Written by / 11/23/2015 / No comments / , , , , ,

CONNERY BOND ONE: DR. NO

year: 1962 cast: Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Jack Lord, John Kitzmiller Director: Terence Young
Couple things to begin. We first learn that Sean Connery's secret agent James Bond likes his Martini "Mixed not Stirred" as opposed to "Shaken." A very bland individual, never to appear again, plays Q and provides 007 a new gun and no gadgets. Bernard Lee is introduced as M while Lois Maxwell's young-enough Moneypenny is worth more than goading flirtation, and the opening credit sequence doesn't have its own song with lyrics or without, but rather, just as we're setting up the Scottish actor in the lead role, the (soon to be iconic) Bond theme is established from the start...

Neat Artwork
And what would soon after be a signature prologue occurs after the opening credits involving three strutting blind black guys (to a calypso "Three Blind Mice") who are anything but nice. Thus DR. NO, the very first Bond film ever made, plays out simple and casual, initially setting up side-characters in over their heads without realizing, until it's too late...

Honey Ryder
So when the smooth, professional, card-playing Bond is sent to pick up the pieces and investigate further, the best scenes occur during the second half when our man, along with a superstitious sidekick, ventures to a mysterious, heavily guarded island in this perfectly timed vehicle that doesn't start the franchise with a bang, but more of a subtle (if wonderfully campy) sense of palpable danger...

Dragon on Diesel
For instance, in one scene, the soundtrack blares over-dramatically when a thug picks up a caged tarantula meant for Bond's demise. And later on, a feared "dragon" becomes the first cool war machine in the series, and isn't so easy to destroy like that glorified spider.

Mostly taking place in the Caribbean (where we'll return years later in Roger Moore's first outing LIVE AND LET DIE), this balmy espionage features future TV-star Jack Lord as American agent Felix Leiter; a no-nonsense, tough cookie starlet in Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder, who already knows her way around the island's shoreline; and Joseph Wiseman's title "Asian" heavy, providing the first smoothly nefarious monologue within a really cool underground fortress backed by SPECTRE which, of course, involves nuclear warheads. But with the use of metallic hands, it's too bad our lead villain doesn't do more damage during the climactic fight in a movie that feels like a stretched-out short film, and a damn fine one at that.

RATING: ****
ALL BOND REVIEWS
Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

LANCE GUEST WITH ROBERT PRESTON IN 'THE LAST STARFIGHTER'

Title: THE LAST STARFIGHTER Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 The connection of THREE AMIGOS, GALAXY QUEST and TROPIC THUNDER... of actors thinking ...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "He was unique; and he was dead." Craig Stevens, Peter Gunn

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)THE SERGEANT 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

Most Popular Last Year