Monday, April 5, 2010

How many Bond films, exactly...?

Oh, there's always a debate over how many Bond films there are. Usually one of the following...
  • There are 22, up to Quantum of Solace. The unofficial ones don't count.
  • There are 25 up to QOS, including the old Casino Royale's, and Never Say Never Again.
  • There are 24 up to QOS, because the 1954 Casino Royale is too short to be a full movie.

Well, guess what? Wrong... wrong.... wrong. There are at least *thirty six*.

As far as I have been able to determine, THIS is the complete James Bond filmography:

  1. "Casino Royale" (1954), starring Barry Nelson
  2. "Dr. No" (1962), starring Sean Connery
  3. "From Russia With Love" (1963), starring Sean Connery
  4. "Goldfinger" (1964), starring Sean Connery
  5. "Thunderball" (1965), starring Sean Connery
  6. "Two Mafiosi Against Goldginger" (Italian - 1965), starring George Hilton [Hilton's 007 is only a small role, and not the focus of the film]
  7. "Operation Kid Brother" (Italian - 1967), starring Neil Connery [spinoff - 007 is killed and replaced; co-stars EON castmembers]
  8. "Casino Royale" (1967), starring David Niven, etc.
  9. "You Only Live Twice" (1967), starring Sean Connery
  10. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969), starring George Lazenby
  11. "James Bond 777" (Indian - 1971), starring Ghattamaneni Krishna
  12. "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971), starring Sean Connery
  13. "Live and Let Die" (1973), starring Roger Moore
  14. "The Man With The Golden Gun" (1974), starring Roger Moore
  15. "From Hong Kong With Love" (French - 1975), starring Les Charlots, a French pop group [spinoff - 007 is killed and replaced; co-stars EON castmembers]
  16. "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977), starring Roger Moore
  17. "The Dragon Lives Again" (Chinese - 1977), starring Alexander Grand
  18. "Moonraker" (1979), starring Roger Moore
  19. "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), starring Roger Moore
  20. "Octopussy" (1983), starring Roger Moore
  21. "Never Say Never Again" (1983), starring Sean Connery
  22. "Our Man From Bond Street" (Japanese - 1984), starring Jean Mersant [Bond is the villain; also stars Richard Kiel!]
  23. "A View To A Kill" (1985), starring Roger Moore
  24. "Bond 303" (Indian - 1986), starring Jeetendra
  25. "The Mahjong Incident" (Chinese - 1987), starring Ron D. Cohen [Cohen's 007 is only a small role, and not the focus of the film]
  26. "The Living Daylights" (1987), starring Timothy Dalton
  27. "Licence To Kill" (1989), starring Timothy Dalton
  28. "Mr. Bond" (Indian - 1992), starring Akshay Kumar
  29. "From Beijing With Love" (Chinese - 1994), starring Stephen Chiau
  30. "GoldenEye" (1995), starring Pierce Brosnan
  31. "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), starring Pierce Brosnan
  32. "The World Is Not Enough" (1999), starring Pierce Brosnan
  33. "Jak Ukrast Dagmaru" [translation unknown] (Polish - 2001), starring Jaroslav Sypal
  34. "Die Another Day" (2002), starring Pierce Brosnan
  35. "Casino Royale" (2006), starring Daniel Craig
  36. "Quantum Of Solace" (2008), starring Daniel Craig

Now, this is by no means a complete list, as I'm certain there are others floating around.

But what few realize is that Bond is an international character; as with any well-known franchise ("Turkish Star Wars", anyone?), foreign countries are bound to interpret the character in ways best suited for their population. God only knows what EON thinks of these - try finding the DVD cover for "Jak Ukrast Dagmaru". The number '007' appears dozens of times. And "From Beijing With Love," an extremely bloody Chinese interpretation starring "Kung Fu Hustle" star Stephen Chiau; not only does the cover refer to the character as 007, but the Bond theme appears in the movie!

While you're likely to NEVER see a mention of these in a Bond book (you're lucky to see the non-EON flicks; and frankly, I hate when a book skips 'the other three'), they still exist. I've collected a few, and while some are just terrible ("Operation Kid Brother" managed to piss off Sean Connery AND become an episode of MST3K), others (like "Mr. Bond," a Bollywood musical with a jaw-dropping villain that slaughters babies) are worthwhile for the curiosity value.

If anyone knows of one missing from my list, lemme know...

2 comments:

Antonio Jesús Reyes said...

"Casino Royale" (1954), starring Barry Nelson???????????????????????????????????????

The Rabid Child said...

Yep:

http://www.amazon.com/Casino-Royale-Collectors-Peter-Lorre/dp/6304867514/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1270726953&sr=8-6

Pricey now, but worth it.