6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent albeit incomplete, January 5, 2004
This review is from: The Essential Bond: The Authorized Guide to the World of 007 (Paperback)
Everyone knows that there have been 5 actors to play Bond in the movies (Sean, George, Roger, Timothy, and Pierce), but quick!
1) How many different actors have played Ernst Blofeld?
2) In how many movies does the evil organization SPECTRE appear?
3) Which is the only Bond film in which the character of M does not appear?
4) Who was the oldest Bond girl?
5) And who was the only actress to play a Bond girl in two different Bond movies?
If Bond trivia like this interests you, then this book is for you. If not, you might be interested in it anyways just for the overview of cultural history it provides. I bought this book in order to brush up on my Bond history, and while I was impressed with the breadth of knowledge represented therein, I was also dissappointed by the fact that some Bond movies are glossed over in setences (Never Say Never Again) or ignored completely (Die Another Day). Granted the former was "merely" a remake of 1965's Thunderball, and the latter presumably too recent, but it would be nice to have a complete Bond reference that was up to date. That said, here's what I liked: all the Bond films (excepting only the above) are discussed methodically and in chronological order. After a short introduction to each film and how it fits into Bond history (years between each film, searches for new Bonds, etc), the plot for each film is summarized, which is followed by character summaries for each of Bond's women, allies, villians, vehicles, and gadgets. The 6-10 pages on each movice (complete with great photos) then concludes in each case with comments on the music, marketing and merchandising, and box office sucess (or lack thereof). Multiply that formula by 19 movies (exempting the two above, of course), and throw in an introduction, dedication to Cubby (Albert Broccoli, who produced every Bond movie until the Pierce Brosnan era - he died in 1996) and a conclusion that pays homage to Ian Fleming (finally!), those who have worked behind the scenes on several Bond movies (from directors to stunt men) and various spoofs, and presto, instant book! The reviews for each movie are succinct, sometimes a bit too much so, but at least the book does include mentioning many of Bond's infamous one-liners, and the authors are candid in their assesments of the various characters and actors who played them, never afraid to lambast one or the other (or sometimes saying that while the part was well acted, no one could do justice to this pathetic role, for example). Handy as a ready resource for trivia fans, this book also provides an excellent (albeit incomplete) overview of Bond movie history.
Answers to the opening questions:
1) 4, in 5 different movies: Anthony Dawson in From Russia With Love and Thunderball, Donald Pleasance in You Only Live Twice, Telly Savalas in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Charles Gray in Diamonds Are Forever
2) 6 - the five mentioned in #1 plus Dr. No.
3) For Your Eyes Only
4) Honor Blackman filmed Pussy Galore in Goldfinger at the age of 37
5) Maud Adams played the title role in Octopussy and Andrea Anders in The Man With the Golden Gun - no wonder those Bond girls all look the same!
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The ultimate source for Bond, January 18, 2000
This book got me hooked on the James Bond phenomenon. It goes into great detail about 007's villains, allies, gadgets, vehicles and of course, the women. It is witty and informative and looks at every film from Dr. No to Tomorrow Never Dies. The only criticisms are that the book omits minor characters and at times, the authors include too many of their own opinions which does not allow the reader to make their own mind up about the films. In summary, an excellent book worth the money with loads of colour pictures (some never seen before).
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Essential for who?, April 29, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: The Essential Bond: The Authorized Guide to the World of 007 (Paperback)
This book is the "official authorized guide" to the world of 007. It's just a pity that the authors are obviously not real Bond fans. The book casually glides past Fleming;s novels and the Bonds themselves and instead does a film-by-film recap. This would be nice were it not for the fact that you often get the sense that the authors were trying to divide Bond fans into 2 distinct camps rather than prasing the series as a whole. My personal tastes were also insulted as brilliant movies like "man With The Golden Gun" and "A View To A Kill" are slammed, mocked, and scorned, while later on they gush and sing the praises of the dull villain Carver from "Tomorrow Never Dies", and stop just short of calling George Lazenby the best Bond ever. I couldn't help getting a sense that this book was written to be deliberatley provocative and irritating, and really that's not what you want in a book called "The Essential Bond".
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