#32 James Bond A to Z with Steven Jay Rubin

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:15

All right, Sean, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. You get us going week after week after week, everybody. Welcome to Episode 32 of the Jeff Dwoskin show. Welcome. I am your host, Jeff Dwoskin. And it's great to have you here. Ah, week after week. You keep coming back. We keep doing it. And this episode is amazing. Shaken, not stirred. That's right. Why because I have author Steven Jay Rubin with me, author of the acclaimed James Bond movie encyclopedia. He's one of the world's renowned experts on James Bond and this whole episode is bond. James Bond is going to be great. You're gonna love it. We're gonna get to that in just a bit.

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It's time for the social media to That's right. This is the part of the show where I share a little social wisdom with you social media wisdom that is. So here's the one for today. If you have the Snapchat app on your phone, and you have the Twitter app, and in the past, maybe you took screenshots of your tweets and posted them on your snapchat no more Twitter now has a direct integration with Snapchat. So if you're logged into your snapchat app, and you go to your Twitter, and you click the Share options, one of them's going to be Snapchat that brings the tweet right into Snapchat. And then you had to like shoot a background or have a background ready. I just shot a photo of my black couch. So it was just a black background against the tweet, but it's the tweet. And then there's a link so they can go from Snapchat where they see the tweet and click on it and go directly to your tweet. And that way it kind of works a little like fleets do when you fleet a tweet, you can click on the tweet. Now you can do that with Snapchat as well. Pretty cool. So check that out. It's pretty nice. And they just rolled it out. And that's a social media tip.

All right. We got the interview coming up real soon with Steven jay Rubin. We're going deep into James Bond. And after the interviews, especial hashtag Roundup, hashtag surprise for you. Well, I'll tell you why. It's not a surprise. It's gonna be bad James Bond pickup lines, hilarious stuff. We're gonna read off a bunch of those tweets after the interview. So stay tuned for that. In the meantime, download the hashtag roundup app, get the app play along and one of your tweets may show up on a future episode of the Jeff Dwoskin show.

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Steven Jay Rubin 5:59

Dada, dada, dada.

Jeff Dwoskin 6:01

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we are here with producer and author, Steven J. RUBIN, who's written many books, many books, but we're going to focus today on the very super cool the James Bond movie encyclopedia, which is exactly what it sounds like. It is literally a to z, every single thing you would ever want to know about the entire James Bond series, including some really super awesome photos and all that kind of stuff available on Amazon. But we're gonna go deep. That's Mr. RUBIN here and he's a Bond, James Bond expert. And we're going in Welcome to the show.

Steven Jay Rubin 6:41

Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. appreciate being here. Hello, everyone.

Jeff Dwoskin 6:46

It was only when I was trying to think about this conversation and like how do you you cover so much? You have every actor you have every movie? You've got gadgets, you've got the the bond women, you've got the bond villains, there's like so many threads, we can pull we could talk for probably 100 million hours but we're not going to everyone who just went Oh, wait a minute. I don't have 100 million hours. No, we're gonna we're gonna hone it all down. We're gonna give you a mini James Bond encyclopedia. Okay, diving into the encyclopedia topic One W ho do you think are the most iconic of the James Bond Women and they though they can be the women are they even the villains because a lot of them the villains were pretty standout too.

Steven Jay Rubin 7:07

There were women who crossed over. Interestingly, I do a Facebook post called the James Bond movie encyclopedia presents this day and James Bond history. And today we're wishing Happy Birthday to Famke Janssen who's a Dutch actress who played Xenia Onatopp. She's the lead lady and GoldenEye the first Pierce Brosnan and she's a villain. I mean, she's an insatiably murderous villain, who's sexy as all get out. And that's kind of a trope with the bond women, the villainous ones are, are very sexy. I'll tell you. The James Bond novels by Ian Fleming really affected me when I was a kid, my dad would go on business trips, and he would bring home westerns. And for some reason, I had no interest in reading about westerns, I watch westerns, I was probably 10 or 11. I watched all the classic westerns of the day but one day he dropped gold finger on my desk said you might like this. Now I'm 11 years old, my dad drops a picture with a nude blue lady on the cover. And I'm looking at it and she was covered up, it was a very PG cover. But still, it's a nude lady dressed in gold, all in gold. And it had a powerful impact on me as it did a lot of the James Bond women when I first started going to the movies. I mean, as an 11, or 12 year old, the first James Bond movie I saw was gold finger. That Christmas of 1964, which we can today going to see in Star Wars movie or Avengers. It's a big event. And I had not seen the first two James Bond movies Dr. No from Russia would love which were released in the United States with a lot less fanfare. In fact, I remember my mom going to see from Russia would love and she didn't understand anything about it and couldn't relate much to it. I later saw it on a double feature with Dr. Now after the release of gold finger and it was a big phenomenon. And in those days, I mean, the Bond movies were just before there were 10 poles there were James Bond movies, you know, you know how they used that. That mean today for big epic science fiction and superhero movies. They're their studio tent poles because that's pretty much all the studios are releasing. Well, the Bond movies kind of invented that, you know, long before jaws because jaws was the first big summer blockbuster, but Goldfinger was so successful that the New York theaters at that time stayed open 24 hours a day to accommodate the crowds and to this day, See, it's 64 so it's 56 years later, I still say that gold fingers the best James Bond movie they haven't talked at since. All those wonderful moments. In fact, one of the key characters he meets on the airplane puts the galore. I'll never forget the moment in the theater one night. He looks up from his he's been kind of drugged and bond looks up at the girl and says, Who are you? And she and Honor Blackman? The wonderful British actor says, My name is Pussy Galore. And he says, I must be dreaming. Laugh in this series. I mean, I'll tell you doing the behind the scenes research for the James Bond movie encyclopedia I discovered that Richard Maibaum who was the writer of Goldfinger was all set to change the name if the British censors had thrown that name out because this is 1964. The 60s in England were a little more progressive perhaps than other places. And instead of changing her name to kitty galore, he came up with a ruse with a PR guy who ran Eon productions which produced the James Bond movies and honor Blackman was escorted to a royal benefit by the prince, Prince Philip at that time, and he gave an exclusive photographic break to a London newspaper if they would print the caption pussy and the prince. So I published that caption I mean, a royal with Pussy Galore, and nobody squawked. So it emboldened the producers to go ahead with push the galore so there you go.

Jeff Dwoskin 11:34

These days, most of the news broadcasts and the shows came and say shits Creek

Steven Jay Rubin 11:40

Bond movies have changed quite a bit. I I can say that, but the women are still striking. I think that there's no question. Well, I shouldn't say they're a little more PC because James Bond movies as a rule are PC they're PG films PG 13, as we say today, because they've never alienated the family audience. I mean, even all these years later, you can pretty be safe to take your kids to see the Bond movies and your grandparents. I mean, it's a multi generational experience. No bear bosoms, no f bombs. they've stayed away from those kinds of things that would alienate the family audience and although it's not exactly a Disney movie, Bond movies stay within their parameters. The bond series has to be the longest running series of any movie series ever. Yes. The 25th will be released in April if we're lucky, depending on COVID. There are also two orphan Bond movies. There was a spoof of Casino Royale released in 1967, with Woody Allen, David nivin and Peter Sellers and then in 1983, the same year that the official Bond movie Octopussy came out. They did a remake of Thunderball called Never Say Never again, which brought back Sean Connery for his last outing as James Bond.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:01

Is it considered an official James Bond movie?

Steven Jay Rubin 13:04

No, although it is now owned by United Artists because they purchased it from jack Schwartzman estate. JACK Schwartzman was the original producer he was married to the actress Talia Shire played the Rockies life in the Rocky movies and the sister in The Godfather movies. I got to know Schwartzman very well. What happened was when Ian Fleming was still writing his books he met a producer named Kevin McClory, and mclaury didn't like any of the novels. He said these aren't going to make good film projects. So he got together with Fleming and a writer named jack winningham. And they came up with a story a big wide ranging world alarm story called latitude 78. West mclaury had worked with Mike Todd on around the world in 80 days, so he liked the idea of doing a globe trotting Bond movie, so they couldn't sell it though at this time in the late 50s. No actor would take on a seven year role and no studio would take on the project unless they had an actor for seven years. So the project fell apart and Ian Fleming the author ended up taking the materials and writing a novel called Thunderball, but he didn't credit either Whittingham or mclaury. And a huge lawsuit was filed in London High Court. And over a two year period, Fleming lost the film rights to Thunderball. So mclaury went into the marketplace and soon discovered that he couldn't make his movie because Sean Connery had already established himself as bond. So he made a deal with broccoli and Saltzman the two producers when they made Thunderbolt together in 1965 with a coda seal that he could not do any more Bond movies for 10 years. mclaury claimed that there were 10 or 11 Bond movies he could have done from the original materials he developed with Fleming so 10 years later, he announced James Bond to the Secret Service but by then the bond series that was just gone on for 20 years they weren't about to to let a guy get away with this. So a court battle another court battle Two years until 1982 when this gentleman jack Schwartzman, he got together with mclaury and realized that he could make a new version of Thunderball and that's how we got Never Say Never again which was released by Warner Brothers so it's not an official Bond movie but it is now part of the whole thing because they purchased it

Jeff Dwoskin 15:21

got it got it got it. So of this seven Sean Connery films six are cannon heavy well, James Bond and then the seventh while finally found its home is no longer and then that was named Never Say Never again is sort of a throwback to Sean Connery saying they would never play James Bond again. I

Steven Jay Rubin 15:38

think it was Michaleen Connery, his wife who claimed that that this would be a good title, because you're always saying never again. It's actually not a bad movie. I mean, I it's not one of my favorites. Or when Kirsch Irvin kershner, who directed it, who had recently done the second Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, we came in with a lot of fanfare, but I later discovered because I did the commentary tracks on the DVD release, I discovered by interviewing him that he did not like to direct action. So here you have a non action director directing a Bond movie and hence, Never Say Never again has very little action in it. So that's not a good thing.

Jeff Dwoskin 16:14

Got it. And of course, Sean Connery most consider him the best bond ever just recently passed away rest in peace to Sean, I think there's two things that make a favorite bond, which I think also falls into the same categories which godfather movie like the best, and it depends which one you saw first. I mine was Roger Moore. He wasn't necessarily my favorite. But he was he was who James Bond was to me because that's who was James Bond when I started going to see James Bond movies. I always appreciated Sean Connery and I think he's awesome. I think Sean Connery does a bond James Bond better than anyone else. Which, you know, helps you know with with that mythos, but do you have a favorite or do agree with you?

Steven Jay Rubin 17:00

100% you, you embrace the bond, you grew up with the first James Bond movie, as I said, who I saw his Goldfinger, so Connery was my bond. And for me, he just blew out all the stops. He was just charismatic. He was he was good with his fists. When he hits somebody, they stay down. The ladies loved him guys loved him. I mean, he kind of was I'll tell you one thing, Jeff. I don't think they make actors like Sean Connery anymore. This kind of an actor with this huge charisma. He came up in the early 60s about the same era as Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen. So this was an era where they were introducing new action stars and they had kind of a tough guy side to them. They weren't your classic hero types. They were more like anti heroes and Connery as bond is supposed to be a real tough guy not a guy you want to cross and there's a scene in Doctor No, which they did not repeat later on in the series is waiting for the bad guy in a cottage in Jamaica. And the guy shows up and pumps like eight shots from his Smith and Wesson into what he thinks is James Bond in bed with this girl, but bond is sitting behind with them and sitting behind him and then switches on the light and disarms them. The guy doesn't realize he used all of his ammunition. So he picks up his gun and tries to shoot bond and of course, that's empty, and then bond says, that's a Smith and Wesson and you've had your six and he shoots them in cold blood right there and puts another shot in his back to add to the misery and you know, that's pretty cold blooded, but James Bond was just about to be murdered. So he wasn't about to take a prisoner so that for 1963 was pretty racy, and they didn't really repeat it much later on. But bond is supposed to be a magnificent bastard and Connery came off like that. He had a tough guy, truck driver look, but thanks to Terence young, the director of doctrine Oh From Russia with love and Thunderball. He also gave him kind of a classy look as well.

Jeff Dwoskin 19:01

I did look up IMDb has the the list of the worst Bond movies and the only Sean Connery one in the mix is never say never again and again that's based out of a 10 rating so got like a 6.2 or something it's kind of in line with what you're saying

Steven Jay Rubin 19:15

wasn't really up to snuff with with the other ones but I think the other all the other ones are just considered iconic. Diamonds Are Forever was the first time they brought Connery because Connery after You Only Live Twice, he leaves he's tired of the bond schedules, tired of the fishbowl. So they get George Lazenby for bond number six, which was on Her Majesty's Secret Service, which is all always been disparaged as that one trick pony, George Lazenby but George Lazenby was a model who had never acted before in his life. And Peter hunt the director who had edited the first four James Bond movies. He got a performance out of him and I thought that lace and B had natural ability as well. But through a series of events, he was given bad advice. So he walked and then David picker who was an executive weeknight artist. He convinced Connery to come back for Diamonds Are Forever a feedback, a couple of Connery favorite pictures and also gave some money to the Scottish Relief Fund. So but Connery in '71 little overweight, she doesn't look as svelt, you know. And the comics side of Bond had come in because they brought in Tom Mankiewicz as the writer and Mankiewicz was known as more for his wit. And he would later write Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun for Roger, which probably you saw early on when you start to see those Roger Moore bonds.

Jeff Dwoskin 20:42

And just to correct myself from my statement earlier and to be right in line with you just to prove what a James Bond expert you are. Diamonds Are Forever actually is listed in worse so it is in the in the bottom 10 of the of the James Bond movie. Kudos, US kudos. So the David nivin turn as James Bond, I guess I didn't realize is a parody with Woody Allen, as you mentioned earlier, not to flash forward to Daniel Craig but when they did Casino Royale they Is it the same movie or remake or they just use the same name?

Steven Jay Rubin 21:16

Well, the original problem in Fleming's first novel was Casino Royale Now interestingly, the first producer to ever take a look at that book, and actually option it was an air as it was an actor named Gregory rat off. Gregory red Tov was a fox contract player he was in an airport, looking for a paperback to read picked up Casino Royale loved the book got the rights, right over to Fox in the 50s this is long before Albert brocklin Harry Saltzman got the rights to this series and it was going to be developed at Fox as a vehicle for Susan Hayward to play a female agent. So this was way off the track of what the Bond movie was going to be. But that never happened. Thank God and then route tops rights were acquired by a mega agent of the 60s named Charles k Feldman. But like mclaury he couldn't get anything going because the main bond series wasn't was already going so he decided to do a giant spoof of the Bond movies and that's what the Casino Royale that came out in 67 was that was just a spoof with Woody Allen playing James Bonds nephew Jimmy bond and David never played her James Bond and Peter Sellers played the phony James Bond and was it's just a Goofy Movie so that was kind of dismissed so when they decided to reboot the series with Daniel Craig they went back and they finally did casino right now the way it should have been done and I have to say even so even though I say gold fingers my favorite James Bond movie I think Casino Royale is right up there right parallel to number one I think it's it's a terrific launching part for for Daniel Craig and he's been terrific and his rolls

Jeff Dwoskin 23:01

love them love them so let me ask you guys so they're doing casino Rao which would you say get get smart is a parody of James Bond as well right and that was like 65 to 70 so that was actually so this come out the Casino Royale with Woody Allen and David nivin come out in the middle of Don Adams and such Get Smart now Mel Brooks film or TV show back

Steven Jay Rubin 23:25

in hurt the main bond series because it was released before You Only Live Twice that year and the grosses for You Only Live Twice did not equal those for the previous film Thunderbolts. So cubby broccoli told me that it was terrible because he felt that a lot of people thought they produced the goofy Woody Allen Bond movie and it obviously wasn't them.

Jeff Dwoskin 23:50

Cool. So then we move into Roger Moore, Roger les Roger Moore, I think would have been

Steven Jay Rubin 23:56

Roger Moore was actually thought of for bond back in the 60s pre Connery but they thought he was too pretty he didn't have that kind of the as broccoli and Saltzman say it they wanted tough guy with his fists kind of patterned on characters out of a Mickey Spillane or Mike Hammer novel. So he didn't quite fit that at that time. But by 1973 having done Connery and lace and B they felt they were ready for Roger and although his movies were a little light in terms of the comedy Spirit because they reflected what Roger would bring to the series of a very classy good looking British you know, upper crust agent. They were huge successes particularly with the third Roger Moore film The Spy love me that summer of 1977 that was the summer of Star Wars and bonds shown very bright that year did very well. It was a big international hit. And it starts the series on a trek toward big international grosses. The next film Moonraker was even bigger Then you have for your eyes only Octopussy, A View to a Kill these are all big successes for the for the series you know those who disparage Rogers films for being too light hearted I always point them and say it yet but they got a new generation of bond fans like yourself excited about the roll because they were very entertaining pictures they were easy to market and they cross the the waters they've done as well in Bangkok as they did in Germany or boston

Jeff Dwoskin 25:29

and i gotta say is it produced some of the best James Bond songs that's that's another one I don't think I listed that earlier. The James Bond theme songs are those those are iconic too. I mean Live and Let Die, I saw Paul McCartney do that in concert is was the best, For our eyes only was great. That was Sheena Easton I believe and then there was View to a kill was Duran Duran.

Steven Jay Rubin 25:52

That was the only song that reached number one. I have to give it to the producers particularly the the daughter of Cubby broccoli, Barbara broccoli and her stepbrother, Michael Wilson. They've really paid attention to pop hits and who's the hot hot singer at the time? Like right now we're contemplating seeing the new James Bond movie, which will be the last Daniel Craig and they got Billy Eilish to be the singer and her song has gotten a lot of positives.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:20

I heard that song that was good. I gotta say what am I I can't remember specifically the Sam Smith one though I think it one won the Oscar but Skyfall I'll take Skyfall Oh, yeah, it was then this good. Adele I mean, it's like I think like to me this is like amazing.

Steven Jay Rubin 26:39

Like you run the gamut. I mean, you've got the very brassy surely bases singing gold finger you've got golden throw it a Tom Jones thing singing Thunderball. You've got Nancy Sinatra singing you I live twice she got basically against the diamonds. It's really I'll tell you they've made a fortune on the soundtrack for those movies. They've been big sellers a long, long time.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:59

They seem to hit it really well and so many different things. I mean, there's just you know, like I said, like the villains, the women the cars, the the gadgets, there's like so many different things that go into every movie that you just get so excited about. And they're like, Damn, and like and then so memorable. I think even Tina Turner I think did GoldenEye Yeah, they just have that pulse on a lot of really cool things. And then they would bring in good actress to like I liked when they brought in john Cleese to the queue

Steven Jay Rubin 27:31

to the magnet for talent. I think that Oh, stay I say that there are three things certain in life there's death taxes and James Bond movies. I don't think we're ever not gonna have James Bond movies because frankly, it's a very powerful franchise. It doesn't require anything more than realizing that James Bond is a real person, not a superhero. I admire the superhero movies. But how many Iron Man's do we need? We need like six Iron Man's thick bond is kind of gold with the times you know, when there was a worldwide shortage of oil in the 70s they did the Man with the Golden Gun. You know, they work with the times they introduced the laser before anybody knew what a laser was. And it's pretty iconic when it's pointed at your privates. And you're, you're wondering if you're about to lose it all and the bond turns to a golden finger and says, Do you expect me to talk and gold finger says No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die. That's pretty killer dialogue.

Jeff Dwoskin 28:34

Great Tyler. I wanted to jump in and finish Jesse. I knew I knew it, but I don't want to let you finish. Cool. So Moonraker What do you feel about James Bond and space?

Steven Jay Rubin 28:45

Really bad idea. James Bond does not belong in space. It's just Well, you know, you know what happened? They the Star Wars had already become a big Smash. So when they were producing Moonraker a couple years later, they thought they'd add some space footage in of you know, Bond going to this space station and it just didn't work. For me it was it wasn't very well executed. This is pre digital effects. So everything looks kind of clunky. Not a good idea. But Moonraker has some good things. It has some great music. I thought Roger did a fairly good job. It's again, a big spectacular production worldwide goes to Venice that goes to Los Angeles it goes to all these places has a kick ass teaser with a skydiving sequence. It's got a lot going for it but you know, not one of my favorites.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:35

How did you feel about View to a Kill his swan song?

Steven Jay Rubin 29:38

the worst, I would put that at the very end of the line for Bond movies. I mean, starting with the opening ski chase, which they suddenly put under some beach boy foot beach boat soundtrack. It just didn't belong in that movie it Roger was probably too old for that one but he gave it a good try. But the whole caper It was kind of a ripoff of gold finger as you recall, gold finger is obsessed with gold and wants to steal gold from Fort Knox or at least destroy the gold in Fort Knox. Mack Zoran is a megalomaniac supervillain who wants to put the he wants to have the world's monopoly on microchips. Now, I don't think anybody cares about microchips. It was not a really good source for plot. But his plan was to destroy Silicon Valley. That was a little too outrageous for me on one of my favorite Bond movies, but once again with some great john Barry music when that as bad as some of the Bond movies could get with some of their stupid storylines, the music was always good.

Jeff Dwoskin 30:41

Are there any stupid storylines up to this point that we haven't covered?

Steven Jay Rubin 30:47

I didn't like the Man with a Golden Gun either. I thought again, it was, it was an interesting idea to turn Christopher Lee, who'd been in all those horror movies as Dracula and Frankenstein a tournament to a suave killer named scarah manga, but they got him to be so suave and cool that he lost his villainy I found that it's hard to have a James Bond movie. If your villain is so likable, and I thought that Christopher Lee was pretty likable. It was actually kind of cool to see a doctor who had been mostly horror to suddenly play this suave killer who's got a beautiful girlfriend and Maude Adams he lives on this amazing beach in Thailand, but it didn't work for me and one of the great stunts in the whole series was ruined by a slide whistle sound effect that ruined the whole thing which I thought was a mistake. I mean, they did a 360 jump with a car, which was designed by a computer and done by this amazing stunt team. Or the were bond has to get across a river and he does a 360 jump a car does a complete circle around and was ruined by that sound effect but that's it. There were some high points again some great music from john Barry and then little Herve vilchez as nicknack the little pint sized villain was just terrific.

Jeff Dwoskin 32:02

Who are your favorite villains at this point, because we have definitely have jobs. Job doctor, no, Goldfinger, Blofeld,

Steven Jay Rubin 32:12

Gert Frobe character from the Goldfinger movie, I was one of the best because he he's a megalomaniac, but he's still a human being. He's not like out of a science fiction movie. He's just obsessed with gold. I thought he was terrific. I thought the three villains in from Russia would love for great a lot of Lenya vladeck, Shay Bell and of course Robert Shaw and we know Robert shot from jaws he played Quint. But Shaw is this blonde painted villain grant is, is great in from Russia love. In fact, he's in one of the great fight scenes of all time in the cabinet, in the train compartment on the Orient Express. with James Bond. It's one of the most thrilling fights in the series. And I like the villains later on, but I think the best ones for me were in the early Bond films. Blofeld is interesting. He isn't quite grounded for me, although I thought the closest to a good blow film was Telly Savalas and honor Majesty's Secret Service. He's kind of an American Blofeld. Although Blofeld is very European in the books, but I actually liked his performance a lot more than I'd like Christopher Christoph Waltz's and the more recent Daniel Craig's a. Those of your listeners who saw Spectre, which was the last James Bond film discovered that in the new storyline, James Bond and Blofeld are related. They're kind of foster brothers

Jeff Dwoskin 33:35

blast to me,

Steven Jay Rubin 33:36

it just didn't work for me. But that's that's neither here nor there. Okay, so

Jeff Dwoskin 33:39

now in the timeline, if I recall, is a young boy, they're trying to get Pierce Brosnan and like Pierce Brosnan,

Steven Jay Rubin 33:48

who was under contract to NBC was making that TV series Remington Steele couldn't get out of his contract. So they decided that they can't wait or they went with Timothy Dalton and Dalton did to James Bond movies. Then finally, they got Pierce Brosnan back to play bond and his debut, which was a long delay. By the way, there were some issues with the studio, MGM went through some hellacious times as kind of a football being thrown between various financing parties and they couldn't get any movies financed during that period. So the next James Bond movie doesn't come out till 1995

Jeff Dwoskin 34:24

I don't remember which Timothy Dalton movie at it. He's, he's I know some people like him and think he's Oh, he's a good version. And there was one of those movies I can't remember which one it was as watching it like in a bar and I'm like, this is the worst movie

Steven Jay Rubin 34:40

involves first James Bond movie was supposed to be Pierce Brosnan first James Bond movie, so it played to what they thought were Pierce's strengths, which was the living daylights and that's another one of these Roger Moore sighs big epic globe trotting bonds. The second Timothy Dalton movie, license to kill was kind of played like a long Niamey vise episode. It's got a very dreary storyline. James Bond's friend Felix Leiter is mutilated by this drug kingpin named Franz Sanchez played very well by Robert Davi. But the storyline of taking down this drug kingpin could have been a long Miami Vice episode. So I don't think it did Dalton's 10 years bond very well. And then indeed, they decided to go with Pierce Brosnan for the next film.

Jeff Dwoskin 35:28

Were they gonna go with Pierce Brosnan? Regardless? You know, once they could get him there, they're they're dumping Timothy Dalton regardless. Well, I

Steven Jay Rubin 35:36

think if the if the Dalton film might license to kill, I'd done better. But I think that was just an ill conceived Bond movie. So it didn't do very well, at least in terms of the normal bond grosses. So yeah, they were ready to make a change. Timothy was very serious. I think he did his homework. I thought he was a good Bond movie, but I don't think they wrote to his strengths. And also I find Timothy, although he's a very good actor. When you put them next to Pierce Brosnan. He doesn't have that panache that I think Brosnan has for Austin's kind of, he's got that twinkle in his eye that bond needs.

Jeff Dwoskin 36:13

I loved him as James Bond. He was he was awesome. So with golden eye, if I remember correctly, if memory serves, so there's it's now it's now about six years, like you said since the previous one. And this these are these are blockbusters again. Right. I mean, he brings the serious cash back to the James Bond franchise. People are just excited in general about James Bond again.

Steven Jay Rubin 36:36

They are I mean, people have been waiting for Pierce Brosnan to take on the bond thing for years. So I think the combination of peers, they brought in a marvelous director and British director named Martin Campbell and Campbell unlike Irvin kershner Campbell is terrific with action. And I think that they just pulled out all the stops and they gave some great villains Sean Bean, who we know from so many films since is played Borromeo in the Lord of the Rings movies, he played Ned Stark and Game of Thrones, he's become one of our favorite actors from the United Kingdom. He played the renegade agent, Alec Trevelyan in GoldenEye and he's great and I mentioned earlier Xenia on the top played by famka Johnson, who was also good, was good, it was good. I think that it was a lot a lot of fun and launch the series back into the stratosphere.

Jeff Dwoskin 37:29

She's also very well known for everyone listening. She was Jean Grey and the x men movies

Steven Jay Rubin 37:34

great in that too, also plays Liam Neeson his wife and those Taken movies.

Jeff Dwoskin 37:39

Exactly. So okay, so So give me what are your feelings on Denise Richards that world is not enough where she's Dr. Christmas or Christmas Jones, which

Steven Jay Rubin 37:49

of course, is responsible for one of the great lines at the end of the show. Denise Richards gets a free few Brickbats but I thought she was terrific. I mean, she looks great. I thought getting here to play a nuclear scientist was a little bit of a stretch but she's great. I there's nothing wrong with that. You've got Sophie Marceau in that movie playing a very interesting character on the movies pack. That's actually my favorite Paris bras and I think it has all the all the bells and whistles and a very satisfying conclusion. I did not like the previous one I did not like tomorrow never guys, I thought it had been another one of those ridiculous plots you know kind of you know a newspaper executive wants to start world war three to increase the circulation. I don't think so.

Jeff Dwoskin 38:33

Seems reasonable to me. I don't know you're crazy. They how many of these books did in funding right?

Steven Jay Rubin 38:43

I think let's see. I'm trying to remember I think it was 1311 novels and two collections of short stories so there's not a lot of material so they ran out of titles years ago. Everything we see now is brand new, it's just sometimes a slap on previous title mean Casino Royale is probably the closest to the original books. It's still about a game of chance and in Europe, but for the most part, the stories are very new.

Jeff Dwoskin 39:10

So okay, so Pierce Bronson. What led to him only having four Bond films is just that it took so long he just kind of aged out of the role faster because it just took so long to get them to be bond or were there other factors involved? So very good

Steven Jay Rubin 39:23

question. I think that I'm not quite sure what goes on behind the scenes when they're casting his his last Bond movie Die Another Day did just fine in the box office. It's a it's another world globetrotter. And I thought in many ways, it was great just kind of fell apart. And its last app. I guess. They just decided that they wanted somebody new, you know, perhaps he was getting a little older. Although you look terrific. Daniel Craig kind of came out of nowhere. I mean, nobody knew who Daniel Craig was. I mean, he'd been in some movies or in some dramas, but nothing that really stood out yet he came in and we disparaged him at first, that blog. Bond Who's this guy? And after I saw Casino Royale I shut up. I mean, he was terrific.

Jeff Dwoskin 40:05

I love Daniel Craig. He's love everything he's in. But these, his take on James Bond, I think is just great to me. It's it's kind of, without comparing it like literally like watching them next to each other. I mean, just the memory of the coolness of Sean Connery to me, Daniel Craig has that kind of thing. There's no kitsch, like Roger Moore or anything like that. I mean, he's like, he's this good looking badass. Who's gonna kick Yes. And kill you.

Steven Jay Rubin 40:34

Here. Here it is. We're in the you know, he debuts in 2006. By then, a lot more competition in the marketplace. You got the Bourne films, you got the Mission Impossible films, you've got the car stunts of the Fast and the Furious films you got later you got the kingsmen series. There's a lot of stuff going on in film that's very competitive. And so they they went back to more of a gritty, gritty style to make them favorably compared to those other films. Because if you watch a Bourne movie, you watch a Mission Impossible movie, when somebody gets punched in those movies. You feel it in the back row. I mean, there's a lot of a lot of gritty violence. And I think that going back to the lighthearted one liners of the Roger Moore era would never have worked in today's audience, the the male audience, particularly the male audience that sees action movies and movie theaters. And remember, when we used to go to movie theaters, they liked their action, tough and gritty. So who better than to convey that then Daniel Craig, who is another one of these kind of gritty actors who sells his punches very well. In fact, I think he spent hurt in a couple of movies. So he gets into it so much.

Jeff Dwoskin 41:46

Yeah, he's great. I don't know that I loved Spectre, but I the other ones, I thought were great. I feel like Quantum of Solace. Didn't get great reception, but I liked it. I thought it was good. It was a great extension of Casino Royale and Skyfall I thought was really good.

Steven Jay Rubin 42:01

Craig is great, whatever reason and he's in every scene, so the movies can't be total dogs, right? But I thought a Quantum of Solace fell down because they broke the cardinal rule that a Bond movie has to have a good villain. I thought Mathieu Amalric, the French actor, he was kind of a little too buttoned up for me. He's just kind of a businessman type the next film Skyfall they bring in Javier Bardem Silva, who's a great film. So when you have a great villain like that, I think you really kick some butt and I thought Spectre, although I kind of liked it the first time I saw it. After a few viewings, I began to realize that it was low octane didn't once again not a great villain. I did not like Christoph Waltz in the role of his sudden foster brother and the action was kind of disappointing. I mean, considering all the money they spent, by the way, the new one no time to die. I think it's going to be terrific because they blew out all the stops. I have a feeling we're gonna walk away from the Daniel Craig era on a very high note.

Jeff Dwoskin 43:02

I hope so. Because that would be that'd be amazing. He deserves that. He deserves that. I think he he put a lot of good bond into James Bond. So very cool. Let's see. So all right, so overall favorite, your favorite James Bond song?

Steven Jay Rubin 43:16

I would probably say that gold finger is for me since it was the first Bond movie I ever saw. And I play it a lot on my car. CD in my car. Actually, I don't play it on a CD player. That was long ago. Now I play it on my phone. Uh, yeah, no, Goldfinger is one of my favorite I love Thunderball. I like the theme from Casino Royale I think that's a good thing. You know, there have been there have been few very few bad things. You know, I like I like pretty much all of them. They serve their movies very well, along with the title sequences, the title sequences that maintain the the kind of fun you know, that's another trope of the Bond movies that they have these wonderful title sequences. Initially. It was Maurice Bender, who filmed the nude girls and silhouettes but you didn't see anything but you got the feeling that they were nude and then Daniel Kleinman has taken over that role since Casino Royale and he's done some nice title sequences

Jeff Dwoskin 44:09

favorite side villain,

Steven Jay Rubin 44:11

I would have to say odd job also in goldfinger was just terrific with that bowler hat and his he winked flings like a frisbee that can cut a person's head off. That's pretty, pretty cool. Um, another great villain, I would say I like the villain and Casino Royale. I liked Mads Mikkelsen, he played the sheaf. He's the one who drips blood out of his eye and playing card that great Texas Hold'em thing which was changed from the book. Obviously the book written in the 50s was all about Bacharach, but by 2006 they thought Texas Hold'em would be a good game and I like that the poker game and in Casino Royale is a huge set piece it goes on for over an hour

Jeff Dwoskin 44:55

and top two female innuendo names.

Steven Jay Rubin 44:59

Well, you got to go Quickly galore. I mean, she'd have to be there and then I think row is childs and Moonraker had another great one and Holly could hit.

Jeff Dwoskin 45:08

So who is your favorite Bond girl?

Steven Jay Rubin 45:10

They my favorite Bond girl corradino. j and Thunderball, and she played Domino and she's just we unfortunately we lost her earlier this year. I you don't think of bond girls dying because they're so iconic, but Claudine O'Shea played Domino, the plague girl, in Thunderball, and to this day, I think she's the most stunning woman in the series.

Jeff Dwoskin 45:30

All right. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been the bond James Bond retrospective with Steven J. RUBIN, author of the James Bond movie encyclopedia available at Amazon and anywhere good books are found. It's a really, it's a great book. This is like your web version of this book. Are we on now?

Steven Jay Rubin 45:49

This is the fourth edition. It's my first bond book and 17 years, it's in full color. A lot of photographs over 400 photographs, every fact that you need to be a bond expert and some wonderful paintings by Jeff Marshall, who's an East Coast artists, a wonderful artist, and Brian May, another wonderful artist. I'm very happy with the way the book turned out.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:13

I'll put all the links in the show notes as well. But you mentioned I know you do the James Bond today on Facebook. What How can people follow you there

Steven Jay Rubin 46:21

are they go to the James Bond movie encyclopedia and they'll see my postings on Facebook. I also have a Facebook site, Steve Rubin, which also posts those I don't do it every day. But every day there's a moment and James Bond history. They can see it online on Facebook.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:37

You're amazing. And I I wish we could probably spend 100 million more hours talking about James Bond, but I think we did a good job kind of bundling all up for everybody. And thank you so much. I

Steven Jay Rubin 46:48

appreciate it.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:48

Great time. Great time. Thank you. I hope you all enjoyed that James Bond A to Z with Steven Jay Rubin. If you love James Bond, you got to check out his book, The James Bond movie encyclopedia, get it Amazon I'll put a link in the show notes. But if you're a big James Bond fan, that's the book he got to have literally so much information in that book. It's incredible. And you know what else is incredible? It's time for the hashtag trend of the week on the Jeff Dwoskin show. That's right. Every week, we find a hashtag that was played on hashtag Roundup, go to @HashtagRoundup on twitter at hashtag Roundup, download the app, play the hashtag games in one day you might show up on the Jeff Dwoskin show. That's right So today's hashtag keeping in theme with the show #BadJamesBondPickUpLines we all know James Bond was quite the ladies man but he has some pickup lines that maybe he just shouldn't have used Alright, here we go. #BadJamesBondPickUpLines. Hey, babe, I'll have you screaming for more Roger more. Hey, want to put your seven in between my double O's Alright, these are some really bad James Bond pickup lines. Hey, girl, I make you a double o if you know what I mean. Actually, I have no idea what that tweet means. Hey, girl, I'm a bond in the streets and gold finger in the sheets. that would that would get me I have to admit I'm a I'm a sucker for that one. I want to show you my double oh seven face way. I want to I can do that better. I want to show you my double Oh, seven face I'm not sure it was better but it was definitely ident attempt to being better. I've got something for your eyes only girl. The world is not enough. But I am I put the bond in bondage. Okay, so these are these are admittedly some hashtag bad James Bond pickup lines. And here's the final one. The name is bond. James Bond. Can I show you my gadgets? I swear the lady said it was a massager. Okay, well thank you hashtag Roundup, or bringing us #BadJamesBondPickUpLines and hashtag your it the weekly game on hashtag roundup that created that hashtag Thank you very much.

And here we are again at the end of another episode. Can't believe it. Can't believe this is the end of Episode 32. How did we get the 32 episodes, I'll tell you how all of you great listeners and fans out there liking, subscribing, telling your friends thank you so much. I can't thank you enough. If you're like where can i subscribe on YouTube and get that book, the James Bond book, go to the show notes. Go to Jeff is funny.com. Everything will be on the page for this episode 32. And also, don't forget to join the mailing list. Please join the mailing list. I'm trying to build up a mailing list of 100 million people and 100 million short minus a few. So if you can help me out there, that'd be great. And until then, I will see you next week.

Announcer 49:47

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Jeff Dwoskin show with your host Jeff Dwoskin. Now go repeat everything you've heard and sound like a genius catch us online at the Jeff Dwoskin show.com or follow us on Twitter at Jeff Dwoskin show and we'll See you next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai