group (in which he, Orlov, asserts that "the West is decadent and divided"): "We see marches, demonstrations, and pressure groups building, particularly within the powerful Western countries. These action groups are motivated by fear: fear of a nuclear holocaust" (Luxor).

Silhouette Man wrote:

There was a CBn article on this by zencat - it can still be found on zencat's The Book Bond website and blog here:

http://www.thebookbond.com/2011/11/deja-vu-mr-bond-surprising-similarities.html

Shady, I just adored your post. Critics and material you don't need. Such taste and style.

On a serious note, though, I think that you're spot on. I especially like the Luxor influence on General Orlov - never noticed that before. They make the point in KKBB book by Marcus Hearn that if an atomic accident had nearly occurred in the PTS of Octopussy it would have added to the plot - possibly this is where such an idea was taken from - John Gardner's For Special Services. The Colonel Toro point is great too - one could write a good article on the similarities between OP and FSS no doubt. And, yes, you are right about Nena and Elektra and the differences of circumstances between them.

Perhaps yo shold make a note of these similarities between FSS and OP on John Cox's (zencat's) The Book Bond blog page on the similarities between the Bond filmsa and the Bond Continuation novels - he could then incorporate these additions into a newly amended version of the article that started out life on the CBn Main Page in 2001 and was revised by zencat in 2011.

RogueAgent007 · April 2013

davidelliott101 wrote:

Just curious... I am re-reading (after a LOT of years) License Renewed and once again it has struck me as more than coincidence that elements of this book are in the film A View To A Kill... even during the horse race that one of the characters is cheering on Murik's horse like Moneypenny did in the film ("Come on, Blue!")

Even though these novels have not been made into movies, are there many elements or plots that found themselves into the Bond films? I haven't read them in a long time, and just wondering...

I always thought Moneypenny's line and stopping short of swearing was a reference to'My Fair Lady'. The scene when Eliza is taken to the races and under her breath is chanting 'come on'. Then as the race climaxes she excitedly shouts "Come on Blue, move her a**!" The uppity crowd is horrified. The scene is near legend and Moneypenny's dress is nearly identical,, too, if I remember it correctly.

davidelliott101 · April 2013

Silhouette Man wrote:

Shady Tree wrote:

In 'For Special Services' it's not quite true that Bond kills Nena Bismaquer in cold blood, as zencat claims in order to push the similarity with the fate of Elektra King. Sure, Bond's willing to kill Nena, but what happens is that he throws a chair at her. He is surprised when in consequence she falls into a cage and is attacked by pythons. It's actually Felix Leiter who delivers the coup de grace, in case she's survived being crushed by the snakes.

Leiter's brief cameo right at the end of the novel is rather gratuitous. Post-LTK - with bad guy Kilifer's catchphrase now part of fan memory of 80s Bond - it's not possible to read Leiter's mode of address to Bond as "old buddy" without wincing! Particularly sordid is the question with which Gardner toys at the end of the novel as to whether Bond will be finally seduced by Felix's daughter, Cedar - and the fact that Felix seems cheerfully prepared to bequeath his old buddy "the gift of a daughter" (as if the Texan had become a latter day Marc Ange Draco!) Suffice to say, this whole sleazy proposition is as cringeworthy as Bibi Dahl's attentions to the ageing Moore-Bond in FYEO, the year before, or as the embarrassing age gap between Bond and Stacey in Moore's final outing as 007.

There are at least two further, incidental similarities between 'For Special Services' and the Bond film which followed hot on its heels, OPY. In the novel, Bond, recovered from the attempt to drug him, masquerades as General James A. Banker in order to dupe the SPECTRE infiltration team. This sequence reminds me of Bond's uniformed ruse as Colonel Toro in the film's PTS. Also, when Luxor addresses the SPECTRE board meeting about the new Blofeld's grand enterprise, part of his briefing prefigures General Orlov's speech in the movie to the Kremlin's strategic group (in which he, Orlov, asserts that "the West is decadent and divided"): "We see marches, demonstrations, and pressure groups building, particularly within the powerful Western countries. These action groups are motivated by fear: fear of a nuclear holocaust" (Luxor).

Silhouette Man wrote:

There was a CBn article on this by zencat - it can still be found on zencat's The Book Bond website and blog here:

http://www.thebookbond.com/2011/11/deja-vu-mr-bond-surprising-similarities.html

Shady, I just adored your post. Critics and material you don't need. Such taste and style.

On a serious note, though, I think that you're spot on. I especially like the Luxor influence on General Orlov - never noticed that before. They make the point in KKBB book by Marcus Hearn that if an atomic accident had nearly occurred in the PTS of Octopussy it would have added to the plot - possibly this is where such an idea was taken from - John Gardner's For Special Services. The Colonel Toro point is great too - one could write a good article on the similarities between OP and FSS no doubt. And, yes, you are right about Nena and Elektra and the differences of circumstances between them.

Perhaps yo shold make a note of these similarities between FSS and OP on John Cox's (zencat's) The Book Bond blog page on the similarities between the Bond filmsa and the Bond Continuation novels - he could then incorporate these additions into a newly amended version of the article that started out life on the CBn Main Page in 2001 and was revised by zencat in 2011.

Plus 1... I will check that article out.

Elements of non-Fleming Novels (Garnder, Benson, etc) in the Films

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