James Bond // Current

MIGHTY MOVIE PODCAST on HuffPost: PIRATE RADIO Part 1: Nick Frost, Talulah Riley, Tom Sturridge

So here’s what I did on my class trip to London: shoot a video featuring people on... more

DanPersons
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3 hours ago
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Smart, Beautiful & Dangerous: Stana Katic

Get up close with "Castle" star, Stana Katic.

chapinyoung
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23 days ago
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"Dr. No" Actor Joseph Wiseman Dies

Joseph Wiseman, an actor who played the sinister scientist and title character Dr. No... more

ebindelglass
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22 days ago
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You'll love it on top and underneath (the water surface)

Six-figure salary spenders can act out their craziest aquatic chase scenes, now that... more

Skyscraper08
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23 days ago
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Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig sell out on Broadway

Wolverine and James Bond were staring on Broadway this week and they sold every ticket... more

fredcarle
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1 month ago
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Eva Green and Ewan McGregor in an Apocalyptic Romance

French actress Eva Green was given quite the shove into stardom when the landed the... more

atomiclegion
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2 months ago
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What If Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) Directed the Next Bond Film?

"Ten directors have hollered “Action” on a James Bond picture. And in 47 years... more

St_Alia_10191
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2 months ago
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James Bond needs a new car -- which one?

In the Year 2025, James Bond will be zipping through the streets in one of these car... more

Skyscraper08
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2 months ago
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USB Hidden Flash Drive Watch

Always wanted to be just like James Bond, fast living, fast women and super gizmos?... more

mattbrawn
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3 months ago
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Tom Hanks is 007

Oh the things you find on YouTube by accident when you're meant to be busy doing... more

FreshPlastic
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4 months ago
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Bond's Lotus Esprit Sold for £105 000

The Lotus Esprit used in 'For Your Eyes Only' has sold to a Middle Eastern private... more

HeyUGuys
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4 months ago
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Nerdiest Wedding Cake Toppers We Adore

It's wedding season again. Lovers, don't be fooled into using the boring old... more

atomiclegion
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5 months ago
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Rumor: Michael Sheen in Talks to Appear as Blofeld in Bond 23

Classic James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld was supposedly killed in For Your Eyes... more

atomiclegion
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5 months ago
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Michael Sheen New Bond Villain

The welsh actor best know for his portrayal of Tony Blair in the Queen and David Frost... more

bubbeemonkey
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5 months ago
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Did Alfred Hitchcock invent the Bond film?

We all know how wonderfully influential Alfred Hitchcock was on film history and style, how inventive he was with new technologies, and how open he remained to new ideas. He wrote the book on suspense, took bold experimental leaps, and pushed against all boundaries having to do with sex and violence. He had an adjective coined from his last name and his face should be on a banknote; pound or dollar, it scarcely matters. We owe the guy.

This being said, it stings to have to question the Fat Man's legacy in any part, especially in regard to one of my favourites, 1959's North By Northwest.

Not that you'll hear any complaints about the movie from me. I love everything about it, from Cary Grant's silver suit to the notion that he has a formidable mother who henpecks him. The Kaplan/Thornhill mistaken-identity twist is clever, and who wouldn't want to slide down Abe Lincoln's nose with Eva Marie Saint?

No, my problem is with its structure, or rather, the ways in which that structure - a series of eye-poppingly inventive sequences linked in the loosest way imaginable by a breathtakingly slender plotline - has since been hijacked and used as the narrative chassis, or template, for every crappy action movie since 1980. 1980? A delayed reaction, you say? Yes, but in the intervening two decades, the recipe was kept viable by the increasingly ridiculous James Bond franchise.

North By Northwest has been called the first James Bond movie (screenwriter Ernest Lehman called it "the ultimate Hitchcock picture" while he was writing it, but no matter). And the similarities are evident. In 1960 Hitchcock himself briefly considered directing Thunderball. Ian Fleming originally wanted Grant (who was a good friend of Bond producer Cubby Broccoli) to play 007 in Dr No, and North By Northwest surely had a lot to do with that (Grant turned down the part). 1959 was also the year Fleming published Goldfinger, the first truly ridiculous Bond novel (delightful though it is), which, as the third Bond movie, would perfect the NXNW-style template from which the series would barely deviate until the advent of Daniel Craig.

It's not Hitchcock's fault that his imitators are such tools, but it is useful now and then to trace a tiresome phenomenon back to its not-so-tiresome source.We all know how wonderfully influential Alfred Hitchcock was on film history and... more

slagface
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James Bond prefers brunettes, research says

Gentlemen may prefer blondes but Britain's most sophisticated secret service agent tends to go for brunettes, according to an extensive investigation into James Bond's love life.

Academics who set out to discover what makes the ideal Bond girl found that apart from having long dark hair, she is likely to have an American accent – and to carry a weapon.

The unexpected findings were reached by a team who assessed the physical traits of all 195 female characters in the first 20 Bond movies, then contrasted the characteristics of the 98 who had "sexual contact" with Bond with those of the 97 who did not.

Their research, published in the journal Sex Roles, examines how Bond girls have changed over the years as well as exploring what kind of women end up in the spy's arms.

Unsurprisingly, Bond's sexual partners also tend to be younger, slimmer and more attractive than the women he does not bed – and they are less likely to wear glasses.

Those who fit the ideal type include Lois Chiles as Dr Holly Goodhead in Moonraker (1979) and Lana Wood as Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

The researchers studied all women who had speaking roles or who appeared in two or more scenes in each film from Dr No in 1962, starring Sean Connery, to Die Another Day in 2002, starring Pierce Brosnan. The only film during the period that was excluded was Never Say Never Again (1983), because it was a remake of Thunderball.

Comparing the earlier Bond films with the more recent releases, the researchers found that Bond girls' hair has got shorter and they have become more promiscuous. The number of major roles for women in the films has increased, the researchers found. Yet they concluded that females appearing in the films continue to be locked into "stereotyped" roles.

Their report says: "The women of Bond are eternally attractive. Their typically slender body type ... is unchanged over time.

"The women of Bond continue to be portrayed in a rather limited and sex-stereotyped manner. The ultimate penalty for a woman in a Bond film – death – seems to accrue from promiscuity and daring to threaten the ultimate iconic masculine hero, James Bond.

"This study provides further evidence of the continued sexualisation, marginalisation, and disposability of women within Bond films. The Bond films glorify the sometimes chauvinistic persona of Bond.

"Bond single-handedly takes on any 'bad guy', saves the world and always gets the girl. Bond accomplishes these feats by the power of his wit and more importantly through violence."Gentlemen may prefer blondes but Britain's most sophisticated secret service agent... more