In the vast archive of unmade cinema, most “lost” films are merely fragments—a pitch on a napkin or a half-finished outline. But Forever and a Death is different. It is a complete, high-octane thriller written by a Grand Master of crime fiction that was fully intended to be the 18th James Bond adventure. It was…
Ah, James Bond films—the pinnacle of espionage entertainment, filled with ingenious gadgets, and villains who monologue like they’re auditioning for Shakespeare as they outline their outlandish world-dominating schemes to the world’s most recognizable secret agent. We’re not supposed to look too closely at the villain’s scheme. Suspension of disbelief is key. But few villain schemes…
It’s 1974, and producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown share a few drinks with author Peter Benchley at New York’s 21 Club. Benchley is about to hit paydirt and fame with a story about a monster shark that terrorizes a small community on the fictional island of Amity. His novel is yet to be published….
The James Bond novels—and the films they inspired—are not exactly known for their realism, but creator Ian Fleming often took inspiration from real life. Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Bond’s archnemesis, shares a surname with famous cricket commentator Henry Blofeld, who attended Eton with Fleming. Even the infamous Pussy Galore was based on a real-life acquaintance, while…
Jaws 2 is the best of the sequels to the Steven Spielberg classic, but it is basically a retread of the first film and not as good. Spielberg never wanted the sequels to be watered down versions of his classic film, and it’s a lesson that has made him retain creative control over sequels to…
In 1955, flamboyant Russian actor and director Gregory Ratoff was in Cairo, Egypt, acting and directing a film entitled The Royal Bed, which was about King Farouk. The Italian producers of the film were unable to get into Egypt, and everyone was stealing money from them. Ratoff stole 10,000 pounds in cash, and hoped to…
It’s arguably the greatest introduction by a movie character. “The name’s Bond. James Bond” was first uttered by Sean Connery in Dr. No. There’s something effortlessly cool about Connery’s casual delivery. But would even Connery be able to convince audiences he was a suave ladies man if he tried the same line with the name…
The helicopter attack in From Russia With Love is often unfairly dismissed as a rip-off of the celebrated crop-duster chase in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest. While the continual attempts made by the low-flying helicopter to clip James Bond (Sean Connery) mirrors the attacks of the dive-bombing bi-plane on Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) in Hitchcock’s…
The man gunned down by thugs in a car while standing on the street corner in the middle of the night is a cliche Hitchcock wanted to subvert in North By Northwest. In the process, he created an often-used cliche of his own. It’s an understatement to say that the indelible image of Cary Grant…
James Bond has saved the world no less than 25 times. And in every film, Britain’s top spy is ideologically opposed to the villain’s plan. But what if he wasn’t? What if he actually agreed with the villain for once and joined forces with them to save humanity from itself? This is exactly what Nicholas…