Dr. No: The Beginning of Bond’s Legacy
Recently, I was at my daughter’s school, and for fun, they did a trivia game. One of the questions was “Who played the original James Bond?” I got the answer correct. The next question was “What was the first James Bond movie?” I didn’t know the answer to this and learned that it was Dr. No so, I found it free and gave it a watch. I’ve been a fan of 007 since I was a child and remember watching the films at my grandmother’s house. You can’t go wrong with James Bond movies, especially the old classic ones. With that said, grab your Walther PPK pistol, gadgets, and prophylactics, and let’s jump into Dr. No from 1962 – the first installment in the James Bond movies featuring Sean Connery as 007.
Spy Gadgets: Reality vs. the World of 007
I recently watched a YouTube video with a fellow named Andrew Bustamante who is the owner of Everyday Spy. This fellow is a former CIA operative and a great presenter. You can check out his channel here. He was discussing real spy tech and said a few relevant things. According to Andrew, gadgets like Bond uses exist but may not be as common as people think. He explained that there are tiny weapons that are lethal for example. My point for this blog is that Dr. No has some fitting qualities to the 007 aura but not as many as some other Bond movies. When we think of James Bond, we tend to think of sci-fi quality gear and if there’s anything the 1960’s did right, it was sci-fi. Stuff from this decade just looks right in a Bond installment.
Bond Girls: Iconic Women of the 1960s
Bond girls are probably as iconic as the movies themselves, honestly. I swear, 007 has more game than Milton Bradley. Even watching James Bond on my grandmother’s 80s TV in her living room I remember taking notice of this aspect of this film series. You can see a complete list of these ladies here. It is very well cataloged. According to one source, James Bond has had 75 girlfriends throughout all his movies. IMDB has a ranked list of these actresses that you can view here but, a common one that is often considered the best is Ursula Andress played by Honey Ryder. Ursula is the girlfriend from Dr. No. Of course, James Bond being the playboy that he was, had a total of 3 gfs in Dr. No. Ursula Andress was only one of them in this 1962 film.
Sean Connery or Someone Else? The Bond Debate
Dr. No has great actors, great writing, a stellar story, a huge budget, top-notch filming locations, and was filmed in a beautiful era of time. A film company would have to really screw up to screw this movie up. The debate is out there and honestly, I like Sean Connery as Bond. I think he’s the best. Others don’t feel this way though. You can read Ryan Heffernan’s arguments here and those of The Gentleman’s Journal here. I’m certain this debate will go on for a long time. As far as filming locations go, Dr. No was filmed in several places but my favorite was Jamaica where we get to see some old cases of Red Stripe beer. There are also a few impressive vehicles in Dr. No as too. You can see a list of these here.
Dr. No’s Island: Impressive or Implausible?
Let me be clear – I am 100% a 007 fan and love the films. I do have to question a few things in Dr. No though. I don’t recall ever writing a movie blog in which I didn’t examine something. I find it hard to believe that on a wild island with crazy tech like that of Dr. No, that a jail cell would be so easy to break out of. Bond literally kicks an AC unit grate out and climbs into the vent to escape. The bad buy, Dr. No, has these wild metal hands that can crush statues, and I’m sure kill people but, they can’t hold onto a handrail and save his life. Finally, James Bond makes rookie mistakes. Come on James, you drank the coffee? Even I knew this would have some sort of poison or knock-out drug in it.
One of the scenes near the end, after James makes his rookie mistake and drinks the coffee that I knew was dosed, offers some interesting things. First, I was watching and listening to the conversation between Bond and Dr. No. During this conversation, James Bond takes a knife and hides it. Here’s what’s cool about it – I didn’t even notice the sleight of hand. Of course, I was watching tired at 3 O’clock in the morning while driving in circles. Dr. No notices and calls him out though. The conversation itself was the other cool piece of this scene. It was a philosophical debate between good and evil, Bond and Dr. No. It’s what I imagine the discussion written in Plato’s Republic would have been like.
Walther PPK: A Gun Fit for a 1960s Spy
About that PPK I mentioned grabbing, you can see a full list of the guns in Dr. No here. An interesting piece of trivia from Dr. No is that Bond was originally a Beretta fan but was forced to use the Walther. It’s in this movie that these instructions come down to him from HQ. Not me, I would have stuck with the Beretta over the Walther. In real life, I am a Glock fan so, I wouldn’t choose either of these weapons. What are your thoughts about James Bond? Who was the best actor for the job? Who would you like to see give the role a shot? Let me know in the comments. I invite you to follow my art journey on social media, visit my website, and consider supporting and buying my work here.