The Lasting Legacy of Mr. James Bond

*I wrote this as a piece of "Bond coverage" for my school newspaper leading up to the release of Skyfall. The second part is here and the review of Skyfall is here.

Before I loved music, long before I could adequately formulate thoughts in writing and prior to building an appreciation of film on any significant level, I was still a fan of James Bond. That fandom, for myself and for many other members of my generation, undoubtedly began with the Goldeneye 007 videogame on the Nintendo 64, a pop-cultural stepping stone that consumed many hours of many lives, whether we were blasting our way through the single player campaign (again and again) or staying up until three in the morning with friends, eating junk-food and yelling at each other over intense multiplayer shootouts.

I have long since outgrown videogames, but James Bond has stayed with me. I began delving into the films during my childhood (despite possibly inappropriate connotations), taping the movies off television airings during the big “Bond week” marathons, renting VHS copies of the Connery classics with my brother and even buying a “Bond encyclopedia” of sorts following the release of 1999’s The World is Not Enough. Revisiting the films now, I realize just how much about them I missed, how silly the plots, as a general rule, often become, how comical the villains sometimes are and just how many women Mr. Bond…ummm…“seduces.” But I also am amazed at just how well some of the older entries in the series hold up. Make no mistake, there is no “perfect” James Bond film (though two or three certainly came close to mastering the formula), but almost every entry in the series has its redeeming qualities, be they memorable villains, unforgettable one-liners or pieces of double entendre or, especially, still-stellar action sequences.

The James Bond film franchise reached a major milestone last month, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Dr. No, which introduced Sean Connery as the first man to play Ian Fleming’s iconic literary spy on the big screen. 23 films (24 if we count the unofficial Connery-starring “Never Say Never Again”), six actors and a plethora of destroyed cars and gadgets later, the franchise lives on, and this Friday, film no. 23, mysteriously entitled Skyfall, will finally see its United States release date.

For awhile there, it seemed like Bond wasn’t going to get the chance to continue, at least not with actor Daniel Craig in the lead role. A late-decade writer’s strike hindered the production of 2008’s Quantum of Solace, an underwhelming (but still solid) stall-out for a series that had so promisingly rebooted itself only two years previous with Casino Royale. And then, to make matters worse, MGM went bankrupt, a disaster that came at the worst possible time and kept James Bond out of the theaters for four years. Questions arose whether or not Craig would reprise the role, whether Bond 23 would ever happen and, if it did, whether we would have to wait a very long time for it to come to fruition. Suddenly, 2006’s promising restart seemed like it was going to get swept away by the tide.

But it would take nothing short of Armageddon to stop the James Bond machine, which, over the past 50 years, has become the most successful film franchise of all time out of sheer force of longevity. Sure, the Harry Potter films made more in ticket sales, but figure in inflation and there’s simply no question of who wins the dogfight.

Other heroes have come and gone. The Indiana Joneses, the Jason Bournes, the Captain Jack Sparrows: they all made big entrances, achieved iconic status and then proved that they could hardly thrive beyond the confines of their original trilogies. And that’s not to say that they have been forgotten, or that the ill-advised fourth installments of their franchises didn’t do well. Indiana Jones is a hero we still raise our children on; the mechanics of the Bourne films changed the way directors shot action movies (Bond’s Quantum of Solace among them); and Captain Jack is the most iconic movie character of the last ten years.

But none of them are Bond.

None of them would work if they re-cast their star; none have the ability to adapt so firmly to the changing times and trends as 007; and none of them have retained (or will retain) such a stranglehold on the pop cultural mindset as Bond…James Bond. From vodka martinis (shaken, not stirred) to Q-branch gadgets to Aston Martin automobiles to Armani Tuxedos, James Bond remains the action hero that men, to this day, like to fancy themselves as most. He’s a slick, charismatic badass, a remarkably smooth womanizer; he’s a man who has been to every exotic locale in the book, whose actions and efforts exist outside the law and extend past the reach of any authority. To put it briefly, he is the epitome of “cool,” and the fact that he has been able to remain that way for 50 years is, arguably, the single most impressive feat in the history of cinematic storytelling or marketing.

But Bond didn’t get where he is today simply by being a concept that appealed to a lot of people. No, along the way, there have been some truly excellent cinematic moments as well. For every stumble the series has had (and there have been a few, Roger Moore’s space-traveling farce, Moonraker, and Pierce Brosnan’s Die Another Day chief among them), there have been two enjoyable action movies and one genuinely great adventure to compensate.

So what films are the best? Which classics should you dig up in anticipation of Skyfall? Check back tomorrow as the Western Herald counts down the best of the best, the films that fit into the aforementioned “genuinely great” category and that, justifiably, have risen to the top of the James Bond canon for enthusiasts and casual fans alike.