On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the James Bond movies gave its fans something to celebrate last week, with many notable franchise figures hailing what made these films such a continued success. Without Dr. No successful kick off by Sean Connery 007 Course, we may never have seen a franchise built on that first cinematic attempt. No one would know that better than writing duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who know what makes Bond special.
The James Bond screenwriters, who have been in the franchise for The world is not enoughrecently spilled the wick at a BFI event (via Deadline) organized in honor of this milestone anniversary. Robert Wade, in particular, weighed in on what separated Terence Young’s 1962 spy thriller from the film franchise as a whole, citing one key aspect as a starting point:
There are other really basic things, like editing. It’s hard to remember now how revolutionary editing was: it completely changed the way a certain type of film was made.
As much as author Ian Fleming marked the world with his stories of espionage and deception, so the feature films adapted from the James Bond books have helped change the world of cinema. As Robert Wade mentioned above, factors like editing Dr. No put the film in a separate class of adventures. This heritage has only evolved over six decades of production, as 007 is always on the move to follow the politics and cinema of a given period.
Much like Bond’s Walther PPK, the film delivered thrills and excitement like a brick through the cinema glass. This tradition continues, particularly through the thrilling series of big-screen episodes that make up Daniel Craig’s series of James Bond films. Explaining this claim, Robert Wade further explained how the edit brought together the following rich elements that would eventually become hallmarks of the series:
If you look at Dr. No now – the colors, the cutting, the cinematography, the locations and of course the wonderful music – it still jumps off the screen at you.
Opinions on who makes an ideal James Bond have always varied wildly across the fandom, and will continue to do so. What doesn’t change is that when it comes to the best 007 installments, it doesn’t matter when they were made, as long as they were made right. This is a conversation we wouldn’t be having if Sean Connery Dr. No stage fright had not been banished and in doing so allowed the film to set the stage so brilliantly 60 years ago.
Dr. No, and the rest of the James Bond film canon, are currently streaming in one convenient place. Yes, this includes no time to die, Spectrumand even the sometimes hard to stream Just for your eyes. While you don’t need a tropical lair to watch 007 in action, you definitely should have one. Prime Video Subscriptionbecause that’s where the action is.