I think before Brosnan, Bond's use of an automatic weapon merely accentuated the totality of Bond's action repertoire. Because it was the exception, any brief use of SMGs by Bond seemed really cool; I think of Moore in the Liparus and how the Sterling completed the coolness of his Commander outfit and there’s also Dalton in TLD, who looked really formidable with his handling of the AK-47. But as I've said, by the time of the eras of Brosnan and Craig, the high-octane action flicks had finally come full-circle to set the standards for the Bond movies, the original standard-setter for the whole genre. Like what I said in my first post, as a kid, I've always associated machine guns to war movies/TV shows (I think of Combat! and the Guns of Navarone) and gangster movies like the Godfather, but not too much with secret agents and even cop shows on TV. Nowadays, rare is the action movie that can get away with not using machine guns.
The Bond knock-offs tended to use submachineguns -- think Matt Helm, for instance, whose The Silencers fight in the cavernous villain's lair actually predates the one in YOLT. Helm frequently brandished a submachinegun in several of the films. Even Harry Palmer carries a Sterling in The IPCRESS File. But the spy genre used to be more about wits and strategy -- Bond, Mission: Impossible!, The Man from UNCLE, etc. Gunplay, especially in the best of them, was actually minimal. But as the writing has thinned, and the plots have become simplistic templates to create action sequences around, the use of rapid fire weapons has increased, as has the other spectacle, resulting in a kind of gun porn. I recall reading how people were actually disappointed that Bond didn't use the automatic setting on his weapon while escaping in Spectre. While I do think the sequence was underwhelming in comparison to those in YOLT and OHMSS, for instance, the weapon use wasn't the reason.
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
I think before Brosnan, Bond's use of an automatic weapon merely accentuated the totality of Bond's action repertoire. Because it was the exception, any brief use of SMGs by Bond seemed really cool; I think of Moore in the Liparus and how the Sterling completed the coolness of his Commander outfit and there’s also Dalton in TLD, who looked really formidable with his handling of the AK-47. But as I've said, by the time of the eras of Brosnan and Craig, the high-octane action flicks had finally come full-circle to set the standards for the Bond movies, the original standard-setter for the whole genre. Like what I said in my first post, as a kid, I've always associated machine guns to war movies/TV shows (I think of Combat! and the Guns of Navarone) and gangster movies like the Godfather, but not too much with secret agents and even cop shows on TV. Nowadays, rare is the action movie that can get away with not using machine guns.
The Bond knock-offs tended to use submachineguns -- think Matt Helm, for instance, whose The Silencers fight in the cavernous villain's lair actually predates the one in YOLT. Helm frequently brandished a submachinegun in several of the films. Even Harry Palmer carries a Sterling in The IPCRESS File. But the spy genre used to be more about wits and strategy -- Bond, Mission: Impossible!, The Man from UNCLE, etc. Gunplay, especially in the best of them, was actually minimal. But as the writing has thinned, and the plots have become simplistic templates to create action sequences around, the use of rapid fire weapons has increased, as has the other spectacle, resulting in a kind of gun porn. I recall reading how people were actually disappointed that Bond didn't use the automatic setting on his weapon while escaping in Spectre. While I do think the sequence was underwhelming in comparison to those in YOLT and OHMSS, for instance, the weapon use wasn't the reason.
Yes, I do now recall Matt Helm using a SMG and my very own custom Harry Palmer 12" figure is holding a Sterling! However, in terms of Bond and the rest of the genre, you hit the nail on the head, it was all about gun porn. That's why I give a lot of credit to the restraint of that in the Connery movies, or at least in how they made that effort to maintain such a doctrine in the earlier movies.
The producers obviously followed the lead set by the books that established the PPK as Bond's signature gun (making it literal in SF, lol), but from that point I can just imagine that they identified the novelty of the PPK and placed plenty of emphasis on Bond's deft marksmanship with such a relatively non-assuming but elegant looking pistol. I think of the Gypsy camp battle in FRWL in which Bond not only stands his ground with the PPK but plays a formidable role defending against a well armed attacking force's surprise attack. On the same token in that sequence, it’s also interesting how Red Grant displayed his own superior marksmanship with a mere Mauser pistol, which was likely meant to show how he and Bond are at a level set apart from the pack. Of course that theme is realized full-blown in TMWTGG having Bond and his small PPK pitted against Scaramanga and his single golden bullet.
So, I think having Bond use automatic weapons at any point in the series would have been the easiest route to take (imagine Bond and Scaramanga going on a death hunt/rampage with blazing SMGs instead of how it was done?) and they indeed take that route eventually, but it took a bit more creativity on their part to take the high road early in the series and it definitely bolstered their branding of the suave secret agent in the eyes of movie audiences.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Comments
Yes, I do now recall Matt Helm using a SMG and my very own custom Harry Palmer 12" figure is holding a Sterling! However, in terms of Bond and the rest of the genre, you hit the nail on the head, it was all about gun porn. That's why I give a lot of credit to the restraint of that in the Connery movies, or at least in how they made that effort to maintain such a doctrine in the earlier movies.
The producers obviously followed the lead set by the books that established the PPK as Bond's signature gun (making it literal in SF, lol), but from that point I can just imagine that they identified the novelty of the PPK and placed plenty of emphasis on Bond's deft marksmanship with such a relatively non-assuming but elegant looking pistol. I think of the Gypsy camp battle in FRWL in which Bond not only stands his ground with the PPK but plays a formidable role defending against a well armed attacking force's surprise attack. On the same token in that sequence, it’s also interesting how Red Grant displayed his own superior marksmanship with a mere Mauser pistol, which was likely meant to show how he and Bond are at a level set apart from the pack. Of course that theme is realized full-blown in TMWTGG having Bond and his small PPK pitted against Scaramanga and his single golden bullet.
So, I think having Bond use automatic weapons at any point in the series would have been the easiest route to take (imagine Bond and Scaramanga going on a death hunt/rampage with blazing SMGs instead of how it was done?) and they indeed take that route eventually, but it took a bit more creativity on their part to take the high road early in the series and it definitely bolstered their branding of the suave secret agent in the eyes of movie audiences.