James Bond

 James Bond

For well over 60 years, cinema audiences all over the world have been both entertained, astonished, shocked, horrified and amused at the outrageous antics of one man- James Bond. Of course Bond is a fictitious character who only existed in the fertile mind of Bond's prolific author Ian Fleming. Bond was the most daring secret agent, a man of macho virility, wondrous athleticism, the ultimate ladies man and sex symbol, extraordinary flexibility, little regard for his own safety but always there to save the day. 

Yesterday marked the end of an era for the whole franchise when control of the Bond franchise was handed over to Amazon, an online retail merchandise phenomenon par excellence who could hardly have imagined that they would be the one organisation properly suited to accept such a huge responsibility. For years, Bond was under the sole control of the Broccoli family. 'Cubby Broccoli', surely one of the most familiar faces in the movie industry, was one of the major creative influences behind every decision made when a Bond film went into a Pinewood studio or any venue considered an appropriate location for Bond actors.

When Daniel Craig was supposedly killed off in the last Bond film, it was widely felt that Bond had outstayed his welcome, well and truly passed his sell by date. Ian Fleming, who once wrote one of the most famous children's films and books 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', sitting back in his Caribbean retreat and counting his substantial profits and millions from the James Bond conveyor belt of films, may well have wondered what all the fuss was all about. Fleming had made his money and fame from cinema's most recognisable he man and fearless hero. But how far could Fleming take James Bond?

For some of us, the best and finest of all James Bond is a matter of opinion. The first Bond was Sean Connery, a rugged Scotsman who was little known at the time, but soon endeared himself to a whole new generation of movie enthusiasts who had been brought up on a traditional diet of exciting war time films and Carry on comedies made in Britain. But then came James Bond, a brave and romantic character who escaped near certain death and extinction on so many occasions that some of us were open mouthed with wonderment. 

Here was a man who survived countless train journeys by leaping across carriages and then hiding away from gun fire or a bloody death in dark rooms. Here was a man who somehow negotiated a vast array of killing devices such as red hot, burning furnaces, the edge of erupting volcanoes, innumerable buildings with a thousand explosives about to go off and electrical conveyor belts about to crush him. Then there were the evil villains with dastardly deeds, terrible teeth and the deadliest of knives. 

Bond was the most victimised and persecuted of all movie characters and when Connery bowed out of the role to make way for the dashing and debonair Englishman Roger Moore, the whole Bond bandwagon just rolled on relentlessly, a now enthralled age of Bond converts now simply hooked. Some of us perhaps felt it a singular duty to roll up to our local picture house, shell out our shillings and new pences for a bucket of popcorn and the compulsory Coca Cola for leisurely consumption. 

There was Doctor No, On Her Majesty's, Service, the Spy Who Loved Me, Moonwalker, Live and Let Die, Goldfinger and a whole series of fabulously ridiculous and yet pulsating silver screen adventures. This was all about complete suspension of belief and intriguing plots so far fetched that you may just as well have  been snatched from your weekly comic. Bond was barmy, zany, crazy, but lovable figure, a derring-do, devil may care action man, a crusading saviour of the universe committed to the elimination of all the baddies and no good terrorists. 

But yesterday felt like a handover of the keys, a changing of the guard, a new beginning, perhaps a complete reinvention of the Bond persona. This was the man accountable to M or Q, the man or, more recently Dame Judy Dench, a national British treasure, who handed out all of the instructions to Bond on all of those vitally important, make or break missions. And then it happened, exploding all over that vast cinema screen, the evocative music, an always elegant Bond with all of those cute gadgets that nobody would have otherwise dreamt of inventing. 

At the moment, the future of James Bond hangs in the balance. In the old days, we almost expected to be informed of the latest Bond movie because there was a natural break and delay before the momentous announcement. However, this was just a brief hiatus since Bond became a frequent occurrence. Within a couple of months or perhaps weeks, Broccoli and family would always have a neatly packaged bundle of fantasy, fun and sheer escapism in the can. 

But when Amazon came calling, Cubby Broccoli became one of those cuddly, avuncular film producers with a far sighted imagination and bank balance the size of a continent. It will be an interesting time for James Bond because we may have assumed that the likes of Connery, Moore, Dalton and Craig should now have rendered Bond a permanent dinosaur, conventional super heroes with a taste for the high life and danger but now just history personified. 

For those who have probably seen too many variations on a theme, the whole concept of James Bond may be completely dated and irrelevant. We have seen the death defying escapades, the heart in the mouth exploits, hair raising, gripping, nerve racking, epic manifestations. We know that Bond was the most charming of charmers, the man who never gave up, thumping and punching his adversaries, then chucking them off mountains and cliffsides as if it were just another day in the office. 

Now we await further developments in the canon of James Bond. We must have thought we'd seen everything when Daniel Craig jumped over huge acres of crumbling concrete and Roman colosseums, pillars and columns crashing and then subsiding under Craig's feet. Then we remembered the memorable opening sequence of Moonraker where Roger Moore went ski-ing down the most breathtaking slope surrounded by a magnificent mountain range. Then Moore went flying down a cliffside and you had to watch the film consumed with fascination. So our best wishes go to Amazon and James Bond. This could be the most harmonious partnership of all time. Keep going Mr Bond.