If you take the above quote and slightly alter the point of view and context, you have in a nutshell my viewpoint on quite a few of the James Bond films. A precious few- "Dr No," "From Russia With Love," "Goldfinger," "Thunderball," and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" -are so recognizably based on the Fleming originals from start to finish that they will be exempt from examination in this article. Come along with me as we search for "nuggets in a wasteland"; namely, instances of intelligent and faithful usage of honest-to-goodness Fleming material (apart from character names) in the remaining films.
Note that these assessments aren't necessarily judgments of the quality of the film, or an indicator of how much I liked a given film. For example, I gave the highest "Fleming rating" to "For Your Eyes Only" but I still like "The Living Daylights" and "Licence To Kill" much more, primarily due to Timothy Dalton's performances. Also note that the ratings are based on usage of Fleming material in the screenplays; however much I personally feel that Dalton perfectly embodied Fleming' s character, if I had let that color my judgment, it would have knocked FYEO down a couple of notches. The exempted films remain far and away my top five.Here's my personal report card:
"You Only Live Twice" (OVERALL GRADE: C)
The first film to completely ditch the source novel's plot gets only passable marks in the "nugget" department. James Bond's obituary appears in the newspaper-not even the Times, but the Standard. Bond is conveyed to Tiger's headquarters by the method that traps him at Blofeld's castle in the novel, the oubliette "trap door". Tanaka has an office in a subway train (the novel featured a disused subway station). We do get a glimpse of a ninja training establishment. The feel of Japan conveyed by Fleming does appear, thanks to the excellence of Freddie Young's cinematography, but we can't thank Lewis Gilbert or Roald Dahl for this-they couldn t even get the martini right!"Diamonds Are Forever" (OVERALL GRADE: D+)
A dentist is sneaking diamonds out of an African mine to meet a helicopter-flying courier in the middle of the desert. Bond takes Peter Franks place in the pipeline, and meets Tiffany Case at her flat. The "big pandinus scorpion" is used interestingly. Wint and Kidd - forget it. They were authentically menacing in the book; in the film they're a joke. Las Vegas, you must admit, is a hell of a place for 007 to operate-even Fleming thought so.
"Live And Let Die" (OVERALL GRADE: D)
The disappearing "Z" table gimmick is used - twice. Solitaire is asked to determine Bond's fate, and lies in an attempt to save him. Bond's little finger is threatened by Tee-Hee."The Man With The Golden Gun" (OVERALL GRADE: D+)
Scaramanga has a third nipple. The circus elephant story from Scaramanga's youth is used well, but its net effect is to make us sympathize with the film's Scaramanga. We should not be feeling "there but for the grace of God goes 007". Scaramanga is a thoroughly despicable thug in the novel, and this key element is lost in the film."The Spy Who Loved Me" (OVERALL GRADE: E)
A reference is made to Bond's marriage. They get the martini right.
"Moonraker" (OVERALL GRADE: F)
They get the martini right."For Your Eyes Only" (OVERALL GRADE: A+)
The first Maibaum/Wilson collaboration is a feast for Fleming readers! Bond visits Tracy's grave. While this never happened in any of the books (although it is revealed in On Her Majesty s Secret Service that he visits Vesper's grave every year), it's so wonderfully faithful to the character's literary roots it deserves a mention. The murder of the Havelocks, and their archer/daughter bent on revenge (For Your Eyes Only). The quote "Before you set out on revenge, dig two graves" (For Your Eyes Only). The Kristatos-Columbo feud (Risico). Columbo ingeniously conceals a tape recorder at Bond' s table where he is dining with Kristatos (in Columbo's own restaurant). He then tells Lisl to find out more about Bond (Risico). Bond is slugged on a beach, and awakens on Columbo s yacht (Risico). The dawn raid on Kristatos Albanian warehouse (Risico). The keel-hauling, complete with paravane, that enables readers of Live And Let Die to exactly envision the ghastly fate Mr. Big had planned for Bond and Solitaire in that novel."Octopussy" (OVERALL GRADE: A-)
The SIS suspects that a Faberge Egg is being sold at auction to finance Soviet covert operations (The Property Of ALady). Bond out-cheats the villain for high stakes at a gaming table, then is told to spend the money quickly (Moonraker). The story of Dexter Smythe (Octopussy), slightly reworked, becomes a part of the heroine's past."A View To A Kill" (OVERALL GRADE: F)
An aberration in the Maibaum/Wilson scripts, it has not a single "nugget" in it. Strangely enough, readers of John Gardner's first Bond novel License Renewed could almost be forgiven for thinking the Ascot Park scene, where Bond gets his first look at the villain, looks vaguely familiar..."The Living Daylights" (OVERALL GRADE: A)
Largely because of the first fifteen minutes, this is another mouth-watering use of Fleming material: The short story The Living Daylights is masterfully updated and used as a jumping-off point for the main plot. It forcefully introduces Dalton as Bond. The friction between 007 and the Head Of Station is captured well. The"strawberry jam" line from the short story is icing on the cake."Licence To Kill" (OVERALL GRADE: A)
A reference to Bond's marriage is made in a scene that Dalton underplays masterfully. Without overacting, he somehow manages to etch every line of his face with pain beneath a wistful smile. Bond's failed attempt to assassinate Sanchez involves blasting a hole through a thick window and shooting his victim, as in the job Bond recounted to Mathis in Casino Royale. The following intense elements from Live And Let Die elevate LTK above the ordinary: Felix Leiter is maimed by a shark in a Florida fishing warehouse. Bond's discovery of his friend; bloody, half dead and bearing the chilling note: "HE DISAGREED WITH SOMETHING THAT ATE HIM". Bond returns to the warehouse under cover of night, becoming embroiled in a battle during which a shot bursts a fish tank directly over his head. At the end of the fight one of the henchmen is teetering on the edge of the shark tank, begging for help. In a cold rage, Bond forces the henchman to lose his grip, and the shark gets a midnight snack.
"GoldenEye" (OVERALL GRADE: C)
Scores a surprising point for Trevelyan's reference to the death of Bond's parents in a climbing accident (recounted in You Only Live Twice by Fleming). The villain is a man with a disfigured face and a grudge against England, who plans to exact his revenge by firing a nuclear weapon on London (Moonraker)."Casino Royale" (OVERALL GRADE: C)
I know I ll get flamed for this, but oddly enough, part of this farce uses more Fleming than the films TMWTGG, TSWLM, Moonraker and AVTAK put together. "Sir" James (David Niven) drives a vintage Bentley . Bond (all right, it's Evelyn Tremble, but what the heck) is sent to the Casino at Royale to bankrupt the embezzling Le Chiffre, and succeeds. Vesper Lynd is kidnapped and Bond roars off in pursuit. Bond is then tortured while sitting in a chair that has its seat missing. A trefoil cane carpet beater hangs behind the chair (Someone knew what they were doing!). Le Chiffre is shot -one bullet in the forehead - by SMERSH."Never Say Never Again" (OVERALL GRADE: C-)
Bond is ordered to clean up his act at Shrublands by M after being lectured on his lifestyle. One of the film's funniest lines- "Then I shall cut out the white bread, sir"-has a precedent in Chapter One of Thunderball when Bond says, "I don't eat all that much bread, sir." Bond drives a vintage Bentley in the film-a nice throwback. Largo is speared by Domino during the underwater battle. Since this is a remake of "Thunderball," no big deal-except for the shot of Domino hanging in the water in SCUBA gear. Re-read this part of the book and you'll see that this shot was so staged as to almost exactly duplicate Fleming's word-picture.Most of the really good "nuggets" seem to have come during the Maibaum/Wilson collaborations of the Eighties, and I personally feel that both men were probably equally responsible.
At a Q & A session in New York just before the release of "GoldenEye," I asked Michael Wilson if there was any more vintage Fleming material that in his mind lent itself to inclusion in a screenplay. He and Bruce Feirstein answered the question in tandem, saying that they seem to feel the meaty set-pieces have been exhausted. They both said they now dip into the books just to get a handle on aspects of 007's character. I hope that proves not to be the case, but after three-and-a-half decades and with the eighteenth film well and truly underway with Wilson and Barbara Broccoli producing Bruce Feirstein's script, future "nuggets" will no doubt be few and far between.
However, this does not bode ill for the series; as history -and this short study- demonstrate, the series has continued with relatively scant reference to the source material since1971, and will continue as long as 007 continues to put "fannies in the seats."
