I Never Look Classy: Part 17: From Florida With Thunderballs

In the past couple of days I have watched a bunch more of the earliest James Bond movies and here are a few more thoughts about them.

From Russia With Love:

Following James Bond's defeat of Dr. Julius No in the previous film, the terrorist organization SPECTRE is out for REVENGE AND SUCH. So far I think that this might be my favourite of the James Bond films that I have seen of the early films.

The film continues with Sean Connery and it feels almost like an episode of television instead of a movie. The stakes in this film seem very low-key and almost against the formula that the rest of the James Bond films were made from, including Dr. No.

Even in the very first movie there is an underground lair, miles of henchmen and large contraptions such as the fire-breathing dragon swamp buggy thing. In From Russia With Love there is very little aside from James Bond, an alluring Russian agent, a bunch of nefarious characters, a train, and ESPIONAGE (not the kind of espionage that you do with machine guns attached to your car.)

The fight sequence between Bond and his villain near the end of the movie is superb, and even myself was surprised at the rough nature of some of the licks thrown out by both of the two men. Apparently the scene took three weeks to film.

All in all a very solid film that is, in my opinion, much more of a "spy" film than any of the other large and flashy movies in the series.

Goldfinger: Speaking of flashy, here we are. That's not to say that Goldfinger was a bad movie, but it definitely set the mold from which most films in the series would be cast from.

Auric Goldfinger (HILARIOUS NAME) likes gold and is doing stuff to get more of it. He is helped by Pussy Galore (what was Ian Fleming thinking of?).

One of the things that I think is just bizarre about the first few films in the series is, as I've mentioned, the pacing. In Goldfinger the "heist" part of the movie starts about 20 minutes from the beginning, and things run along until 60 seconds before the end, then Bond and his surviving Bond Girl smile and drop out of frame while "THE END" is displayed.

The set designer is in top form, bringing back the "underground lair" style of design from Dr. No, this time used in Goldfinger's ranch in the United States, and the interior of Fort Knox.

I kind of wish they still made the sets like this, three walls with a missing 4th wall like old film sets, plays and sitcoms. Something about it is really interesting, but maybe that's just me.

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I also watched Thunderball, but I'll get to that another day. I'm having quite a bit of fun relaxing and doing a bit of writing.

In the meanwhile, Slainte.