Understanding the Popularity Behind Agent 007 - James Bond

“We’ve been expecting you, Mr. Bond.”

One of my favorite franchises in the movie industry is the 007 James Bond franchise. To be perfectly honest, when I say favorite, I really mean that I am more of a low key laid back fan. I’ve only ever seen two James Bond movies — Casino Royale and Skyfall. I don’t know half of the trivia that a hard core Bond fan would know. I know Bond drives the Aston Martin, Bond Villain Blofeld, Bond insists on his martinis shaken, not stirred, and that’s pretty much it. Nonetheless, it is a franchise that has somehow grasped my interests.

I’ve been thinking more about this franchise as my interest in it has resurfaced with the news of the upcoming Bond movie, No Time to Die.

I don’t know how I even got into the franchise even as a low key fan to begin with. I think part of it has to do with my fascination with science fiction as mentioned in my previous post. I love the super cool high tech spy gadgets and just the concept of spies and going under cover in general. I also love a good movie (or book) with a dynamic villain (antagonist) — a villain that is smart, perhaps cold, and calculating. The story itself of the villain also has to be intriguing as well. And that theme song! Even if you don’t know anything regarding the 007 Franchise, chances are you at least recognize the theme song. I admit, I’m pretty sure it was that infamous 007 theme song that pulled me into the fandom. I actually have it downloaded on my music playlist.

The character James Bond otherwise known as 007 was created by Ian Fleming in his 1953 debut novel, Casino Royale. I’ve watched the movie starring Daniel Craig and was highly impressed. It was a movie I had been meaning to watch for a while and I finally did thanks to a recommendation. It was also the first Bond movie I have ever seen in which I watched through the whole film. I enjoyed the movie and now I want to read the novel, because what the heck! Ian Fleming wrote 12 novels based on 007 as well as 2 short stories by the way.

So what inspired Ian Fleming to create what would later become such an iconic character? The inspiration behind the character James Bond is perhaps loosely based on Fleming’s own experiences within the British Naval Intelligence. It is also speculated that the fictional character, James Bond is based on numerous real life spies such as F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas who was a World War II Secret agent and Dusko Popov who was a Serbian double agent.

The Bond Villains

*Potential mild spoiler mentioned for Casino Royale*

The Bond villain is no doubt the top favorite thing I like about the 007 franchise and perhaps is what makes or breaks all of the Bond movies. While I am pathetically familiar with just two of them, there have actually been quite a few villains that have antagonized secret agent 007. Some of the more popular ones include: Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Le Chiffre, Goldfinger, Jaws, and Dr. No. The two I am more familiar with are Blofeld which I am pretty sure is the most well known Bond villain of all time, and Le Chiffre.

Blofeld

Blofeld comes off as a cold, intelligent, and calculating Bond villain most notorious for having a cat on his lap, stroking it as he plots a masterplan for world domination (as portrayed in film)! There are several movie villains that have been inspired by or at least loosely based off of Blofeld such as Dr. Evil from Austin Powers.

I’m going to be perfectly honest. I have not seen any of the movies whatsoever that have featured Bond villain, Blofeld. Any fascination I have with the character comes from watching movie clips featuring Blofeld and trailers of the old Bond movies via YouTube. I’ve initially watched these clips to give me a general idea as to whether or not I would be interested in watching any of the old Bond movies. The answer to that is, I most definitely am! One thing that I like about Blofeld is that the films (older films in particular) portray him in such a mysterious light. This in turn highlights his cold and calculating persona. Only the bottom section of him is in view, so you never see his face. Just him speaking of concocting up a plan to stop Bond all while stroking his cat. Which is another reason why Blofeld may or may not be one of my favorite Bond villains. Seriously, if I could be any villain, I would most definitely be that one that always has a cat on their lap!

The character Blofeld has been in quite a few 007 novels and films. In the novels written by Ian Fleming, they include: Thunderball (1961), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963), and You Only Live Twice (1964). He debuted in the film, From Russia With Love (1963). Other films include: Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Diamonds are Forever (1971), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Never Say Never Again (1983),SPECTRE (2015), and will be in the upcoming film, No Time to Die (2021) and will be portrayed by Christopher Waltz.

Le Chiffre

The only other Bond Villain I am familiar with is Le Chiffre. While it might not be by much, I am more familiar with this Bond villain than perhaps even Blofeld since I’ve actually seen the film featuring this Bond villain. Le Chiffre was the main antagonist / Bond Villain in the movie Casino Royale (2006). So far, Casino Royale is my top favorite Bond movie. I think Mads Mikkelsen did a phenomenal job as his portrayal of the Bond Villain Le Chiffre. This Bond villain is cold, ruthless, intelligent, and calculating. Before watching this movie, I didn't think a poker scene would be all that interesting. But I was on the edge of my seating watching the poker scene unfold as Le Chiffre kept a close eye on Bond, calculating his every move, ruthlessly doing anything he could to stop 007, including poisoning him almost lethally. I was surprised at how early in the film that Le Chiffre had met his demise. Casino Royale was also Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel (1953)

Goldfinger

Auric Goldfinger was the main Bond villain (along with his henchman, Oddjob) in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964) as well as the novel of the same name (1959). In the film, this Bond villain has a deep obsession with gold to the point of smuggling it on an international level. He is the owner of Auric Interprises AG based in Switzerland and Auric-Stud which is a stud farm based in Kentucky. He is a ruthless and merciless Bond villain.

Jaws

Jaws was the Bond villain in the films, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979). He wears a set of steel teeth making Jaws the perfect name for this Bond villain! Jaws was also known to be notoriously strong in that Bond had to stay one step ahead of him. Not only that, but Jaws was not the easiest villain to get rid of having survived numerous incidents such as being run over by a van, being thrown from a train, and being attacked by a shark. While he is more than competent especially with his strength, he is also seen as more of a comedic villain in the Bond movies.

Dr. No

Dr. Julius No was the main Bond villain in the film, Dr. No (1962) and the novel of the same name (1958). Dr. No is a half German, half Chinese mad scientist who is affiliated with SPECTRE (in the films). He has metal pincers for hands and will stop at nothing to stop Bond. His mission is to use a radion beam to foil the plan of a Cape Canaveral American space launch. It also should be noted that Dr. No was the first Bond film making him the first Bond villain.

The Gadgets

One of the favorite things I look forward to seeing when watching a James Bond film is all of those super high tech gadgets. They are each intriguing in their own way. some being more unfathomable than others. Q (Quartermaster)of M16 is the mastermind behind these gadgets.

Here are just a few of the 007 gadgets, with some being debatably more memorable than others:

These are just a few of the gadgets that Bond has used throughout the movies.

Do you have a favorite Bond movie? Favorite Bond villain? Or favorite gadget? Or maybe I should ask a perhaps more important question — Do you have what it takes to be the next double-O?