22:28 - "the woman across from him, who he is absolutely _soaking_ at a game of baccarat"... For reference, it might not be obvious to people who don't know the game of baccarat, just how ridiculously hard Bond is winning here. But I read Casino Royale once, many years ago, and it explained the game in exhaustive detail, and it stuck with me for god knows what reason. The relevant part is that when a player loses against the banker, they can call to immediately bet again on the next hand, against the new total value of the bank... which just doubled, because it now includes their stake from the last hand. It's effectively saying "no, none of the rest of the table gets a look in, 1v1 me irl, double or nothing". So, when we come into the scene, the woman has just lost a hand, and is calling double-or-nothing. The game then progresses with her getting another loss, calling double-or-nothing again, getting a third loss, calling it _again_, getting a _fourth_ loss, running out of chips, buying in more, raising the betting limit at the table, and calling double-or-nothing yet again. The scene so far has lasted 55 seconds. It's at _this_ point, that, as mentioned in the podcast, Bond is actually introduced by name. They have some brief banter, she loses for the fifth time in a row, and Bond gets called away. For those keeping track, that means she's lost 31 times whatever the original stake was, over the course of about a minute and a half.
@@Johan323232 um... if the bank is doubling every time she loses, that's only 2 to the power of five, which is 32. However, you are correct that two to the thirty-first power would be roughly 1,000,000,000 dollars. ( British Billion used to be 1,000,000,000,000 (One million millions)).
Adding to this, they are using £100 plaques. We see her first banco suivi has her putting in two such plaques, so we can assume the start of her losing streak was a £100 bet. Which means she lost £3100 in 1962, equivalent to roughly $94,600 in 2021.
What I noticed, rewatching Dr No, was that Bond's introductory line - the famed line - is actually Bond mirroring Sylvia's introduction! That's how she introduces herself, first, "Trench. Sylvia Trench," and he copies that.
It's also because he's directly asked, "Mister...?" So he answers "Bond" first, because it's Mister Bond. He then offers up his first name as well. It became just this thing where he'd always say "The name's Bond, James Bond", but that always seems forced and cringey to me.
In the book, Bond's "escape" near the end is actually a "test" of his ability to survive, engineered by Dr No. This is why in the movie the air vent cover was large enough for Bond to get through. Dr No wanted Bond to escape from the cell to begin the survival test
Yeah, it's a shame they couldn't really follow through on that for the movie. He ends up tumbling out into the ocean in an enclosure containing a giant squid Dr No is researching. A big old shark would have sufficed, but they just didn't have the budget left.
LoadingReadyRun makes the best content, but their Podcast Game is Triple S Tier collectively can take any topic and make anyone enjoy their discussion. I’ve seen maybe 1 Bond Film ever to my knowledge, and i was able to enjoy their discussion and their insights.
Love this! Back in secondary school, my route home went past blockbusters and it was my job to swap out the week’s dvd rentals and choose the next batch. I slowly chewed my way through all the Bonds during the course of Year 10. Can’t wait to relive them with Graham and Matt.
Same exact experience except I was younger. No idea why my parents allowed me to watch Bond movies at 9 but I’m so glad they did. The people at blockbuster used to call me 007 because I was always renting Bond movies and I guess they thought I was 7 😅
Guys, especially matt thank you so much for your monologue to address the more problematic aspects of this franchise. Im in it for the long haul with you now.
What I liked about this movie was all the tradecraft. Bond picking up that the airport people were sketchy, the hair on the closet, the dust on the suitcase, the reeds in the swamp. I also loved how he counted Dent's shots. Must have been the inspiration for the running bit on Archer.
Not sure if anyone pointed this out already, but the iconic intro: “Bond, James Bond” was a direct response to “Trench, Sylvia Trench.” He was mimicking her.
The movie GoldenEye was such an impactful film on my life. It was the first movie I remember watching with my dad after my parents got divorced. I was in second grade and it has always symbolized that branch from an oblivious kid to socially aware that not everything in the world is perfect. The Bond series was a way for my dad and I to bond(excuse the pun) and actually get to know each other.
Fleming originally made Bond's gun the Beretta. But while writing Dr. No, he received a letter from a Mr. Boothroyd, saying that the PPK was a much more appropriate gun for James Bond. From that, Fleming made Major Boothroyd the Quartermaster in Dr. No.
"What was the most 'JAMES BOND MOMENT' for this movie?" Casually killing Dent: "That's a Smith and Wesson, and you've had your six." This scene by itself is what still makes the whole movie for ME. It's definitive Bond. Definitive Connery.
I watched all the Bond films for the first time a couple of years ago, and boy, some of their language/depictions are... YIKES. I'm so glad you addressed this right off the bat.
As someone who’s watched just about every single Bond film, I look forward to this. Although out of curiosity, I wonder if they will watch “that” Bond film? The cursed “Bond” film that most of us do not speak of.
Loved this first episode. The run time of the episode is great, as it almost stretches long enough to last both ways of my commute to and from work. While it might have been slow for other commenters, I liked the run-through of the film, as it provides a good way to understand your other comments. I haven’t watched Dr. No since the mid-00s, and I certainly wouldn’t have understood half of your commentary without this reminder of what actually happens in the film.
I am so here for this. I've only really tangentially connected with James Bond in the past, mainly through my dad, but if I'm gonna listen to anybody tell me ALL about them, I can't think of anyone whose voices I'd rather be listening to.
I have fond memories of watching all the James Bond films over a Summer with my Dad; this is a super fun idea, and I am all aboard. Great job candidly addressing the problematic aspects of these stories up front, and for finding behind-the-scenes trivia for the cinephiles. Looking forward to more of this!
In the Afro-Caribbean or African-American dialects, "Honey-chile" is a sweet thing to call your girlfriend or your baby. It's pronounced like "child," but without the d on the end.
I honestly wonde how the hosts who appear intelligent an interested n bond make so many mistakes. It makes me question how much they actually watched the films
See the little tank on the table makes me thinking hopefully that as they talk about different movies the picture'll be updated with different props from those movies, e.g. Graham could have the Golden Gun tucked into his tuxedo jacket, Matt could wear Oddjob's hat, iconic characters could replace the characters in the background until it looks like they're chatting in a casino filled with Bond heroes/villains, etc.
I forgot to mention when I watched/listened to this exactly how engaged and entertained I am. Thanks for the great content guys, I can tell this is going to be a fun series :D
Gert Frobe (Auric Goldfinger) and Gabriele Ferzetti (Marc-Agne Draco) were overdubbed for Goldfinger and OHMSS, so the "cast an actor who doesn't speak English" thing wasn't limited to "Bond girls". :)
The character is called Honeychile Rider in the novel but I'm sure that the "chile" part was meant to be pronounced to rhyme with "while", as it's a corruption of "child" (as in "Voodoo Chile") and not pronounced "chilly" as mentioned in the podcast.
The interesting thing about the cold-blooded killing is that it’s one of the few ways the movies are less good than the books. In the books, one of Bond’s few redeeming features is that he dislikes killing and will sometimes spend entire books not killing people.
I've honestly never really gotten into the Bond films, but after watching this I really want to just dive head first in and marathon them all for some reason.
ive been a casual fan of Bond films through a lot of my life (certainly no where near as knowledgable as either G or Matt), and i loved this podcast so much! im looking forward to more of these!
A couple notes from someone who was a huge fan of the Connery movies as a youth and who read all of the original books: -The James Bond Theme was originally a piece called "Bea's Knees," a guitar piece John Barry reworked for the film. -Bond's introduction had to be reshot dozens of times because originally there wasn't that beat between "Bond" and "James Bond," and coupled with the flicking of the lighter it looked more comedic than edgy. -It's supposed to be pronounced like "child." Honeychile Ryder, which is "Honeychild" filtered through a Jamaican accent. (A really really REALLY racist version of a Jamaican accent.) -Some of the other issues are because of problems turning the story of the book into a film which left ot things for various reasons. In the book, it's established that Dr. No is studying his victims a-la the Joseph Mengele School of Scientific Research, so drugging the tea was just part of his creepy-as-hell modus operandi of studying his victims up close. It's also why Bond was put in the situation in the duct where he was ultimately able to escape from, as in the book it's established that Doc likes to put his victims through a death maze to test their resilience before finishing them off with a giant octopus in a pool. In the book, Bond kills the octopus using a spear he fashioned from the wire of the grate and the knife he successfully stole from the dinner. Anyone for calamari? And the crab thing with Honey was also from the book, again, as part of No's torture studies. -Doc's hands were originally more common hook appliances which he gets because the tong caught up with him and cut his hands off in punishment. They explain the robot hands as radiation poisoning in the flick because, hey, nukes. -In the book, the radio toppling beam _is_ powered conventionally. Once again, hey, nukes. -The movie lists it as a bauxite mine, but in the book it's a nitrates mine that collects countless ages of guano for use as fertilizer, and Dr. No dies when Bond diverts the loading conveyor to bury the baddie in literal bat shit. [I never said any of this shit EVER made complete sense.] Seriously, if you haven't done so, read the original books. Some of their plots are normal, some make the movies look stable. Interestingly enough, there was a set of comics made in the 50's, which stuck a lot closer to the books so you may want to seek them out as well.
The James Bond theme was actually written by Monty Norman, but then arranged by John Barry. Norman re-used a song called "Good sign, bad sign" he composed for the musical based on the book A House for Mr Biswas. You can find a version of the song on youtube.
The girl who played the photographer was a former Miss Jamaica who was working as a stewardess. On the Dr.No anniversary DVD she says a passenger told her she should be in movies and she thought he was just being nice, but then he said "No, I'm serious" and gave her his card, and he was Cubby Broccoli. Random trivia: the band playing in that scene was the #1 dance band in Jamaica at the time. And was also the #1 band when the anniversary DVD was released.
Started listening to this series yesterday, beginning w the Craig movies, and cycling back to the beginning of the series to give me time to borrow Die Another Day to watch before I listen to the most recent to current time episode. This has been entertaining and insightful and I look forward to the full podcast (incliding some rewatchingness of my own)
The "death by crabs" thing is from the book, only in the book (as in real life) crabs don't like live food much. So Honeychile spends a rather boring night being walked on by crabs. She has a lot more agency in the book, too, but still, not much.
It's even more hilarious because Bond doesn't even rescue her, Dr. No is like "take her to the crab migration route and chain her there" and she makes a big show of being frightened, and then later she just shows up again and is like "yeah crabs don't actually eat people, but I wasn't about to tell him that".
I’m so glad that Matt pointed out that Doctor No’s mechanical hands are not “practically irrelevant” but instead a setup with a payoff. His hands are not a strength, as he believes, but his key weakness.
Bond movies have always been something special for me and I love the franchise dearly. The different eras the different bonds has been so much fun across the years and I’m looking forward to how you rank them along the way. As well glad to hear the disclaimer, considering :p
You call it "problematic", I like to call them a representation of the times they're made. Context always matters, and I would call them problematic only if they're made today. But I appreciate you talking about it right off the bat, so it doesn't interfere with the actual content of this podcast.
I remember a friend saying "you can't rewatch james bond, you already know he'll win. Don't you know that the first time? Or with every single superhero movie?
A few years late but I’m going through these as I watch the whole Bond series myself! I’ve watched just about every other spy franchise but for some reason always left Bond alone
My best friend and I have watched every single Bond movie together (including the awful American one and the Woody Allen spoof). I'm excited to share this with her! We're both women, and tbh we found it more empowering to see the women in these movies portrayed as more and more capable as the franchise went on. We even had a female M!!!! Natalya Simonova from Goldeneye will always be my personal favorite. I do appreciate your acknowledgement of the issues pervasive in these films though. Please continue monetizing the things you love for our entertainment!!!!
1:15 - "Nothing for another 3-4 years." At the rate we're going right now, it seems like it's going to be 7-10 years. 😕 At least I can come back to this excellent podcast ahead of my next rewatch of the series after the first of the year.
At the end of the movie, you say that Bond & Honey are rescued by US Marines. Sorry guys those were Royal Navy Sailors not US Marines. Why would the US Marines be there? Remember Bond told Leiter that Jamaica was his beat.
@@maxlongloke9995 Yah, I disagree. The helmets are wrong (flat rimed, like British paras), the officer with the epaulets to the left of Leiter has a holstered pistol on a lanyard, and the soldier in front is manning a Bren gun. All of those are British affectations or styles, not USN/Marines.
Commenting fairly early in the video, so it may come up as well, but to the idea this was one of the first big franchises: The first "modern blockbuster" is widely attributed to Jaws, and the first really sort of definitive film franchise most people probably think of is probably Star Wars. Jaws was thirteen and Star Wars FIFTEEN YEARS after Dr. No -- and even with the prequels and sequels and spin-offs in Star Wars and the many later Jaws movies that probably shouldn't have been made, the two combined are off the top of my head fewer in total than James Bond on its own. Granted the quality, style, and even genre of Bond films changed a fair bit over the years (and Bonds), but they've managed to in one or more ways as you guys allude to from the very beginning right through to Spectre and presumably No Time to Die have always "felt like" Bond.
Great work friends! I'm glad for the inclusion of the opening spiel about how Problematic(tm) James Bond is, and if anyone's looking for some critical discussion I'd highly recommend Renegade Cut's video James Bond Examined. He goes well into Bond as a tool of Imperialism, as an anti-intellectualist hero, and through a critical lens regarding gender, race, and state violence. And I'm also so grateful that we can have Problematic Faves. I'm a black man who adores H.P. Lovecraft, and boy is that ever Problematic. Loving something doesn't mean you are uncritical of it, and being critical of a thing doesn't mean you can't love it. LRR, you continue to outdo yourselves.
Why couldn’t we get a short film about the henchmen who created “the dragon”. Doctor No knocked them out because he has a fetish of watching people while they sleep
In the film there is a shot where Bond notices he is being observed while "escaping". So it's clear that they know where he is and are actually observing his survival skills
As a long time Bond fan (with all it's problems), I am down for this series. And while Dr. No isn't one of my favorites, I find it too light on action for my tastes, it definitely establishes many of the tropes. Look forward to all the rest.
If I remember correctly, in the book, the whole ducts escape bit with the heat and the water & electrified, etc. was a constructed challenge/trap. Bond was being observed the whole way along. I can't remember the reasoning behind Dr. No building it, but it wasn't as random as the movie makes it out to be.
been a fan of countdown to infinity since it started and even though I've never watched a james bond movie before this seems sweet. Might get me to finally watch a James Bond movie too.
Fun bit of trivia, Major Boothroyd is based on Geoffrey Boothroyd, a gun expert and fan of the books who actually mailed Ian Fleming to advise him that Bond would be better served using a walther instead of a bereta.
47:08 Because in the book it was a centipede, which might actually be quite dangerous. A tarantula, which you would have to manipulate into stinging you and is much less toxic, is to many who happen to see one visually intimidating. I surmise that possibly Fleming, or someone he knew, or read about, may have had an unpleasant encounter with a centipede while in Jamaica. If Bond were in the vicinity of Australia, a box jellyfish in his bathtub would no doubt do the trick. I can also picture Q providing Bond with a Cone Snail Shell gun for use against enemy scuba divers in the Western Pacific area.
I think the theory behind the spider is that it will want to find somewhere nice and warm to hang out, like someones chest. I've heard several stories of this happening in countries where there are spiders like that, also known as places I don't want to visit. Then, upon waking to find a spider on one's chest, I would react by flailing at it to get it off, causing it to defend itself and presumably bite. That being said, guns are way more efficient and effective.
55:00 WHOA you can't downplay this......Dr. No has two of Bond's most defining moments during the encounter with Dent; Firstly Note Bond is playing solitaire, passing the time...not lurking in the dark like a psychopath ( Craig in Casino Royale) He's humanized as a professional doing a job. Stakeouts are boring so he opens a deck and settles in. Hell he even sets the gun down to light a cigarette while speaking to dent! You'll seldom see this relaxed pro again. This Relatable Bond gets the jump on Dent and starts to interrogate him, "who are you working for professor?" dent replies with an empty gun. Bond knows Dent's gun is empty....But Still Kills him, having learned NOTHING....nothing at all. No new information is gleaned in this encounter! Dent has 4 lines, none divulge anything. Bond's killing for the sake of killing. We don't see cold violence like this again until "For your Eyes only", and then still there's clear motivation...Even in the Dalton era and current Sony movies Bond isn't a cold blooded murderer like he is here!
I find it funny that, come their review of Specter, they say that Craig's Bond plays up the assassin aspect of the character, where here when he kills the professor, they say that it's always been a part of the character in all its incarnations.
@ 1:15:55 Maybe it is a British thing? I remember an episode of Red Dwarf where there is Water that washes the ducting, which in the show they were also crawling through.
Kudos to the designer of the logo. The 'O' in "Love" is probably the cleanest Bond icon I've ever seen.
22:28 - "the woman across from him, who he is absolutely _soaking_ at a game of baccarat"...
For reference, it might not be obvious to people who don't know the game of baccarat, just how ridiculously hard Bond is winning here. But I read Casino Royale once, many years ago, and it explained the game in exhaustive detail, and it stuck with me for god knows what reason.
The relevant part is that when a player loses against the banker, they can call to immediately bet again on the next hand, against the new total value of the bank... which just doubled, because it now includes their stake from the last hand. It's effectively saying "no, none of the rest of the table gets a look in, 1v1 me irl, double or nothing".
So, when we come into the scene, the woman has just lost a hand, and is calling double-or-nothing. The game then progresses with her getting another loss, calling double-or-nothing again, getting a third loss, calling it _again_, getting a _fourth_ loss, running out of chips, buying in more, raising the betting limit at the table, and calling double-or-nothing yet again. The scene so far has lasted 55 seconds.
It's at _this_ point, that, as mentioned in the podcast, Bond is actually introduced by name. They have some brief banter, she loses for the fifth time in a row, and Bond gets called away. For those keeping track, that means she's lost 31 times whatever the original stake was, over the course of about a minute and a half.
Assuming an original bet of $1, that’s roughly a billion dollars.
@@Johan323232 um... if the bank is doubling every time she loses, that's only 2 to the power of five, which is 32.
However, you are correct that two to the thirty-first power would be roughly 1,000,000,000 dollars. ( British Billion used to be 1,000,000,000,000 (One million millions)).
Thank you for this. The context that Bond beats her five times in a row in less than a minute makes this scene even better.
And this, folks, is why the Martingale system doesn't work.
Adding to this, they are using £100 plaques. We see her first banco suivi has her putting in two such plaques, so we can assume the start of her losing streak was a £100 bet. Which means she lost £3100 in 1962, equivalent to roughly $94,600 in 2021.
What I noticed, rewatching Dr No, was that Bond's introductory line - the famed line - is actually Bond mirroring Sylvia's introduction! That's how she introduces herself, first, "Trench. Sylvia Trench," and he copies that.
It's also because he's directly asked, "Mister...?" So he answers "Bond" first, because it's Mister Bond. He then offers up his first name as well. It became just this thing where he'd always say "The name's Bond, James Bond", but that always seems forced and cringey to me.
In the book, Bond's "escape" near the end is actually a "test" of his ability to survive, engineered by Dr No. This is why in the movie the air vent cover was large enough for Bond to get through. Dr No wanted Bond to escape from the cell to begin the survival test
Yeah, it's a shame they couldn't really follow through on that for the movie. He ends up tumbling out into the ocean in an enclosure containing a giant squid Dr No is researching. A big old shark would have sufficed, but they just didn't have the budget left.
LoadingReadyRun makes the best content, but their Podcast Game is Triple S Tier collectively can take any topic and make anyone enjoy their discussion. I’ve seen maybe 1 Bond Film ever to my knowledge, and i was able to enjoy their discussion and their insights.
I had no idea how much I wanted this until I accidentally discovered it.
Love this! Back in secondary school, my route home went past blockbusters and it was my job to swap out the week’s dvd rentals and choose the next batch. I slowly chewed my way through all the Bonds during the course of Year 10.
Can’t wait to relive them with Graham and Matt.
Same exact experience except I was younger. No idea why my parents allowed me to watch Bond movies at 9 but I’m so glad they did. The people at blockbuster used to call me 007 because I was always renting Bond movies and I guess they thought I was 7 😅
Guys, especially matt thank you so much for your monologue to address the more problematic aspects of this franchise. Im in it for the long haul with you now.
What I liked about this movie was all the tradecraft. Bond picking up that the airport people were sketchy, the hair on the closet, the dust on the suitcase, the reeds in the swamp. I also loved how he counted Dent's shots. Must have been the inspiration for the running bit on Archer.
Not sure if anyone pointed this out already, but the iconic intro: “Bond, James Bond” was a direct response to “Trench, Sylvia Trench.” He was mimicking her.
Surprised this wasn’t mentioned in the video
The movie GoldenEye was such an impactful film on my life. It was the first movie I remember watching with my dad after my parents got divorced. I was in second grade and it has always symbolized that branch from an oblivious kid to socially aware that not everything in the world is perfect. The Bond series was a way for my dad and I to bond(excuse the pun) and actually get to know each other.
Fleming originally made Bond's gun the Beretta. But while writing Dr. No, he received a letter from a Mr. Boothroyd, saying that the PPK was a much more appropriate gun for James Bond. From that, Fleming made Major Boothroyd the Quartermaster in Dr. No.
"What was the most 'JAMES BOND MOMENT' for this movie?" Casually killing Dent: "That's a Smith and Wesson, and you've had your six." This scene by itself is what still makes the whole movie for ME. It's definitive Bond. Definitive Connery.
It even gets a (semi) callback in "Licence to Kill" when Bond is in a gunfight with Whitaker. "You've had your eight - now I've got my 80!"
I watched all the Bond films for the first time a couple of years ago, and boy, some of their language/depictions are... YIKES.
I'm so glad you addressed this right off the bat.
I expect Matt to be a cohost for every new rewatch podcast you do from now on.
Everybody gets to have rewatch podcast with Matt!
Rewatch Godzilla with Ian.
2 Fast 2 Rewatch with Adam.
The Wrath of Rewatch with Paul.
Friday the Rewatch with Heather.
As someone who’s watched just about every single Bond film, I look forward to this.
Although out of curiosity, I wonder if they will watch “that” Bond film? The cursed “Bond” film that most of us do not speak of.
I'm so glad you got these videos back. I rewatch these with love all the time.
Loved this first episode.
The run time of the episode is great, as it almost stretches long enough to last both ways of my commute to and from work. While it might have been slow for other commenters, I liked the run-through of the film, as it provides a good way to understand your other comments. I haven’t watched Dr. No since the mid-00s, and I certainly wouldn’t have understood half of your commentary without this reminder of what actually happens in the film.
Wow, I've never noticed the strange way the tarantula moves on Bonds arm before. Can not be unseen!
I am so here for this. I've only really tangentially connected with James Bond in the past, mainly through my dad, but if I'm gonna listen to anybody tell me ALL about them, I can't think of anyone whose voices I'd rather be listening to.
I have fond memories of watching all the James Bond films over a Summer with my Dad; this is a super fun idea, and I am all aboard. Great job candidly addressing the problematic aspects of these stories up front, and for finding behind-the-scenes trivia for the cinephiles. Looking forward to more of this!
Why are my eyes switching back and forth from one still image to another as each of the two speak? The inflating white outlines are hypnotic.
I suspect the book version of Honey Rider isn't Chile the country, but Chile as in a vaguely Afro-Carribean pronounciation of Child.
I have the entire collection, and you would be entirely correct.
I'm guessing they never heard Voodo Chile by Jimi Hendrix which is a crying shame.
In the Afro-Caribbean or African-American dialects, "Honey-chile" is a sweet thing to call your girlfriend or your baby. It's pronounced like "child," but without the d on the end.
I honestly wonde how the hosts who appear intelligent an interested n bond make so many mistakes. It makes me question how much they actually watched the films
I couldn’t believe he was pronouncing it that way when I heard it or that the other guy didn’t correct him lol
that closing chord...
This is the content we need. Wonderful.
See the little tank on the table makes me thinking hopefully that as they talk about different movies the picture'll be updated with different props from those movies, e.g. Graham could have the Golden Gun tucked into his tuxedo jacket, Matt could wear Oddjob's hat, iconic characters could replace the characters in the background until it looks like they're chatting in a casino filled with Bond heroes/villains, etc.
They did that with the recent Sidewalk Slam episodes as well, changing the hosts shirts to sarcastically reflect the big matches.
Finally a new LRR-rewatch series for me to listen to on long drives for work!
Time for what is becoming an annual tradition, my From Rewatch rewatch.
Woohoo another LRR podcast where I've haven't seen the source material, but will gladly listen to the hosts enthusiastically cover & discuss them!
As a Bond FANatic I am super excited for this series.
The "Chile" in Honeychile is not pronounced like the country, it's a variant of "Child"
Like Jimi Hendrix’ “Voodoo Chile”
I forgot to mention when I watched/listened to this exactly how engaged and entertained I am. Thanks for the great content guys, I can tell this is going to be a fun series :D
Neat, I've never had any particular interest in the Bond films but this really interesting and entertaining. Looking forward to more
Thanks!
Gert Frobe (Auric Goldfinger) and Gabriele Ferzetti (Marc-Agne Draco) were overdubbed for Goldfinger and OHMSS, so the "cast an actor who doesn't speak English" thing wasn't limited to "Bond girls". :)
Oh yes and Thunderball too. SPECTRE No 2 was also dubbed.
The character is called Honeychile Rider in the novel but I'm sure that the "chile" part was meant to be pronounced to rhyme with "while", as it's a corruption of "child" (as in "Voodoo Chile") and not pronounced "chilly" as mentioned in the podcast.
Here to say this, but replacing "Carribean English dialect pronunciation of" for "corruption of"
The interesting thing about the cold-blooded killing is that it’s one of the few ways the movies are less good than the books. In the books, one of Bond’s few redeeming features is that he dislikes killing and will sometimes spend entire books not killing people.
Matt doing one helluva Graham impression at 18:14 ;D
Grahm is a master of ventriloquism, evidently.
_The name's Gagement,_ [likes video] _En Gagement._
I've recently purchased the complete Bond collection to watch through for the first time, and this appearing in my feed spooked me a bit.
I've honestly never really gotten into the Bond films, but after watching this I really want to just dive head first in and marathon them all for some reason.
ive been a casual fan of Bond films through a lot of my life (certainly no where near as knowledgable as either G or Matt), and i loved this podcast so much! im looking forward to more of these!
An hour and a half of Graham and Matt talking about James Bond? Time for me to get some snacks and enjoy.
A couple notes from someone who was a huge fan of the Connery movies as a youth and who read all of the original books:
-The James Bond Theme was originally a piece called "Bea's Knees," a guitar piece John Barry reworked for the film.
-Bond's introduction had to be reshot dozens of times because originally there wasn't that beat between "Bond" and "James Bond," and coupled with the flicking of the lighter it looked more comedic than edgy.
-It's supposed to be pronounced like "child." Honeychile Ryder, which is "Honeychild" filtered through a Jamaican accent. (A really really REALLY racist version of a Jamaican accent.)
-Some of the other issues are because of problems turning the story of the book into a film which left ot things for various reasons. In the book, it's established that Dr. No is studying his victims a-la the Joseph Mengele School of Scientific Research, so drugging the tea was just part of his creepy-as-hell modus operandi of studying his victims up close. It's also why Bond was put in the situation in the duct where he was ultimately able to escape from, as in the book it's established that Doc likes to put his victims through a death maze to test their resilience before finishing them off with a giant octopus in a pool. In the book, Bond kills the octopus using a spear he fashioned from the wire of the grate and the knife he successfully stole from the dinner. Anyone for calamari? And the crab thing with Honey was also from the book, again, as part of No's torture studies.
-Doc's hands were originally more common hook appliances which he gets because the tong caught up with him and cut his hands off in punishment. They explain the robot hands as radiation poisoning in the flick because, hey, nukes.
-In the book, the radio toppling beam _is_ powered conventionally. Once again, hey, nukes.
-The movie lists it as a bauxite mine, but in the book it's a nitrates mine that collects countless ages of guano for use as fertilizer, and Dr. No dies when Bond diverts the loading conveyor to bury the baddie in literal bat shit.
[I never said any of this shit EVER made complete sense.]
Seriously, if you haven't done so, read the original books. Some of their plots are normal, some make the movies look stable. Interestingly enough, there was a set of comics made in the 50's, which stuck a lot closer to the books so you may want to seek them out as well.
The James Bond theme was actually written by Monty Norman, but then arranged by John Barry.
Norman re-used a song called "Good sign, bad sign" he composed for the musical based on the book A House for Mr Biswas. You can find a version of the song on youtube.
The girl who played the photographer was a former Miss Jamaica who was working as a stewardess. On the Dr.No anniversary DVD she says a passenger told her she should be in movies and she thought he was just being nice, but then he said "No, I'm serious" and gave her his card, and he was Cubby Broccoli.
Random trivia: the band playing in that scene was the #1 dance band in Jamaica at the time. And was also the #1 band when the anniversary DVD was released.
And ... Graham just told that story. :)
Started listening to this series yesterday, beginning w the Craig movies, and cycling back to the beginning of the series to give me time to borrow Die Another Day to watch before I listen to the most recent to current time episode.
This has been entertaining and insightful and I look forward to the full podcast (incliding some rewatchingness of my own)
The "death by crabs" thing is from the book, only in the book (as in real life) crabs don't like live food much. So Honeychile spends a rather boring night being walked on by crabs.
She has a lot more agency in the book, too, but still, not much.
It's even more hilarious because Bond doesn't even rescue her, Dr. No is like "take her to the crab migration route and chain her there" and she makes a big show of being frightened, and then later she just shows up again and is like "yeah crabs don't actually eat people, but I wasn't about to tell him that".
I’m so glad that Matt pointed out that Doctor No’s mechanical hands are not “practically irrelevant” but instead a setup with a payoff. His hands are not a strength, as he believes, but his key weakness.
Thank you so much for doing the extra work with the screenshots! It would have been great with the animation alone but that is 100% better!
Been meaning to rewatch the Bond movies ahead of No Time to Die, so this will be a great companion piece. Thanks Graham and Matt!
OMG! I have always loved James bond this is awesome!
Bond movies have always been something special for me and I love the franchise dearly. The different eras the different bonds has been so much fun across the years and I’m looking forward to how you rank them along the way. As well glad to hear the disclaimer, considering :p
You call it "problematic", I like to call them a representation of the times they're made. Context always matters, and I would call them problematic only if they're made today. But I appreciate you talking about it right off the bat, so it doesn't interfere with the actual content of this podcast.
this was great, can't wait for the rest of these
You guys missed the funniest line in the film! "Tell me, does the toppling of American missiles really compensate for having no hands?"
52:00
That sequence actually birthed the term "driving a desk" for poorly made in car shots.
this was incredibly delightful
I remember a friend saying "you can't rewatch james bond, you already know he'll win.
Don't you know that the first time?
Or with every single superhero movie?
Been watching these all again. Love em
I enjoyed this. Looking forward to the rest of these and any future series you guys do in this vein.
A few years late but I’m going through these as I watch the whole Bond series myself! I’ve watched just about every other spy franchise but for some reason always left Bond alone
My best friend and I have watched every single Bond movie together (including the awful American one and the Woody Allen spoof). I'm excited to share this with her! We're both women, and tbh we found it more empowering to see the women in these movies portrayed as more and more capable as the franchise went on. We even had a female M!!!! Natalya Simonova from Goldeneye will always be my personal favorite. I do appreciate your acknowledgement of the issues pervasive in these films though. Please continue monetizing the things you love for our entertainment!!!!
Alternate title suggestions for fun:
Rewatch never dies
Rewatch another day
Rewatchraker
Watch. Rewatch.
Gold-Rewatch (sang to the tune of Moonriver)
@@gnyrinn Gold-watcher
On Her Majesty's Rewatch Service
The Spy Who Rewatched Me
... although the one they used is best.
I haven't watched many Bond movies, but I'm definitely going to enjoy this podcast
Okay I’m back to binge the whole podcast again
This is the fourth time I've watched this series and that yep at 29:30 is great.
Great!
Hey - even if it’s shot like Checkpoint now, can the final ep be shot with Graham and Matt wearing real tuxes?
This was excellent and I cannot wait for the next episode!
Damn! I thought this was going to be a watch along commentary type thing. I had Dr No lined up and everything.
Copyright makes that impossible on most platforms nowadays.
1:15 - "Nothing for another 3-4 years." At the rate we're going right now, it seems like it's going to be 7-10 years. 😕 At least I can come back to this excellent podcast ahead of my next rewatch of the series after the first of the year.
At the end of the movie, you say that Bond & Honey are rescued by US Marines. Sorry guys those were Royal Navy Sailors not US Marines. Why would the US Marines be there? Remember Bond told Leiter that Jamaica was his beat.
the flag on the fantail of the boat is the white ensign of the RN, right? Should be a clue. Their helmets/uniforms are also a giveaway.
But the sailors uniforms are US Marines not RN
@@maxlongloke9995 Yah, I disagree. The helmets are wrong (flat rimed, like British paras), the officer with the epaulets to the left of Leiter has a holstered pistol on a lanyard, and the soldier in front is manning a Bren gun. All of those are British affectations or styles, not USN/Marines.
ok but I love the idea of this, might actually get me to rewatch the movies myself
Commenting fairly early in the video, so it may come up as well, but to the idea this was one of the first big franchises:
The first "modern blockbuster" is widely attributed to Jaws, and the first really sort of definitive film franchise most people probably think of is probably Star Wars. Jaws was thirteen and Star Wars FIFTEEN YEARS after Dr. No -- and even with the prequels and sequels and spin-offs in Star Wars and the many later Jaws movies that probably shouldn't have been made, the two combined are off the top of my head fewer in total than James Bond on its own.
Granted the quality, style, and even genre of Bond films changed a fair bit over the years (and Bonds), but they've managed to in one or more ways as you guys allude to from the very beginning right through to Spectre and presumably No Time to Die have always "felt like" Bond.
Great work friends! I'm glad for the inclusion of the opening spiel about how Problematic(tm) James Bond is, and if anyone's looking for some critical discussion I'd highly recommend Renegade Cut's video James Bond Examined. He goes well into Bond as a tool of Imperialism, as an anti-intellectualist hero, and through a critical lens regarding gender, race, and state violence.
And I'm also so grateful that we can have Problematic Faves. I'm a black man who adores H.P. Lovecraft, and boy is that ever Problematic. Loving something doesn't mean you are uncritical of it, and being critical of a thing doesn't mean you can't love it. LRR, you continue to outdo yourselves.
I hope you've heard of or watched Lovecraft County!
Why couldn’t we get a short film about the henchmen who created “the dragon”. Doctor No knocked them out because he has a fetish of watching people while they sleep
In the film there is a shot where Bond notices he is being observed while "escaping". So it's clear that they know where he is and are actually observing his survival skills
As a long time Bond fan (with all it's problems), I am down for this series. And while Dr. No isn't one of my favorites, I find it too light on action for my tastes, it definitely establishes many of the tropes. Look forward to all the rest.
Whoa! You got Matt back for this? Awesome! Can't wait to hear you guys thoughts on the Bond movies, they're some of my favorite pieces of cinema.
I would love to see this concept taken further and have the LRRcrew just discuss iconic or at least their favorite movies.
I’m highly engaged by this excellent new podcast.
And I did the full rewatch in April. Well at least I know the material.
If I remember correctly, in the book, the whole ducts escape bit with the heat and the water & electrified, etc. was a constructed challenge/trap. Bond was being observed the whole way along. I can't remember the reasoning behind Dr. No building it, but it wasn't as random as the movie makes it out to be.
I'm very much looking forward to the potential 1967 Casino Royale episode.
been a fan of countdown to infinity since it started and even though I've never watched a james bond movie before this seems sweet. Might get me to finally watch a James Bond movie too.
Fun bit of trivia, Major Boothroyd is based on Geoffrey Boothroyd, a gun expert and fan of the books who actually mailed Ian Fleming to advise him that Bond would be better served using a walther instead of a bereta.
Proper podcast starts at 11:17
It’s a shame Le Magnifique is not know in the US almost at all. The best Bond-spoofing film I’ve seen.
It's genuinely great to hear you guys being open and upfront about the bad parts of Bond and the culture of the films.
47:08 Because in the book it was a centipede, which might actually be quite dangerous. A tarantula, which you would have to manipulate into stinging you and is much less toxic, is to many who happen to see one visually intimidating. I surmise that possibly Fleming, or someone he knew, or read about, may have had an unpleasant encounter with a centipede while in Jamaica.
If Bond were in the vicinity of Australia, a box jellyfish in his bathtub would no doubt do the trick.
I can also picture Q providing Bond with a Cone Snail Shell gun for use against enemy scuba divers in the Western Pacific area.
I'm so excited about this.
I am loving this series keep it going!
I'm catching up with this series and I can't wait for more
Also I love the Dragon on the table next to Matt
I think the theory behind the spider is that it will want to find somewhere nice and warm to hang out, like someones chest. I've heard several stories of this happening in countries where there are spiders like that, also known as places I don't want to visit. Then, upon waking to find a spider on one's chest, I would react by flailing at it to get it off, causing it to defend itself and presumably bite. That being said, guns are way more efficient and effective.
The reason for the drugged tea was based on the novel. Dr no was planning to torture them by testing their endurance. He wanted them perfectly rested
55:00 WHOA you can't downplay this......Dr. No has two of Bond's most defining moments during the encounter with Dent; Firstly Note Bond is playing solitaire, passing the time...not lurking in the dark like a psychopath ( Craig in Casino Royale) He's humanized as a professional doing a job. Stakeouts are boring so he opens a deck and settles in. Hell he even sets the gun down to light a cigarette while speaking to dent! You'll seldom see this relaxed pro again.
This Relatable Bond gets the jump on Dent and starts to interrogate him, "who are you working for professor?" dent replies with an empty gun. Bond knows Dent's gun is empty....But Still Kills him, having learned NOTHING....nothing at all. No new information is gleaned in this encounter! Dent has 4 lines, none divulge anything. Bond's killing for the sake of killing. We don't see cold violence like this again until "For your Eyes only", and then still there's clear motivation...Even in the Dalton era and current Sony movies Bond isn't a cold blooded murderer like he is here!
I find it funny that, come their review of Specter, they say that Craig's Bond plays up the assassin aspect of the character, where here when he kills the professor, they say that it's always been a part of the character in all its incarnations.
@ 1:15:55 Maybe it is a British thing? I remember an episode of Red Dwarf where there is Water that washes the ducting, which in the show they were also crawling through.
the unseen matt is the deadliest
Rewatching 'From Rewatch With Love', something something engagement
96 minutes? I am being flooded with good content!
I am all for this. Count me in on the bond train.
Can’t wait for ep 21