Films of the 60s, Part 4: They've Given You a Number and Taken Away Your Name

The lyrics from "Secret Agent Man," as performed by Johnny Rivers, were written with the James Bond franchise in mind, penned specifically for the action series Danger Man, a show practically virtually ripped from the Bond mythos. There were six canonical Bond movies made in the 60s, most of them with Sean Connery, the world's first collective Bond. Here are the first three in the series, the ones that established most of the Bond traditions we know and love.



Dr. No (1962, Terence Young)

This is arguably where it all started, at least when it comes to Bond canon. True, there had been television movie adaptations, but when Sean Connery stepped onto the screen as Agent 007 of British Intelligence, it became the start of a franchise that would become part of the worldwide consciousness for nearly half a century, and still going strong. Some consider Dr. No to be the best of the series and especially find Connery the best of the Bonds. I prefer not to hold any one against another, but it is often difficult to live up to a first success, especially if that first success carries the magnetism of Connery.

The film doesn’t quite have every element we’re all used to as being crucial to a Bond film, but several were started here. One case in point is the iconic “looking down the gun barrel” intro. The samba of “Three Blind Mice” doesn’t exactly hold up as being equal to the later memorable theme songs, but who could have known that would have become a key ingredient? Bond is introduced playing baccarat, showing us within the first twenty minutes that he is not afraid to gamble, to face danger, and can bed women at the drop of a razor-tipped hat. More of the tropes of the franchise pop up in the great names Fleming coined for his characters, like Strangways and Honey Ryder. Some of our beloved regulars make their first appearances here as well, including M, Miss Moneypenny, and Felix Leiter.

The titular Dr. No is a member of SPECTRE (the unwieldy acronym for the hilarious name, Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion). His ultimate goal is to disrupt the launch of Project Mercury, the NASA mission to put a man into space. Through it all, Bond traipses through Jamaica seducing women, dealing with tarantulas, and beating up goons. In one interesting scene that is often cut in television airings Bond shoots a man in the back. But frankly, what else does one expect from a man with a license to kill? Sure, we want our heroes to be valiant, but honorable, schmonorable, there are evil hideout lairs to blow up!



From Russia with Love (1963, Terence Young)

James Bond doesn’t suffer from the sophomore slump in From Russia with Love. In fact, this film merely ups the ante, becoming one of the celebrated series of Connery fronted Bonds. Some more of the eventual traditional elements are added to the ones introduced in Dr. No including a theme song (though it only appears as background music during the film and through the closing credits), and Q with his wonderful gadgets. We also get the pre-credit action sequence, something that became a great Bond staple in every film since.

From Russia with Love often tops official lists of the best in the series and it is easy to see why. When an espionage film has a super-spy briefcase, seductive fighting gypsy girls, hilarious quips, and formidable foes, there’s not much more you can ask for. While Dr. No took place mainly in Jamaica, Russia starts the tradition of having Bond traverse the globe to be in numerous exotic locations throughout, in this case: Instanbul, Zagreb, Belgrade, and Venice. When it comes to Bond’s nemeses, Red Grant fits the bill both as a smart and tough foil, but also as a cocksure and flawed villain, making the same mistake that most would end up making, revealing his intentions and plans to Bond instead of eliminating the agent when he had the chance. Bond shows his priorities when, in trying to evade the bad guys, he throws the femme fatale in the bed of a pickup truck that is being bombarded. Way to give them a target!



Goldfinger (1964, Guy Hamilton)

The third time’s the charm as Goldfinger is the first of the Bond franchise to get its ducks all in a row. It’s all in the mix with this one, the consistent side characters, the opening action sequence, beautiful Bond girls, a solid villain, terrible one-liners, and an amazing theme song by the great Shirley Bassey. The theme song was so great, Bassey came back to perform two more Bond themes, and it has been parodied by the Simpsons. Want an example of one of the one-liners? After pushing one of the baddie thugs into the bathtub, he knocks a fan into the water, electrocuting him, then walks away saying, “Shocking…positively shocking.” Wow.

The joke has been made before that due to the several different actors playing Bond that he must be a regenerating Doctor (nerdy Dr. Who reference, anyone?). If that’s true, then it must be true for American CIA counterpart, Felix Leiter, who has been played by even more actors than Bond. Q’s gadgets again get their due, but this time we get to see his crazy experimental lab. One telling scene in how British Intelligence gets things done is when one of Q’s assistants starts firing a machine gun at another assistant, who later reveals a bulletproof vest. “It’s not perfected yet,” says Q. I hope the guy wearing the vest knew that.

Of course, it’s hard to see these films without recognizing the dated fashions and gadgets. Bond’s baby blue terrycloth robe / short-shorts combo is a particularly interesting ensemble. Most of the gadgets might have been state-of-the-art at the time, but are now commonplace. A GPS-like was but a pipe dream back then, but is now available on every smartphone. Watching these films provides a unique window into the Cold War and the Space Race, a time when Dr. No tried to disrupt a space launch, when a group of subversive agents pit the Soviets and British against each other, and in this third film, the aptly named Goldfinger attempts to destroy the gold at Fort Knox, thus increasing the value of his own storehouses, and in turn, crippling the American economy, putting the Chinese at an advantage. Oh no, Communism! In a twist that could only happen in the movies, Bond (really an accompanying atomic scientist) stops the bomb countdown at 007.