Essays

Bond: “The Other Fellow”

/ / Essays, Theme Week

When Sean Connery retired, the first time, from the role of James Bond after You Only Live Twice, a new face for the franchise was needed.  The role, like Connery before him, went to an unknown.

George Lazenby was offered a seven picture deal with the Bond franchise, and if he had accepted who knows where Bond would have ended up today.  Instead he took his agent’s advice to refuse the deal and his time as Bond was short-lived spanning only one film, On His Majesty’s Secret Service.

Fans reaction to Lazenby’s Bond were mixed, finding him physically able to perform the role but emotionally distant and lacking the charm of Connery.  The choice was purposeful to paint Lazenby’s Bond as different from Connery and to cast him more in the image of Fleming’s novels.  Although he only performed in a single film, he was, if only for a short time, Bond.  James Bond.

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Bond, James Bond

/ / Essays, Theme Week

In 1961 producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman set out to turn one of Ian Fleming‘s James Bond novels into a feature film.  Many were considered; one was chosen.  The list was long and extensive: Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner), David Niven, James Mason, Roger Moore, and Cary Grant.

The role went instead to an unknown stage and television actor – Sean Connery, and the rest, as they say, is history.  Connery would go on to make five Bond films before leaving the role only to be called back after the Lanzenby film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service met with mixed reviews and the actor pulled out of a long term deal, paving the way for Connery to make one more Bond flick before saying goodbye to the character, for the second time, vowing never to play Bond Again.  He would return once more to reprise the role in a remake of a fan favorite Bond film in his final farewell to the Bond franchise Never Say Never Again.

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Football Flicks

/ / Essays

Are you ready for some Football?  With the recent release of football films in theaters and on DVD today we give you some of the best and the worst ever made.  Now anybody can make a list with only the best known football flicks but our eclectic mix of 10 films (plus a few recommendations) includes some you’d expect and a few which might surprise you.  Check out the full list inside.

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Football Flicks Read More »

I’m… Batman?

/ / Essays

In Grant Morrison’s current storyline Batman R.I.P. the fate of Bruce Wayne is up in the air as his days of Batman are drawing to a close.  If so, what to do with the character of Batman?  DC has been teasing the possibility of Tim Drake, the current Robin, taking up the cowl as the new Batman.  Is this the best idea, or are there others more worthy to take on the mantle of the Bat?  Who should be Batman? 

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I’m… Batman? Read More »