Vintage

Before there was Dr. Julius Irving, there was Dr. Julius No. Before there was Daniel Craig, there was Sean Connery.  Before there was freedom in Eastern Europe, long before actually, there was Dr. No.  Before the fall of Communism, before the ambiguity of bad men set upon us in more recent times, we had clear cut villains who wanted to take over the world, preserve it and plunder it.  We had our madman in Dr. No.  We had our hero in James Bond. It was a more simple time. 

As I write this review, I am sitting in a coffee shop with my kids and niece, waiting for my wife to get here and a waitress with yet another cup of coffee.  How many cups have I had?  Probably as many as there are Bond flicks.  You know what - that first cup of coffee always taste the best.  So  to it is with Bond filmz.

My daughter is playing scrabble.  She is five and is bemoaning the fact that the game is missing a K.That is okay as there is a bountiful amount on my keyboard, though what to do with them and the rest of the alphabet eludes me. My niece sits by and reads, circling references in a book of teenage appeal.  I am wondering how many points you get for spelling "Double-O-Seven"?   Then it dawns on me, that without a K, the Walther handgun of Bond would sound funny.  What am I doing? Time to start reviewing Bond flicks.  

And so I a begin an ambitious project to chronicle the world of James Bond.  That world starts with Dr. No. 

Hard to believe how long it has been since James Bond first took the world of cinema by storm in 1962.  I was still 9 years away from being born when Dr. No launched the franchise and that was before a lot of things.

Dr. No (1962) is the first James Bond film, and the first to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is the first Bond picture to do most of the Bond things that have become synonymous with the super spy. 

Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name. The film was directed by Terence Young, and produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli.  This tandem lasted until 1975.  Sean Connery is a legend as Bond and this film shows why.

Connery is commanding in every scene.  His nonchalant cool is unmistakable.  There are many argue that he was indeed the best Bond ever and I agree with them. 

Bond is sent to Jamaica on an investigation into the death of a fellow British agent. The murder trail takes him to the island fortress of Dr. Julius No.

Bond has it Dr. No wants to bring down an early American space launch with a radio beam weapon. It should be noted that this film does not show Bond earning his double-0 status and hence his "License To Kill."  Instead, we first meet Bond as sort of a master spy, who already knows how to kill you with the twist of a bra strap.

Dr. No was produced with a rather low budget for the time, but was a financial success.  Many of the iconic aspects of a typical James Bond film were established in Dr. No: the bullet hole perspective introduction, the "shaken not stirred" request for a Vodka Martini, the need for beautiful women, a meeting with his CIA counterpart Felix Liter, a flirting with Ms. Moneypenny.  Speaking of the last category, Ursula Andress emerging from the ocean while Bond is on the beach is one of the all time most memorable scenes in film. 

I grew up with Bond and this film came a decade before that.  I even had a James Bond role playing game, which makes me sort of a nerd I guess.  I had the Q Manual and I would repeat all the pros and cons of a Heckler and Koch VP-7 versus a Walther PPK.  I knew all the strengths and weaknesses of the chief henchmen.  I knew Bond.  it took me a while to know Dr. No, which only happened late in my Bond appreciation. My daughter playing scrabble is too young for Bond.  My niece never heard of the franchise. 

If you have not seen this spy film - do it.  This is a great film and it launched a franchise that is still going strong today.  Dr. No is a arguably the best Bond film of all and is the place to begin the love affair with many multiple partners (as in movies).  It is the film that launched the franchise in my opinion and before it all began, it began with Dr. No.

Matt DeReno is a writer based in Pittsburgh.