RIP Vic Flick, The Guiter Player Who Performed The James Bond Theme

The Spy Command, a blog about James Bond and other cinematic spies, reports that Vic Flick, the electric guitar player who performed on the original James Bond Theme in Dr. No, had died.    

Vic Flick, who played electric guitar on the original 1962 recording of the James Bond Theme died this month, Yahoo! Movies said, citing a Facebook post by his son Kevin. He was 87.

 

The theme, which debuted in Dr. No, was written by Monty Norman and arranged by John Barry. Norman earned royalties for the theme. Barry’s work on Dr. No led to 11 scoring assignments on Bond films. He became a famous movie composer who won five Oscars (none for his Bond work).

 

You can read the rest of the piece and watch Vic Flick perform the James Bond Theme via the below link:

Vic Flick, guitarist, dies at 87 | The Spy Command 

 

You can also watch the Dr. No theme song via the below link:

   Bing Videos 

Effortlessly Cool: Sean Connery Is The Best James Bond Actor Of All Time According To New Study

For old school James Bond fans and Ian Fleming aficionados, like me, the late, great Sean Connery is the first and best film actor to portray Ian Fleming’s iconic character James Bond. 

Movieweb.com offers a piece on Sean Connery as the ultimate James Bond actor.

Is Sean Connery the greatest 007? For decades, this has been a subject of debate with James Bond fans, and while each actor has their fans, it's always been clear that Connery is among the most popular. There is now some data that backs that up as a new study crunches the numbers, from "the suits and watches to the movies and female admirers," to dub Connery as the ultimate 007. 

The study is published by Luxe Watches, and it does factor in the "watch value" of the different Bonds into consideration. Mason and Sons, the original tailor of James Bond, also helped British tailors Church and Clements analyze the functionality of the different suits each Bond would wear, seeing if they were the right fit for Bond to do his job as a superspy. The ratings of the movies on IMDb were also used along with the ratings typically given to them by female viewers. 

Low and behold, Sean Connery topped the list in the No. 1 spot. He ranks first as most popular James Bond ever based on online search terms, reaching around 135,000 per month on average. Connery's Bond was given a perfect score for his "expert style," with the data noting, "If you can make a towelling onesie look acceptable, then you will clearly have no problem looking the part in a bespoke suit tailored by Anthony Sinclair. Connery looked effortlessly cool in everything he wore as James Bond."  

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

Sean Connery Is the Best James Bond of All Time According to New Study (movieweb.com)

You can also read an earlier post on Sean Connery via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: Sean Connery – James Bond Actor And Hollywood Icon – Dies, Aged 90

Note: The top photo shows Connery as Royal Navy Commander James Bond in You Only Live Twice.

The above photo is of Connery post-Bond. 

The below photos show Connery as Bond in Dr. No, Goldfinger, From Russia With Love, and Sean Connery with Ian Fleming on the set of Dr. No.  

Great Scot: Sean Connery At 90: An Untouchable Actor And The Ultimate James Bond

I’ve been a huge fan of Scottish actor Sean Connery since I was a kid and first heard him say those immortal words on screen, “Bond, James Bond,” in Dr. No.

The great Scot went on to portray Ian Fleming's iconic character James Bond in other films such as From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, and then acted in other fine films such as The Man Who Would be King, The Hill, and The Hunt for Red October.

Paul Whitington at the British newspaper the Independent takes a look back at Sean Connery’s life and work as the actor turns 90.

On one of their various televised travelogues, Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan engaged in a testy duel of Sean Connery impressions. "I'll have a vodka Martini, shaken not stirred," they hissed at each other, their faces contorting into worried scowls as they tried to register the trademark rumbling rasp. They weren't bad either, but then again, everyone thinks they do a good Connery.

At one point in the mid-1980s, few nights out remained unpunctuated by a ham-fisted round of Connery impersonations, whether on the relatively safe ground of 007 - "Ah, Miss Moneypenny", "The name is Bond, James Bond", and so forth - or the more experimental territory of Brian de Palma's Untouchables, in which Sean played a Chicago-Irish beat cop. "They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way."

Even as I write those words, I can hear the great man growling them, a testament to his enduring place in the canon of late 20th century popular culture. Connery turns 90 on Tuesday and although he retired from cinema almost 15 years ago, his legend is undimmed. Earlier this month, the Radio Times conducted a poll on the best Bond ever - as usual, Connery came in first. Inevitably, it's his seven years as 007 that dominate public perceptions of his career, but there was a whole lot more to Sean Connery the actor than that.

It all began in Edinburgh in the working class enclave of Fountainbridge, where Thomas Sean Connery was born on August 25, 1930. The son of a factory worker and a cleaner, he worked as a milkman before joining the Royal Navy at 16. A keen bodybuilder, he was also a decent footballer, and considered turning professional before wisely deciding acting might be a better long-term bet.

Early turns (invariably as a hoodlum) in British films like No Road Back and Hell Drivers led to a breakthrough role opposite Hollywood star Lana Turner in the melodrama Another Time, Another Place. He already had a reputation as a hardman and when Turner's jealous mobster boyfriend Johnny Stompanato visited the London set and pointed a gun at Connery, the actor disarmed and humiliated him.

Perhaps it was this edgy air of menace that saw him land the role of James Bond above the better known Cary Grant and David Niven. The first Bond film Dr No exceeded its producers' wildest expectations, and from the moment Connery appeared seated at a casino table, is asked his name and says quietly: "Bond, James Bond," he was an international star.

Six sequels followed, the best of them probably From Russia With Love, but by the early 1970s, Connery was tired of the increasingly cartoonish role, weary too of using toupees to hide his baldness. And after he left the franchise, he set out to deconstruct his typecasting by taking on more varied and challenging roles.

In the 1980s he enjoyed a career purple patch, bringing charisma and authority to the role of a defecting Soviet sub commander in The Hunt for Red October and winning an Oscar for The Untouchables. He was an inspired choice to play Indy's fastidious dad in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, but my favourite Connery performance was given in The Name Of The Rose, in which he played the medieval sleuth William of Baskerville. In this film, perhaps above any other, Connery proved there was more to him than Bond.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/sean-connery-at-90-an-untouchable-actor-and-the-ultimate-james-bond-39466809.html

Note: The top photo is the cover of Sean Connery's book Being a Scot, and the below photos are of Sean Connery in Dr No, Goldfinger, The Man Who Would Be King, A Bridge Too Far, The Untouchables, and The Hunt for Red October:

Ian Fleming Would Agree: Sean Connery Voted Best James Bond, With Timothy Dalton Coming In Second

To me, having seen Sean Connery portray James Bond in the early 1960s when I was a kid, the great Scot actor will always be the ideal actor to have portrayed Ian Fleming’s iconic character James Bond.

I think Ian Fleming would agree.

“The man they have chosen for Bond, Sean Connery, is a real charmer – fairly unknown but a good actor with the right looks and physique,” Ian Fleming stated in a letter to a friend as Dr No was being filmed.

In my view, Timothy Dalton (seen in the below photo), having appeared as James Bond in two films, is the second-best Bond.

Catherine Shoard at the Guardian notes that the readers of the Radio Times agree with me.

She offers a piece at the Guardian on the Radio Times survey that voted Sean Connery as the greatest James Bond actor, with Timothy Dalton in second place.

Sean Connery has swept to victory in a new survey seeking to find the best ever James Bond, with actors assumed to be strong contenders sidelined in favour of dark sheep.

Connery took 56% of the vote in the first round of the Radio Times poll; as befits the gravity of the issue at hand, a complicated multi-knockout round system was employed.

In the final reckoning, Timothy Dalton was the surprise runner-up, taking 32% of the votes in the climactic round, with Connery on 44% and Pierce Brosnan on 23%.

Trailing behind were Roger Moore – often assumed to be a firm fan favourite – incumbent Bond Daniel Craig, and George Lazenby.

Connery, 89, is often felt to be the definitive 007 not simply because he was the first actor to take the part, in 1962’s Dr No, but because of his facility with a quip and an eyebrow.

Ian Fleming, on whose books the Bond series is based, initially favoured Cary Grant for the part, but warmed up to Connery after he proved a critical and commercial hit. Connery’s tenure lasted a total of seven movies.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/aug/10/sean-connery-voted-best-bond-with-timothy-dalton-and-pierce-brosnan-runners-up?fbclid=IwAR3gee5zD7

Note: Yes, Ian Fleming was not immediately taken with working class and rugged Sean Connery as James Bond, and yes, he wanted Cary Grant or some other established British actor to land the part, but as I noted above, Ian Fleming was won over by Sean Connery as they were filming Dr. No.

And people liked Connery for his rugged looks and fine acting ability, rather than just his facility with a quip. And Roger Moore, not Sean Connery, was the actor whose favored acting technique was the raised eyebrow.

My Crime Beat Column: A Look Back At Pre-Bond Sean Connery In 'The Frightened City'

I first saw actor Sean Connery on the big screen back in 1963 when I was 11-years-old. The 32-year- old Scot actor was portraying Ian Fleming’s iconic character James Bond in Dr No.

The James Bond films in the 1960s lead me to read all of Ian Fleming’s novels, which I was happy to discover were darker and more complicated than the films, and I been an Ian Fleming aficionado ever since. 

The early Bond films also made Sean Connery one of my favorite actors. 

After watching Sean Connery as James Bond, I tried to see all the films he made prior to his portraying Bond, such as Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure and Darby O’Gill and the Little People, both of which came out in 1959.

But there was on film that I was unable to see, which was 1961’s The Frightened City. 

But now, thanks to the Internet, I was able to finally see ole Sean appear in a movie that came out only two years before he appeared as James Bond. 

The Frightened City is a crime thriller set in the West End of London, where the “villains,” the Brit cop’s slang for criminals, ran protection rackets. (I liked the use of slang in the film, such as “she “shopped” you,” meaning she turned you into the police for favors, and “he won’t “grass” on you,” meaning he won’t become an informer for the police). 

Herbert Lom, who was outstanding as a crooked wrestling promotor in The Night and the City with Richard Widmark, is equally outstanding here as Waldo Zhernikov, an urbane, successful accountant and businessman who decides to turn to crime and form an alliance of the six West End extortion mobs into one syndicate.

Although Zhernikov became the head of the syndicate, he decided to stay in the shadows and used one of the local mob bosses, nightclub owner and crook Harry Foulcher, portrayed by Alfred Marks, as a surrogate syndicate boss. The syndicate divided the West End up and the six mobs no longer had to fight over territory. The syndicate also expanded, making more money for the greedy London criminals. 

Sean Connery portrayed Paddy Damion, a professional cat burglar who is sidelined due to his partner’s crippling accident on a job. The handsome, athletic and tough criminal is recruited to join the extortion syndicate and he accepts due to his need to help his partner and to bring in money for himself.

Damion also signs up as he was friends with one of the mob bosses, Alf Peters, an old, tough and crafty villain, portrayed by David Davies. Damion and Peters shared a prison cell together and the experience made them fast friends. 

Although Damion has an attractive and faithful girlfriend, Damion falls for a French singer at Foulcher’s night club named Anya, portrayed by Yvonne Roman. Anya is a girlfriend of Zhernikov’s, but they have an open relationship. Mostly, Anya wants her patron to get her a working permit so she can stay in London.     

Investigating the extortion racket is Detective Inspector Sayers of Scotland Yard, portrayed by John Gregson, who is frustrated as the victims of the extortion refuse to talk to the police out of fear. He later pulls in Damion.           
   
Although Damion is a criminal, he is not a ruthless killer, like Zhernikov and Foulcher. When Zhernikov orders Foulcher to kill one of the syndicate bosses, Foulcher said, “I thought you were against violence?”

“I am against smallpox,” Zhernikov replied coldly. “That doesn’t mean I’m against a vaccination.” 

Damion later turns against the syndicate bosses.  

One can see a bit of Bond in Sean Connery’s tough guy Damion. When Anya tells Damion that she doesn’t want to make unnecessary enemies, Damion offers a quip, “How many necessary enemies do you have?” 

I enjoyed finally watching Sean Connery in The Frightened City. 

Now, except for the British TV programs he appeared in prior to portraying Bond, I believe I’ve seen all of Sean Connery’s films. After he quit James Bond, he went on to make some very good films, such as John Huston’s adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King with Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer as Kipling, and Richard Lester’s Robin and Marion. 

Sean Connery portrayed an older Robin Hood who returned from the Crusades and did battle with the Sheriff of Nottingham, portrayed by actor Robert Shaw. 

Shaw was terrific as Red Grant, the psychopath killer who went up against James Bond in From Russia With Love. Connery and Shaw’s fight in the train compartment aboard the Orient Express is one of the best cinematic fistfights in my view. In Robin and Marion, Connery and Shaw once again offer a great fight scene, but this time it is with broad swords. 

Sean Connery also appeared in other films I like, such as The Hill, The Offense, The Anderson Tapes, The Molly Maguires, Marnie, Woman of Straw, The Wind and the Lion, and Zardoz. Of course, Sean Connery also made a couple of stinkers as well. 

He appeared in an awful film, The Next Man, rather than portray Blackthorne, the British sailor who traveled to 12^th century feudal Japan in the TV mini-series Shogun. James Clavell, the author of the historical novel the miniseries is based on, said he wrote the character Blackthorne with Sean Connery in mind and wanted him for the role. 

Although Richard Chamberlain was very good as Blackthorne, Sean Connery would have been great in the role. Although Sean Connery was great as a Chicago cop in The Untouchables, and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, I didn't care for the film.  

Sean Connery is now retired from making films and the 89-year-old is relaxing with his wife at his home in the Bahamas, but his fine films are still entertaining people of all ages. 

You can watch The Frightened City via the below links:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+frightened+city+1961&&view=detail&mid=
063C6E28E754CDAE0D49063C6E28E754CDAE0D49&&FORM=VRDGAR


https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+frightened+city+1961&&view=
detail&mid=BA1286C0F99581C6F05DBA1286C0F99581C6F05D&&FORM=VRDGAR

A Look Back At The First James Bond Classic Film, 'Dr. No'

As a pre-teen growing up in South Philadelphia in 1963, my crowd went to the Colonial movie theater every Saturday afternoon no matter what film was playing.

One afternoon, as I sat in the third row with my friends, a black and white image of the inside of a gun barrel came up on the screen and a man walked by, twirled and fired his gun. Red blood poured down on the barrel. I was hooked. 

At this point in my life, I had not heard of Ian Fleming, James Bond or Dr. No. I loved the film, loved the actor who portrayed Bond, Sean Connery, and I loved the character of James Bond. I’ve been a James Bond fan and an Ian Fleming aficionado ever since. 

The introduction of Connery’s Bond, clad in a tuxedo at a gambling casino, stating his name as “Bond,” - cue the Bond theme as he lit a cigarette - “James Bond,” was just terrific. 

For this young movie fan, I had never seen a movie character as cool. And it only got better as the film continued.

There are so many other iconic scenes in the film, such as the three Jamaican blind beggars (Three Blind Mice) turning on the British intelligence chief and shooting him with handguns equipped with suppressors, the tarantula crawling up Bond as he lay in bed, Bond shooting Professor Dent in cold blood, Honey coming out of the ocean, sexy in her white bikini complete with a knife on a belt,  Dr No sneaking up behind Bond and stating “One million dollars” in answer to his question of how much his criminal haunt cost, and Dr No describing his backstory and evil plot during dinner. 

I returned to the Colonial many more times and watched Dr No again and again. 

The first Bond film was atmospheric, thrilling, action-packed, suspenseful, clever and sexy. It is not a perfect film, but it had all of the ingredients I would discover when I later saw the second Bond film, From Russia With Love, and soon after began to read Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels.

When I read Dr. No, I was sorry that the film makers did not use the deadly obstacle course Dr. No designed to test a man’s pain limit but I was glad they passed on filming Bond’s fight with a giant squid, which was a bit much. I’m also sorry that they didn’t show how Honey’s pain test of being tied down while crabs crawled over her. In the novel, I liked the irony that a simple island girl knew more about Jamaican crabs than the brilliant scientist Dr No, as she knew they wouldn’t harm her. 

The film only showed Bond crawling through the vent system over heated plates and then hit with a current of water (which cooled the plates, thank you), and only showed Honey tied down with crabs around her.

Dr No’s director, Terence Young, a former WWII tank commander, was a stylish and sophisticated man. He took Sean Connery under his wing and dressed him and taught how to act as James Bond. (Young later directed From Russia With Love and Thunderball). 

In addition to Sean Connery, the film has a fine cast with the beautiful Ursula Andress as Honey, Joseph Wiseman as Dr No, John Kitzmiller as Quarrel, Anthony Dawson as Professor Dent, and of course, Bernard Lee as M and Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny. 

I’d like to edit the film and remove the cringe-worthy line in which Bond orders Quarrel to “fetch my shoes,” (the line did not appear in the novel as Bond respected Quarrel, who also appeared in Fleming’s earlier novel, Live and Let Die) and edit out some of the film’s mistakes. 

The film’s editor, Peter Hunt, who later directed one of the best films in the series, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, said that in the 1960s, directors and editors had no idea that viewers would one day own personal copies of the film and would watch it time and time again, picking up on the mistakes. He said they glossed over mistakes, thinking that the one-time viewer who not catch them.

Ian Fleming reportedly described the film as “Dreadful. Simply dreadful."

He initially disapproved of Connery, a working-class Scotsman, as Bond. But he later warmed to him, writing in a letter to a friend that Connery had the right physique for Bond and that the actor was a fine man. 

Much has been made of the fact that when Fleming wrote Bond’s premature obituary in You Only Live Twice, he noted that the character was half Scot and half Swiss. Many people believe this was due to Connery’s performance, and perhaps this was partly true, but Fleming was also Scottish, and he gave Bond many of his personal attributes.    

Although he knew Bond was made for the movies, he could not have realized just how successful the film series would be, and that the films would ensure that future generations of readers, millions of them, would go on to read his novels. 

I was one.    

You can watch a documentary film on the making of Dr. No via the below link:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZPjEYxymgE

Note: In the above photo Sean Connery talks to Ian Fleming on the set of Dr. No. 

From Rolex With Love: Extremely Rare 1954 Stainless Steel Watch Made Famous By Sean Connery In Dr No Is Set To Fetch £250,000 At Auction

I’ve wanted a Rolex Submariner diver’s watch since I first saw Sean Connery portray Ian Fleming's iconic character James Bond in Dr No when I was 12-years-old in 1963. My dream came true when a beautiful young woman gave me a Rolex Submariner for my 30^th birthday. 

I married her a month later.

Joel Adams at the Daily Mail offers a piece on the Rolex Submariner 6538 model, which has cult status since Dr No and its now known as 'the James Bond.'

An extremely rare Rolex watch made famous by the first James Bond film has emerged for sale for £250,000.

The 1954 Rolex Submariner 6538 acquired cult status after one was worn by Sean Connery in the 1962 classic film Dr No.

Bond subsequently wore the same model in several follow-up films, leading it to become one of the most sought-after Rolexes. 

The 55-year-old Rolex, valued at a quarter of a million pounds, has a black dial and a crystal reverse so the owner can see the finely-engineered Swiss movement.

The timepiece is generating furious interest under the hammer at auctioneers William George & Co, of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.The auction house has estimated the watch will go for around £200,000 to £250,000.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6393075/From-Rolex-Love-Rare-1954-watch-famous-James-Bond-set-fetch-250-000-auction.html 

Eunice Gayson, First-Ever Bond Girl, Dead At 90

Foxnews.com reports that British actress Eunice Gayson, the first-ever ‘Bond Girl,” has died. She was 90.

The actress died on Friday, her team confirmed on her Twitter account early Saturday morning. She was 90. Gayson was best known as the first-ever Bond Girl in the 1962 James Bond film, "Dr. No," alongside Sean Connery. She is also the only Bond Girl to appear in two films in the franchise, as she starred in 1963's "From Russia With Love."

 … In a scene at the Le Cercle Club, her character, Sylvia Trench, met Connery’s 007 over a game of cards. She proposed they raise the stakes, and Bond said, “I admire you’re courage, Miss er…?” to which she replied, “Trench. Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck Mr…?”

He replied: “Bond. James Bond.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/06/09/eunice-gayson-first-ever-bond-girl-dead-at-90.html 

You can also watch Eunice Gayson and Sean Connery in Dr No via the below link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xDj3NRYTU8 

On This Day In History Ian Fleming, Creator Of James Bond, Was Born

On this day in 1908 Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond and author of From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Dr No and other classic thrillers, was born.

You can read my Crime Beat columns about Ian Fleming’s life and work via the below links:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/11/my-crime-beat-column-happy-anniversary.html

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/06/casino-royale-revisited-film-that.html

You can also read my Counterterrorism magazine piece on Ian Fleming’s WWII experience as a naval intelligence officer via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/11/look-back-at-30-assault-unit-british.html

Say Hello to The Easter Bunny And Ursula Andress, The First Bond Girl

Becoming Bond, James Bond: Author Anthony Horowitz Begins Work On Official Casino Royale Prequel Showing How The Superspy Became 007

Although I’m not fond of continuation novels featuring the characters of authors who passed on,  I’ll probably read Anthony Horowitz’s upcoming James Bond continuation novel.

The British writer knows a good bit about Ian Fleming and his iconic character James Bond (portrayed to perfection by actor Sean Connery in Dr No and later films). 

I also like Horowitz’s TV series Foyle’s War.

Stewart Paterson at the Daily Mail offers a piece on Anthony Horowitz and the upcoming Bond novel.

A prequel for the first ever James Bond novel based on material left behind by Bond creator Ian Fleming is in the works.

Novelist Anthony Horowitz is working on a Forever and a Day, which has been authorised by the Fleming Estate.  

The story will find Horowitz, 62, 'exploring what might have been Bond's first missions and imagining some of the forces that might have turned him into the iconic figure that the whole world knows'.

The novel will begin with the discovery of the previous 007's body, which is found floating in the sea off Marseille and 'killed by an unknown hand', according to publisher Jonathan Cape.

Anthony Horowitz said he 'couldn't have been happier' to have been invited to write Forever and a Day

The new novel, which will be published in May, centres on how James Bond becomes 007 following the death of his predecessor, who is killed by an 'unknown hand'.

Horowitz writes: 'M laid down his pipe and stared at it tetchily. "We have no choice. We're just going to bring forward this other chap you've been preparing. But you didn't tell me his name". "It's Bond, sir," the Chief of Staff replied. "James Bond."'

Horowitz previous wrote the Bond novel Trigger Mortis in 2015, using Fleming's treatment for an unmade TV series in which the Secret Service agent becomes involved with a Formula One race.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5371265/Anthony-Horowitz-working-new-James-Bond-novel.html 

Note: The top photo is of Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr No. The middle photo is of Anthony Horowitz and the bottom photo is of Sean Connery and Ian Fleming on the set of Dr No.